GREENWICH PARK 
ii 5 
Pepys, who always did the right and fashionable 
thing, of course often went to Greenwich, and mentions 
many pleasant days there. On one occasion (June 16, 
1662) he went “in the afternoon with all the children 
by water to Greenwich, where I showed them the King’s 
yacht, the house, and the parke, all very pleasant; and 
to the taverne, and had the musique of the house, and so 
merrily home again.” This excursion having been so 
successful, he soon after escorted Lady Carteret with 
great pride, “ she being very fine, and her page carrying 
up her train, she staying a little at my house, and then 
walked through the garden, and took water, and went 
first on board the King’s pleasure-boat, which pleased her 
much. Then to Greenwiche Parke ; and with much ado 
she was able to walk up to the top of the hill, and so 
down again, and took boat . . .” His wife and servants, 
unencumbered by the fine clothes and the page, had 
evidently not minded the steep ascent as did this “fine ” 
lady, who, however, was “ much pleased with the ramble 
in every particular of it.” 
Greenwich Fair was always a great institution, and as 
a rule it was a riotous and disorderly gathering. Two 
took place each year, in May and October, and lasted 
several days. During the seventeenth and following 
centuries the fairs were notorious, and finally had to be 
suppressed in the middle of the nineteenth. 
When William III. altered the building of Charles II. 
from a palace to a hospital for seamen in 1694 the Park 
was kept separate, and the Ranger lived in the “ Queen’s 
House.” It was not until Princess Sophia held the office 
in 1816 that the residence was changed to the house 
which still goes by the name of the Ranger’s Lodge, and 
was lived in by the last Ranger, Lord Wolseley. This 
