It was pronounced the most magnificent struc-
* Wake county was so named in honor of this accomplished lady. Afterward, when party zeal changed the name of Tryon county, and it was proposed to alter that of Wake also, the gallantry of the Assembly overruled their feelings of hostility to the governor and his family, and the name was retained.
** This picture of the palace I made from the original drawings of the plan and elevation, by John Hawks, Esq., the architect. These drawings, with others of minor details, such as sections of the drawing-room, chimney-breasts for the council-chamber and dining-hall, sewers, &e., are in the present possession of a grandson of the architect, the Reverend Francis L. Hawks, D.D., L.L.D., rector of Calvary Church, in the city of New York, to whose courtesy I am indebted for their use. With the drawings is the preliminary contract entered into by the governor and the architect, which bears the private seal of Tryon and the signatures of the parties, from which I made the fac simile printed upon page 567. The contract is dated January 9th, 1767, and specifies that the main building should be of brick, eighty-seven feet front, fifty-nine feet deep, and two stories in height, with suitable buildings for offices, &e., and was to be completed by the first day of October, 1770. For his services, Mr. Hawks was to receive an annual salary of "three hundred pounds proclamation money."
** The view here given was the north front, toward the town. The center edifice was the palace. The building on the right was the secretary's office and the laundry; that upon the left was the kitchen and servant's hall. These were connected with the palace by a curviform colonnade, of five columns each, and covered. Between these buildings, in front of the palace, was a handsome court. The rear of the building was finished in the style of the Mansion-House in London. The interior of the palace was elegantly finished. "Upon entering the street door," says Ebenezer Hazzard, in his journal for 1777, when he visited it, "you enter a hall in which are four niches for statues." The chimney-breasts for the council-chamber, dining-hall, and drawing-room, and the cornices of these rooms, were of white marble. The chimney-breast of the council-chamber was the most elaborate, being ornamented by two Ionic columns below, and four columns, with composite capitals, above, with beautiful entablature, architrave, and friese.* Over the inner door of the entrance-hall or ante-chamber was a tablet, with a Latin inscription, showing that the palace was dedicated to Sir William Draper,* "the Conqueror of Manilla and also the following lines, in Latin, which were written by Draper, who was then on a visit to Governor Tryon:
"In the reign of a monarch, who goodness disclos'd,
A free, happy people, to dread tyrants oppos'd,
Have to virtue and merit erected this dome;
May the owner and household make this their loved home—
Where religion, the arts, and ihe laws may invite
Future ages to live in sweet peace and delight."
** The above translation was made by Judge Marlin, the historian of North Carolina, who visited the edifice in 1783, in company with the unfortunate Don Francisco de Miranda. That gentleman assured Martin that the structure had no equal in South America. The palace was destroyed by fire about fifty years ago, and the two smaller buildings, only, remain.
* Among the colonial documents at Raleigh is an account of this chimney-piece. The paper bears the date of December 6, 1769. It is one of several manuscripts deposited there by Dr. Hawks, which he found among his grandfather's papers.