In short, at the entrance into the park, from Whitehall, was this romantic inscription, which the honourable Horatio Walpole supposes might allude to Philip II. who wooed the Queen after her sister’s death, and to the destruction of his armada. _Ictus piscator tandem sapit,_ _Sed infelix Actæon semper præceps._ _Casta virgo facilè miseretur;_ _Sed potens Dea scelus ulciscitur._ _Præda canibus, exemplum juvenibus,_ _Suis dedecus, pereat Actæon._ _Cura cœlitibus, chara mortatibus, suis securitas,_ _Vivat Diana._ Thus englished: The fisherman who has been wounded, learns, though late, to beware; But the unfortunate Actæon always presses on. The chaste virgin naturally pitied; But the powerful goddess revenged the wrong. Let Actæon fall a prey to his dogs, An example to youth, A disgrace to those that belong to him! May Diana live the care of heaven; The delight of mortals; The security of those that belong to her! _Hentzner’s journey into England._ But to proceed, in the reign of King James I. the old banquetting house, which was then used for public entertainments, being much decayed, that Prince formed the design of pulling down the whole palace of Whitehall, and erecting in its room an edifice worthy the Kings of England: a most noble plan was actually drawn for that purpose, by the celebrated Inigo Jones, and this plan being finished, the old banquetting house was demolished, and the present elegant structure erected in its room. This was to have been but a small part of the intended work; but it was all that was performed; and the old palace continued still the residence of our Kings, till it was destroyed by fire in 1697: and has never yet been rebuilt. See the article BANQUETTING HOUSE. [Illustration: _S. Wale delin._ _E. Booker sc._ _A Gate belonging to the Old palace of White Hall._] As this was esteemed the principal palace, and that of St. James’s only an additional, though there have been long no remains of it left, and there are several houses of the nobility and other buildings scattered about the place where it stood, it is still considered in the same light; the great offices are kept in some of these detached edifices, and all public business is still dated from Whitehall.