To entertain the Sovereign and the Court the houses were necessarily large, indeed we shall not be far wrong in attributing the enormous size of the largest--such places as Holdenby, Theobalds, and Audley End--to the express intention of providing suitable accommodation for Elizabeth and James. Sir Christopher Hatton, in a letter to Sir Thomas Heneage, in 1580, talks of Holdenby being dedicated to "that holy Saint," meaning the Queen; and Lord Burghley, in writing to Hatton about Holdenby and Theobalds, says "God send us both long to enjoy Her, for whom we both meant to exceed our purses in these."[20] In another letter (August 14th, 1585) he says, "My house at Theobalds was begun by me with a mean measure, but increased by occasions of her Majesty's often coming."[21] These mansions may be regarded almost in the light of large hotels, with certain common apartments for the guests, a large kitchen department, and a vast number of rooms arranged in groups of two or three. Although notice of the sovereign's intended visit was usually given, it was not considered necessary for less exalted people to send word. When James's queen was journeying towards London from Scotland, a certain Lady Anne Clifford hurried with her mother to meet her. The lady describes her journey, and how they went without notice to a large house in Bedfordshire.[22] She says that having killed three horses that day--it was midsummer--with extreme heat, they came to Wrest, my Lord of Kent's house, "where we found the doors shut, and none in the house but one servant, who only had the keys of the hall, so that we were enforced to lie in the hall all night, till towards morning, at which time came a man and let us into the higher rooms, where we slept three or four hours." This artless account quite casually illustrates the relation of the hall to the rest of the house. It was the room first entered from the outside, and was shut off by doors from all the rest of the house. The servant who let the travellers in probably slept either in the buttery or a "lodging" attached to it, and beyond those two apartments and the hall neither he nor they could go until the "man" came who had the keys which gave access to the stairs and the higher rooms. [20] _Memorials of Holdenby_, by Miss Hartshorne, p. 16. [21] _England as seen by Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James I._, by W. B. Rye, p. 213. [22] _Nichols' Progresses of King James I._, Vol. I., p. 174. THE MANNER OF DECORATING ROOMS.