Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-26
Hampton Cont
AN OLD ENGLISH PALACE, ITS HISTORY AND As
sOCIATIONs

Hampton Court will suggest to every one who
has been In England picture of the most en-
chanting rural solitude that it is the fortune of
mortal eyes to rest upon. l doubt very much
whether the fairy scenes of the Mediterranean,
from. that earthly paradise Monaco to the en-
chanted isle of Capri, have power to fill the
memory with such delight as the remembrance
of a season at Hampton Court. A real presence
of matchless sylvan beauty. the old palace and
its charming park, the placid Thames lining the
whole distance, Hampton Court is reminder of
persOnages potent in the state, accomplished in
letters, or prc-eminent in beauty. In all the
changes which nave transformed the stately pal
aces of English royalty the prim red walls of
Hampton palace have substantially held their
own as they came from tie hands of Wolsey's
architect There is more English history Of a
romantic and tragic sort contained within these
lurid quadrangles than in many volume
Had the immortal halls and lordy castles of
the British ariStOcracy suffered the same yciSsi-
tudes as the French chateanX in the civil wars
Britain would not possess to-day the stateliest
and most arrogant aristOcracy in Europe For
although the Furitans made havoc with the
churches and the artistic evidences of effeminacy
distinguishing the noblcs from the people. the
old castles and keeps of the lords of the isles
were never HOIested. save when they served as
strong places for the kings army. But the
noble monuments that Cromwels troopers left
untouched fire is rapidly sweeping away
Within the last ten years several among the
most ancient and interesting of the historical
castles of the island have after four centuries
disappeared in night. All the world lamented
when the noble walls of Warrick and it's incom-
parable collection suffered by the flames. After
that catastrophe there seemed no further scope
for incendiary mischief. But to Warrick has
been added three or four other ancient sites OF
Norman chivalry. and now the quaint old quad
rangles of Hampton Court have. after a severe
ordeal, missed by a mere chance, total destruc-
ton.
What a picture Walpole leaves us Of the gray
eyed, tcer-swil'ing vulgar de5auchce Prince
Fred. starting up in bed. when he Walpole, in
muddy jack-boots and spurs. dropping on his
kne" beside the princcly bed salutcd him as
George III. ''Du Dist one damn iar" said the
new king urhanely and Walpole bowed reyer-
emily. for in those days q minister wasn't much,
and king. even a brand new one like the mis-
cradle little ni%ht-capped wretch lying in tie
cardinals wanscotted chamber yOndcr was the
lord of life and death 1t is curious story,
that of the lives OF the personagcs who held
their brief day in the glorious palace built to
please the soaring ambition of the cardinal
prince who began life as the Eakcr-boy WG!sey
In tbs lordiy pleasure house the whimsical! and
tragic alternate in lines of broad burlesque
Here Catherine of BraganZa. princess of tower
ing pride. came to sue grace from the naughty
prelate whose fall she lived to pity Here Henry
met the wontOn Boleyn. and here came the
gloomy Philip to pass Il season with his red
haired. squnt-eyed wife and queen bloody
Mary.
In the 1900 rooms needed to house the cardi-
nails treat companies. the dramatis persona that
march through humcS and Macauay's pages
have been seen in gayeties and dissipation. Too
magnificent even for the man who wrote Il and
the kin>. the crafty prelate soothed Henrys
anger by presenting him this palace. which.
nll Ira -inIoy
the kingdom save Windsor and HOyrOod
From 1913 to 100 the palace was the Versailles
OF the English monarchy; Henry made it his
scIaglio, and Charles III. gave sumptuous bac-
chanals with pretty Nell Gwynne queen reg
nant of the EuSinian feasts. The short lived
puny Edward VI. was born in the cardinals
bed chamber. in one Of the wings still standing
while one Of the many marriage ceremonies of
Henry VIII. was celebrated in the state apart
ments. the courts running with sack and wine
for a fortnight.
In the enchanting grounds. Bess. as a roval
holden startled the deer and dismayed the roya!
huntSmcn by her daring. Here. too the love-
SICK Mary lie. with the ambassadors of Europe
III attendance. fOndly waiting the progeny that
never came. and whose denial made her the
most miserable of wives. and. perhaps. had its
influence in making her the most ferOciOus of
bgOtS 1t was at Hampton that the fascinating
lOvc-dramas ascribed to Essex and Leicester
with Queen Bess began. One of the regular
the Thames. from London fifteen miles away,
was the Queens barge. canopied in silk, filled
with gay nOblemen and nObiewOmen rOWpd by
lusty oarsmen to the soft music of minstrelsy.
lOurneying from Whitehall stairs to Thames
Ditton. the park entrance to the palace Often
OF summer afternoon the court came down in
dozen royal barges. rivalng the visions OF
Cleopatra in splendOr. 1t was of an afternoon
when the cOquettish Bess was passing from
Whitehall to the water-stars that young Walter
20 i,r1, thn afE Il.
dOublet down to save the royal feet from wet
ting. Young Walter was given place in the
Queens barge, and the shifty Cecil scored long
mark against the audaciOus young gallant as
one likely to give him as much trouble in ruling
the petulant Queen as Essex and Leicester
glance at the palace as it stands TODAY, with
the same giant oaks. the same clustering groups
of chestnuts. the same glistening hawthorns.
makes all these persons as real as the letters OF
friend whose body has been Wondering for
many year. Bess was Semiramis in love as
well as in war. and the Arcadian glades OF
Hampton were not without their influence upon
even her Obdurate heart. The idyls of the
Leicester episode were not the least charming.
nor are the tales exhausted yet that the coun-
try folk tell in association with quaint customs
and abiding landmarks. piggy" as the plain
spoken historian calls James l.. delighted in the
sylvan retirement of the old palace. Here,
with his dear heart" buckingham the
AntinOus of the first of the Stuart dynasty.
the royal pOlemlc passed days of sluggish
abandonment to the peculiar pleasures he
craved. Here, too. the King James Bible was
conceived and resolved on. Here the pensive
Charles finally, after his vain quest to Paris and
Madrid in search of bride, received the luck
less Maria Henrietta. and passed the honey
moon, which was one of the few unallOyed
pleasures OF the unfortunate princes life There
Is tree pointed out in the park where Charles
and Henrietta, prince and princess of Wales cut
their initials, and local tradition long referred
to the OminOus coincidence that the limbs of the
tree branched in the shape of scatfold! Still
later, King Charles surrounded himself at HamD-
ton with the advisers who brought his fate upon
him; the youthful and brilliant Wentworth had
quarters in the building. and his portrait.
painted by Vandyck, still holds place on the
walls--a face full of power and determination,
but pensive as if with the pr"!aonition of dis
graceful death on the bCc,. at tWenty-seven
The martial glory of the commonwealth has
its memorials i'm the place Here Cromwell, in
the intervals of his mighty movements. took
the brief repOse his dictatorship permitted.
Here his daughter Elizabeth was married in a
state whose royalty gave Offense to the Puritans
and to the ROundhead Lord FalcOnbury Here.
too, his best beloved daughter, Mrs Claypole.
died under the chestnuts IN Bushy park. The
most piquant memorials of the court remain in