Various - The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 336, October 18, 1828

Richmond has comparatively but few antiquarian or poetical visiters, notwithstanding all its associations with the ancient splendour of the English court, and the hallowed names of Pope and Thomson. Maurice sings,

but ninety-nine out of a hundred who visit Richmond, thank the gods they are not poetical, fly off to the Star and Garter hill, and content themselves with the inspirations of its well-stored cellars. All this corresponds with the turtle-feasting celebrity of the modern Sheen ; but it ill accords with the antiquarian importance and resplendent scenery of this delightful country.

Our engraving is from a very old drawing, representing the palace at Richmond, as built by Henry VII. The manor-house at Sheen, a little east of the bridge, and close by the river side, became a royal palace in the time of Edward I., for he and his successor resided here. Edward III. died here in 1377. Queen Anne, the consort of his successor, died here in 1394. Deeply affected at her death, he, according to Holinshed, "caused it to be thrown down and defaced; whereas the former kings of this land, being wearie of the citie, used customarily thither to resort as to a place of pleasure, and serving highly to their recreation." Henry V., however, restored the palace to its former magnificence; and Henry VII. held, in 1492, a grand tournament here. In 1499, it was almost consumed by fire, when Henry rebuilt the palace, and gave it the name of RICHMOND.

Cardinal Wolsey frequently resided here; and Hall, in his Chronicles, says, that "when the common people, and especially such as had been servants of Henry VII., saw the cardinal keep house in the manor royal at Richmond, which that monarch so highly esteemed, it was a marvel to hear how they grudged, saying, 'so a butcher's dogge doth lie in the manor of Richmond!'" 1 1 Mrs. A.T. Thomson, in her Memoirs of the Court of Henry the Eighth , says, "On the night of the Epiphany (1510), a pageant was introduced into the hall at Richmond, representing a hill studded with gold and precious stones, and having on its summit a tree of gold, from which hung roses and pomegranates. From the declivity of the hill descended a lady richly attired, who, with the gentlemen, or, as they were then called, children of honour, danced a morris before the king. On another occasion, in the presence of the court, an artificial forest was drawn in by a lion and an antelope, the hides of which were richly embroidered with golden ornaments; the animals were harnessed with chains of gold, and on each sat a fair damsel in gay apparel. In the midst of the forest, which was thus introduced, appeared a gilded tower, at the end of which stood a youth, holding in his hands a garland of roses, as the prize of valour in a tournament which succeeded the pageant!"

Queen Elizabeth was prisoner at Richmond during the reign of her sister Mary; after she came to the throne, the palace was her favourite residence; and here she died in 1608. Charles I. formed a large collection of pictures here; and Charles II. was educated at Richmond. On the restoration, the palace was in a very dismantled state, and having, during the commonwealth, been plundered and defaced, it never recovered its pristine splendour.

The survey taken by order of parliament in 1649, affords a minute description of the palace. The great hall was one hundred feet in length, and forty in breadth, having a screen at the lower end, over which was "fayr foot space in the higher end thereof, the pavement of square tile, well lighted and seated; at the north end having a turret, or clock-case, covered with lead, which is a special ornament to this building." The prince's lodgings are described as a "freestone building, three stories high, with fourteen turrets covered with lead," being "a very graceful ornament to the whole house, and perspicuous to the county round about." A round tower is mentioned, called the "Canted Tower," with a staircase of one hundred and twenty-four steps. The chapel was ninety-six feet long and forty broad, with cathedral-seats and pews. Adjoining the prince's garden was an open gallery, two hundred feet long, over which was a close gallery of similar length. Here was also a royal library. Three pipes supplied the palace with water, one from the white conduit in the new park, another from the conduit in the town fields, and the third from a conduit near the alms-houses in Richmond. In 1650, it was sold for 10,000 l . to private persons.

All the accounts which have come down to us describe the furniture and decorations of the ANCIENT PALACE as very superb, exhibiting in gorgeous tapestry the deeds of kings and of heroes who had signalized themselves by their conquests throughout France in behalf of their country.

The site of Richmond Palace is now occupied by noble mansions; but AN OLD ARCHWAY, seen from the Green , still remains as a melancholy memorial of its regal splendour.

( For the Mirror .)

Comets, according to Sir Isaac Newton, are compact, solid, fixed, and durable bodies: in one word, a kind of planets, which move in very oblique orbits, every way, with the greatest freedom, persevering in their motions even against the course and direction of the planets; and their tail is a very thin, slender vapour, emitted by the head, or nucleus of the comet, ignited or heated by the sun.

There are bearded , tailed , and hairy comets; thus, when the comet is eastward of the sun, and moves from it, it is said to be bearded , because the light precedes it in the manner of a beard. When the comet is westward of the sun, and sets after it, it is said to be tailed , because the train follows it in the manner of a tail. Lastly, when the comet and the sun are diametrically opposite (the earth being between them) the train is hid behind the body of the comet, excepting a little that appears around it in the form of a border of hair, or coma , it is called hairy , and whence the name of comet is derived.

For the conservation of the water and moisture of the planets, comets (says Sir Isaac Newton) seem absolutely requisite; from whose condensed vapours and exhalations all that moisture which is spent on vegetations and putrefactions, and turned into dry earth, may be resupplied and recruited; for all vegetables increase wholly from fluids, and turn by putrefaction into earth. Hence the quantity of dry earth must continually increase, and the moisture of the globe decrease, and at last be quite evaporated, if it have not a continual supply. And I suspect (adds Sir Isaac) that the spirit which makes the finest, subtilest, and best part of our air, and which is absolutely requisite for the life and being of all things, comes principally from the comets.

Another use which he conjectures comets may be designed to serve, is that of recruiting the sun with fresh fuel, and repairing the consumption of his light by the streams continually sent forth in every direction from that luminary—