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QUEEN'S DRAWING-ROOM.

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senting the history of Alexander the Great. The Queen's State Bed-chamber, with the ceiling painted by Sir James Thornhill. Queen's Drawing-room, ceiling painted by Verrio, representing Queen Anne, in the character of Justice, with Neptune and Britannia holding a crown over her head. Queen's State Audience-room, whose walls are hung with tapestry, representing Abraham receiving bread and wine from Melchisedec. The Dining-room, a spacious apartment, in which George the First and his late Majesty frequently dined in public: here is the model of a palace intended to have been built in Richmond Gardens. The Prince of Wales's Presence Chamber, hung with tapestry, representing the history of Tobit and Tobias. The Prince of Wales's Drawing-room, hung with tapestry, representing the miracle of Elymas, the sorcerer, struck with blindness, after the manner of the Cartoons. The Prince of Wales's Bedchamber, furnished with green damask. The King's Private Dining-room, with sea pieces exhibiting the Spanish Armada. The King's Private Dressingroom, with a painting of the grand fight off Solebay. The King's Private Bed-chamber, ornamented with various paintings. And lastly, the Beauty-room, containing portraits of KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY, with eight distinguished ladies of her court; these beauties were, painted by Godfrey Kneller. Lord Orford says, that the queen had this done during the king's absence, and it made her unpopular. The famous Lady Dorchester advised the queen against it,

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CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL.

saying," Madam, if the king was to ask for the portraits of the wits in his court, would not the rest think he called them fools!"

I shall now notice the great pictorial treasure, the Cartoons of Raphael, which have been for some time deposited at Hampton Court.

These Cartoons or coloured drawings on paper, were executed by Raphael, at the desire of Leo the Tenth, and sent into Flanders to be copied in the richest tapestry. There they remained obscure and forgotten, until Rubens apprized Charles the First of their situation. The king purchased them, and afterwards Cromwell gave three hundred pounds for them. They were placed first at Hampton Court, then in the Queen's Palace, and afterwards at Windsor Castle, whence they were again brought to Hampton Court. They are placed in the King's Gallery, or what is now emphatically called, the Cartoon Gallery.

The Cartoons, seven in number, have for their subject:

1. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. Luke v. 2. The Charge to Peter. John xxi.

3. Peter and John healing at the Gate of the Temple. Acts iii.

4. Death of Ananias. Acts v.

5. Elymas, the sorcerer, struck blind. Acts xiii. 6. The Sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. xiv.

7. Paul Preaching at Athens. Acts xvii.

Acts

Copies of these singular paintings were made by

CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL.

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Sir James Thornhill, who employed three years on the work. These were presented by the Duke of Bedford to the Royal Family. Similar copies, by the same hand, are to be seen in the Picture Gallery, Oxford; both are of inferior execution. The prints of the Cartoons, by Gribelin, in the time of Queen Anne, and by Doriguy, are unworthy of the originals. An English artist of distinguished merit, Mr. Holloway, has for some years been engaged in executing plates for these Cartoons, by his Majesty's special permission. Here we found this ingenious and worthy man at his station; he received us with politeness, and shewed us THE ENGRAVING with which he was then occupied. His task he has by this time nearly accomplished. The superior manner in which he has executed these engravings, after so masterly an original, will be honourable to his memory. Various are the writers who, at different times and on different occasions, have illustrated these Cartoons. The Abbe du Bos, in his celebrated Treatise on Poetry and Painting, has some good remarks on these wonderful productions. He, however, falls into a curious error when describing a figure; he says, it is intended for Judas, in Christ's charge to Peter, forgetting that this scene is after the Resurrection, and consequently, that Judas had hanged himself!

The genius of RAPHAEL was transcendently great, and the subject of universal admiration. Sir Joshua Reynolds is most liberal in his commendation of him. Pilkington, however, says" It is remarkable, that

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PLEASURE GARDENS.

the most capital Fresco paintings of Raphael, do not strike one immediately with that surprise, which undoubtedly is expected from the fame of that illustrious master; and a story is related, that a person visiting the Vatican, with an eager desire to study his works, passed by those very compositions with indifference which were the objects of his inquiry and curiosity, till he was recalled by his conductor, who told him he had overlooked what he sought for." But Montesquieu thus accounts for the effect-" The Works of Raphael (says he,) strike little at first sight, because he imitates nature so well that the spectator is no more surprised than when he sees the object itself, which would excite no degree of surprise at all; but that an uncommon expression, strong colouring, or odd and singular attitudes of an inferior artist, strike us at first sight, because we have not been accustomed to see them elsewhere. And certainly there cannot be a stronger test of excellence in any performance, either in poetry or painting, than to find the surprise we at first feel to be not very powerful, and yet to find by more frequently conversing with it, that it not only supports itself, but increases continually in our esteem, and at last leads us to admiration."

Quitting the interior of HAMPTON COURT, we rambled over the Pleasure Gardens. Four fine bronze statutes, a fighting Gladiator, Apollo, Diana and Saturn, are placed in each of the principal parterres. The lawns, bordered with meagre evergreens, are shaped with mathematical precision. Broad gravel

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walks, with statues and vases, intersect this display. Here is a grape house, occupied by one Vine of the black Hamburgh kind, planted in 1769. It has been known to produce one year two thousand two hundred bunches of grapes, weighing on an average one pound each! The Kitchen Gardens comprise twelve acres of ground.

We cannot quit this spot without noticing THE MAZE, or Labyrinth, where young people, by entangling themselves, feel no small diversion. This was the case with our juvenile party. It is a small piece of ground planted in various meanders, so as to render it difficult after entering the walks to find the leading avenue. The Dedalean Maze was the won der of antiquity. As labyrinths contribute equally to health and amusement, some remarks respecting their construction may be introduced. The chief expense of a Maze, in which simplicity and economy are combined, will be the green hedges, which ought to be seven feet high; and if the breadth of the walks be calculated at four feet, besides twelve inches for the room occupied by the shrubs, the diameter of the whole will not exceed one hundred and fifty feet. In the centre might be planted a lofty chesnut tree with spreading branches, or a circle of poplar trees, the height and sprightliness of which invite the wanderer to refresh himself under their cooling shade. Thus constructed, and viewed from an elevated spot in its vicinity, it has been thought to afford an interesting spectacle to persons of the most opposite dispositions

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