A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



painted, and a ' Bathing Closett ' fitted with a white 

 marble bath.* 50 She also had a dairy in which 

 she took much pleasure. 641 There is something 

 very modern in the picture of her life thus pre- 

 sented. Her chief employments were her con- 

 stant consultations with Wren, 6 " who seems to 

 have found her taste excellent, about the building, 

 superintending the garden, making her botanical 

 collection, 653 and working with her needle. Burnet 

 says 'she wrought with her own hands some- 

 times with so constant a diligence, as if she had 

 been to earn her bread by it.' M4 Specimens of 

 her needlework remained in the palace up to a 

 comparatively recent date.* 54 The queen, inspired 

 no doubt by Lely's paintings of the beauties of the 

 court of Charles II, also started making a gallery 

 of portraits of the ladies of her own court, painted 

 by Sir Godfrey Kneller. 656 When the 'Water 

 Gallery' building was destroyed after Queen 

 Mary's death, because it spoilt the view from the 

 windows of the new palace, these pictures were 

 placed in a room under the king's guard-chamber, 

 known thenceforth as the ' Beauty Room,' and 

 sometimes used by William as a private dining- 

 room. 657 They are now in William the Third's 

 ' Presence Chamber,' with other examples of 

 Kneller's work. 648 



In 1690 William commanded the army in 

 Ireland during the summer, and in 1691-4 he 

 was absent for summer campaigns in the Nether- 

 lands. 659 During these numerous absences Mary 

 was appointed regent, and affairs of State kept her 

 chiefly in London, but she wrote constantly to 

 report the progress of the new building at Hampton 

 Court to the king. 660 The expenses of the war 

 made it difficult to obtain sufficient funds from the 

 Treasury to carry on the work, and Mary wrote 

 on 12 July 1690 that the deficit had become 'so 

 just a debt that it ought to be paid.' WI Wren, 

 in the Parentalia, says that the ' two royal apart- 

 ments ' were not finished till 1694, shortly before 

 Mary's death ; M> they were sufficiently advanced 

 when the king and queen visited them on 

 30 December 1691 for their magnificence to be 

 fully appreciated, 663 but Mary never occupied the 

 apartments in which she had taken such keen 



interest, 664 and William's final alterations and im- 

 provements were not finished till twelve years 

 later. The king's pleasure in the place was much 

 diminished by the loss of his wife, and for some 

 years the work languished, 665 until, in January 1698. 

 the palace of Whitehall was burnt down, and 

 William once more turned his attention to the 

 completion of Hampton Court. 666 He never 

 attempted to rebuild Whitehall." 7 



In 1695 Sir Christopher Wren, who had be- 

 come Grand Master of the Freemasons, initiated 

 William into the mysteries of the order, and the 

 king often presided over a lodge at Hampton Court 

 during the completion of the building. 6 * 8 His 

 apartments were finished and furnished in the style 

 of stately if somewhat heavy splendour characteristic 

 of the period towards the end of 1699 ; on 

 1 1 November he came down to stay for five days,* 69 

 and a further estimate for furnishing and decorating 

 the rooms not included before was laid before 

 him. 670 It may be noted that the ' Queen's State 

 Rooms' were not decorated at all during this 

 reign. 



William returned to the palace directly after the 

 House had risen for Christmas, ' to divert himself 

 during the holydays,' * 71 and refused an audience 

 to the French Ambassador, the Comte de Tallard, 

 on the plea that he 'could not be troubled with 

 business at Hampton Court.' 6 " His diver- 

 sions did not include the long series of balls, 

 banquets and masques which would have taken 

 place in Tudor or Stuart days. He disliked 

 display and ceremonial, 673 but enjoyed superintend- 

 ing the alterations and improvements in the build- 

 ing, and his only other amusement seems to have 

 been hunting or coursing in the parks. On 

 5 January he returned to town.' 74 



Early in 1 700 William was at Hampton Court 

 again, just after what he termed ' the most dismal 

 session ' he had ever experienced. 675 He had given 

 a reluctant consent to the Resumption Bill, 676 and 

 immediately afterwards prorogued Parliament and 

 retired to the palace for about six weeks of strict 

 seclusion, though having lately been reconciled to 

 the Princess Anne he entertained her occasionally 

 at dinner. 677 



050 No doubt one of the inconve- 

 nient contrivances honoured by the 

 name of 'bath' which still exist in the 

 state apartments ; see ' Queen Mary's 

 Closet,' &c. 



651 Defoe, Tour through Gt. Britain 

 (ed. 1738), i, 245 ; Burnet, The Royal 

 Diary (1705), 3. 



*" Wren, Parentalia (ed. 1750), 326. 



853 The catalogues of Mary's botani- 

 cal collection are in B.M. Sloane MSS. 

 no. 2928, 2370-1, 3343. 



!5< Burnet, The R<ya! Diary, (1705), 3. 



455 Aprllcs, Britir.nicus, bk. i, p. 8. 



8!>6 Kneller was knighted and received 

 a medal and chain worth 300 for this 

 service ; Walpole, Anecdotes of Paint- 

 ing. 



657 This room is now known as the 

 'Oak Room,' and is used by the resi- 

 dents in the palace for entertainments. 



618 Law, Royal Gallery of Ham f ton Ct. 

 , et seq. They were originally twelve 



in number, but only eight now remain 

 at Hampton Court. They were en- 

 graved in mezzotint by John Faber, 

 jun. ; Law, Hist. Hampton Ct. Palace, 

 iii, 30, 32 ; Challoner Smith, Brit. 

 Mezzotint Portraits, pt. i, 309 ; Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. ' Godfrey Kneller.' 



859 Diet. Nat. Biog. 'William III.' 



660 Wren, loc. cit. ; Dalrymple, 

 Memoirs of Gt. Brit, and Ireland, pt. ii, 

 App. 14. 



M1 Ibid. App. 139; Aud. Off. De- 

 clared Accts. bdle. 2482, R. 295. 



a Wren, loc. cit. 



648 Luttrell, Relation of Affairs of State, 



> 38. 3H, 584; ' 39, "5- 



644 She died of smallpox at Kensing- 

 ton Palace on 28 Dec. 1694. 



665 Switzer, Ichnografhia Rustica, i, 



75- 



* Ralph, Hitt.Engl.ii, 783. Wren's 

 estimate for fitting up the rooms at 

 Hampton Court is printed in the Dtp, 



360 



Keeper' t Rep. viii, App. ii, 200-1 ; 

 Luttrell, op. cit. iv, 328. 



667 Grimblot, Letter, of Will. Ill, i, 

 1 44 ; Macaulay, Hist. Engl. chap, 

 xxiii. 



668 Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire 

 Universe! du xix 1 Slide, viii, 765. 



869 Lend. Gas. ; Luttrell, op. cit. 

 iv, 583 ; Grimblot, op. cit. ii, 379. 



70 Cal. Treat. Papers, 1697-1702, 

 p. 349 (28 Nov. 1699). 

 "f 1 Luttrell, op. cit. iv, 596-7. 

 W Grimblot, Letters of Will. Ill, ii, 



389- 



"* Luttrell, op. cit. iv, 599. 



7< Land. Gaz. ; Hist. MSS. Com. 

 Rep. xii, App. ii, 393. 



675 Grimblot, op. cit. ii, 398 ; Hist. 

 MSS. Com. Reft, xiv, App. ii, 6 1 8. 



678 Concerning forfeitures and grants 

 of land in Ireland, reported on in Dec. 

 1699. 



677 Luttrell, op. cit. iv, 599. 



