A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



Court, when the bishops and other clergy of the 

 Church of England and some of the great divines 

 of the Puritan party were appointed to discuss the 

 questions at issue. Those present for the Church 

 were Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, the 

 Bishops of London, Durham, Winchester, Wor- 

 cester, St. David's, Chichester, Carlisle, and Peter- 

 borough, the Deans of the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's, 

 Chester, Salisbury, Gloucester, Worcester, and 

 Windsor, the Archdeacon of Nottingham and Dr. 

 Field for the Puritans Dr. John Reynolds and 



HAMPTON COURT PALACE : 

 THE HALL, LOOKING TOWARDS THE SCREENS 



Dr. Thomas Sparks of Oxford ; Mr. Chaddeston 

 and Mr. Knewstubs, of Cambridge. 44 * It is not 

 proposed here to do more than mention the fact 

 that the Hampton Court conference took place in 

 January 1603-4, an< ^ tnat a nrst meeting 444 was 

 held on Saturday 1 4-th in the king's privy cham- 

 ber, 445 one of the large rooms built by Henry VIII 

 on the east side of the Clock Court, which was 

 altered in the reign of George II. The Puritans 

 did not attend this meeting, but the conference 

 met formally on the following Monday and 

 Wednesday, and James's 

 theological learning re- 

 ceived the approbation 

 and support of the 

 bishops ; though the Puri- 

 tan party can hardly have 

 appreciated the forcible 

 style of his language. 44 ' 

 James was pleased with 

 the opportunity to dis- 

 play his own erudition, 

 and wrote to a friend in 

 Scotland, ' I have pep- 

 pered thaime soundlie.' 

 One effect of the confer- 

 ence at the time was no 

 doubt to emphasize the 

 hostility which developed 

 later into the Great Re- 

 bellion. 



The most lasting con- 

 sequence was that the 

 decision to make a new 

 translation of the Bible 

 gave the nation the 'Au- 

 thorized Version.' *" 



For eight or nine 

 months in 1604 Henry 

 Prince of Wales with 

 his tutors and house- 

 hold remained at the 

 palace, and there are 

 accounts of his skill at 

 tennis and his prowess 

 in hunting while he was 

 there. 418 From this time 



forth the king came to 

 Hampton Court always 

 in the autumn, the time 

 when it is generally con- 

 sidered that the Thames 

 Valley is at its worst ; 

 but he was also there for 



448 Meal, Hist. Puritans, it, 10. 



444 A private meeting between the 

 kin? and the bishops was held the day 

 before. 



445 The chapel was first suggested as 

 a meeting place. 



446 In a letter from an eye-witness, 

 Sir John Harrington, he says that ' the 

 King talked much Latin and disputed 

 with Dr. Reynolds, but he rather used 

 upbraidings than arguments. The 

 bishops seemed much pleased, and said 

 His Majesty spoke by the spirit of in- 



spiration. I wist not what they mean, 

 but the spirit was rather foul-mouthed.' 

 Nugoe Antiquae, i, 181 , ' Harrington's 

 Breefe Notes.' 



44 7 Barlow, Sum and Substance of the 

 Conference (1603) (reprinted in the 

 Phoenix) ; Whitgift, App, of Rec. Bk. 

 iv, no. xlv ; Dodd, Church Hist, iv, 2 1 ; 

 Fuller, Church Hist, x, 267 ; Gardiner, 

 Hist, Engl. vols. i-v ; Diet. Nat. Biog. 

 'James I'; Hist. AfSS. Com. Ref. iv, 

 App. 418, 'Emmanuel Coll. Cam- 

 bridge.' 



348 



443 Birch, Mem. of Prince Htnry, 75, 

 ciL Law, op. cit. ii, 47. There is a 

 curious picture at Hampton Court of 

 Henry Prince of Wales and the Earl of 

 Essex. The prince (aged eleven years) 

 is drawing his sword to cut the throat 

 of a stag which Essex is holding. It is 

 said that on one occasion when they 

 were playing tennis together Essex 

 threatened to strike the prince across 

 the face with his racket for calling him 

 the ton of a traitor ; Secret Hist, of 

 Jai. I, i, 266. 



