128 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



the genius of Inigo Jones in his ambitious project. 

 The Banqueting Hall is the sole sign of this would- 

 be magnificent Palace of Whitehall, which certainly, 

 if it had been built, would have rivalled the most 

 gorgeous palaces of the world. But it existed only 

 on paper. The empty exchequer and the fatal Civil 

 Wars in Charles I.'s reign finally put an end to all 

 idea of the building of this palace, and the splendid 

 designs have remained till now in a portfolio. King 

 James having determined to carry out a part at 

 least of Inigo Jones's plan, the first stone of the 

 Banqueting Hall was laid in 1619. It was finished 

 in two years, being much admired for its elegance 

 and proportion ''hardly inferior to the best work of 

 the Italian masters." 



Strange irony of fate, that Inigo Jones should 

 live to see his second " Royal Master step out of 

 his own Banqueting Hall at Whitehall on to the 

 scaffold to his death." 



The quarrel of Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones is 

 one that often results from very ordinary people 

 working together, and it is not at all surprising 

 that it occurred between these two men of genius. 

 Each considered the other the lesser star, and 

 neither wished to be subservient to the other. 

 The poet desired the chief glory for himself; in 

 his introduction to the " Hymenaei" he writes : "It 

 is a noble and just advantage that the things sub- 

 jected to understanding have of those which are 



