to some years before Wolsey acquired the manor, and is mentioned among
the properties at the place where he purchased it; and the other is
that ever since the clock struck the hour at which Anne of Denmark,
the Queen of James the First, passed away in 1619 it is said to have
stopped whenever an old resident of the Palace has died. Those curious
in such matters declare, according to the historian of the Palace,
that there have been many coincidences in support of this
superstition. Perhaps the custom grew up of stopping the clock on the
occasion of a death. Beneath the dial is to be seen an elaborate piece
of relief sculpture in terra-cotta representing the coat of arms of
Wolsey supported by plump cherubs and surmounted by the Cardinal's
hat, the monogram "T. W.", and the date 1525--presumably the date of
the completion of this gateway.

On the farther side of the Clock Court is the entrance to the Queen's
Staircase, on passing through the hall at the foot of which we come to
the Chapel and the Fountain Court. At the entrance are two more of the
terra-cotta plaques to which reference has already been made.

[Illustration: THE GREAT HALL]

Turning back for a time to Anne Boleyn's Gateway we may follow the
steps up to the Great Hall, and entering from beneath the Minstrels'
Gallery at a doorway through an elaborately carven screen, we see at
once before us one of the finest and most impressive of Tudor
halls--very similar to but not quite so large as that of Christ Church
at Oxford. Whether we look up towards the dais as we enter from
under the Minstrels' Gallery, or whether standing on the dais--raised
but a few inches from the general level of the hall--we look back
towards the Minstrels' Gallery and the blue west window above it--it
is a grand and pleasing view that we get. The tapestried walls, the
high windows, and the fine Perpendicular hammer-beam roof together
form a magnificent and pleasing whole, one of the noblest halls of its
period that the country has to show. The tapestries, in which are
depicted incidents in the life of Abraham--though time has dimmed
somewhat the splendour of their colouring--are yet remarkable links
with Tudor times, for they were purchased by Henry the Eighth and have
remained at Hampton Court ever since the period of their acquisition.
Though much restoration was done in the middle of last century the
general character of the whole was not interfered with. Then it was
that the sta