ds, and the funny little hillocks with
delightful little pagoda-like cottages nestling amongst them, and many
and various little animals which seem to keep perpetual holiday under
the everlasting blooms. The designs are taken bodily from the
historical hangings of the later seventeenth century. After the
abdication and flight of James II. to St. Germains, his daughter Mary
came over with her Dutch husband, William the Stadtholder--or, rather,
William came over and brought his wife, the daughter of the late king,
for William had no intention of assuming the style and life of Prince
Consort, but came well to the front, and kept there. It was not
"VICTORIA _and Albert_" in those days, but WILLIAM and MARY, who ruled
England, and ruled it well. William III. must have been a man of strong
personality, and he managed to quell all the rebellions of his reign,
and during the time he ruled over us the country settled down to a
peaceful state that has remained to the present time.

Queen Mary had quite sufficient employment in settling herself and her
household, and generally managing the domestic matters pertaining to the
new kingdom she had come into. She apparently had a very free hand in
rebuilding Hampton Court, which she particularly made her home,
absolutely pulling the interior down, and rebuilding and redecorating it
according to her own taste, which was not that of the Stuart persuasion
with its gorgeous magnificence, but the more homely and solid Dutch.
Very little of the original Hampton Court _interior_, built and
furnished by Cardinal Wolsey, exists. Just here and there we find
delightfully dark little dens with the original linen-fold panellings
and ceilings that are a ravishment to look upon; but mostly the rooms
are high, plain-panelled, and with the quaint ingle-nook fireplaces,
with shelves above, upon which Mary placed her lovely "blue and white"
porcelain which had been brought to her by the Dutch merchants who at
that time were the great traders of the sea.

[Illustration: ENLARGEMENT OF "JACOBEAN" SPRAY.

(_S.K.M. Collection._)]

Queen Mary ought to be regarded as the patron saint of English
needlewomen. She was happiest when employed furnishing every
bed-covering, every chair and stool, and supplying the hangings for her
favourite home. It is said that she spent her days over her embroidery
frame, knowing full well that affairs of State were in the capable hands
of her husband.

There are few relics