SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



One of the most shameful and sordid acts of 

 the inglorious reign of George I took place in 

 1718, when the patent of Surveyor-General of the 

 Board of Works given to Sir Christopher Wren by 

 Charles II, which he had held with conspicuous 

 success under five different monarchs, was with- 

 drawn on 26 April, to please the Hanoverian 

 favourites of the king, who persuaded him to give 

 the appointment to William Benson, an ignorant 

 and incompetent person, who had succeeded better 

 than the great architect in obtaining and making 

 use of court influence. The pretext for this action 

 was stated to be a desire to effect economy in the 

 public service, that old and most fallacious excuse 

 for showing ingratitude and parsimony to the ser- 

 vants of the Crown." 6 Wren retired to his house 

 on the Green "' and thence wrote a letter to the 

 Lords of the Treasury which is a perfect example 

 of courtesy and forbearance towards his enemies 

 on the part of an upright man unjustly accused." 8 



He had not long to wait for his vindication, 

 for Benson's incapacity and dishonesty very soon 

 became apparent, and he was ignominiously dis- 

 missed from his post, after holding it only for a 

 year." 9 



George I made an ineffectual effort to put down 

 an abuse which had apparently become conspicuous 

 during his reign. People who had no prescriptive 

 right to occupy ' lodgings ' in the palace 78 esta- 

 blished themselves there, on one pretext or 

 another, with the aid, no doubt, of some ' friend 

 at court,' and so acquired a position from which 

 it was afterwards difficult to oust them. 781 This 

 practice had begun even in the time of Henry VIII, 

 and it continued to flourish more or less openly 

 until George III, who never lived in the palace 

 himself, made a strict rule, which was hence- 

 forward enforced, that no one was to occupy rooms 

 without a written authorization from the Lord 

 Chamberlain. 78 ' 



From about 1719 onwards we have no record 

 of any royal visit to Hampton Court until after 

 the accession of George II. His court first went 

 into residence there in July iJzS, 7SS and for the 

 ensuing ten years or so of his reign they came 

 regularly to the palace for some months during 



HAMPTON 



each summer, 734 but the court had entirely lost 

 its early brilliancy. A letter from Mrs. Howard 

 to Lady Hervey says that ' Hampton Court is very 

 different from the place you knew . . . Friztlation, 

 flirtation and dangleation are now no more, and 

 ... to tell you my opinion freely, the people 

 you now converse with (her books) are much more 

 alive than any of your old acquaintance.' 78i No 

 doubt Mrs. Howard suffered more than the rest 

 from the endeavour to ' amuse an unamusable 

 king," 786 besides having to bear with the small 

 indignities the queen liked to inflict upon her as 

 bedchamber woman. The room in the palace 

 where she attended the queen's toilet is much as 

 it was then, though little of the furniture remains. 787 

 Her Majesty's private chapel is next to this room, 

 and prayers were read there by her chaplains 

 while she was being dressed, 788 the door being 

 left slightly open. Lord Hervey has among his 

 Memoirs a curious little drama or dialogue, entitled 

 ' The Death of Lord Hervey, or, A Morning at 

 Court,' which gives an entertaining if not very 

 edifying picture of life and study of conversation 

 at the palace in those days. 799 The only amuse- 

 ment that the king permitted himself or others 

 was stag-hunting and coursing, which went on 

 even in the summer. ' We hunt with great noise 

 and violence, and have every day a very toler- 

 able chance to have a neck broke,' 7M wrote Mrs. 

 Howard on 31 July 1730, from Hampton Court. 

 Her fears were not ill-founded, as is proved by 

 an account in a contemporary newspaper of acci- 

 dents in the hunting field on 25 August 1731, to 

 the Princess Amelia, as well as to one of the pages 

 and a groom. 791 A passing excitement was the 

 scandal caused by the behaviour of Princess Amelia 

 and the Duke of Grafton, who used to hunt two 

 or three times a week, and occasionally separated 

 themselves from their attendants and went off 

 together. The princess was really devoted to 

 hunting, and in defiance of court etiquette used to 

 visit her horses in the royal stables on the Green. 7 " 

 The king and queen generally dined together in 

 public in ' The Public Dining Room,' one of the 

 finest of the state apartments. In the evening the 

 court played cards, 793 or receptions were held, 794 



'"' Cal. Treas. Papers, 1714-19, p. 

 416. Memorial to the Treasury con- 

 cerning the ' abominable cheats so long 

 practised to His Majesty's prejudice," 

 drawn up by Benjamin Benson, the 

 brother of William, and Colin Camp- 

 bell, who was evidently a mere agent of 

 William Benson. 



77" See p. 320. He originally used 

 some rooms in the palace. A little 

 octagonal room on the west side of the 

 Fountain Court with a skylight, and 

 one window, is pointed out as his writ- 

 ing-room ; now private apartments oc- 

 cupied by Mrs. Maxwell, widow of the 

 late Col. Robert Maxwell, R.E. 



<? 8 Cal. Treat. Papers, 1714-19, p. 

 448. 



7" 9 Elmes, Life of Wren, 512. Court 

 influence saved Benson from prosecu- 

 tion, and secured for him another post 

 with a salary of 1,200 per annum. 



7 80 In the reign of William and Mary 



discussions about the rooms allotted 

 often took place ; Buccleugb MSS. (Hist. 

 MSS. Com.), ii, 645-8, &c. 



7 81 George I wrote to the Lord Cham- 

 berlain on 5 May 1719, to require him 

 'not to permit any person to have 

 Lodgings in our palaces of Hampton 

 Court, Windsor, and Kensington, who 

 are not by their offices entitled thereto ' ; 

 Law, op. cit. iii, 232-3. 



78 Ibid. 304. The Lord Chamberlain 

 at first granted permission by letter, and 

 from about 1765 by warrant. 



7 s * George I died on 1 1 June 1727. 



~ 84 Lady Suffolk's Letters, \, 299, 312 ; 

 Elwin and Courthope, Life of Pope, vii, 

 129. 



7 85 Lady Suffolk's Letters, i, 328. 



~ m Hervey, Memoirs, ii, 16 ; Lady 

 Suffolk's Letters, i, 291. 



787 The tall marble bath, which looks 

 as if it had been put up endways by 

 mistake, is still there. 



3 6 7 



788 Q U ccn Anne had the same cus- 

 tom, and once 'ordering the door to be 

 shut while she shifted, the chaplain 

 stopped. The queen sent to ask why 

 he did not proceed. He replied he 

 could not whistle the Word of God 

 through the keyhole." Hervey, Me- 

 moirs, ii, 336, note. 



7 89 Hervey, Memoirs, ii, 333 et seq. 

 (ed. Croker, 1884). 



7 Lady Suffolk's Letters, i, 376. 



7' 1 Cit. Law, op. cit. iii, 241. 



" M Walpole, Reign of Geo. II, i, 157. 

 Walpole also says that 'the good peo- 

 pie at Hampton Court are scandalized 

 at Princess Emily's coming to chapel 

 last Sunday in riding clothes, with a 

 dog under her arm" (June 1752) ; 

 Letters (ed. Toynbee), iii, 101. 



798 * The King plays at commerce and 

 backgammon, and the Queen at quad- 

 rille j' Lady Sundon's Memoirs, ii, 231. 



'>* Ibid, i, 212. 



