and oak-leaves, from the
middle of which the chandelier is suspended. On either side of this are
two smaller circles, containing the letters G.R. and C.R. intertwined.
The oval does not quite touch the walls of the room, and at either end
there are the letters J.R., surrounded by a semicircular device of
leaves, surmounted by a crown. At each side of the oval are the national
arms. In every one of the four corners is a wreath of roses,
passion-flowers, and fruit in very heavy relief, and the interstices are
filled by guns, arms, and accoutrements. The proportions of the room may
be best understood by the statement that there are three windows at the
end and four at the sides. The walls are all panelled and disfigured by
hideous light pink paint, done, probably, in the same period of taste
when an attempt was made to whitewash the statue of bronze in the court
to make it look like marble! This disfigurement extends even to the
magnificent trophy of arms and accoutrements carved round the great
mirror over the mantelpiece, and, of course, supposed to be the work of
the great Gibbons. The fireplace and mantelpiece are of white marble,
with an inner setting of veined marble. The edges of many of the panels
on the walls are also carved. The magnificent series of pictures give
character and dignity to the room. Occupying almost two-thirds of the
north end is an oil-painting of King Charles I. and his family, by
Vandyck, in 1632. There is a mournful expression on all the faces, even
those of the two small children in the front. On the east wall, on one
side of the fireplace, are large oil-paintings of George III. and his
consort, Caroline, by Allan Ramsay; and on the other a copy of
Winterhalter's picture of Queen Victoria as Empress of India, by Hanson
Walker, R.A.

Between the southern windows are portraits of King James II. and King
Charles II., by Sir Godfrey Kneller and Sir Peter Lely respectively. As
the windows are set very deeply in the walls, the light is bad, and these
magnificent pictures are not seen to advantage. Occupying similar
positions on the west are life-size portraits of George I., by Sir
Godfrey Kneller; George II. and his consort, Caroline, by Enoch Seeman.
Thus the fair, placid Caroline smiles down from the wall not many hundred
yards from the house where she so often came to consult with the potent
Sir Robert Walpole on the affairs of the nation and the liaisons of the
King.

All the pictures in the