The Fountain Court is nearly a square, more than 100 feet each way. In the centre there is a fountain playing in a circular basin. This court occupies the site of the chief or grand court, which was described by Hentzner in the reign of Queen Elizabeth as ’paved with square stone, and having in its centre a fountain, finished in 1590, which throws up water, covered with a gilt crown, on the top of which is a statue of Justice, supported by columns of black and white marble.’ The alterations were made gradually; the south and east sides of the old court were first taken down, and the present state apartments in those divisions erected. The west and north sides, comprising a room of communication 109 feet in length, and the Queen’s Guard Chamber and Great Presence Chamber, retain internal marks of ancient structure; but a new front was given to the whole by Sir Christopher Wren. As we are not writing a guide-book, we need not enter into a description of the state apartments, or of the external appearance of the building containing them; it will be sufficient to mention that this modern portion of Hampton Court was commenced in 1690, and finished in 1694; that the south and eastern façades are each about 330 feet long; that the eastern front faces the grand gravel walk, open to the public; whilst the south front opens on the Privy Garden, which was sunk 10 feet for the purpose of obtaining from the lower apartments a view of the river Thames. Of the state of the gardens and park, about 44 acres in extent, surrounding the palace and forming a regular peninsula, the east and west sides being entirely enclosed by the Thames, whilst the northern boundary is formed by the road from Kingston—of the then state of the gardens and park we have but scanty accounts, but they no doubt corresponded in beauty, as far as the comparatively short time of his occupancy of the palace would allow him, with Wolsey’s sumptuous pile. Certes the situation did not seem inviting. The Thames, so lovely in many of its windings, is here skirted on both shores by a dull expanse of level woodless soil, which the utmost efforts of taste and skill seemed scarcely able to render picturesque, and in the time of the founder of the palace, and even in the days of Henry VIII., landscape gardening had not yet become an art. At that period a park was chiefly valued for the security of lair it afforded to the deer sheltered in the royal chase. An old guide to Hampton Court of the year 1774 says that ’notwithstanding the immediate vicinity of the Thames, the park and garden are not in the least incommoded by the rise of the waters, which in other places is too often occasioned by sudden floods, and though not far from the reflux of the tides, yet they are at such a convenient distance as never to be influenced by any impurities which the flowing of the tides is apt to create.’ This may have been one of the reasons