The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Volume 14, No. 385, Saturday, August 15, 1829.

Author: Various

Release Date: March 5, 2004 [EBook #11455]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. XIV, NO. 385.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1829. [PRICE 2d.

HAMPTON COURT.

[Illustration: Hampton Court]

Here is a bird's-eye view of a royal palace and domain "cut out in
little stars." It is copied from one of Kipp's Views in Great Britain
in the time of Queen Anne, and affords a correct idea of Hampton Court
in all its olden splendour.

The palace is situated on the north bank of the Thames, two miles west
from Kingston. It was magnificently built by Cardinal Wolsey. After he
became possessed of the lease of the manor of Hampton, "he bestowed,"
says Stow, "great cost of building upon it, converting the
mansion-house into so stately a palace, that it is said to have
excited much envy; to avoid which, in the year 1526, he gave it to the
king, who in recompense thereof licensed him to lie in his manor of
Richmond at his pleasure; and so he lay there at certain times;" but
it appears that Wolsey after this occasionally inhabited the palace
(perhaps as keeper;) for in 1527, when some French ambassadors were
in England, the king sent them to be entertained by the Cardinal at
Hampton Court. The preparations for this purpose are detailed in a
MS. copy of Cavendish's _Life of Wolsey_, in the British Museum, and
afford the reader some idea of the magnificent taste of the prelate in
matters of state and show. The Cardinal was commanded to receive the
ambassadors with surpassing splendour; then "my Lord Cardinal sent
me (Mr. Cavendish) being his gentleman usher, with two other of my
fellows thither, to foresee all things touching our rooms to be nobly
garnished"--"accordingly our pains were not small nor