BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON 



constructed ; the whole building now forms a 

 large quadrangle. 



During the residence of George III and 

 Queen Charlotte in June 1763 the Queen per- 

 suaded the King to stay for a few days at St. 

 James's, coming back the night of his birthday 

 (June 6). She led him to a window, and the 

 shutters being thrown back revealed a brilliant 

 illumination contrived by the Queen, the Park 

 being lit up by transparencies, and soft music 

 supplied by an orchestra of fifty members. The 

 King's magnificent library was formed in 1765, 

 by the purchase of Consul Smith's library in 

 Venice, for 130,000. George III greatly 

 added to this nucleus, but directed his librarian 

 never to bid against a scholar or a collector of 

 moderate fortune. This library is now in the 

 British Museum. , Pope describes Buckingham 

 House as a country house in summer, a town 

 house in winter. When the Duke of Bucking- 

 ham described his new house to a friend he 

 wrote : " On one side a wall, covered with roses 

 and jasmines, is low to admit the view of a 

 meadow full of cattle just under it. Beneath the 

 window of the owner's private closet is a wilder- 



37 



