GHAM PALACE.

We have been to the queen's country-home at Windsor, and will now visit
her town-house, Buckingham Palace, which is also in St. James Park. Here
stood a plain brick mansion, built in 1703 by the Duke of Buckingham,
and in which was gathered the famous library of George III., which is
now in the British Museum. The house was described as "dull, dowdy, and
decent," but in 1825 it was greatly enlarged and improved, and Queen
Victoria took possession of the new palace in 1837, and has lived there
ever since. Her increasing family necessitated the construction of a
large addition in 1846, and a few years afterwards the Marble Arch,
which till then formed the entrance, was moved from Buckingham Palace to
Hyde Park, and a fine ball-room constructed instead. This palace
contains a gorgeously-decorated throne-room and a fine picture-gallery,
the grand staircase leading up to the state-apartments being of marble.
The gardens of Buckingham Palace cover about forty acres: in them are a
pavilion and an attractive chapel, the latter having been formerly a
conservatory. At the rear of the palace, concealed from view by a high
mound, are the queen's stables or mews, so called because the royal
stables were formerly built in a place used for keeping falcons. In
these stables is the gaudily-decorated state coach, built in 1762 at a
cost of $38,000. Marlborough House, the town-residence of the Prince of
Wales, adjoins St. James Palace, but is not very attractive. It was
originally built for the first Duke of Marlborough, who died in it, and
is said to have been designed by Wren, having afterwards been enlarged
when it became a royal residence.

[Illustration: BUCKINGHAM PALACE, GARDEN FRONT.]

KENSINGTON PALACE.

[Illustration: KENSINGTON PALACE, WEST FRONT.]

Standing on the west side of the Kensington Gardens is the plain,
irregular red brick structure known as Kensington Palace, which was
originally Lord Chancellor Finch's house. William III bought it from his
grandson, and greatly enlarged it. Here died William and Mary, Queen
Anne, and George II., and here Victoria was born. Perhaps the most
interesting recent event that Kensington Palace has witnessed was the
notification to this princess of the death of William IV. He died on the
night of June 19, 1837, and at two o'clock the next morning the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the lord chamberlain set out to announce
the event to the young sovereign. They reached Ken