DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67417#0101
QUEEN ELIZABETH AND HER COURT 71
country, and here were clad in brown taffeta,
and had a very timid and childish air. After
dinner the strangers went over the royal stables,
and saw eighty horses and three small carriages,
one of which was lined with red leather and gilt
nails and had twelve wheels. Then they went
back to the palace and saw the Queen's ladies,
all very finely dressed and good-looking, and her
gentlemen-in-waiting, playing cards at tables for
high stakes.
Eight years later the Duke of Wittenberg came to
England, and after some glorious sport in Windsor
Forest, where he lunched on cold meat in a fine
English farmhouse, was taken to visit Hampton
Court. “ This,” writes his Highness’s secretary,
Jacob Rathger, “ is the most splendid and magnificent
royal palace of any that are to be found in England,
or indeed in any other kingdom. It contains ten
different courts and as many royal residences, but
all connected together, with many beautiful gar-
dens for pleasure and ornament, some planted with
nothing but rosemary, others laid out with other
trees, trained, intertwined, and cut into such extra-
ordinary shapes that the like could not easily be
found. All the rooms in this immense building
are hung with rich tapestry, of pure gold and fine
silk. In particular, there is one apartment in which
the Queen is wont to sit in state, costly beyond
belief. The tapestries are garnished with gold,
pearls, and precious stones ; one table-cloth alone
is valued at upwards of 50,000 crowns—not to
mention the royal throne, which is studded with
country, and here were clad in brown taffeta,
and had a very timid and childish air. After
dinner the strangers went over the royal stables,
and saw eighty horses and three small carriages,
one of which was lined with red leather and gilt
nails and had twelve wheels. Then they went
back to the palace and saw the Queen's ladies,
all very finely dressed and good-looking, and her
gentlemen-in-waiting, playing cards at tables for
high stakes.
Eight years later the Duke of Wittenberg came to
England, and after some glorious sport in Windsor
Forest, where he lunched on cold meat in a fine
English farmhouse, was taken to visit Hampton
Court. “ This,” writes his Highness’s secretary,
Jacob Rathger, “ is the most splendid and magnificent
royal palace of any that are to be found in England,
or indeed in any other kingdom. It contains ten
different courts and as many royal residences, but
all connected together, with many beautiful gar-
dens for pleasure and ornament, some planted with
nothing but rosemary, others laid out with other
trees, trained, intertwined, and cut into such extra-
ordinary shapes that the like could not easily be
found. All the rooms in this immense building
are hung with rich tapestry, of pure gold and fine
silk. In particular, there is one apartment in which
the Queen is wont to sit in state, costly beyond
belief. The tapestries are garnished with gold,
pearls, and precious stones ; one table-cloth alone
is valued at upwards of 50,000 crowns—not to
mention the royal throne, which is studded with