The gardens of Hampton Court are about fortyfour acres in extent. They were originally laid out by Cardinal Wolsey, and greatly improved by Queen Elizabeth and Charles II. It is said that the gardens were closed against the public in the time of George I., who, being unaware of the circumstance, inquired of the gardener one morning why the gates were shut against the people. Because, your Majesty," replied the man in office, "they steal the flowers." "What," returned the good-natured monarch, "are my English subjects so fond of flowers? Plant more, then!" This story, however, is told also of Kensington. George III. also took great pride and pleasure in them, and often drove over from Kew to visit them. The public gardens are separated by an iron fence from what is called the Home Park. The gardens and park were put into their present form by Messrs. Loudoun and Wise, gardeners to their Majesties William and Mary. The gardens themselves are perfectly flat, and are laid out in the Dutch style-stiff and formal, with longdrawn avenues and opening glades, after the fashion of the Low Countries. The east front of the palace is open to the gardens, and is here seen to the best advantage. It is constructed of bright red brick, with stone dressings, and in the centre four fluted three-quarter columns, of the Corinthian order, sustain an angular pediment, on which are sculptured in bas-relief the triumphs of Hercules over Envy. Along this front of the building there is a broad gravel walk, leading, on the one hand, down to the banks of the Thames, and on the other to a gate, called the Flowerpot Gate, which opens on the Kingston Road. At the southern end of the east front is the entrance to the private garden, which contains a few rare plants, the remains of Queen Mary's botanical garden. Here, too, is a large ANNE BOLEYN'S GATEWAY. (From Lysons.) My musique may be plaintes, my physique teares, If this be all the fruite my love-tree beares.' "We step through the door on which Jane Shore's spectral visage is hung, and lo! we are on the Queen's Staircase, and descend once more to the courts of Wolsey. Long as we have lingered in this old palace, we have had but a glimpse of it. Its antiquities, its pleasantness, and its host of paintings, cannot be comprehended in a visit: they require a volume; and a most delicious volume that would be which should take us leisurely through the whole, giving us the spirit and the history, in a hearty and congenial tone, of its towers and gardens, and all the renowned persons who have figured in its courts, or whose limned shapes now figure on its walls." lean-to house, containing the famous grape-vine. the gardens to Hampton Wick, and is bounded on The inside dimensions of this house are seventy-two the south by the River Thames, and on the north feet in length by thirty feet in breadth. The vine by the high road to Kingston. This park is wel is planted inside the house, and the roof is almost stocked with deer. It is watered by a canal about entirely covered with branches, some of which are half a mile in length, having a fine avenue of limeover a hundred feet in length. The average yearly trees on each side of it. Another canal to corresproduce of this vine is said to amount to about pond was partly excavated by William III., and 1,200 pounds, and the grapes are sent to supply her near it the spot is still pointed out where the Majesty's table. The tree is believed to have accident happened which cost him his life. The been planted in 1768 by Lancelot Brown, who avenues in this park were planted by William III. was once chief gardener here, and who after- Near the upper deer-pen is a fine old oak-tree wards became so much noted as one of the first about forty feet in circumference; and there is also practitioners of the English style of landscape near the stud-house an elm known by the name of gardening. On approaching the vine we pass two "King Charles's Swing," which is peculiarly curious large greenhouses, which contain some orange-trees in shape. A building, called the Pavilion, which and other plants. Amongst them is an orange- was erected by Sir Christopher Wren in the reign myrtle, said to have been brought to this country of William III., was the occasional residence of by William III. the late Duke of Kent, in his official capacity as "ranger" of this park. In the reign of Charles II., the large semicircle on the east side of the palace was planted; but it was not till the reign of William III. that the grounds were brought to anything like perfection. At this period the art of clipping yew and other trees into regular figures and fantastic shapes reached its highest point, being greatly favoured by the king. Four urns, said to be the first that were used in the gardens, were also planted by William III. in front of the palace. Walpole says that the walls were once covered with rosemary, and that the trees were remarkable specimens of the "topiary" art, as the fashion of clipping trees into stiff unnatural forms was then called. On the northern side of the palace is a large space of ground, called "the Wilderness," which was planted and laid out by William III. In this part of the grounds is a labyrinth, or maze, which affords much amusement to visitors. Near the labyrinth is an entrance known as the "Lion Gates," which are particularly handsome, being designed in a bold and elegant style. The large stone piers of the gates are richly decorated, their cornices supported by fluted columns, and surmounted by two colossal lions couchant. Hampton Court Palace is supplied with water from some springs in Coombe Wood, whence it is conducted through pipes which were laid down by Cardinal Wolsey at a very great outlay. The distance is about two miles, in the most direct line, and the leaden pipes which convey the water are carried across the bottom of the River Thames. There are two pipes from each conduit, making altogether eight miles of leaden pipes. In the park may still be seen some lines of fortifications, which were originally constructed for the purpose of teaching the art of war to William, Duke of Cumberland, when a boy-the same duke who became so celebrated afterwards in the Scottish rising of 1745. The Stud-house, in the centre of the Home Park, was founded by the Stuarts; but George IV. was its great supporter and maintainer, for both as prince regent and as king he was devoted to racing, and began breeding race-horses here systematically and on an extensive scale. The cream-coloured horses used on State occasions by the sovereign are kept here. They are descended from those brought over from Hanover by the princes of the Brunswick line, being a special product of those countries. The breed is kept up here most religiously, and the animals are the last representatives of the Flemish horses, once so fashionable. They are slow and pompous in their action, and many of them are upwards of twenty years old. They look small in comparison with the great lumbering state coach; but most of them are sixteen, or at least fifteen, hands high. The State harness and trappings of each horse do not weigh less than two hundred-weight. Here are kept the Arabs and other Eastern horses presented to her Majesty. It is not etiquette to give any of them away, much less to sell them; nor are they put to any use, nor killed when they get old. They have a happy enjoyment of life, till death calls them away. Nimrod," writing in The Turf in 1834, obHampton Court (or the Home) Park immediately serves that "great regard has always been paid adjoins the palace gardens, and is about five miles here to what is known in sporting circles as 'stout in circumference. It extends from the borders of blood-namely, horses of sinew and strength, Hampton Court.] FIRE AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE. rather than of speed." He adds a list of the sires and mares kept here, and also states that "from prudential motives the royal stud at Hampton Court was broken up, only one or two sires and mares being kept." Sir Richard Steele was, for a time, surveyor of the royal stables here; and the Earl of Albemarle, Groom of the Stole, lived for some years at the 'Stud-house," which is still the official residence of the Master of the Horse, though not generally occupied as such. 66 In December, 1882, the entire palace had a narrow escape from being destroyed, a large portion of the upper rooms in the east wing, overlooking the gardens and the fountain court, and which were in the occupation of private families, having been accidentally burnt. 171 neither very intelligent nor very keen, find their way throughout the summer to Hampton Court, and return much the better for their outing, even if their knowledge of history remains as vague as ever, and their feeling for art as cold. For this reason alone-because of the simple and wholesome pleasures it affords in one way or another to every visitor-the destruction of Hampton Court would have been regarded as an irreparable calamity. Apart from its suroundings, moreover, which we suspect attract more visitors than its contents, the palace itself is a building which the country could ill afford to spare. It is a record of pomp of Wolsey and of the genius of Wren, and its history includes associations as diverse as the theological lucubrations of James I. and the revels of his scapegrace grandson, the gloomy broodings In a leading article, congratulating the country of Cromwell in his hours of dejection, and the This is not, perhaps, because of its historical of the world would be palpably the poorer for their interest as a relic of Wolsey's magnificence, or destruction. Others, again, are interesting as specias the home of the Stuarts and the elder mens of painters whose works are rare, or as comGeorges, nor even exclusively because of the in-memorating events of moment in English history. terest attaching to its gallery of pictures. Its place in the heart of Londoners is largely due to more homely associations. It is easily and quickly reached from London, and its surroundings are rich in everything that the countrygoing Londoner has learnt to love. Its stately and rich-toned buildings, its well-kept gardens, its spacious parks with their matchless trees, and its unrivalled situation on the banks of the placid Thames, all give it an attraction which for variety of charm can hardly be matched in England. To this must be added the fact that the palace contains the only national collection of pictures which is open to the public on Sundays, and this, perhaps, accounts as much as anything else for the pre-eminent popularity which Hampton Court enjoys. Thousands to whom the historical associations of the place are rather vague, thousands more whose enjoyment of a gallery or pictures is But these are only a small percentage of the whole. The remainder are interesting rather because they have long hung on the walls of Hampton Court, and seem to partake of the character of the place, than because they can claim any very eminent merit of their own. There is some royal furniture also of ancient date in several of the public rooms of the palace, and a portion of this is reported to have been damaged by the floods of water employed to extinguish the fire. Such things have a certain popular interest, no doubt, but if anything was to be destroyed, it is safe to rejoice that a capricious fate has spared the pictures and only taken the upholstery. If by an irreparable stroke of fortune the Holbeins, the Mantegnas, or any other of the real treasures of the gallery had been destroyed, it would have been a poor consolation to learn that Queen Anne's bed had been preserved, or even that her portmanteau was safe." CHAPTER XIV. FELTHAM, SUNBURY, AND HALLIFORD. "Est et honor campis."-Ovid. Situation, Etymology, and General Appearance of Feltham-Population, &c.-Notice of the Parish in Domesday Book-Descent of the Manor -The Parish Church-Death of Miss Frances Kelly, the Actress-Middlesex Industrial School-The Convalescent Home-SunburyIts Etymology-History of the Manor-Col Kenvngton, otherwise Kempton-A Royal Palace-Kempton House-Kempton Park Racecourse-Sunbury Common-Sunbury Parish Church-Roman Catholic Chapel-The Village of Sunbury-Sunbury Place-The Pumping Stations of the London Water-works Companies-Thames Angling Preservation Society-The Manor of Charlton- Halliford. THE parish of Feltham lies to the south-west of Hampton, and is particularly flat and uninteresting. It is bounded on the east by the parish of Hanworth, which we have already dealt with in a previous chapter (see pages 69, 70). The name, according to Mr. Brewer, in the "Beauties of England," is supposed to be a corruption of Feldham, signifying the "Field Village, or Village in a Field." The country all about here, and indeed as far west as Staines, is covered with market gardens, or fields devoted to vegetable produce, which is sent up to market at Covent Garden. The village of Feltham is long and straggling; it is chiefly of a rural and humble character, and contains a few old-fashioned houses and shops; but in the immediate neighbourhood, particularly to the north and west of the village, and at Feltham Hill, about a mile to the south, are several better-class villas and residences of a more ornamental description. There is also here a station on the Windsor branch of the South-Western Railway. In 1871 the number of houses in the parish was 387, whilst the population numbered 2,748 souls, but this estimate included upwards of 900 persons in the Middlesex Industrial School. This number has somewhat decreased since that period, being, according to the returns for 1881, only 2,709. The manor of Feltham is thus noticed in "Domesday Book":"Earl Moreton (Mortain in Normandy) holds the manor of Feltham, taxed at twelve hides. The arable land is twelve carucates. There are six hides in demesne, on which is one plough; three more might be employed. The villanes have eight ploughs. There are fourteen villanes, who hold a virgate each; five others have each a virgate each, and two slaves, or bondmen. There is meadow-land equal to ten carucates, and pasture for the cattle of the village. The total value is £6 per annum; when it came into the Earl's possession it was only £4, but in the reign of King Edward it was £8. Two thanes were then seised of this manor: one of them, a vassal of the king, held five hides as a separate manor; the other, a vassal of Earl Harold, had seven hides as a separate manor also, and could alien to whom he pleased." From the above extract it will be seen that this parish was devoted to agriculture as far back as eight centuries ago. The two manors above referred to were united under the Earl of Mortain, and became subsequently the property of Hawise, Countess of Rumaze, who gave the conjoined estate to the Hospital of St. Giles' Without-the-Bars, near Holborn, in whose possession it remained till the dissolution in 1537, when it was surrendered to the king, Henry VIII. Early in the seventeenth century the manor was granted in fee to trustees for Lord Cottington, and it was subsequently sold, together with the advowson, to Sir Thomas Chamber. Since then, the property has changed hands many times. "The manor of Feltham," observes Mr. Brewer, in his "Beauties of England and Wales," "is only nominal, and exercises no manorial rights, the whole of this parish being subject to the jurisdiction of the adjacent manor of Kennington”now Kempton. The greater part of this Thames valley would seem to have been anything rather than a haunt to the Muses, who doubtless thought it dull and tame. It has, in fact, no literary history. The parish church, which stands on the road to Sunbury, is a plain brick-built edifice, dating from the beginning of the present century, when the taste for ecclesiastical architecture was at a very low ebb. It is dedicated to St. Dunstan, and replaced the former parish church, which had become ruinous and dilapidated. The old church is described in Lysons' " Middlesex as "a small structure, consisting of a chancel, nave, and a north aisle. It is built of flint and stone, chiefly the lapis compositus, commonly called the 'plumpudding' stone. At the west end is a wooden tower and spire, almost covered with ivy, issuing from a single stem, eighteen inches in girth." That building was taken down in 1802, and the present church erected in its place. This latter edifice was enlarged by the addition of aisles in 1856. At the west end is a tower with an em |