The site is one of the most illustrious to be found within the sea-washed borders of the British Isles. Here did the first of those who “dined with Duke Humphrey” come to carouse, for here Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, had a manor-house, which he rebuilt and embattled, enclosing what is now known as Greenwich Park. Humphrey’s choice of a site for his residence was approved by many an English king, for Edward IV. finished and beautified the Duke of Gloucester’s palace; Henry VII. made it his favourite residence; Henry VIII., his brother, the Duke of Somerset, the Queens Mary and Elizabeth, were born within its walls; there the young King Edward died, and, a few days before his death, was lifted up to the windows by his courtiers, that his clamorous people might perceive him to be still living. Greenwich Palace was to Queen Elizabeth what Osborne is to Queen Victoria; James I. was wont to escape to it from London; the unfortunate Charles made it his home; and when his son, who “never said a foolish thing and never did a wise one,” came to his throne, he determined to build at Greenwich the finest royal palace England had ever had. “To Greenwich by water,” writes Pepys, “and there landed at the King’s House, which goes on slow, but is very pretty.... Away to the king and back again with him to the barge, hearing him and the duke talk, and seeing and observing their manner of discourse. And good Lord forgive me, though I admire them with all the duty possible, yet the more a man considers and observes them, the less he finds of difference between them and other men.”
GREENWICH HOSPITAL.
The building which Pepys had seen in course of erection, occupying the ancient site of “the Manor of Pleasaunce,” as the palace at Greenwich was wont to be called, owes its present magnificence to the genius of Wren, and its dedication to the purposes of a naval hospital to the humanity of the Consort of William III. “Had the king’s life been prolonged till the works were completed,” writes Macaulay, “a statue of her who was the real foundress of the institution would have had a conspicuous place in that court which presents two lofty domes and two graceful colonnades to the multitudes who are perpetually passing up and down the imperial river. But that part of the plan was never carried into effect; and few of those who now gaze on the noblest of European hospitals are aware that it is a memorial of the virtues of the good Queen Mary, of the love and sorrow of William, and of the great victory of La Hogue.”
VIEW FROM GREENWICH PARK.
The battle of La Hogue was fought on the 24th of May, 1692. It concluded a “great conflict which had raged during five days over a wide extent of sea and shore.” The English had gained no such victory over the French for centuries, and England, in spite of much popular sympathy with James, in whose interest our ancient enemies had planned the invasion of our country, went wild with enthusiasm. Many of the wounded were brought to London and lodged in the hospitals of St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, and it was shortly afterwards announced by the queen, in her husband’s name, that the building commenced by Charles should be completed as a retreat for seamen disabled in the service of their country. However, as Mr. Ruskin observes in reference to the crown of wild olive, “Jupiter was poor.” Little progress was made with the new hospital during Queen Mary’s life, but on her decease her husband resolved to make it her monument. The inscription on the frieze of the hall gives to the queen all the honour of the great design; and though the hospital has now been diverted to other uses, the memory of what it once was can never perish, and the grand edifice will remain to Englishmen for ever
“The noblest structure imaged on the wave,