heav'n are cast,
When husbands or when lapdogs breathe their last,
Or when rich china vessels fall'n from high
In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie!"

The Gold Staff Gallery has tragedy as well as comedy in its history,
for at one time the other suite formed out of it--that facing
south--was occupied by Richard Tickell, grandson of that Thomas
Tickell, who, though a poet of some note in his day, is chiefly
remembered from his association with Addison. Richard Tickell, who was
also a poet and political writer, married as his first wife the
beautiful Mary Linley, sister-in-law of Sheridan. On 4 November, 1793,
Tickell--who appears to have been financially embarrassed--threw
himself from the window of one of his rooms here, and was killed
instantly on the gravel path below. Though it was officially decided
at the time--thanks, it is believed, to the influence of
Sheridan--that it was an accidental death, the historians have no
hesitation in describing the tragedy as suicide.

[Illustration: THE LONG WALK]

VII

Fascinating as are the old courts and the galleries with their
magnificent art collections, the grounds which surround the Palace
are, in their way, no less enticing. Indeed, if we might judge by
the thronging crowds in flower time, the gardens form for the majority
of visitors the most attractive part of the place. These gardens,
wonderfully varied and beautifully kept, are not by any means
extensive for so noble a Palace, but they prove an unfailing delight.
They are markedly divisible in character into three portions--the
north where is the Wilderness and Maze; the south where are the Privy
and Pond Gardens, the Great Vine House and Queen Mary's Bower; and the
east--or Great Fountain Garden--with its rich herbaceous border along
the Broad Walk, its level lawns set with great jewels of floral
colour, its compact yews, its radiating walks, its water-lily pond,
and beyond the gleaming stretch of the Long Canal and the tall trees
that border the Park. In all parts of these gardens are to be seen
beauties that delight the eye and linger in the memory, and each of
them successively draws the sightseers.

These gardens have seen many changes during the centuries of the
Palace's history, changes largely from one kind of formality to
another, judging from the plans of them at various times. As I have
said that the majority of visitors enter the Palace precincts by way
of the Western T