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PLATE LII.

A ROYAL PALACE, PALLADIAN STYLE.

"Where yon spread trees wave o'er the crystal stream,
And show inverted to the solar beam;

There, where the margin's daisy mantled side,
Shelves down to kiss the congregated tide,

An ancient palace stands, the lov'd retreat

Of Britain's monarch from the toils of state."-WINDSOR.

LORD CHANCELLOR BACON'S PLAN FOR A ROYAL PALACE.

WE will now describe a royal palace, making a brief model thereof; for it is strange to see in Europe such large buildings as the Vatican at Rome, the Escurial in Spain, and some others which might be named, with scarce a fair room in them. First then, I say, you cannot have a perfect palace except you have two several sides: one for the banquet, as spoken of in the Book of Esther; the other for the household: the first for feasts and triumphs, and the other for dwelling. I understand both these sides to be not only returns but parts of the front, and to be uniform without, though severally divided within, and to be on each side of a great and stately tower in the midst of the front; that as it were joineth them together on either hand. I would have on the side of the banquet in front one goodly room above stairs of forty feet high. On the other side, which is the household one, I wish it divided into a hall and a chapel, both of good state and largeness, and these not to go all the length, but to have at the further end a winter and a summer parlour. As for the tower, I would have it in two stories of eighteen feet high each, and the same to be divided into rooms, as shall be thought fit; and on the top of the two wings, statues. Beyond this front there is to be a fair court, but three sides of it of a far lower building than the front, and in all the four corners of that court fair staircases cast into turrets. Let not the court be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer and much cold in winter, but only the side alleys and the quarters of grass kept shorn. On the household side there must be chambers of presence and ordinary entertainment rooms. Let both wings be double-roomed, without cross-lights, that you may have rooms both for summer and winter.

Beyond this court let there be another of the same square and height, which is to be environed with the garden on one side, and upon arches as high as the first story. On the under story towards the garden, let it be turned to a grotto or place of shade, or estivation, and only have openings and windows towards the garden, and be level upon the floor, and let there be a fountain or some fair work of statues in the middle of this court. The buildings here to be for privy lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy galleries, whereof you must foresee that one of them be for an infirmary, if the prince or any special person should be sick, with chambers, bedchamber, "artecamera and recamera" joining to it. Upon the ground-story, have a fair gallery open upon pillars to take the freshness of the garden. At both corners of the further side, by way of returns, let there be two rich cabinets, finely paved, richly hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the midst, and all other elegance that may be thought upon. In the upper gallery too, I should wish there to be, if the place will admit of it, some fountains running in divers places, with some fine avoidances. And thus much for the model of the palace, save that you must have before you come to the front a green court with a fountain in the centre. As for offices, let them stand at a distance, with some low galleries, to pass from them to the palace itself.

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