HAMPTON COURT PALACE TAPESTRY AND PICTURES.

Mr. George Scharf, in discoursing on the Tapestry and Pictures of the palace, traced the history and vicissitudes of the royal property of the Kings of England. Speaking of the tapestry, the lecturer said that it had been long neglected before it had been brought to its present situation. The brilliancy of the gold and silver thread, which had been extensively employed in working the designs, had faded to a great extent. It was a remarkable fact, however, with regard to tapestry, that though its colours had declined in lustre from exposure to damp or being kept in dark places, yet on being brought into strong light again the brilliancy of the texture revived. With regard to the pictures, many of them had curious and eventful histories. For instance, the picture of the meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I. on the Field of Cloth of Gold had been at one time sold to the French ambassador by Charles II.; but the Marquis of Dorset, the portrait of one of whose ancestors appears in the painting, cut off the head from the likeness of Henry VIII., so that the French ambassador refused to fulfil his contract with the King. The marquis afterwards returned the head of Henry VIII., which was again added to the picture. This anecdote accounts for the circular line which may be now discerned on this curious painting by inspecting it closely. What were commonly called the Hampton Court Beauties, painted by Kneller, were erroneously so termed; the real Hampton Court Beauties were the pictures painted by Lely, while the portraits executed by Kneller were likenesses of the famous women of the Court at Windsor.

CARDINAL WOLSEY AT ESHER.

After his downfall, Wolsey continued to, reside at Esher, with a numerous family of servants and retainers, "the space of three or four weeks, without either beds, sheets, table-cloths, dishes to eat their meat in, or wherewithal to buy any howbeit, there was good provision of all kind of victual, and of beer and wine, whereof there was sufficient and plenty enough; but my lord was compelled of necessity to borrow of Master Arundell and of the Bishop of Carlisle plate and dishes, both to drink in and eat his meat in."-Stow.

A picturesque tower or gate-house, the only remains of Wolsey's palace, exists to this day at Esher: its erection has been commonly attributed to Wolsey. He is, however, thought to have had little time for building at Esher. The architecture

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of the tower is of an earlier period, and it is with better authority attributed to Bishop Wainfleet, who preceded the cardinal in the possession of the See of Winchester by about eighty years, and is known to have erected" a stately brick mansion" and gate-house" in Esher Park. It is now luxuriantly mantled with ivy. It is of brick, with stone dressings: the interior has a very skilfully wrought newel staircase of brick, and in the roofing is introduced the principle of the oblique arch, a supposed invention of modern times.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

The following is a summary of the places and periods of her captivity in England :—

1568. Landed at Workington, in Cumberland, on May 17, after the battle of Langside, and remained in Carlisle Castle until July 15, and then conducted to Bolton Castle, in Wensley Dale, where she remained until January,

1569, when she was removed, and arrived in Tulbury, in Staffordshire, on Feburary 2. She was at Winfield Manour, near Derby, from June to September, but returned to Tulbury, and towards the end of the year was taken to Coventry.

1570. In January was again at Tulbury, but in the early summer was at Chatsworth, and perhaps Winfield, and about Christmas was sent to Sheffield Castle.

1571. Was for a few days sent from Sheffield Castle to Sheffield Manour, about three miles off, that her apartments might be cleaned. This was at mid-summer of this year. 1572. In Sheffield Castle.

1573. In the autumn visited both Chatsworth and Buxton under guard, but returned in November to Sheffield Castle. 1574, 1575. In Sheffield Castle.

1576. In the spring, a short visit to Buxton.

1577, 1578-79. In Sheffield Castle.

1580. At Buxton for a week.

1581. In the summer, a short visit to Buxton, and perhaps to Chatsworth.

1582. In June and part of July, at Buxton for the last time. 1583. A short visit to Worksop.

1584. On September 8, finally left Sheffield Castle for Winfield Manour.

1585. On January 13 removed to Tulbury.

1586. Early in the year taken to Chartley, and in September to Fotheringhay Castle, and there beheaded on February 7, 1587. How many railway travellers who pass by smoking Sheffield

have the least idea that Queen Mary was imprisoned there for more than twelve years. Not one passenger in a month, I suspect. The Rev. A. Gutty, D.D.

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH,—BY HENTZNER.

Hentzner, the observant German traveller, thus describes Elizabeth, as he saw her at Greenwich:-The walls of the room were covered with precious tapestry, the floor strewed with hay. The Queen had to pass through on going to chapel. It was a Sunday, when all the nobility came to pay their respects. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London were present. When divine service began, the Queen appeared, preceded and followed by the Court. Before her walked two Barons, carrying the sceptre and the sword, and between them the great Chancellor of England with the Seal. The Queen is thus minutely described:

"She was said (rumor erat) to be fifty-five years old. Her face was rather long, white, and somewhat wrinkled. Her eyes small, black, and gracious; her nose somewhat bent; her lips compressed, her teeth black (from eating too much sugar). She had earrings of pearls; red hair, but artificial, and wore a small crown. Her breast was uncovered (as is the case with all unmarried ladies in England), and round her neck was a chain with precious gems. Her hands were graceful, her fingers long. She was of middle size, but stepped on majestically. She was gracious and kind in her address. The dress she wore was of white silk, with pearls as large as beans. Her cloak was of black silk, with silver lace, and a long train was carried by a Marchioness. As she walked along she spoke most kindly with many people, some of them ambassadors. She spoke English, French, and Italian; but she knows also Greek and Latin, and understands Spanish, Scotch, and Dutch. Those whom she addressed bent their knees, and some she lifted up with her hand. To a Bohemian nobleman of the name of Slawata, who had brought some letters to the Queen, she gave her right hand, after taking off her glove, and he kissed it. Wherever she turned her eyes, people fell on their knees."

The ladies who followed the Queen were escorted by fifty knights. When she came to the door of the chapel, books were handed to her, and the people called out, "God save the Queen Elizabeth;" whereupon the Queen answered, "I thanke you myn good peupel." Prayers did not last more than halfan-hour, and the music was excellent. During the time that the Queen was in chapel, dinner was laid.

FRENCH PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

M. Jules Janin has drawn the following severe portrait of Elizabeth:

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Daughter of a tyrant, as odious and as cruel as any in history, and of a young innocent queen, the most touching victim of the terrible Henry VIII., the young Elizabeth grew up on the steps of the scaffold which was to see so many more victims. As a child, she had the courage not to tremble before her father; she could regard the executioner of the most beautiful women and greatest men of the time without blenching. She was early accustomed to the noise of chains, locks, and the axe; and amid all these perils she could still smile. For this innocent girl, reserved for such high destiny, the reign of the bloody Mary was full of trials and dangers; and when she was fetched from the tower and told that she was Queen, she trembled within herself at the remembrance of all the murders committed by Mary Tudor. A great day then commenced for all Protestant England, which was to live under clement laws, and, above all things, under an English Queen. She was twenty-five years of age, in all the éclat of her youth and beauty; her head was evidently well fitted to wear a crown, and her hand to hold the golden sceptre. At her first glance she saw the greatest men in England prostrate at her feet, and ready to aid her with all their courage, their experience, and their virtue. Never did more worthy counsellors address ears better fitted to listen to them; and we, children of the Salic law, are dazzled, as it were, at the sight of so much grandeur around a throne occupied by a princess of twentyfive."

A BARRICADE IN THE STRAND.

The last great event of Elizabeth's reign was the conspiracy of the Earl of Essex and his friend Southampton, plotted at Essex House, on the site now occupied by Devereux Court and Essex Street in the Strand; when the Queen's council fortified the Court, and double-guarded it, and the streets were set, or barricaded with empty carts and coaches, to stop Essex's passage, and the City gates were shut and strongly guarded. He reached the city, where Lord Burghley proclaimed him as a traitor; but he escaped, and taking boat at Queenhithe, reached Essex House, which he fortified, resolving to die in his own defence. The house was invested by the Queen's forces, and the Earl and his partizans were summoned to surrender; which they

did that night, when they were put into boats and sent to the Tower. Essex and Southampton were condemned as traitors, and were beheaded in the Tower on Ash Wednesday, when the executioner would have been murdered by the populace, but for the Sheriffs' protection. The other traitors were executed on Tower-hill and at Tyburn.

PLAYS PROHIBITED IN ELIZABETHAN LONDON.

In the age of the unlicensed drama the metropolis was invariably foremost in any hostile demonstration, and for many years during Elizabeth's reign, plays were entirely prohibited within the liberties. The city, from its extensive intercourse with Flemish traders, had been tainted at an early period with the gloomy doctrines of the German sectaries: in the city the gruff burgher nourished in secret his wrath against the levities of the court and the vices of the Amalakites; in the city Puritanism was organizing its ranks for the memorable conflict, out of which, in the next century, it was to come conquering and to conquer. So powerful was the influence of the fanatic party, that even Elizabeth, with her artistic prepossessions in behalf of the stage, was frequenly forced to give way, and to sanction under certain limitations stringent enactments for the repression of public exhibitions.—North British Review.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHARACTER AND POLICY.

Without family ties, with no near relations, and without friends, save such as were loyal to her, for their country's sake rather than their own, Elizabeth concealed the dreariness of her life from herself in the society of these human playthings, who flattered her faults and humoured her caprices. She was the more thrown upon them because in her views of government she stood equally alone, and among abler men scarcely found one to sympathize with her. She appears in history the champion of the Reformation, the first Protestant sovereign in Europe; but it was a position into which she was driven in spite of herself; and when she found herself there, it brought her neither pride nor pleasure. In her birth she was the smybol of the revolt from the Papacy. She could not reconcile herself with Rome without condemning the marriage from which she sprung; but her interest in Protestanism was limited to political independence. She mocked at Cecil and "his brothers in Christ." She affected an interest in the new doctrines, only when the