The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-05 00:00:00

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PALACE.

The great Gothic Hall of Hampton Court Palace,
better known, perhaps, as Wolsey's Hall, was re-opened
to the public on Saturday last, and is now probably the
finest and most brilliantly embellished building in Europe.
The large windows, thirteen in number, on the north
and south sides of the hall, have been tilled with new
stained glass, in a style harmonising with the noble
windows at the east and west extremities, and by the
same artist, Mr. Willement. The compartments of the
east and west windows are occupied by the arms of
Henry VIII. and those of his house. The subjects of
the thirteen new windows now added by Mr. Wille-
ment, are the armorial pedigrees of the six wives of
Henry VIII.
With Hampton Court Palace the names of Henry
VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey are indissolubly connected,
and it has been considered proper to perpetuate in this
hall, by suitable decorations and ornaments, the memory
of the munificent founder of this royal residence and
that of his sovereign in close alliance.
Hampton Court Palace, as most of our readers re-
member, was built by Wolsey, who presented it to the
royal tiger, his toaster. The great hull was designed by
Wolsey, and finished by Henry VIII., when Ann Boleyn
was in the height of favour. It is 106 feet long, 40
wide, and 60 high. The roof is elaborately carved, and
the noble proportions of the ball, when first beheld, till
every mind with ddight. The large window at the cast
end is filled with stained glass, representing, as we have
.;t:;Ierl, the arms of Henry VIII. end his ancestors, with
the arms of England, Frat;ce, Ireland, &c. It. also con-
'ains a half-length portrait of the monarch. The oppo-
site window, at the west end of the hall, presen's
another (whole length) portrait of Henry, with the
arms of the other sovereigns of the Tudor family. The
large oriel window at the south side, she executed by
Mr. Willement, contains the arms of Cardinal Wolsey,
with those of the see of York and of his four bishoprics.
The banners, armour, some of the tapestry, and the por-
traits, have reference to the same exalted personages, or
to the period in which they lived.
With the view of making the Great Hall in its entire
embellishments illustrative of the reiern and history of
Henry VIII., the arms of his six Queens have been
selected as the subjects of the new stained glass windows
of which we have now to speak. These windows are
each upwards of 20 feet in height, and of great width,
and when we state that the whole of the light admitted
into the building now passes through richly coloured
glass, it will easily be imagined that the coup d'ail on
entering the ball is very striking and magnificent. The
armorial pedigrees of the Queens commence at the
_bottom of the left sides 'of six of the windows, and are
continued in richly emblazoned arms until th'ey approach
the top, when they proceed to the right. On approach-
ing the opposite side of the window they descend until
they reach the foot, where the arms of each Queen are
seen impaled with those of Henry. The compartments
,n the centre of these windows are of a light ground,
ant: contain black letter scrolls having reference to
'he various coats of arms. It is worthy of remark that
he whole of the six Queens of Henry VIII. trace their
descent from Edward I. of England. Thus the scroll ap-
pended to the heraldic tree of Wolsey's illustrious
Queen bears the inscription " Katharine of Arragon,
first wife of Henry VIII.; her pedigree from Edward I.
and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile." Anne Boleyne's
pedigree is traced to Edwar'd I. and the second wife of

that monarch, Margaret of France; Jane Seymour to
Edward I. and Eleanor; Anne of Cleves to Edward I.
and Eleanor; Katharine Howard to Edward I. awl Mar-
garet of France; Katharine Parr to Edward I. and
Eleanor. It will thus be observed that the "Defender
of the Faith," in selecting the partners of his throne
and bed, by no means overlooked the claims of birth
and illustrious descent. If, too, as some have supposed,
a man of great strength of mind and force of character
transmits some of his personal characteristics and pecu-
liarities through several successive generations, nothing
will appear more remarkable than the strong affinity
which the " bluff King Hal" must hove felt for these
characteriatics hether of mind or body) as represented
in the persons of the female descendants of Edward I.—
except, perhaps, his wonderful haste to repudiate and
get rid of his fair cousins, after he had obtained the
gratification of his desires.
The alternate windows to those we have described
each contain the eight heraldic badges of Henry VIII.,
the Tudor rose, the fie eur-de-lis, the portcullis, the red
dragon, &c., within separate wreaths of foliage. These
insignia, placed in different compartments of the window,
do not occupy a great deal of space ; and, being set off
by a light ground, formed of small yellow letters and
devices runt-ling obliquely across the window, painted
upon white, the rich colours of the insignia are not only
shown to greater advantage, but these alternate windows,
by their chaste and more quiet light, bring out by con-
trast the splendid crimson emblazonments of the armorial
pedigrees. Mr. Willement has been very happy in his
crimsons ; and when a July sun shall pour his strong
radiance through the stained windows until the stone
pavement appears to be inlaid with blushing colours,
the rich yet softened light of the great hall will be a
welcome relief from the glare of the ncon-day sun
without.

We have been thus far minute in our description
of the new embellishments at Hampton-court Palace,
from a desire to see the highest artistic talent in
the country finding honourable and lucrative em-
ployment in the pursuit of a long-neglected
branch of the fine arts. When we remember
the cold and cheerless aspect of most of our cathedrals
and ecclesiastical edifices, from the absence of those
stained glass windows, which at once ministered to the
religious sentiment and infused a sense of bodily warmth
and comfort, we shall perceive how wide a field is open
to men of science and painters of genius «ho may endea-
vour to perfectionate this branch of high and devotional
art. The Government are making a wise and enlightened
exercise of their patronage in doing what they can to
stimulate and encourage the art of staining in glass,
and, as the English school of painters is acknowledged to
excel all other existing schools in colouring, there seems
no reason why our church and cathedral stained• glass
windows should not, if possible, excel the chefs d'auvre of
the modern Munich artists.

The number of visitors at Hampton Court during the
past year has never been exceeded in any former :eason,
notwithstanding the" fresh fields and pastures new" offered
to the public by the various railway companies in the
shape of cheap excursion trains upon the great holidays. It
is gratifying to state that the litvrality of the Woods
and Forests was properly appreciated by the public, and
that no damage whatever worthy of being mentioned was
committed either upon the trees and shrubs, or the pic-
tures in the galleries ; on the contrary, the sense of a
paternal Government, and of its opportunities of dif-
fusing happiness, wf re probably never more pleasurably
impressed upon the minds of the hundreds of thousands
of the humbler classes who visited Hampt,,n court.
Notwithstanding the increasing number of visitors to
Hampton-court, we may be permitted to doubt whether
the present attractions of the palace and gardens are
known as universally as they deserve to be. In the spring
hundreds of pilgrims make a special journey to Hampton-
court from the metropolis, to see the splendid avenue of
chestnuts in full blossom in Bushy-park. A little later
in the summer the avenues of limes fill the air with
their rich fragrance. About the middle of June the
parterres of Hampton Court resemble a rose garden, such
is the profusion of roses and the delightful perfume they
exhale. In the autumn the wondrous vine, the dahlias,
and the tints of the departing year, furnish new objects
of interest. Every Saturday afternoon, during the fine
weather, the band of the cavalry regiment quartered a
llampton Court and Hounslow plays for two or three
hours opposite the great east front of the palace, at which
time the gardens receive most of the aristocratic visitors
to Hampton Court. Saturday is the fashionable day par
excellence, and the groups of well-dressed ladies seen in
various parts of the grounds, surrounded by the choicest
productions of Flora, furnish pictures worthy of Breughel.
The deterioration in the physique of our population is a
matter of so much national moment that the existence of
places of healthful amusement and out-of-door recreation
in the neighbourhood of all our large cities and towns
ought never to become a matter of indifference to the Go-
vernment.

GALICIA.—The following fact, extracted from a
letter dated frontiers of Galicia, the 11th instant, will
afford an idea of the frightful anarchy existing in that
province :—" In the neighbourhood of Tarnow," says the
writer, "resides an elderly lady, who, although belong-
ing to one of the first families in the country, is so be-
loved by the peasantry, that she continued to reside on
her estates during the recent massacres. The popula-
tion living on the lands amount to about I,OOC. inhabit-
ants, only one of whom joined the bands which carried
murder and devastation through the province. Having
lately returned to his home, this wretch was enjoying
quietly the fruit of his rapine, when, in the beginning
of this month, a party of seven of his companions in
crime, entered his dwelling and demanded the money
they knew him to be possessed of. On his refusal to
acquiesce, they threatened to hang him, and were actu-
ally preparing to carry their threat into execution- when,
perceiving they were serious, he determined on disclosingsu
to them the place where he had concealed hi_esybeearatereci
Once in possession of it those miscreantsvin d
among themselves, and one of them
suggestion,
that he would inform,on them f th ey didng suggested
i otpun
t hima
out of the way, they concurred in the
d
hung the man. Fortunately, however, a young boy
heard from an adjoining room what was going on, and
having proceeded in all haste to the village, he gave the
alarm. In an
themselves
instant,n
mb de
teni armedambuscade,
ns
apea, waited
s an
until
ts s alliedn
out,te
d
placinga
reinforcement, when they surrounded and
oerntered the house. They began by cutting
faonrl
arrivaly
down the man, who was hanging,, in whom the spark of
life was not yet extinct, and seized six of the banditti, one
of them having effected his escape during the affray.
The peasants then formed a species of tribunal, by which
the culprits were judged and condemned to death. The
sentence was immediately executed. The six men were
suspended from the nearest trees, and their executioners
having kept guard upon them until lite had deported,
placed the six corpses in a cart, and sent them to the
authorities of Tarnow."—Galignani's Messenger.

ANCIENT BRITISH SumLus.—A labourer of the
name of Walker, employed in claying land in the parish
of Coveney, lately discovered two British shields, in good
preservation, lying upon the clay under the Fen soil
The shields are circular, and about 22 inches in diameter.
One is ornamented with concentric circles stamped in the
metal, and the other with intertwining serpents. The
handles of both are perfect, and there are remains of
bronze holds for straps riveted on the inside. It is pro-
bable that they were lost by the upsetting of a canoe, as
canoes have been found in.bAded in the Fen soil of the
neighbourhood. The shields have been purchased by
the Rev. S. Badks, of Haddenham, for the Cambridge
Awicivarian Society.—Bury Post
The first samples of sugar from Brazil, under the
new law were exulted last week at the office of Mr.
Bramley Moore ; and as the sugar crop of this year in
Brazil is most abundant, large imports may be expected.
—Liverpool Mercury.

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