accounted a witch. Much quarrelling and are " > "" "" "the LL who are interested in Romany have ALL noted the death of Phoebe Hedges, Queen of the Essex Gipsies," at the age of 84. She was buried last Monday at Hatfield Peverel, near Chelmsford, hundreds of gipsies from all over the country attending the funeral, and most of her sixty grandchildren among the mourners. Her body had lain in state in an open coffin during the week-end, surrounded by banks of flowers, visited by a constant procession of people, including three " 'pearly kings. The Morning was Post's correspondent says that this WE near Matlock, are erecting their own parish hall. The vicar, the Rev. J. R. Cottle, has gathered round him a band of parishioners whose ages range from eight to eighty-three, and all are giving spare-time service to the building. Every week evening the vicar may be seen carrying bricks or mortar in a bucket for the bricklayers, or helping one of the carpenters to saw planks. The building has a concrete floor, with corrugated sides and roofs, brick foundations, and partition walls. It is to accommodate 500 people, and is more than half-way to completion. The vicar states that the villagers aim to erect the building without any cost other than that of the material. raw • He was land, that there died there Mr. Zechariah Literary and Historical Notes. CHARLES I AND THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL. (See clii. 117, 173, 210, 247, 282, 299, 320, 336; cliii. 201). HAD AD some of those who have written on the subject of the King's execution examined Herbert's original manuscript of Threnodia Carolina, it is improbable that they would have made the conjectures they did as to the position at which the King passed from the Banqueting House to the scaffold. Some suggested that he went out through an opening broken in a blank window of the middle row, namely the row on the Banqueting Hall floor, on the west, or Whitehall Street side of the House. H. D. Wheatley named the centre window in this row, as most probably that through which the King passed, and described it as having been a blank window. " W. J. Loftie also suggests that it was a middle row blank window, Whitehall,' pp. 56, 57 (1895), the supposition being, that a passage having been made through a builtup window explained both the broken wall and the window, through which the King was said to have passed by writers of the seventeenth century. Loftie further adds that all windows on the Hall floor, except perhaps the centre window on the river side, were then blank. · Canon E. Sheppard, in his Old Royal Palace of Whitehall,' p. 194 (1902), also states that at that period all windows on the western front of the House were blank. C Wyatt Papworth conjectured that a passage was broken in the south, or Westminster, end of the Banqueting Hall in order to bring the King into the building, and that he then passed out through the centre window on the western front (3 S. iv., 195). At an earlier date Thomas Pennant indicated, in Some Account of London (1790), that the breaking through was in the north end wall of the Banqueting Hall itself, and refers to Herbert as his authority for the broken wall, viz, to the published volume of Threnodia Carolina,' of 1702, which was printed from Herbert's revised manuscript, although this manuscript and its printed copy only state that "there was a passage broken through the wall," without indicating where this wall was situated. Sir Reginald Palgrave adopted Pennant's view concerning the position of the broken wall, and mentioned Pennant as his authwhich naturally followed the acceptance of ority, The Times (17 May, 1890). A belief, what Pennant alleged (namely, that an opening was broken in the north wall of the Hall itself, to provide an exit for the King), was, that no open doors at all existed in the north end wall of the Hall, at the floor level, prior to the King's execution. The above beliefs and statements, none of which is correct, will suffice to show the diversity of opinions that have been held by writers on this subject for many years past. As Inigo Jones constructed the Banqueting House, which was completed in 1622, there were five open doors on the Hall floor, and three rows of windows on each side of the House, namely on the west, or St. James's Park side, and on the east or river side. The middle rows of windows on the east and west sides containing between them fourteen windows, seven on each side, were those of the Banqueting Hall floor, and the top rows on each side, also containing fourteen windows, were at the level of the high side galleries in the Hall. All these twentyeight windows in the middle and top rows were glazed, at the completion of the building in 1622. The windows in the lowest, or ground floor rows, were also open, and were protected by bars when the Banqueting House was built. Whether they were glazed at first is uncertain, although some of them must have been glazed in early times, as in the reign of Charles II., this lower floor was used for housing the Palace guards, and also contained official quarters and cellars. In succeeding years the windows of the lowest row on the western front varied as to their condition, being sometimes built up and sometimes open, wholly or in part. The windows of these lowest, or ground floor rows, are now glazed, but occupying two of the seven recesses in the row on the east, or river side of the House, are two small doors, in line with the windows, and having glazed tops. One of these doors is in the centre recess of this east side, where a door was also situated in early times. I submitted certain particulars which are in the State Papers at the Record Office, concerning the doors and windows in the Banqueting House after it was completed, to a distinguished architect, late President end. These south doors remained open of the Royal Institute of British Architects, until the fire of 1698 destroyed Whitehall and he stated that these details are con- Palace and seriously damaged the south wall clusive evidence that the condition of the of the Banqueting House. After this, the doors and windows of the Banqueting Hall, two south doors were closed, as they now and the windows on the lower or ground are, although their frames and frontispieces, floor, were as I have described them above, similar to those of the north doors, are in at the period mentioned, namely, the doors their old positions. The large open central and windows in the Hall, and the windows door which is now at the south end of the on the lower floor were open, and all win- Banqueting Hall and leads into the Royal dows on both sides of the Hall, as distinct United Service Institution, is of comparfrom those of the lower floor, were glazed. atively modern construction. There were, therefore, five open doors on the Banqueting Hall floor, and twenty-eight glazed windows in the side walls of the Hall prior to the death of Charles I., and in that condition these windows all remained until after the conversion of the Hall into a chapel in 1724. There was also in the Banqueting Hall, as Inigo Jones built it, the large glazed window at the south or Westminster end, high in the wall above the level of galleries, where it still is. It might be of interest to refer here briefly to Hollar's well-known view of the Banqueting House, which shows the west front and north end of the building, and also the Holbein Gate. The view is described as of date circa 1640. It was engraved by J. Cook, and published in 1809, and has often been reproduced in works referring to the Banqueting House. The original drawing, in pen-and-ink, is in the Pepys Library, at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where by the kindness of Mr. Morshead, the Librarian, I was enabled to inspect it, and have it photographed. In this original view, panes are seen, carefully and distinctly drawn, in the upper and middle rows of windows in the west wall of the Hall. Three of the five open doors which were on the Banqueting Hall floor before the King's death, were at the north or Charing Cross end of the room. The central, or largest north door was that by which the public entered the Hall, as they do at the present time. Of the two smaller north end doors, that nearest the river side is now the entrance to the Wolseley room, and that on the Whitehall Street side of the central north door is, at present, and has been for more than one hundred and thirty years, the entrance to a cupboard, which is in the doorway passage in the wall, and is built up at the back. ' > The two remaining doors in the Hall were at the south end, opposite to, and similar in size to the two smaller doors at the north At the time of the King's execution there was a building, in the nature of an annexe, attached to the north wall of the Banqueting House. It was narrow in depth from north to south, but extended almost from side to side of the House. This annexe contained the stairs by which the north end of the Banqueting Hall floor was reached, and also the higher stairs, leading to the galleries above, at the level of the upper rows of windows in the Hall. In the annexe were the landings on to which opened the north end doors of the Hall, and the doors in the north gallery at the higher level. The annexe had a sloped roof, at a lower level than the roof of the Banqueting House, and was connected with the Palace buildings near it. Its narrow west wall faced what is now the open street of Whitehall, where in Stuart times was a wide space or court, through which passed the public way between Charing Cross and Westminster. The west wall of this annexe was close to, but not quite abreast of the western front of the Banqueting House, as is shown in the drawings and engravings of contemporary artists, and in this west wall there were, at the time of Charles I., two windows, one above the other, the larger and lower being on the first floor, and the smaller on the higher or gallery level. Through the lower of these annexe windows it has been stated by some, the King passed out to his execution. The lower margin of this window was at a few feet higher level than the floor of the Banqueting Hall, and also higher than the landing within the annexe, to which this window gave light, and on to which the door in the north end of the Hall, through which the King passed on his way to the scaffold, opened. That the lower of these windows in the west wall of the annexe was the window through which the King passed to his death was the opinion of George Vertue the wellknown engraver and antiquary of the early The window marked by Vertue belonged to a small building abutting from the north side of the present Banqueting House and he was certainly in error. It is almost certain that Charles went out of an opening made in the centre blank window of the front, next the park. It must be remembered that all the windows were then blank. As late as 1761 the centre window only was glazed. are The above statements by Wheatley inaccurate. He, and others following him, have reversed the true order of events, in supposing that all the windows were blank in early times, and subsequently became glazed. As already mentioned, it was not until after the Banqueting Hall had been converted into a chapel in 1724, that we find two of the windows in the west middle row transformed into blank windows, this being probably done with the object of subduing the light in the chapel. In 1761 a blank window, on each side of the central glazed window in the middle row on the west side of the Hall, is shown in an engraving of the Banqueting House from a drawing by Samuel Wale (afterwards R.A.), all the other windows on the west side being seen in this view, as open. Twenty years later, Thomas Malton's view of the west side of the House shows two blank windows on each side of the central window of the middle row, and the same artist's view of the east or river side, of 1795, shows the corresponding two windows of that side, south of the central window, as also built up, as were the two windows north of the central window in this east side middle row. In a plan of the Banqueting Hall by J. T. Groves, an architect and Clerk of the Works for Whitehall, dated 1796, the same four windows, on each side of the House, are seen as still closed with stonework. These eight windows were the only windows of the the twenty-nine (including the great south window) in the Banqueting Hall, as apart from the basement floor of the House, that were ever built up. Early in the nineteenth century all the windows in the Hall on the west front, were again glazed. Wyatt Papworth (d. 1894), an architect and antiquary who assisted_Wheatley__in preparing his work, London Past and Present,' is in agreement with what Wheatley states as to the window in the west side of the north annexe not being that through which the King passed to the scaffold. In referring to this annexe, Papworth mentions the two small windows on its west side as being one above the other, much smaller than those of the façade, and out of which the King could not have gone, as regards height. Probably Wheatley based his disagreement with what Vertue states as to the King having passed out through the larger and lower of these two annexe windows, on a similar reason to that of Papworth, viz., the insufficient size of the window. "" "" Papworth suggested, as did Wheatley, that the King went through the centre window on the western front of the Banqueting House, that is the centre window on the Banqueting Hall floor. Vertue was, however, quite correct in referring to this lower window in the west wall of the north annexe as that through which the King passed. He named the right window, but his statement was not the whole case, as will be shown presently. Here it will be advisable to mention a letter from the Scots Commissioners who were residing in London at the time of the King's execution, written by them to the Commissioners of the Kirk of Scotland on the day of the King's death, giving the Kirk a brief notice of that event. A copy of this letter was sent by George Chalmers, antiquary and historian, to Sir Joseph Banks, in a letter dated 20 April, 1813. Chalmers' letter, containing the copy of the Scots Commissioners' letter, is now in the British Museum (Add. MS. 6306), the Commisioners' letter being as follows: Covent Garden Right Revd. and Honle., This day, about two of the Clock, in the afternoon, his majesty was brought out, at the window of the balcony of the Banquetinghouse, of Whitehall, near which a stage was set up, and his head struck off, with an axe; wherewith, we hold it our duty to inform you: and so, being in haste, we shall say no more, at this time, but that we remain Your most afft friends to Serve you. LOTHIAN. This letter was published by Wyatt Papworth in N. & Q' in 1863 (3 S. iv. 195), with some extracts from Chalmers' letter to Sir Joseph Banks, which contains the copy of the Commissioners' letter. Papworth discussed the question as to what structure of the Banqueting House it was to which the Commissioners referred as 30 Jany 1648/9. For the Rt. Revd. the Comrs, of the Kirk of scaffold. "" men referred to the scaffold as a stage," and to the landing as a balcony." 66 "" They seem, however, to have been quite correct architecturally, in describing this landing as a balcony." 'The Dictionary of Architecture' (Arch. Soc.) describes a balcony as, "A projection from the wall of a house, either externally or internally, protected by a balustrade or railing, and forming a floor on which one or more persons may stand, and connected with, but separated from, the general floor at that level of the building.' "" This lower window, referred to by the Scots Commissioners as the window of the balcony,' " and situated in the west wall of the north annexe, was, it is certain, that through which the King passed to 66 It now remains to find the broken down wall through which the King also went, as Herbert states in his original manuscript mentioned by Herbert. As we have seen, wall yt was purposely broken down at ye 'his Maty past to ye scaffold through ye North end of ye roome. was this broken down wall? "" "" Where, then, This portion of wall, which, from what is shown in early engravings, must have been at least three or four feet in height above the landing, was broken down beneath the window to the floor level. Papworth was probably correct in stating that the window alone, even with its frame removed, would have been too small for the King's passage, but when the opening, from which the piece of wall beneath the window had been removed, was united with the cut-out window above it, there was quite sufficient space available for the passing out to the scaffold. "" the "balcony." He conjectured that "balcony was the term applied by them to the small projecting balustrades, in front of the three middle windows of the Banqueting Hall floor, on the western front of the House, and he then suggested that it was the centre window of these three through which the King passed out of the building. Those, however, including Papworth, who have endeavoured to locate the " balcony mentioned by the Scots Commissioners, have been looking for an outside balcony, whereas it an inside balcony the Commissioners referred to, viz., the landing inside the north annexe, on to which the door at the north end of the Hall opened, that door through This temporary door in the west wall of which the King passed from the Hall into the annexe was composed, therefore, partly the annexe on his way to the scaffold. The of the window, and partly of the opening lower of the two windows already mentioned, broken in the wall. The scaffold platin the west wall of this annexe, which form was erected at a suitable height outside, looked on to the " open Streete before White- along the front of the Banqueting House, hall," was the window of this landing, or and extended for some feet to the north of balcony," and admitted light to it. the north-west corner of the House, in order The Scots Commissioners, in their letter to bring it opposite the opening in the anof the Kirk describe as a "" balcony "the nexe, which for convenienoe will here be structure that Vertue, in his note on Teras- described as the "door-window." The son's engraving, refers to as the "landing," west wall of the annexe was, it will be the latter being doubtless the descriptive remembered, but a short distance, viz., about word that most Englishmen would have used, three feet, behind the west front of the under similar circumstances. The Scots- Banqueting House, and across the space was "" It was that piece of wall that was immediately beneath the lower margin of this lower window in the west wall of the north annexe. |
0 Reviews Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified Write review |