CHAPTER XXI.
OF PALACES BELONGING TO THE PRINCE.
[1577, Book II., Chapter 9; 1587, Book II., Chapter 15.]
It lieth not in me to set down exactly the number and names of the palaces belonging to the prince, nor to make any description of her grace’s court, sith my calling is, and hath been such, as that I have scarcely presumed to peep in at her gates; much less then have I adventured to search out and know the estate of those houses, and what magnificent behaviour is to be seen within them. Yet thus much will I say generally of all the houses and honours pertaining to her majesty, that they are builded either of square stone or brick, or else of both. And thereunto, although their capacity and hugeness be not so monstrous as the like of divers foreign princes are to be seen in the main and new found nations of the world, yet are they so curious, neat, and commodious as any of them, both for convenience of offices and lodgings and excellence of situation, which is not the least thing to be considered of in building. Those that were builded before the time of King Henry the Eighth retain to these days the shew and image of the ancient kind of workmanship used in this land; but such as he erected after his own device (for he was nothing inferior in this trade to Adrian the emperor and Justician the law-giver) do represent another manner of pattern, which, as they are supposed to excel all the rest that he found standing in this realm, so they are and shall be a perpetual precedent unto those that do come after to follow in their works and buildings of importance. Certes masonry did never better flourish in England than in his time. And albeit that in these days there be many goodly houses erected in the sundry quarters of this island, yet they are rather curious to the eye like paper work than substantial for continuance: whereas such as he did set up excels in both, and therefore may justly be preferred far above all the rest. The names of those which come now to my remembrance and are as yet reserved to her majesty’s only use at pleasure are these: for of such as are given away I speak not, neither of those that are utterly decayed (as Baynard’s castle in London, builded in the days of the Conqueror by a noble man called William Baynard, whose wife Inga builded the priory of little Dunmow in the days of Henry the First), neither of the tower royal there also, etc., sith I see no cause wherefore I should remember them and many of the like, of whose very ruins I have no certain knowledge. Of such (I say therefore) as I erst mentioned, we have, first of all, Whitehall, at the west end of London (which is taken for the most large and principal of all the rest), was first a lodging of the archbishops of York, then pulled down, begun by Cardinal Wolsey, and finally enlarged and finished by King Henry the Eighth. By east of this standeth Durham Place, sometime belonging to the bishops of Durham, but converted also by King Henry the Eighth into a palace royal and lodging for the prince. Of Somerset Place I speak not, yet if the first beginner thereof (I mean the Lord Edward, the learned and godly duke of Somerset) had lived, I doubt not but it should have been well finished and brought to a sumptuous end; but as untimely death took him from that house and from us all, so it proved the stay of such proceeding as was intended about it. Whereby it cometh to pass that it standeth as he left it. Neither will I remember the Tower of London, which is rather an armoury and house of munition, and thereunto a place for the safe keeping of offenders, than a palace royal for a king or queen to sojourn in. Yet in times past I find that Belliny held his abode there, and thereunto extended the site of his palace in such wise that it stretched over the Broken Wharf, and came further into the city, insomuch that it approached near to Billingsgate; and, as it is thought, some of the ruins of his house are yet extant, howbeit patched up and made warehouses in that tract of ground in our times. St. James’s, sometime a nunnery, was builded also by the same prince. Her grace hath also Oteland, Ashridge, Hatfield, Havering, Enfield, Eltham, Langley, Richmond (builded by Henry the First), Hampton Court (begun sometime by Cardinal Wolsey, and finished by her father), and thereunto Woodstock, erected by King Henry the First, in which the queen’s majesty delighteth greatly to sojourn, notwithstanding that in time past it was the place of a parcel of her captivity, when it pleased God to try her by affliction and calamity.
For strength, Windlesor or Windsor is supposed to be the chief, a castle builded in time past by King Arthur, or before him by Arviragus, as it is thought, and repaired by Edward the Third, who erected also a notable college there. After him, divers of his successors have bestowed exceeding charges upon the same, which notwithstanding are far surmounted by the queen’s majesty now living, who hath appointed huge sums of money to be employed upon the ornature and alteration of the mould, according to the form of building used in our days, which is more for pleasure than for either profit or safeguard. Such also hath been the estimation of this place that divers kings have not only been interred there, but also made it the chief house of assembly and creation of the knights of the honourable Order of the Garter, than the which there is nothing in this land more magnificent and stately.
Greenwich was first builded by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, upon the Thames side, four miles east from London, in the time of Henry the Sixth, and called Pleasance. Afterwards it was greatly enlarged by King Edward IV., garnished by King Henry VII., and finally made perfect by King Henry VIII., the only Phœnix of his time for fine and curious masonry.
Not far from this is Dartford, and not much distant also from the south side of the said stream, sometime a nunnery builded by Edward the Third, but now a very commodious palace, whereunto it was also converted by King Henry the Eighth. Eltham (as I take it) was builded by King Henry the Third, if not before. There are besides these, moreover, divers others. But what shall I need to take upon me to repeat all, and tell what houses the queen’s majesty hath? Sith all is hers: and, when it pleaseth her in the summer season to recreate herself abroad, and view the estate of the country, and hear the complaints of her poor commons injured by her unjust officers or their substitutes, every noble man’s house is her palace, where she continueth during pleasure, and till she return again to some of her own, in which she remaineth so long as pleaseth her.
The Court of England, which necessarily is holden always where the prince lieth, is in these days one of the most renowned and magnificent courts[204] that are to be found in Europe. For, whether you regard the rich and infinite furniture of household, order of officers, or the entertainment of such strangers as daily resort unto the same, you shall not find many equal thereunto, much less one excelling it in any manner of wise. I might here (if I would, or had sufficient disposition of matter conceived of the same) make a large discourse of such honourable ports, of such grave councillors, and noble personages, as give their daily attendance upon the queen’s majesty there. I could in like sort set forth a singular commendation of the virtuous beauty or beautiful virtues of such ladies and gentlewomen as wait upon her person, between whose amiable countenances and costliness of attire there seemeth to be such a daily conflict and contention as that it is very difficult for me to guess whether of the twain shall bear away the pre-eminence. This further is not to be omitted, to the singular commendation of both sorts and sexes of our courtiers here in England, that there are very few of them which have not the use and skill of sundry speeches, besides an excellent vein of writing beforetime not regarded. Would to God the rest of their lives and conversations were correspondent to these gifts! For as our common courtiers (for the most part) are the best learned and endued with excellent gifts, so are many of them the worst men when they come abroad that any man shall either hear or read of. Truly it is a rare thing with us now to hear of a courtier which hath but his own language. And to say how many gentlewomen and ladies there are that besides sound knowledge of the Greek and Latin tongues are thereto no less skilful in the Spanish, Italian, and French, or in some one of them, it resteth not in me, sith I am persuaded that, as the noblemen and gentlemen do surmount in this behalf, so these come very little or nothing at all behind them for their parts: which industry God continue, and accomplish that which otherwise is wanting!