The history of Hampton Court Palace in Tudor times . eign of George I. These were,as we then explained—to prolong their stay indefinitely, onone pretext or another, in rooms assigned to them, whensummoned to Court for a brief visit; to get a footing in thebuilding, by begging a grant of a few rooms from the LordChamberlain, or by bribing the housekeeper, or some suchfunctionary, to lend them a room or two, and then stealthilyto add other neighbouring rooms thereto, until, by a mingled ^ Correspondence of George III., vol. ii,, p. 109. lyyi] CoiLvt ** Squatters and their Devices. 303 system of
The history of Hampton Court Palace in Tudor times . eign of George I. These were,as we then explained—to prolong their stay indefinitely, onone pretext or another, in rooms assigned to them, whensummoned to Court for a brief visit; to get a footing in thebuilding, by begging a grant of a few rooms from the LordChamberlain, or by bribing the housekeeper, or some suchfunctionary, to lend them a room or two, and then stealthilyto add other neighbouring rooms thereto, until, by a mingled ^ Correspondence of George III., vol. ii,, p. 109. lyyi] CoiLvt ** Squatters and their Devices. 303 system of begging, borrowing, and stealing, these Courtsquatters, as we might term them, sometimes procuredfor themselves whole suites of large and comfortable apart-ments—such were some of the discreditable dodges resortedto by the more unscrupulous of the hangers-on of royalty. Indeed, successfully to circumvent these tortuous practices,and to extend an adequate supervision over a palace of theenormous size of Hampton Court, with its innumerable rooms,. Fireplace in the Kings Dressing Room. and its nooks and corners of all sorts, was a task, which wouldhave taxed the resources even of the most vigilant of LordChamberlains. Thus it was that the authorities, to savethemselves an infinity of trouble, sometimes thought thebest way out of the difficulty, was officially to recognizeand legalize the occupancy of the squatter, to avoid thescandal of forcible evictions. In these matters, however, George III., who was deter- 304 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1771 mined to be king in fact as well as in name, endeavouredto introduce reform; and the management of his palacesbeing organized with greater strictness, these reprehensiblepractices were, to a great extent, restrained. From the very first year of his reign he laid down therule, that no one was to occupy rooms in Hampton CourtPalace without a written authorization from the LordChamberlain addressed to the housekeeper, specifying th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthampton, bookyear1885
