Page:Hutton, William Holden - Hampton Court (1897).djvu/118

64 characteristically content not to spend money upon it. She did not add to its external dignity. She was content to decorate it within, with all the luxury she loved—hangings and tapestries, pictures and mirrors. Its reputation was already embellished by fable. Leopold von Wedel says that Hampton Court was not only "very magnificent and beautiful," but was "considered the largest building in England, for from the distance it has the appearance of a town. The Emperor Charles and the Prince of Condé lodged here as guests of the Queen of England, both potentates finding room in it with their entire suites (that they had brought with them to England) for lodgment."

Paul Hentzner, a German lawyer, came to England in 1698 with a young Silesian nobleman whose tutor he was. His description of the Palace, and of the Queen in it, tallies exactly with that of Von Wedel. Everywhere when the Queen passed the people fell on their knees. Her procession to chapel was a state ceremonial. The people cried out "God save Queen Elizabeth," and she answered, "I thank you, my good people." Of Hampton Court itself his description is worth quoting verbatim, both for the impression it gives of the Palace as it was when Elizabeth lived in it, and for contrast with later changes. It is the best account, after Cavendish, of the Palace under the Tudors.