ent
men were evidently determined that the view taken by those who
regarded such places as temptations to power should not be forgotten,
for Richard Cromwell was formally taken to task for having the
temerity to go to Hampton to hunt the deer! Then, despite the
temptation it might prove, the Long Parliament offered Hampton Court
to General Monck, but that astute man, thinking it a dangerous gift,
would accept no more than the custody and stewardship of it for
life--and was thus able to hand it over to Charles the Second on the
accomplishment of that Restoration, in which he probably already
regarded himself as an important factor.

Under the restored Stuarts the Palace became once more the scene of
brilliant Court doings. Here King Charles brought his bride, Catherine
of Braganza, and here took place the contest which preceded that
Queen's acceptance of Charles's mistress, Lady Castlemaine, as one of
her attendant ladies. An important development of the surroundings of
the Palace was made by Charles the Second in slightly shortening the
Long Canal and bordering it with avenues of limes, thus providing for
later generations a lovely vista from the east front of the buildings.

Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, the diverse diarists to whom we owe so
much of our intimate knowledge of their time, were both frequently
here, and both have left us characteristic passages about it; Evelyn
enlarging upon the art treasures and the gardens, Pepys noting that
"it was pretty to see the young, pretty ladies".

FOOTNOTE:

[1] In the preface to his reprint of Daniel's Masque, Mr. Ernest Law
has pieced together, from contemporary letters and other documents, a
very full account of a scene the splendour of which can be but hinted
at here.

IV

It is with the coming of William the Third and Mary to rule the
kingdom, a work for which James the Second had proved himself unfit,
that Hampton Court came to be formed as we know it now. King James
seems never to have stayed in the Palace after his accession, but his
daughter and her husband soon made of it a favourite and favoured
residence. It is to William and Mary that the Palace owes its
beautiful galleries and many of the art treasures in them. Calling to
his aid Sir Christopher Wren, King William resolved to rebuild a large
part of the great Tudor palace, and mould it nearer to his heart's
desire. A considerable part of the place was entirely demolished,
comprising the whole