HAMPTON COURT 51 



deal of discontent by enclosing a vast tract of country south 

 of the river extending as far as Byfleet, and converting it into 

 Hampton Court Chase. This v^as disparked by his successor, 

 but a curious survival still remains, and authority over the 

 game within its limits to this day is nominally vested in the 

 Crown. The palace was nearly doubled in size during Henry's 

 reign, but little further building was done till William and 

 Mary came to the throne. 



In Tudor and Stuart times Christmas was observed with 

 great rejoicing and festivity. Elaborate and sumptuous 

 masques were performed, and profuse hospitality was extended 

 to numberless guests of royalty. Mary celebrated Christmas 

 of 1558 at Hampton Court, and Elizabeth on several occasions 

 held hers in the same palace. " Good Queen Bess " seems to 

 have been very fond of Hampton Court, notwithstanding the 

 fact that she had been a prisoner here for a short time in her 

 sister's reign. She evidently took much interest in the gardens, 

 for they were not only well kept up and improved by her, but 

 she is known to have daily walked in them during her times 

 of residence in the palace. She seems to have been rather 

 given to making the Private Garden a place for specially secret 

 interviews of state, and still more for confidential conferences 

 of a very personal kind. For in addition to receiving the 

 Earl of Arran (as related before), she met the envoy of another 

 suitor, Hans Casimir, eldest son of the Elector Palatine, in her 

 garden. This was Melville, diplomatic agent to Mary Queen 

 of Scots. He had been on a visit to the Elector's Court, and 

 on his returning home, in 1564, he was asked by the Duke to 

 convey his portrait to the Virgin Queen during his passage 

 through England. After seeing Duke Casimir's picture (and 

 those of the rest of his family which the ever cautious Melville 

 also showed to give the affair an accidental appearance), the 

 Queen appointed a meeting in the garden. She then, in the 

 words of Melville himself, " delivered all unto me, giving me 

 thanks for the sight of them. I offered unto her Majesty all 

 of the pictures, so she would let me have the old elector's and 

 his lady's, but she would have none of them. I had also sure 



