The first floor consists of the state apartments. Above is the half-storey, or entresol, the windows of part of which light the larger state-rooms, while the others, as those of the top storey, belong to private apartments. The design of the whole is as simple as it is regular. The decoration, on the other hand, where it occurs, is elaborate and rich. The lion-skins round the windows, the flowers within the arches, are carved with that stately conventional grace which is one of the most prominent points of the work of this period. The cloisters are admirably proportioned, cool on the hottest day, and shaded from wind and rain, which too often in a cloister renders one side, at least, useless in a storm. The whole is surmounted by a high balustrade.
In the west cloister is the door which admits to the room which Wren himself used while the work
was being carried on. Over the doorway are his initials. On the south wall, within the circular spaces of the half-storey, are insignificant and almost obliterated frescoes of La Guerre. Decoration does not destroy the air of comfort, of homeliness, of a stately seclusion, that reigns in the court. It is above all things a living house that he has built; nothing too great or good for human nature, but a home.
