The palace took fire and was consumed,
so far as consumable, in 1745, while occupied by the soldiers of General
Hawley; but even yet the walls appear so stalwart that I should imagine
it quite possible to rebuild and restore the stately rooms on their
original plan. It was a noble palace, one hundred and seventy-five feet
in length by one hundred and sixty-five in breadth, and though destitute
of much architectural beauty externally, yet its aspect from the
quadrangle which the four sides enclose is venerable and sadly beautiful.
At each of the interior angles there is a circular tower, up the whole
height of the edifice and overtopping it, and another in the centre of
one of the sides, all containing winding staircases. The walls facing
upon the enclosed quadrangle are pierced with many windows, and have been
ornamented with sculpture, rich traces of which still remain over the
arched entrance-ways; and in the grassy centre of the court there is the
ruin and broken fragments of a fountain, which once used to play for the
delight of the king and queen, and lords and ladies, who looked down upon
it from hall and chamber. Many old carvings that belonged to it are
heaped together there; but the water has disappeared, though, had it been
a natural spring, it would have outlasted all the heavy stone-work.
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