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HAMPTON COURT

his "Anecdotes of Painting," has only recently been rediscovered, and it has been restored under the direction of Sir J. C. Robinson, and opened to the public. Of its extremely interesting paintings this is not the place to speak, but we may here notice the excellent "linen-scroll" pattern panels which have been collected from other parts of the Palace to cover the walls, and the splendid decorated ceiling. A private oratory for the Cardinal himself it may well have been. The fireplace would not conflict with this idea. It would be the room where he retired alone to pray or to make confession. His public devotion demanded and received, according to the idea of the time, a more stately setting.

A curious and happy variety has been formed by the restoration of this charming little Tudor room, which is now called "Cardinal Wolsey's Closet," close to the communication gallery and the Queen's great staircase. The ceiling, with its beautiful panels highly decorated, and a cornice of rich design, is in effective contrast to the sprawling goddesses of La Guerre, a few feet away. It is a delightful reminder of the sixteenth century amid the surroundings of the eighteenth. Here Wolsey and George II. touch each other. We find ourselves again, when we seem to be yet in Wren's buildings, after all among the original work of the second court.