to
advance, is the presence chamber. This chamber has been
remodelled, and a large handsome octagonal window
introduced. This produces the best effect, and has rendered
a gloomy room very light and cheerful. The privy chamber,
which forms the eastern end of the great suite that runs
from east to west, parallel to the Mall in the Park, and is,
strictly speaking, the immediate scene of the Court; this is
entirely new from the foundation, and is a continuation of
the old suite of state apartments. The chamber is of noble
dimensions, being nearly 70 feet in length, and having four
windows towards the garden and Park beyond. A magnificent
marble chimney-piece occupies the centre, on the east end.
The anti-drawing-room and the drawing-room, in which little
alteration appears, except in the introduction of splendid
chimney-pieces of statuary marble, taken from the library of
Queen Caroline in the Stable Yard, built by Kent. The
workmanship of these is amazingly fine, and the designs very
rich. The throne is at the upper end of the drawing room No.
5, and from the chimney of the room No. 3, the vista through
the middle doors of the anti-drawing-rooms is about 200
feet!! The_coup d'oeil_ must be indescribably grand, when
all the three apartments are filled with rank and beauty.
The ceilings of the principal rooms, 3, 4, and 5, are coved
upon handsome cornices, carved and gilt. This gives the
apartments a spacious and lofty appearance; and there being
four large windows in each, the whole suite is very
imposing. The rooms are to be fitted with mirrors, and a
noble collection of the royal pictures. Over the chimney in
the drawing-room, Lawrence's splendid portrait of George
IV., surrounded by the fine old carvings of Grinling
Gibbons, of which many are preserved in the Palace, will be
the principal object. In the anti-drawing-room a portrait of
the venerable George III. will occupy a similar station; and
on each side will appear the victories which reflected the
highest lustre on his reign,--Trafalgar and Waterloo. In the
privy chamber, a portrait of Queen Anne will be attended by
the great Marlborough triumphs of Lisle and Tournay,
Blenheim, and other historical pieces. Other spaces will
exhibit a series of royal portraits, from the p