table (or picture) of the Epiphany of
our Lord."[113]

But notwithstanding this apparent meagreness of accommodation, luxury
in architecture was making rapid strides in the land. Wolsey was as
magnificent in this taste as in others, as Hampton Court, "a
residence," says Grotius, "befitting rather a god than a king," yet
remains to attest. The walls of his chambers at York Place,
(Whitehall,) were hung with cloth of gold, and tapestry still more
precious, representing the most remarkable events in sacred
history--for the easel was then subordinate to the loom.

The subjects of the tapestry in York Place consisted, we are told, of
triumphs, probably Roman; the story of Absalom, bordered with the
cardinal's arms; the Petition of Esther, and the Honouring of
Mordecai; the History of Sampson, bordered with the cardinal's arms;
the History of Solomon; the History of Susannah and the Elders,
bordered with the cardinal's arms; the History of Jacob, also
bordered; Holofernes and Judith, bordered; the Story of Joseph, of
David, of St. John the Baptist; the History of the Virgin; the Passion
of Christ; the Worthies; the Story of Nebuchadnezzar; a Pilgrimage;
all bordered.

This place--Whitehall--Henry decorated magnificently; erected splendid
gateways, and threw a gallery across to the Park, where he erected a
tilt-yard, with all royal and courtly appurtenances, and converted the
whole into a royal manor. This was not until after fire had ravaged
the ancient, time-honoured, and kingly palace of Westminster, a place
which perhaps was the most truly regal of any which England ever
beheld. Recorded as a royal residence as early--almost--as there is
record of the existence of our venerable abbey; inhabited by Knute the
Dane; rebuilt by Edward the Confessor; remodelled by Henry the Third;
receiving lustre from the residence, and ever-added splendour from
the liberality of a long line of illustrious monarchs, it had obtained
a hold on the mind which is even yet not passed away, although the
ravages of time, and of fire, and the desecrations of subsequent ages,
have scarcely left stone or token of the original structure.

After the fire, however, Henry forsook it. He it was who first built
St. James's Palace on the site of an hospital which had formerly stood
there. He also possessed, amongst other royal retreats, Havering
Bower, so called from the legend of St. Edward receiving a ring from
St. John the Evangelist on this spot by t