Page:Hutton, William Holden - Hampton Court (1897).djvu/51

Rh buttresses, and windows and gables, and every sort of delightful surprise, must be examined in detail. At every turn the artist finds a subject, and his description says what words cannot say. The Lord Chamberlain's Court, the Master-Carpenter's Court, the Court near the Great Kitchen, the Back Court, the Chapel Court, and others, have each their charm. And the Great Kitchen itself, with its high roof and its grand open space, like a great hall, its hatches, and the approaches to it, form a series of characteristic pictures. So we turn back to the Clock-tower, and mount the stair from Anne Bullen's gate.

VI The Great Hall itself, with the rooms that open from it, forms the most magnificent series of interiors that the Palace now presents. The hall was begun when Wolsey was dead. The Record Office contains all the accounts of its making, of the expenses of material and work, and even of every piece of painting and carving. It was hurried on with all the impetuosity of the King in seizing every pleasure with rapidity.

The staircase that leads up from Anne Bullen's gateway corresponds to another stair leading on the other side from the kitchen, as in the arrangement of many college halls, notably Merton College at Oxford.