HAMPTON COURT PALACE

HAMPTON COURT PALACE, long a royal residence, and now partially occupied by persons of good family in reduced circumstances, stands about a mile from the village in the midst of grounds that extend to the Thames. The original palace was erected by Cardinal Wolsey, and by him presented (1526) to Henry VIII., who enlarged it and formed around it a royal deer-park. Here Edward VI. was born, his mother, Queen Jane Seymour, died, and Charles I. underwent a portion of his confinement. Here too was held in 1604 the famous conference between the bishops and the Presbyterians. It continued to be a royal residence down to the time of George II. A considerable portion of it was rebuilt by William III., from designs by Wren, and he also laid out the park and gardens in the formal Dutch style. The picture-gallery contains several Italian works, Lely's Beauties of the Court of Charles II., and valuable specimens of Holbein, Kneller, West, &c. The cartoons by Raphael have been removed to the South Kensington Museum. The gardens present a series of raised terraces, formal flower-plots, and long and shady arcades, and have among other attractions a 'maze' or Labyrinth (q.v.). Damage, estimated at £20,000, was caused by fire in November 1886. See Ernest Law, Hampton Court in Tudor, Stuart, Orange, and Guelf Times (3 vols. 1885-91).