LAMBETH PALACE 



No longer does "the river of Thames," as Stowe quaintly calls it, 

 wash any part of their walls, nor do the gardens themselves slope to 

 its banks. The groves where nightingales sang, are covered now 

 by the wards of a great hospital, and the benevolent Archbishop 

 makes some of its inmates free of his green lawns and shady walks, 

 for the nurses from St. Thomas's play tennis on the turf, or recline 

 on chairs beneath the trees. 



Many are the garden parties for both rich and poor given at 

 Lambeth in the piping times of peace. The humblest, as well 

 as the highest in the land, find generous entertainment there, 

 though the character of that entertainment has entirely changed 

 since Archbishops Parker and Whitgift made Queen Elizabeth 

 welcome within their walls. Of course there are many al-jresco 

 gatherings, where the ecclesiastical soft hat, gaiters, and even 

 apron, are much in evidence. It was of one of these parties that 

 a story is told that I may be pardoned for introducing here, for 

 it may raise a smile at the close of this chapter, and the history of 

 Lambeth of which I have had the telling, has hitherto contained 

 much of gravity, and nothing of mirth. 



Having so far tried to be accurate in matter of dates, I will 

 now merely say that once upon a time, probably at the end of 

 the last century, there was a garden fete at Lambeth, on an occa- 

 sion which drew together a concourse of newly-ordained young 

 clergymen. 



It was a lovely afternoon, and all went well and gaily, until 

 the time for tea and strawberries. Then His Grace's pet parrot 

 escaped, and flew into the garden. Dear me ! It almost seemed 

 that an ecclesiastical parrot breaking bounds is as great a delin- 

 quent as was the Jackdaw of Rheims of Ingoldsby fame, so in- 

 tense was the excitement, so tremendous the hullabaloo ! The 

 ladies put down their tea-cups, and waved their parasols at him, 

 and called out " Pretty Poll ! " enticingly. The gentlemen 

 followed him from bush to bush, and from tree to tree. They 

 tempted him with sugar and strawberries, and everything to which 

 a pampered bird, brought up in a palace, might be supposed to 

 be partial. But the parrot, having newly tasted the greater sweets 

 of liberty, was not to be lightly won. No mind had he at present 

 to return to his gilded cage. He resisted both blandishments and 

 threats, and, moreover, he behaved reprehensibly ; for aggravatingly 



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