hes. Several people have told
me that they have come through these last galleries scarce noticing
what was on the walls at all. It is a pity that the rule of having to
pass through the rooms always in one order cannot be maintained only
on Sundays, holidays, and such days as there are crowds, when such
order is necessary for the comfort of all; at other times, when there
are but few people about, it might surely be permissible to enter or
leave the State Rooms by either of the great staircases.

[Illustration: THE WILDERNESS IN SPRING]

Of the riches of art in the Palace this is not the place to speak in
detail, it is only possible to hint at them. Before leaving the
Communication Gallery for the exit staircase there are small rooms to
the left which call for inspection--rooms which not only mark
internally the linking of the original Tudor Palace with the Orange
additions, but which also are traditionally associated with the
builder of the Palace himself, for here is Wolsey's Closet. In the
outer lobby the most interesting object is the drawing (after
Wynegaarde) of Hampton Court Palace as seen from the Thames in 1558.
From this may be noted the extent of building demolished, or masked,
when Wren carried out his work of rebuilding for William the Third.
The Closet is chiefly notable for its beautiful ceiling, its mullioned
window, and its fine linen-fold panelling which, however, though of
old workmanship, has been brought together here from various parts of
the Palace. The room is supposed, from the frieze, to have been at one
time much larger than it now is. In the corner, between fireplace and
window, is a small room, sometimes described as an oratory. Though
other of Wolsey's rooms remain, they are part of the private
apartments of the Palace, and not, of course, accessible to visitors,
and this small Closet and its lobbies is, therefore, worth lingering
over.

During the latter part of a promenade through the State Rooms, as has
been pointed out, we go practically round the four sides of the
Fountain Court, and when descending the stairs and leaving the hall
below them, we find ourselves in the north-western corner of the
Cloisters that surround the Court. Entirely differing from the Tudor
ones, this is the most impressive of all the courts here, with its
cloisters surrounding a quadrangle of greenery in the midst of which a
fountain plays. Whether looked at from the gallery windows, where the
plashing of th