A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



to these gentlemen that Sir W. Withers and 

 some others went away before dinner. . . . The 

 Duke of Somerset came to Court on Friday night, 

 had a long audience and a very rough one on his 

 part, and went away on Monday.' 7! 



Swift came to Hampton Court once or twice 

 while the queen was there, the first time on 

 2 October to dine with Lord Halifax at his ' lodg- 

 ings,' in the highest story of the south side of the 

 Fountain Court, overlooking the private gardens.'** 

 He went to the queen's drawing-room afterwards, 

 where he met ' acquaintance enough.' " On 

 another occasion he described his visit as follows : 

 ' We made our bows, and stood, about twenty of 

 us, round the room, while the Queen looked at us 

 with her fan in her mouth, and once in a minute 

 said about three words to some that were nearest 

 to her. I dined at Her Majesty's Board of Green 

 Cloth. It is much the best table in England, and 

 costs the Queen 1,000 a month while she is at 

 Windsor or Hampton Court, and is the only mark 

 of magnificence or royal hospitality that I can see 

 in the Royal household.' 74 The queen again 

 held councils in the palace in October and No- 

 vember lyio. 741 In November she also held a 

 chapter of the order of the Garter before she 

 returned to London. After Christmas she came 

 back to Hampton Court for some days. 7 " She had 

 drives, or ' chaise rides,' made for herself in the 

 parks at this time, and Swift said that she hunted 

 in a chaise with one horse, ' which she drives 

 furiously, like Jehu.' He also said that on another 

 occasion she hunted the stag till 4 o'clock in 

 the afternoon, and drove in her chaise no less than 

 40 miles. 7 " 



A trivial incident which took place at Hampton 

 Court about this time will always be remembered, 

 as it led to the composition of Pope's famous 

 poem ' The Rape of the Lock.' 744 The queen 

 entertained the envoys of the King of France at 

 the palace in the autumn of 1711, and also an 

 ambassador from ' the Czar of Muscovy.' 746 Swift 

 complained of the difficulties of going there him- 

 self, ' they have no lodgings for me the town is 

 small, chargeable and inconvenient.' 746 By ' the 

 town ' he meant the few houses which then existed 

 near the palace. 747 That year Anne stayed at 

 Hampton Court longer than usual : she received the 

 Duke of Marlborough there on his return from 

 abroad on 1 8 November, 748 and from there on 

 I 3 November she issued the proclamation by which 

 she hoped to reform ' the indecencies and dis- 

 orders of the stage.' 749 No further occurrence 



of any importance took place at Hampton Court 

 up to the time of Anne's death in 1714. 



George I arrived at the palace about nine 

 months after his accession, and finding it more to his 

 taste than his other English palaces, lived there in 

 great retirement, with Madame Schulenberg (after- 

 wards Duchess of Kendal) and Mme. Kilmansegg 

 (afterwards Countess of Darlington and Leinster). 

 These ladies added considerably to George's un- 

 popularity with his subjects. One reminiscence of 

 them possibly remains at Hampton Court in the 

 name of the ' Frog Walk,' under the west wall of 

 the Tilt Yard, where it is said that they used to 

 promenade, whence it was designated the ' Frau,' 

 afterwards corrupted to ' Frog ', Walk. 7 " 



In 1716 the Prince of Wales was appointed 

 Regent during his father's absence in Hanover, and 

 was allowed to live at Hampton Court in the suite 

 of apartments still known as ' the Queen's State 

 Rooms,' on the east side of the palace. The 

 prince and princess endeavoured to hold a court 

 which should contrast with the dull and stiff for- 

 mality which was the king's idea of regal dignity. 

 It was probably Caroline who encouraged the 

 world of wit and learning as well as that of birth 

 and beauty, to come to Hampton Court. The 

 reminiscences of Walpole and Swift, the poems of 

 Pope and Gay, which commemorate this epoch 

 in the history of the palace are too well known for 

 it to be necessary to quote them in this limited 

 space. It will be enough to mention a few of 

 the more famous frequenters of this young court, 

 where gaiety and amusement reigned as it never 

 seems to have done when George and Caroline 

 came back as king and queen for the last of the 

 regal courts destined to be held in the palace. 



The most famous of the wits who thus made the 

 court brilliant was Philip Dormer, fourth Earl of 

 Chesterfield, who had been appointed Gentleman 

 of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales, though 

 he cannot be numbered among the beauties ; Lord 

 Hervey called him 'a stunted giant.' 751 Carr, 

 Lord Hervey, was also among the wits. He was 

 said to be a cleverer man than his better-known 

 brother John, who succeeded to the title, and was 

 afterwards celebrated as the friend of Queen Caro- 

 line and of Sir Robert Walpole. 7 " He began his 

 career at court while the prince and princess were 

 at the palace, and no doubt then began also his 

 courtship of the princess's beautiful and vivacious 

 maid of honour, Mary Lepell, whose praises were 

 sung by all her contemporaries, including Pope 

 and Gay, Pulteney and Chesterfield. Even Vol- 



W Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. 

 ii, 223. It is not said that Somerset 

 had come to expostulate with the queen 

 on her action, though it is implied. 



"* Now private apartments, occupied 

 by the Dowager Lady Napier of Mag- 

 dala, widow of the late Field Marshal 

 Lord Napier of Magdala, G.C.B., &c. 



<* Journ. to Stella, 2 Oct. 1710. 



7< Ibid, g Aug. 1711. 



"" Luttrell, op. cit. vi, 640. 



7 Ibid, vi, 667. 



'* Journ. to Stella, 31 Juljr, 7 Aug. 

 1711. 



W Law, op. cit. iii, 193, where a 

 full account is given of the incident, 

 when Lord Petre cut off a lock of Miss 

 Fermor's hair ; Elwin, Pope's (forks, ii, 



1+5. 



f LonJ. Gax. 



" Journ. to Stella, 8, 14, 25 Oct. 

 1711. 



<*1 Even in the present overcrowded 

 days it can hardly be described as a 

 'town.* 



'* Swift, op. cit. 15, 22 Nov. 1711. 



74> LonJ. Can. 13 Nov. 1711. 



7H Law, op. cit. iii, 20;. It is pos- 



sible that the Frauen who gave it this 

 name were the ladies in attendance on 

 the wife of the Stadtholder of Holland, 

 who took refuge at Hampton Court in 



'795- 



7 s1 Born 1694, died 1773, the famous 

 Lord Chesterfield, wit, politician, and 

 letter-writer. 



~ 5a Hervey, Memoiri, i, 266. He 

 said that he entertained the queen at 

 Hampton Court while 'other people 

 were entertaining themselves with 

 hearing dogs bark and seeing horses 

 gallon.' 



364 



