d a theatre
erected here, in which it was intended that two plays should be
acted weekly during the stay of the Court; but only seven plays were
performed in it by the Drury Lane company,[6] and one afterwards
before the

[1] An obsolete French term of salutation, abridged from _Bon prou
vous_, i.e. much good may it do you.

[2] Stow's Annals.

[3] Fuller's Church History.

[4] Rymer's Foedera.

[5] Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.

[6] Cibber tells us that the expenses of each play were L50. and
the players were allowed the same sum. The King likewise gave the
managers L200. more, for all the performances. For the last
play, the actors received L100. One of the plays acted here was
Shakspeare's Henry VIII--thus making the palace the scene of
Wolseys downfall, as it had been of his splendour.

Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Emperor of Germany. The theatrical
appurtenances were not, however, removed till the year 1798. Adjoining
the hall is the Board of Green Cloth Room, of nearly the same date,
and hung with fine tapestry.

The eastern quadrangle, or Fountain Court, erected by Sir Christopher
Wren for King William, in 1690, is 100 feet by 177 feet 3 inches. Here
is the King's Gallery, 117 feet by 23 feet 6 inches, which was fitted
up for the Cartoons of Raphael. On the eastern side of the court is
a room in which George I. and George II. frequently dined in public.
North-west of the Fountain Court stands the chapel, which forms the
southern side of the quadrangle; this was partly built by Wolsey, and
was finished by Henry VIII. in 1536, or 1537. The windows were of
beautifully stained glass, and the walls decorated with paintings, but
these embellishments were demolished in the troublous times of 1745.
The chapel was, however, restored by Queen Anne; the floor is of black
and white marble, the pews are of Norway oak, and there is some fine
carving by Gibbons; the roof is plain Gothic with pendent ornaments.

It is hardly possible for us, within the limits of our columns to do
justice to the magnificence of Hampton Court. The grand facade towards
the garden extends 330 feet, and that towards the Thames 328 feet. The
portico and colonnade, of duplicated pillars of the Ionic order, at
the grand entrance, and indeed, the general design of the elevations,
are in splendid style. On the south side of the palace is the privy
garden, which was sunk ten feet, to o