With such extensive schemes in hand, we shall not be surprised to find that no less than 400 men were daily engaged in expediting the works, against the King's return from Holland, whither he went on June 1st, 1699.

But even while abroad, and amid the delights of his old beloved home at Loo, King William was not forgetful of the new palace he was raising at Hampton Court. So anxious was he that everything should be ready when he came back, that, at the end of the month of August, he sent over his housekeeper, Mr. Bryan, from Holland, to announce that he should return at the latter end of September; and that he expected the new apartments at Hampton Court to be ready by that time, for several foreign princes were coming with him, who were to be lodged in that palace, "where all foreign ambassadors were for the future to have their audience." They were accordingly pushed on with all possible expedition.

Notwithstanding every effort, however, and although workmen were employed without intermission, it was found impossible to have them quite ready in time, though the King's return was delayed until nearly the third week in October.

Four days after his arrival at Kensington, as soon as he could escape from the press of State business, and the receiving of loyal addresses and deputations, he came down to inspect the new buildings, which, in their now almost completed state, pleased him exceedingly. The magnificent Guard Chamber, of which we insert a sketch, excited universal admiration, and the King declared that the new apartments for good proportions, state and convenience jointly, were not paralleled by any palace in Europe."

The success of Wren's State Apartments only stimulated him to aim at still further dignifying what was intended to be henceforth the chief residence of the sovereigns of England. Every sort of amusement and opportunity for every kind of sport were to be provided in close proximity to the palace. "Fish ponds and decoys," says Luttrell, "are making at Hampton Court; the deer are to be removed out of that Park (ie., Bushey Park), and trees and shrubs to be planted for a hare warren and pheasants, that there may be always game at hand."

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CHAPTER XXV.

WILLIAM III. IN HIS NEW PALACE—FURTHER WORKS.

In the meanwhile the furnishing of William III.'s rooms was rapidly proceeded with; and to enable the reader to conjure up before his imagination the King's domestic life at Hampton Court, we will describe the internal appearance and contents of one or two of them. First, we will glance at his Great State Bedchamber, a room 33 feet 9 inches long, 23 feet 7 inches wide, and 30 feet high, of which the ceiling painted by Verrio, and the carvings executed by Gibbons, we have already noticed. His bed, formerly in this room, and now in the Private Dining Room, was a great four-poster, with hangings of crimson velvet, decorated in its four angles with immense plumes. In the corner of the room, by the bed, stood, and stands to this day, the King's great clock, six feet high from the ground, with two small dials on its face, telling the day of the month and other intervals of time, and surmounted by decorative figures in ormolu. It was made by the celebrated Daniel Quare, and goes for one year, but though in good repair it is no longer wound up.

In other corners of the room, near the doors, were two curious barometers, one made by Tompion, which still remain in the positions they originally occupied, and between the windows is a fine pier-glass, with a border of cut blue glass, also dating from William's time, and bearing his monogram, W. R., surmounted by a crown, in blue and white engraved glass.

There are, besides, in various rooms, some of the old stools and high-backed chairs which belonged to the suite of furniture in this bedroom, and also several large bowls and jars of blue Delft ware, with the King's arms and monogram painted on them, which served both for use and for ornaThe jars, in which bulbous flowers such as tulips and hyacinths were planted, are especially noteworthy. They stand about four feet high.

ment.

The fireplace, with its old cast-iron fireback, its carved oak mantelpiece, its looking-glass, and its shelves, whereon are ranged several pieces of old Delft ware and china, forms another salient feature still remaining unaltered; and when we restore, in imagination, the damask curtains that hung by the windows, as well as the tapestry of the "History of Joshua," and the eight silver sconces, chased with "The Judgment of Solomon," that formerly decorated the walls, we have a complete and vivid picture of the room as it was when inhabited by William III.

Next to the State Bedchamber is the King's little bedchamber or Dressing Room, which we described in a preceding chapter; and beyond is the King's Writing Closet, a small room, 24 feet by 17, likewise fitted with carved oak panelling, and formerly hung with pea-green damask. Its original furniture consisted of little else than the King's writing bureau, and a few chairs and stools. Opposite the windows of this room is a door in the wainscot, leading to a private staircase, the balusters of which are of most beautiful wrought iron. The stairs lead to a suite of rooms on the ground floor, which must have belonged to the King's apartments, and also to a private way into the garden, so that the King could go out unobserved.

On the other side of the State Bedchamber were: the King's Sitting Room; next to that his Drawing Room (since used as an "Audience Chamber"); next his Privy Chamber, and lastly, the Great Presence Chamber, which we shall describe on a future page. All these rooms were furnished in a similar way, with tapestries, with Turkey carpets or oriental matting, with stools, chairs, and settees of crimson and other coloured damask, embroidered in silver and gold, or silk worked with exquisite needlework, with pierglasses, with marble tables, and with china cabinets. Much of this furniture can still be seen distributed in various rooms; some of which still retain their beautiful chandeliers, one being of silver gilt, another of silver, and a third of elaborately cut glass.

Other ornaments of King William's rooms deserving of special notice were the fire-dogs, of which several sets remain. One pair is particularly beautiful, and was made in 1696-7, probably by Andrew Moore. Each piece is of silver gilt,

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standing sixteen and a half inches high, having scroll-shaped pedestals, repoussée with foliage and festoons of oak leaves and acorns, and surmounted by a boy holding a basket of fruit, while in front of each is a medallion, with W. R. in monogram crowned.

Magnificent, however, as the furnishing of William III.'s rooms was, it would probably seem meagre if gauged by the ideas of our own day, when ladies cram their rooms as

though they were upholsterers' show-rooms or bric-a-brac shops-though in appropriateness and taste the fashion of the time of William III. was perhaps not so much wanting. At last the King's apartments being ready for his reception, he came down on Friday, November 17th, to stay here for five days. It was probably during one of these visits of the King's to Hampton Court that he gave orders for the completion of the rest of the State and other rooms in the palace, for the full details as to which we must refer to the third volume of the "History of Hampton Court Palace."

He also gave directions for further improvements in the gardens-especially the formation of the magnificent Broad Walk in front of the East Façade of the palace, which extends from the Flower-Pot Gate on the highway to Kingston, to the Water Gallery by the riverside, a distance of no less than 2,264 feet, or nearly half a mile in length, its width being 39 feet.

King William was back again at Hampton Court in the summer of the following year; but even amid the charms of his new palace, he was pining for his annual visit to Holland. To him, in truth, England was always a foreign country; and as Macaulay, his panegyrist, is constrained to admit, as soon as the passing of the last bill of supply had set him at liberty, he turned his back on his English subjects, and hastened to his seat in Guelders, where during some months he might be free from the annoyance of seeing English faces and hearing English words."

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In the first few days of the month of June he had been unwell, Vernon noticing, on the 4th, that he looked pale, and had been a little feverish, which was attributable either to his riding in the sun, or walking about the gardens in the evening without a great coat.

On the score of his state of health, he took his meals as often as possible in private, using for this purpose the room already mentioned under the names of the "Beauty Room" and "Oak Room," which is on the ground floor, under the "King's Guard Chamber," and is connected by the Orangery with the King's Private Apartments, in the south-east corner of the palace. While on this topic we may mention a very curious memorandum as to his diet, drawn up while he was at Hampton Court in the summer of the year after the period of which we are now treating, by the doctors attending on him: "He eat most of the first course, viz., soup made of pulse, pot herbs, and stewed meat. Of the second service he used to eat but little; but he eat a great deal of fruit, though never, or very seldom, between meals. . . . For five or six months of the year, both his wine and his beer was always cooled in ice; and the last was always bottled. His breakfast was only a dish of chocolate, without any water in it."

In the meanwhile his ill-health increased his desire to