GREENWICH PARK 115 



Pepys, who always did the right and fashionable 

 thing, of course often went to Greenwich, and mentions 

 many pleasant days there. On one occasion (June 16, 

 1662) he went "in the afternoon with all the children 

 by water to Greenwich, where I showed them the King's 

 yacht, the house, and the parke, all very pleasant ; and 

 to the taverne, and had the musique of the house, and so 

 merrily home again." This excursion having been so 

 successful, he soon after escorted Lady Carteret with 

 great pride, " she being very fine, and her page carrying 

 up her train, she staying a little at my house, and then 

 walked through the garden, and took water, and went 

 first on board the King's pleasure-boat, which pleased her 

 much. Then to Greenwiche Parke ; and with much ado 

 she was able to walk up to the top of the hill, and so 

 down again, and took boat . . ." His wife and servants, 

 unencumbered by the fine clothes and the page, had 

 evidently not minded the steep ascent as did this "fine " 

 lady, who, however, was " much pleased with the ramble 

 in every particular of it." 



Greenwich Fair was always a great institution, and as 

 a rule it was a riotous and disorderly gathering. Two 

 took place each year, in May and October, and lasted 

 several days. During the seventeenth and following 

 centuries the fairs were notorious, and finally had to be 

 suppressed in the middle of the nineteenth. 



When William III. altered the building of Charles II. 

 from a palace to a hospital for seamen in 1694 the Park 

 was kept separate, and the Ranger lived in the " Queen's 

 House." It was not until Princess Sophia held the office 

 in 1 8 16 that the residence was changed to the house 

 which still goes by the name of the Ranger's Lodge, and 

 was lived in by the last Ranger, Lord Wolseley. This 



