farther end near Kingston Bridge, that Fox saw Oliver Cromwell
just before his fatal seizure, and it was in this Park, it is
believed, that the tripping of his horse over a molehill caused
William the Third's fatal fall. Just across the road bordering the
northern boundary of the Palace grounds lies the great extent of Bushy
Park, with its magnificent chestnut avenue; and mention may be made of
the fact that had King William lived, and Wren's plans been fully
carried out, that avenue would have been the approach to the grand new
Palace front which it was designed to make. As it is we have but such
part of the Tudor palace as the rebuilders allowed to remain, and we
have but such part of the Orange palace as destiny allowed William to
complete.

What we have, however, is a splendid whole, consisting, it may be, of
incongruous parts, yet one that for charm, for beauty generally and in
detail, and for fullness of interest, has but few rivals. Whether we
visit it on some quiet day in winter, or in the time when the grounds
are at their floral best, and when there are many hundreds of people
thronging the galleries and gardens on Sunday afternoons or on popular
holidays, it always gives us the same feeling of satisfaction that
comes of beautiful surroundings. In the smaller courts and in the
shady cloisters may be found in the heat of summer the soothing sense
that is one of the secret charms of haunts of ancient peace.

Cardinal Wolsey built himself a lordly pleasure house, unthinking of
the fickleness of a monarch's favour; Dutch William sought to make of
it a rival to Versailles; and each, though he did not completely
realize his design, may be said to have builded better than he
knew--in providing for succeeding ages a place of beauty "in which the
millions rejoice".

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

_At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland_

Transcriber's Note

Archaic and variable spelling and quoted material is preserved as
printed, as is the author's punctuation style.

Illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not in
the middle of a paragraph.

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