afterwards William III., resided here for a short period prior to his
marriage. In 1678, Somerset House became the reputed, if not the real
scene of the mysterious murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, which is
attributed to the Papists connected with the chapel establishment of
Catherine of Braganza, queen of Charles II.; to whom this mansion was
destined, contingently, as a jointure-house, and who was occasionally
lodged here when Charles's gallantries had rendered it incompatible for
her to be at Whitehall. On the king's decease, in 1685, she removed
hither entirely, and kept her court here till 1692, when she departed for
Portugal, leaving her palace to the Earl of Faversham, who continued to
inhabit it till after the decease of the queen dowager in 1705.

From a description about 1720, we learn that "the stately piles of new
brick houses on both sides of Somerset House, much eclipse that palace."
At the entrance from the Strand, "is a spacious square court, garnished
on all sides with rows of freestone buildings, and at the front is a
piazza, with stone pillars, and a pavement of freestone. Besides this
court there are other larger ones, which are descended towards the river
by spacious stairs of freestone. The outward beauty of this court appears
by a view from the water, having a good front, and a most pleasant
garden, which runs to the water side. More westward is a large yard
adjoining to the Savoy, made use of for a coach-house and stables; at the
bottom of which are stairs, much used by watermen, this being a noted
place for landing and taking water at." The water gate was ornamented
with the figures of Thames and Isis, and in the centre of the
water-garden was a statue. The principal garden was a kind of raised
terrace, (ascended by steps from the water side) in which there was a
large basin, once dignified with a fountain. The ground was laid out in
parterres, near the angles of which statues were placed; one of them, a
Mercury, in brass, had been appraised, in 1649, at 500l.