can show more convincingly the great progress which had been made in the education of women during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., than a comparison of their letters in the Hatfield Collection with any of an earlier period. In clearness of expression and in beauty of penmanship they beat their male rivals out of the field. The letters of Elizabeth herself, of Lady Winchester, Lady Russell, Lady Rich, Lady Essex, the Countesses of Northumberland and Southampton, Lady Lovell, Lady Tresham, and others, may fairly stand comparison with those of any age.

On the death of Bishop West, in 1534, Hatfield Palace changed owners. It was made a condition, on the appointment of Bishop Goodrich, that he should resign the manor and palace into the hands of the King. By what right the Bishop alienated the property of his see was not a question that troubled the conscience of bishop or king: it was not one that Tudor sovereigns suffered to stand in their way when they had a mind to Church property. Henry had already possessed himself of York House, belonging to the see of York, on Wolsey's attainder. He had laid his hands upon Tittenhanger, belonging to the Abbey of St. Albans. To take Hatfield from the bishops of Ely was only another step in the same direction. It is true there was a talk of compensation; but such compensation consisted in exchanging poor and inconvenient manors without habitation for rich and convenient ones with habitation, or lands encumbered with spiritual obligations for lands that had none—a policy understood by Elizabeth. Much in the same way Henry discharged Wolsey's obligations, when he seized the Cardinal's property, paying off the unfortunate debtors by desperate tales:' that is, by bonds due to the Crown, but long since abandoned as hopeless-a method of paying good debts by bad ones; a stroke of finance more to be admired than imitated. Thus Hatfield came into the possession of

I

the Crown, and there it remained until 1607. James I. preferred Theobalds, a more magnificent house, belonging to Lord Salisbury, and offered him Hatfield in exchange. On the 15th April, in that year, Cecil took his last leave of his patrimonial mansion.

'Being very desirous,' he writes to Sir Thomas Lake, 'to see the house of Theobalds and parks, now drawing near the delivery into a hand which, I pray God, may keep it in his posterity, until there be neither trees nor stone standing, I must confess unto you that I have borrowed one day's retreat from London, whither now I am returning this morning, having looked upon Hatfield also, where it pleased my Lord Chamberlain (Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk), my Lord of Worcester (Edward Somerset), and my Lord of Southampton (Shakespeare's patron), to be contented to take the pains to view upon what part of ground I should place my habitation.' 8

The transfer was not completed till some months after. Meanwhile, the summer and autumn were spent in providing materials for the Earl's new habitation. They consisted chiefly of Caen stone, to the amount of 500l., for which he had a warrant from the King of France. Tattenhall, in Staffordshire, Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, and the quarries of Northamptonshire were laid under contribution. Whether to these must be added a newly-discovered material' found upon the estates of the Earl of Northumberland, which had 'a rich agate colour' when polished, would be hazardous to affirm; for the Earl, in addition to his other occupations, had the architectonic tastes' of his father, and at this very time was ornamenting and altering Salisbury House, in the Strand, and erecting a vast Exchange, called 'Britain's Burse,' on the site of the present Adelphi, much to the

State Papers, James I., MSS. xxvii. No. 7. The bill for the transfer was read a first time in the House of Commons, 29th May.

chagrin of the citizens of London. The bricks and flints of the old palace-though by what means it could have fallen into decay is hard to imagine-furnished materials for the new. Late in the autumn of 1607, the ground was cleared for the foundations. Of the progress of the work in 1608 no account has been preserved; but in May 1609, carefully deposited among the papers of Her Majesty's Record Office, we come upon 'An Abstract of all the Charges that his Lordship is to be at more than he hath disbursed for the full finishing of his building at Hatfield, except joining, platelocks, painting, and gardening.' The sum total is set down at 8,146., with an estimate for deductions amounting to 710l., if certain ornaments were omitted. By the summer of the same year the new house had reached the roof of the present hall, and the floor of the great chamber, now the library. In the following November half the long gallery, facing the south, had attained the first storey, to the height of the pedestals on the upper range.' At the commencement of 1610, notwithstanding the hindrance caused by the wet autumn of the previous year, the building was so far advanced that Janivere, the joiner, residing in London, a Fleming or Frenchman, as it would appear from the name, had gone down to Hatfield to take the measurement for the wainscot and the oak chimney-pieces, the designs of which were to be submitted for his Lordship's approval. Of the estimate made in July 1609, which was finally fixed at 8,500l., the Earl had paid at Michaelmas 4,000l. In April 1610, the amount expended was 5,424l., and 3,7791. more were required to finish the work. Part of this increase was due to alterations made in the chapel, amounting to 150l., and to 50l. besides, for a new chapel window. By the 23rd

This window is filled with stained glass, representing different subjects from Scripture in different compartments, with Latin inscriptions below. As each of these designs and inscriptions exactly fills the compartment of the window allotted to it, they must have been coeval with the

of November, the joiner had completed the wainscot and panelling. We spare our readers the technical details, valuable as they are, for illustrating the history of an art now nearly lost. Of the specimens that remain, in its application to domestic architecture, few that we know of are equal in richness, freedom, and beauty, to those still preserved in their primitive freshness at Hatfield. No decoration of plain surfaces, no gaudy and costly gilding, no mediæval papering, no colouring-for fresco is out of the question in this damp and variable climate-can be compared in our estimation to the old oak wainscot of our ancient houses, with its rich friezes and bold architraves, its festoons and its pilasters, its free and vigorous projections, its panels with their simple and severe mouldings, or enriched with delicate arabesques, as they are in parts of Hatfield House; and certainly none are so refreshing to the eye. Besides the feeling of massiveness, strength, and comfort thus gained; besides the contrast of rich brown walls with the delicate white ceiling, interlaced with fretwork, these oak decorations have the advantage of harmonising with the rougher materials of our rough and vigorous climate. Neither France, Italy, nor Wardour Street can surpass our unstained English oak in the delicacy of its graining or the variety and warmth of its tints. In this respect the staircases, galleries, lobbies, doors, and doorways of Hatfield House are a delightful study to those who can open their eyes and use them. For this species of decoration the Farl wisely spared no expense. He spread it over all parts of his mansion with extraordinary profusion, from the Doric and Ionic columns with their friezes and 'swelling panels,' their triglyphs, cartouches, watercress and ogives,

framework. The glass itself is of the same date with that of the chapel of Archbishop Abbot's Hospital at Guildford. Both are probably

Flemish.

in the King's and the Queen's bed-chambers-for the Earl built his house with the view of entertaining royalty-down to the plainer work in the chapel, with its cipher and square, or the mitre and square of the hall.'

6

By the 17th of May 1611 the new mansion was rapidly approaching completion. The great hall was filled with tables and forms; the upper part of the screen, framed and carved, was ready for fixing. The masons had finished the walls of the great east chamber (the drawing-room). The scaffolding erected for whiting' the fret ceiling of the long gallery 'was to be cleared upon Tuesday.' The jambs for the windows in the great chamber (the library), framed in London, had been promised by Janivere, with a foot-pace, to be laid, 'which is a-working, and then that room will be fully finished.' The withdrawing-chamber, the closet of the chapel, and the rooms adjoining were ready to be lodged in within three weeks.' In July the work was still going on the great chamber' was hanged and ready, the footpace and wainscot completed; and Dallam (how names fall into oblivion!) was to be sent down to tune the pipes of the wind instrument' (probably an organ). The king's chamber and the rooms adjoining were matted and hanged. The chimney-pieces of plain wainscot had been set up in the gallery. The closet, chimney-piece and hangings, chairs and stools,' for the chapel, were suitable ready.' The frieze, and the pulpit, indispensable in great households, were 'to to be done upon Thursday;' the andirons only were wanting. On the 15th January 1612 the masons were still engaged in paving the chapel with black and white marble, of which not more than one-third was completed; and the whole was to be finished in Mid-Lent or thereabouts. But before

1 According to the original design, there were no marble chimney-pieces. The first was introduced by the second Earl in 1612, for which he paid 507. His father had a keener artistic instinct.