"Pybbylls gathered from Epsam (Epsom) commen, for the pavying of the lyttyll courtt betwexte the quenes lowng gallary and the close tennys play at 1d. the lode."

Returning westward the whole length of the lane, and remarking here and there the quaint little picturesque bits of the old building-and chimneys-" windpipes of good hospitalitie" to fire-places large enough to roast oxen wholeyou will arrive again at the western entrance.

In these parts of the building were located, doubtless, the "offices" for Wolsey's princely establishment. The notices which George Cavendish, his gentleman-usher, makes of Wolsey's officers, enable us to form some idea of the extent of accommodation which must have been needed. A steward, who was a priest, presided over one board in the hall, a treasurer over another, and a comptroller over a third. In his hall-kitchen there were two clerks, a comptroller, and surveyor of the dresser, clerk for the spicery, twelve turnspits, four scullery-men, two yeomen of the pastry; his master-cook, dressed in velvet or satin, decorated with a gold chain, and under him were two cooks and assistants. There were proper officers for the larder, the scullery, buttery, ewry, cellar, chandry, wafery, dormitory, wardrobe, laundry, bakehouse, wood-yard, barn, gate, barge, stables,-besides chamberlains, vice-chamberlains, and ushers, gentlemen waiters, yeomen waiters, cupbearers, carvers, doctors, and chaplains, clerks, secretaries, &c., a suite which numbered nearly a thousand persons. Eight tables were provided daily for the chamberlains and gentlemen officers; one for young lords, and another for the sons of gentlemen. In the Historical Notes, (C.) is given a list of the parts of the palace mentioned in accounts of works of the time.

"The cardinal's house," continues Cavendish, who is probably speaking in common of Wolsey's palaces of York Place, Whitehall, and of Hampton, "was resorted to, like a king's house, by noblemen and gentlemen, and such pleasures were here devised for the king's delight as could be invented or imagined. Banquets set with masquers and mummers in such costly manner that it was glorious to behold; there wanted no damsels meet to dance with the masquers, or to garnish the place for the time with variety of other pastimes. Then there were divers kinds of music, and many choice men and women singers appointed to sing, who had excellent voices."

No one gives any account of Hampton Court without

quoting the descriptive relation, by Cavendish, of a grand entertainment given to the French ambassador, in celebration of the peace concluded between Francis I., the Emperor Charles, and Henry. Though old, and rather long, it is so effective, that we shall follow the example by inserting it in the Historical Notes, (A.)

Having examined the tasteful oriel window of the gateway, we may pass through the little portal, and enter the

FIRST COURTYARD OF WOLSEY'S PALAce.

EEP crimsoned brick courts like this, always cosy in our not over-warm climate, seem to us the outward types of an old English hospitality nearly extinct; it seems impossible to associate in-door comfort with houses, being awkward adaptations of temples and porticoes, suitable for sunny climes, whose grandeur is on the outside. Excepting a few modern square chimneys, which the more decorated and characteristic chimney-shafts of the Tudor age are gradually supplanting, an incongruous campanile above the clock on the opposite gateway, which might well be spared, and a pavement instead of a grass plat, we are beholding this part of the building pretty much as it was when Wolsey was accustomed to lodge his 300 visitors in silken beds within its walls. This quadrangle is nearly square, enclosing an area of 167 feet by 162 feet. The restorations throughout the whole of this court are quite appropriate. Stepping a few paces to the right, we obtain one of the best and fullest views; at the opposite corner, on the left hand, rises high the elegant gable of the hall, with a vane on its summit, supported by a dragon, and the eight "beasts in freestone standing on the crest at the gabull ends, which cost five shillings and fourpence apiece" when the hall was built, (see Note B, No. 28,) and with the battlements of the south side springing lightly above the adjoining buildings. There is much beauty in the oriel windows on both the gateways of this court, each with the arms of Harry the Eighth. (See Note B, No. 99.) On the towers of the eastern gateway are busts of Trajan and Hadrian, two of the best of the Roman emperors, moulded in a sort of terra-cotta, and said to have been executed by Della Robbia: these busts, with the others in the adjoining court, were presented to Wolsey by Pope

Leo X. They have been very cleverly restored by Mr. Wilson, an artist of Kingston. A discussion on these busts, and others said to have been imported at the same period, may be found by those interested in it in the Athenæum of 1846. Should the weather be unfavourable, we may traverse the passages around this court, comfortable, sheltered, and always dry, and through them remark its varied outlines. Having finished our contemplation of this court, and under the Tudor rose, suspended from the groined roof of the second gateway, taken a final glance at the first gateway, with our impressions of the style of architecture thus undisturbed, we should, before entering the second court, at once mount the stairs on the left, which lead into

It has been called the "Cardinal's" Hall, though the spandrels of the very door-way we pass under are ornamented with carvings of the arms of Henry the Eighth. Free access to this hall was first granted to the public at the close of 1840. You enter under the minstrel gallery common to all the halls of the middle ages; for our ancestors knew full well how the ear addressed the heart of man, at the altar, the field of battle, and festive board. The intrinsic beauties of this hall, its grand proportions, its high-pitched roof and pendants, displaying the art of carving in great excellence; its glorious tapestries and general blaze of light; make you exclaim as you enter, "This is really fine!" in spite of some objections which may be raised against certain of the modern decorations. Their effect would have been far more satisfaczory if the judgment of the decorator had been as good as his intention. The accounts of the building and decorating this hall should have been consulted. (See Note B.) Perhaps a little more taste and discretion might have been used in the

C