groups of trees adorning, at irregular 'distances, beautifully swelling lawns; while retired walks led to the recesses of the miniature woods; and the bank beside the margin of the Thames was judiciously varied, forming a noble terrace, which extended the whole length of the gardens. In this park also was a Lodge (rebuilt, in 1707, by James, Duke of Ormond, who resided in it till his impeachment in 1 715), to which Queen Caroline, consort to George II., was very partial, and had here a dairy and a menagerie. Several ornamental buildings were also dispersed about the gardens; in one of which, called Merlin's Cave, were some curious figures in wax; and in another, called the Hermitage, the busts of Newton, Locke, and other literary characters. His present Majesty frequently resided here in the early part of his reign, and procured its settlement upon his royal consort, the late queen, for the term of her natural life, in case she should survive him. The building was taken down about forty-five years ago, when it was intended to build a palace on its site; the foundations being laid, and arches turned for that purpose. At present, an elegantly simple Cottage, in a sequestered spot, attests the taste. of her late Majesty, who was particularly attached to it, The gardens are open to the public every Sunday, from Midsummer till the end of Autumn.

Near the site of the Lodge stands the Observatory, built by Sir William Chambers for his present Majesty in 1768 and 1769; under the direction, for the astronomical part, of the late Dr. Demainbray. Among the fine set of instruments is a mural arch of 140 degrees and eight feet radius, a zenith sector of twelve feet, a transit instrument of eight feet, and a ten feet reflector by Herschell. On the top of the building is a moveable dome, which contains an equatorial instrument. Here is also a collection of subjects in natural history, an excellent apparatus for philosophical experiments, some models,

and a collection of ores from his Majesty's mines in the forest of Hartz, Germany.

About the year 1800, the king conceiving the idea of erecting the royal palace described under the head of Kew, the lane which formerly separated the grounds of Richmond from those of Kew was stopped up, and the whole laid together. On this occasion, his Majesty gave up to the parish all his right in the common called Pesthouse Common, and at his own expense built a workhouse for the poor. And about a quarter of a mile northwest of old Richmond Palace, of which we are about to speak, stood a hamlet called West Sheen, consisting of eighteen houses, which were all taken down in 1769, and the site, being converted into a lawn, added to the king's enclosures.

Henry V. re-built the Royal Palace formerly existing at Richmond, in such a manner, as we collect from one of his biographers, as to render it a "delightful mansion, of curious and costly workmanship, and befitting the character and condition of a king*." Previously to the reign of this prince, it had lain for some time in a ruinous condition; and though mention is made in history of a palace here, in which preceding sovereigns had resided, it is very reasonably doubted whether the structure had ever deserved that name; though some have affirmed, that the ancient appellation of Richmond, Shene, which in Saxon signifies brightness, originated in the splendour of this royal abode. But, however this were, Edwards I. and II. appear to have been at least occasional residents in the building; and here died Edward III. of grief for the loss of his heroic son, the celebrated Black Prince. The death of Anne, queen to Richard II., who first taught the English ladies the use of the side-saddle (they having previously rode astride), also occurred at

* Elmham, Vit. Hen. V. c. 13.

this residence; and Richard is said to have been so affected at her decease, that he not only deserted, but defaced the palace; from which, agreeably to this tale, arose the necessity for the splendid reparations made by Henry V. At the palace, as erected by the last-named sovereign, Henry VII. held a grand tournament in 1492, where Sir James Parker, in a controversy with Hugh Vaughan, for a right of coat armour, was killed in the first course. On the 21st of December, 1498, this king being here, the structure was destroyed by a fire which broke out at nine in the evening, and continuing till midnight, entirely consumed it, together with the furniture, apparel, plate, and jewels. Henry, who was much attached to the situation, re-edified it in 1501, and in a style of much Gothic magnificence and elegance and on this occasion it was, that he changed the name of the place, hitherto called Shene, to Richmond, after his title previous to his accession to the throne. This monarch died here on the 22nd of April, 1509. The picture of himself and family, in the collection at Strawberry Hill, was an altar-piece belonging to the chapel here. The building had not been long completed, when a second fire broke out in 1506, and did considerable damage; and the same year a new gallery fell down, in which the king, and the prince his son, had been walking but a few minutes before. Three years before the death of Henry, as above mentioned, he had here magnificently entertained Philip I. of Spain, when driven by a storm upon the English coast and it was here also, that Henry VIII. his successor, kept his Christmas the first year after he came to the throne, and held a tournament, when he, for the first time, took a part in exercises of that kind. Some few of the public instruments of Mary and Elizabeth are dated from Richmond; and with the latter, though she was once imprisoned in this palace by her sister, it was a favourite residence. As if to render Richmond-palace

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noted for the decease of royalty, this queen also here closed her illustrious career.

In a survey of Richmond-palace, taken by order of the House of Commons, in 1649 (the original of which is deposited in the Augmentation Office, and printed in the second volume of the Monumenta Vetusta of the Society of Antiquaries, with two views, Pl. xxiii. xxiv.), a very minute description is given of it as it then existed. Amongst other particulars, mention is made of a hall, an hundred feet long, and forty wide; a chapel, ninetysix feet long, and forty wide, with stalls, as in a cathedral; an open gallery, adjoining to the privy garden, two hundred feet long, having a close one of the same length over it. A French writer* mentions also a library that was established here by Henry VII.; and in an household establishment of Queen Mary, still preserved in Dulwich College, the librarian is reckoned among the officers of the palace, with a fee of ten pounds. a year; but of this no notice is taken in the survey.

At the period when this once noble structure was restored to its royal owners, it was probably in a very ruinous condition. Fuller †, indeed, who wrote about that time, speaks of it as absolutely pulled down; but this could not be the case, if, as it is said, it was for some time occupied by James II. The few existing remains have been converted into houses, let on lease from the crown, and now the residences of Sir David Dundas, and Mr. Julius, in whose garden still exists a yew tree mentioned in the parliamentary survey. Another mansion, immediately facing the Thames, formerly the abode of the late Countess Dowager of Northampton, was purchased by the late Duke of Queensberry, and bequeathed

Mons. L. J. Chalonais, a Carmelite, in his Traicte de plus belles Bibliotheques, published in 1644. Vide Aubrey's Surrey, p. 341. † Worthies, Part III. p. 78.

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