SOMERSET HOUSE, on the south side of the Strand, near the new church, is esteemed one of the royal palaces. It was built about the year 1549 by the Duke of Somerset, uncle to Edward VI. and protector of England, who demolished the palaces of the bishops of Chester and Worcester, an Inn of Chancery called Strand Inn, with the church of St. Mary le Strand, that stood there, and building this palace with the materials, it from him obtained the name of Somerset House. But the Duke soon after being attainted, it fell to the crown, and has usually been assigned for the residence of the Queen Dowager. In this palace Anne of Denmark, King James the First’s Queen, kept her court, upon which account, it was called Denmark house during that reign; but it soon after recovered the name of its first founder. The front towards the Strand is adorned with columns and other decorations, which are much defaced by time and the smoke of the city, the principal ornaments having mouldered away. This front together with the quadrangle, seem to have been the first attempts to restore the ancient architecture in England. In the middle of the Strand front is a handsome gate which opens into the quadrangle, adorned with a piazza, perhaps more in taste than any other in the kingdom of the same antiquity, and the whole building on this side, has an air of grandeur. But the most beautiful front is that towards the garden, situated upon an elevation, part of which has been new built, with a fine piazza and lofty apartments over it. This part of the building is however irregular, and left unfinished; some of the old building being still standing on that side. The garden is extremely pleasant, it leading down to the Thames, from which it is separated by a parapet wall, and there is here a handsome landing-place, with stairs, which lead up to the principal walk to the palace. This garden used to be public, and any person might have the liberty of walking in it; but since the Foot-guards have been quartered in the palace we are informed this privilege is discontinued, the passage to the garden through the palace is extremely disagreeable, the broken staircase, the appearance of the walls, the darkness, and the filth, render it like the descent into a prison; however the pleasantness of the garden, and the fine view it affords of the Thames, give a full recompence for whatever is disagreeable in our way to it. The view we have here given of Somerset house, is the garden front taken from the Thames, and shews the whole extent of the front that way, and consequently the old part of the building as well as the modern. The appearance altogether is picturesque. The new part, which is of stone, contains the royal apartments built by Inigo Jones, and was no doubt only a part of his design, the stairs and gate to the water shewing where he intended the center. [Illustration: _S. Wale delin._ _E. Rooker sculp._ _Somerset House._]