HAMPTON COURT 53 



sure gardens, also, are very beautiful here as everywhere, and 

 laid out in the best manner." 



During the reigns of Charles I. and II., Hampton Court 

 was frequently the residence of the King for retirement, for 

 the reception of distinguished foreign personages, or for 

 avoidance of the plague. A few months after his accession 

 Charles I. spent his honeymoon here ; and some twelve years 

 later he gave orders to improve and further embellish the 

 gardens. Classical and renaissance statues were added to those 

 already there, and other work projected which would doubtless 

 have been carried out had not the Civil War put a stop to all 

 such amenities. About this time Charles gave much offence 

 by attempting to do what even Henry VIII. had barely suc- 

 ceeded in effecting. A large extent of country between the 

 two palaces of Hampton Court and Richmond was walled in 

 for a hunting park before owners of the land had consented to 

 give up their holdings. By strong advice of Archbishop 

 Laud, the King reluctantly gave way, and the second attempt 

 to create a new forest failed. 



John Evelyn, the famous diarist of the seventeenth century, 

 records a visit to Hampton Court on October 10, 1647, 

 " where I had the honour to kisse his Majesty's hand, and 

 give him an account of severall things I had in charge, he 

 being now in the power of those execrable villains who not 

 long after murdered him." As Evelyn had only just returned 

 from France, where the King's wife and children had gone 

 for safety, the extreme interest of this interview, both from 

 the domestic and political points of view, can be imagined. 

 In happier times the children of Charles had been frequently 

 at Hampton Court ; for there is a large and ancient oak in 

 the home park under which tradition says they often used 

 to play. Exactly one month after Evelyn's visit, Charles 

 made his ill-advised escape by way of the Privy Garden and 

 old Water-gallery. From here he crossed the Thames, made 

 his way to the coast, and eventually gave himself up at Caris- 

 brook. Fourteen months later he was beheaded. 



During the Commonwealth an attempt was made to sell 



