BY WHOM ORIGINALLY BUILT.—THE RESIDENCE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY, HENRY THE EIGHTH, EDWARD THE SIXTH, QUEEN ELIZABETH, AND JAMES THE FIRST.-BANQUETING HOUSE.—WHITEHALL THE RESIDENCE OF CHARLES THE FIRST, CROMWELL, JAMES THE SECOND, AND QUEEN MARY.

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LTHOUGH the ancient Palace of Whitehall, with its

many historical events and romantic associations, has been almost entirely swept away, there still remain sufficient traces of the old building to enable us to link the present with the past. The Cockpit partially exists in the present Treasury; and the beautiful banqueting House still remains, from the windows of which Charles the First passed to the scaffold. The Tilt Yard recalls the time when the open space which still retains its ancient name was alive with armed warriors and streaming pennons, and glittering heralds; and when waving plumes and brilliant eyes looked down from galleries covered with cloth of gold on the stirring scene below. Lastly, the Privy Gardens still point out the site of verdant lawns and shady labyrinths, where Wolsey discussed affairs of state with Cromwell; where Henry toyed

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with the delicate hand of Anne Boleyn; and where Charles the Second gazed on the dazzling beauty of the Duchess of Cleveland, or laid his head in soft dalliance on the lap of la belle Stuart.

Whitehall Palace was originally built by Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent-that proud and powerful noble who, in the days of King John, stood by the side of his royal master on the famous field of Runnymede, and who in the following reign, was dragged an ignominious traitor to the Tower. By De Burgh it was bequeathed to the Convent of the Black Friars in Holborn, in whose church his body found honourable interment. By this religious order it was transferred, in 1248, to Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York; from which period till the fall of Cardinal Wolsey it continued to be the London residence of the prelates of that see, and thence derived its ancient name of York House.

York House appears to have been almost entirely rebuilt by Wolsey. Here, during many years the Cardinal Archbishop resided in a style of regal splendour which has seldom been surpassed even by the most magnificent of our monarchs. According to Storer, in his "Metrical Life of Wolsey,"

"Where fruitful Thames salutes the learned shores

Was this grave prelate and the muses placed,

And by those waves he builded had before
A royal house with learned muses graced,
But by his death imperfect and defaced."

Here Wolsey entertained the learned, the witty, the beautiful, and the gay, and here he accumulated his vast libraries and exquisite picture - galleries. The walls of his apartments were covered with hangings of cloth of gold and tissue, and his tables with velvets, satins, and damasks of

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various hues. Besides the great gallery, which is described as a scene of unparalleled magnificence, there were two other apartments, known as the Gilt and the Council Chamber, in which stood two large tables covered with articles of plate of solid gold, many of them studded with pearls and precious

stones.

The household of this haughty churchman consisted of eight hundred persons, many of whom were knights and noblemen. Among them we find the Earl of Derby and the young Lord Percy, the heir of the great Northumberland family, and famous as the favoured lover of Anne Boleyn. The number of dependents employed in his kitchens and feasted at his board-his heralds, physicians, secretaries, and cofferers-his marshals, purveyors, gentlemen. ushers, and "counsellors learned in the law"-his clerks of the check, of the hanaper, and of the wax-the chaplains who attended him at his meals, and the deans and choristers who ministered in his chapel-comprise such a list of attendants and retainers as no modern court in Europe could surpass. "Of gentleman ushers," writes Stowe, "he had twelve daily waiters, besides one in the privy chamber; and of gentlemen waiters in his privy chamber he had six; of lords, nine or ten, who had each of them two men allowed to attend upon them, except the Earl of Derby, who always was allowed five men. Then had he of gentlemen cupbearers, carvers, servers, both of the privy chamber and of the great chamber, with gentlemen and daily waiters, forty persons; of yeomen ushers, six; of grooms in his chamber, eight; of yeoman in his chamber, forty-five daily. He had also almsmen, sometimes more in number than at other times."

These numerous retainers, it should be observed, were clad in the most magnificent liveries. Even the master

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cook of the Cardinal was dressed in velvet and satin, and wore a chain of gold round his neck. Wolsey himself, whenever he was seen in public, appeared with extraordinary splendour. Over his cardinal's robe, which was of the finest satin and of the richest scarlet dye, he wore a tippet of costly sable. He was the first clergyman in England who wore silk and gold, and this, not only on his person, but on his saddles and the trappings of his horses. His Cardinal's hat was not only borne before him by a person of rank, but even in the King's chapel it was always placed upon the altar. Wolsey himself rode on a mule the trappings of which were of crimson velvet, and the stirrups of silver gilt; while his attendants, consisting of gentlemen and pursuivants-at-arms, were mounted on horses admirably trained and gorgeously caparisoned. Two priests, "the tallest and most comely he could find," immediately preceded him, carrying pondercus silver crosses; the one, the symbol of his being a cardinal, and the other appertaining to his dignity as Archbishop of York.

"The Cardinal's banquets," writes his biographer, Cavendish, "were set forth with masks and mummeries, in so gorgeous a sort and costly manner that it was heaven to behold. There wanted no dames or damsels meet or apt to dance with the maskers, or to garnish the place for the time, with other goodly desports. Then was there all kind of music and harmony set forth, with excellent voices both of men and children. I have seen the King suddenly come in thither in a mask, with a dozen of other maskers, all in garments like shepherds, made of fine cloth of gold, and fine crimson satin paned, and caps of the same; their hair and beards either of fine gold wire, or else of silver, and some being of black silk; having sixteen torch-bearers besides their drums, and other persons attending upon them with vizors, and clothed all in

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satin of the same colours. And at his coming, and before he came into the hall, ye shall understand that he came by water to the water-gate, without any noise: where, against his coming, were laid charged many cannon, and at his landing they were all shot off, which made such a rumble in the air that it was like thunder. It made all the noblemen, ladies, and gentlemen to muse what it should mean coming so suddenly, they sitting quietly at a solemn banquet.

"First, ye shall perceive that the tables were set in the chamber of presence, banquet-wise covered, my Lord Cardinal sitting under the cloth of estate, and there having his service all alone; and then was there set a lady and a nobleman, or a gentleman and gentlewoman, throughout all the tables in the chambers on the one side, which were made and joined as it were but one table. All which order and device was done and devised by the Lord Sands, Lord Chamberlain to the King; and also by Sir Henry Guildford, Comptroller to the King. Then immediately after this great shot of guns, the Cardinal desired the Lord Chamberlain and Comptroller to look what this sudden shot should mean, as though he knew nothing of the matter. They thereupon looking out of the windows into the Thames, returned again, and shewed him that it seemed to them there should be some noblemen and strangers arrived at his bridge, as ambassadors from some foreign prince. With that,' quoth the Cardinal, ‘I shall desire you, because ye can speak French, to take the pains to go down into the hall to encounter and to receive them according to their estates, and to conduct them into this chamber, where they shall see us, and all these noble personages, sitting merrily at our banquet, desiring them to sit down with us, and to take part of our fare and pastime.' Then they went incontinent down into the hall, where they received them with twenty new torches, and conveyed