New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-06-15

discerned in the fact that his Banqueting Hans,
the sole survivor of the many buildings &C.,
at Whitehall by English rulers. and that -
WalpOle said, is SO complete in itself tia. ..
stands a model of the most pure and bea11.is,,,
TASTE the architects best monument.
Dr. Sheppard shows us, in a kind of na,o
rama, a series Of buildings and Enclosures ri.
ing and falling through the centuries on a con-
siderable tract of land. The spectacle is M,
always impressive. 1t is hardly royal as we see
it in Canalettos eighteenth century picture
and individual buildings within the precincts
were not often as picturesque as the lannon's
gateway designed by HoIbein, and built "ot
stone mixed with small squares of flint and tes-
sellated.' or accidentally artistic as Inigos
masterpiece. But If the author of this book
cannot be all the time celebrating architectural
triumphs, he can. the other hand draw upou
az almost inexhaustbe store of historical as
sociations These range from the absurd 70 the
tragic from the straying of one Of Prince
Rupert's dogs to the execution Of King Charles
the First In the category of trivial things there
is the amusing story. related by Pepys. Of what
the flooding of the palace once meant The
kitchens were liable to be overwhelmed when
the tide rose to unusual height soon after
the birth of her son, the Duke of Grafton, Lady
Castlemaine arranged to entertain the king at
supper At the last moment the cook rushed in
with the terrible announcement that the tide had
put out the kitchen fire, and that therefore
there would be no beef for supper "ZOundsr'
replied her Iadyship, you may set the house
on fire, but the beef shall be roasted 1t was
roasted. but not at the palace
This flooding Of the palace received attention
in a speech of Charles II to the Lords and Com
mons in 1861. upon the occasion Of his reception
mention Of my wife's arrival puts NE in mind to
desire you to put that compliment upon her,
that her entrance into the town may be with
more decency than the way viii now suffer it
to be: And to that purpose I pray you would
quickly pass such laws as are before YOU. in
order to the mending those ways, and that she
NAV not find Whitehall surrounded with water"
There is a pathetic petition preserved in which
Lord Fife. who for many years occupied a
house at Whitehall, sought the opportunity to
abate nuisance. His garden was cheek by
iowI with that portion Of the river which at low
tide left the land covered with tine bodies Of
dead animals. OfTals. the clearing Of kitchen
gardens and other filth. to the great annoyance
of the neighborhOod and to the endanSering Of
the health of the inhabitants in hot weather"
1t is an amusing glimpse Of the woe common 10
the householder then as now. This Lord Fife,
by the way, was a Scotchman who was so de-
voted 10 his native land that ne vowed that IL
he had to live in London he would do so on
Scotch soil ITO fulfil his patriotic purpose
soil was brought specially from scotland on
which to build Fife House" The river figures
in another of DR.. ShepUarI's chapters that in
which he treats of funereaI matters He quotes
the quaint lines of Taylor. the Water Poet on
the removal of queen Elizabeths body TO White
hall and We make no excuse for quoting them
ourselves:
The Queen was brought by water to White
hall;
At every stroke the oars did tears let fall,
More chung about the barge, FISH under water
Wept out their eyne Of pearl. and swan blind
after.
think the bargemeu might, with easier thighs,
Have roWed mir hither IN HE people eyes,
For howsoever thus much my thoughts have
scanned.
She had come by water. had she come by land
There are some interesting notes here on the
entertainments given by Elizabeth and others at
the palace, among them those Mosques which
have been called the greatest glory OK White
hall" Also there are some striking illustrations
Of the serious side of the couTter's life. Dr.