ined glass was put in--to replace that which had
presumably been destroyed during the times "when civil dudgeon first
grew high and men fell out they knew not why"--and we may well be
grateful that the taste displayed in doing so was on the whole so well
displayed, though the garish blue of the western window above the
Minstrels' Gallery is perhaps an exception to that taste. The great
oriel window at the southern end of the dais, with the beautiful
groining above cannot fail to attract attention, and looking back from
the dais down the Hall we may notice the elaboration and richness of
the magnificent roof, which is acknowledged to be probably the most
splendid roof of the kind ever erected in England.

Though we see the Hall to-day with but a few sightseers in it, it
needs no great effort of imagination to repeople it with figures of
the past; to recall the time when it was a centre of Tudor revellings,
or when King James sat in his chair by the great oriel or Bay Window
and saw the "goddesses" descend from the "heaven" above the Minstrels'
Gallery to carry on their masquings below. At the farther end of the
dais is a door, now covered over, leading to the antechamber known as
the Horn Room.

A doorway in the eastern end of the Hall from the centre of the dais
gives into the Great Watching Chamber which runs at right angles to
it. This also is one of Henry the Eighth's contributions to the
Palace, and with its richly ornamented roof, its wonderfully elaborate
old tapestries may be regarded as one of the most fascinating and
interesting parts of it. Indeed, if we except the Great Hall itself,
this is the most remarkable part of the Tudor edifice that remains.
According to an old engraving it was in this chamber that Cardinal
Wolsey entertained the French ambassadors at the sumptuous banquet
referred to earlier.

The tapestries here, representing the Triumphs of Renown, Time, and
Fate, are particularly interesting as they form part of a series
bought by Cardinal Wolsey in 1523 and have been hanging at Hampton
Court for close upon four hundred years. They are old Flemish work,
and should be supplemented by three others if the set were complete.
These wonderful examples of ancient "art needlework" are the more
interesting from the fact of their being links with the original
Palace. It should be remembered to Cromwell's credit that, though they
were duly valued as among the available Crown assets, he refused to
permit