heir rank, or their fame, to entitle them to the honor of being
presented to her majesty. The queen does not receive these visits in
Buckingham Palace, which is the principal place of her residence in
London, but in St. James's Palace, which is an older edifice, formerly
the residence of the royal family, but now, since Buckingham Palace was
built, reserved for official and state purposes and occasions. St.
James's Palace is a large and irregularly-shaped building, of brick. It
has nothing special to distinguish it from the other buildings that
surround it, and which, in fact, some of them, seem to be so connected
with it, by courts, and passages, and wings, and arcades, that it is
difficult to tell where the palace begins or ends. In fact, no one would
suppose that it was a palace at all were it not for the soldiers, in red
uniforms, which are to be seen at all times walking to and fro, or
standing sentry, before their little boxes, at every door and gateway.

Buckingham Palace, on the other hand, is farther out of town. It stands
by itself, on the margin of one of the immense parks for which London is
so famous--or, rather, on the margin of two of them. Before it is St.
James's Park, with its green fields and its winding walks, its groves
and copses of trees and shrubbery, its beds and borders of flowers, and
above all its beautiful little lake, with gayly-painted boats to sail
upon it, and flocks of ducks, and geese, and swans, of every form and
color, swimming in all directions over the surface of the water. On the
side of it is the Green Park--a broad expanse of the smoothest and
richest green, intersected with drives and walks, all crowded with
promenaders. Behind the palace is a large enclosure, which contains the
private gardens of the palace itself. These gardens are planted and
adorned in the most magnificent manner; but they are guarded on every
side by a very high wall, and by a continuous line of trees, which bear
a very dense and lofty mass of foliage, so that the public can never see
what is in them.

Here the queen resides when she is in town, going only to the ancient
palace of St. James to attend meetings of her cabinet council, to hold
drawing rooms and levees, and to be present at other great ceremonies of
state. Whenever occasions occur on which her majesty is expected to
proceed from Buckingham Palace to St. James's, great numbers of people
usually assemble in the streets between to see the royal p