’Hath a spell beyond A name in story, and a long array Of mighty shadows.’ To us Hampton Court is a type of the progress of the nation from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light. Founded to gratify the pride and self-indulgence of an arrogant and scheming priest, for more than three centuries Hampton Court was the symbol of oppression on the one side, and of subjection on the other. But Time, which works such strange metamorphoses, has, since the last sixty years, transformed what was once the exclusive appanage of kings into the playground of the plebs, and what this change implies may well form a subject of study for inquiring and philosophical minds. But such study must be based on a knowledge of facts, an axiom we have kept in view in the compilation of our topographical and historical notes on the origin, progress, and final realization of the architectural, political, and social idea embodied in the monumental pile we have so concisely attempted to describe, so as to endow the contemplation thereof, in all its phases, with an intelligent appreciation of the physical and ideal beauties, together with their importance as an index of national advancement, which invest with an undying charm the palace and gardens of Hampton Court.[#] [#] In Herefordshire, not far from Leominster, there is another Hampton Court, a spacious mansion of monastic and castellated architecture, having a fine chapel with open timber roof. It was built by Sir Rowland Lenthall, Yeoman of the Robes to Henry IV., who distinguished himself at the Battle of Agincourt. THE END. BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. * * * * * * * * *SIR WALTER BESANT’S BOOKS ON LONDON.* Demy 8vo., cloth, with 125 Illustrations, 7s. 6d. *LONDON.* Demy 8vo., cloth, with 131 Illustrations, 7s. 6d. *WESTMINSTER.* Demy 8vo., cloth, gilt top, with 119 Illustrations, 18s. *SOUTH LONDON.* LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 ST. MARTIN’S LANE, W.C.