HOLLAND HOUSE, 



KENSINGTON. 



M 



NY arc those travelling westward on the 

 of metropolitan omnibuses, when the winds 

 of autumn have Mown off the leave-*, who 

 catch sight, through the screen of bare trees, 

 of the majestic bouseof the Earl of Uchester, that pride 

 of the "oUl Court suburb," which is so noble a monu- 

 ment of architecture, and which occupies such a high 

 place in our literary and social annals. Many are the 

 memories that cling to that old-world structure, 

 standing as an exemplar of past times in the very 

 midst of present-day things. There has long been 

 an apprehension that the flood of the metropolis, 

 everywhere rising and spreading, would at length 

 engulf even Holland House, and make it a plan- 

 known to memory and to history only. Macaulay 

 long since made a gloomy prophecy : " The wonderful 

 city may soon displace those turrets and gardens 



which are associated with so much that is interesting 

 and noble with the courtly magnitueiuc of Rich, 

 with the loves of Ormonde, with the counuls of 

 Cromwell, with the death of Addison." 



1 loll.md House is the great feature ot Kensington, 

 with which, in its origin and history, it has been 

 closely identified. Its gardens are something of an 

 oasis in the surroundings of briiks and mortar, and to 

 look at them one would say that they belonged to 

 some ancient plaic deep buried in the shires. The 

 builder was Sir Walter Cope, a gentleman of 

 distinguished descent, who rose to wealth and 

 prominence in the days of James I. It was a time 

 when the opulent men. Hants of Kli/abef h's day iame 

 to new dignity, and Sir Walter Cope, though better 

 descended than some of them, was in many ways 

 typical of his time. 1 lis family had been seated at 



7 lib 1 1 / A 1 /-.A'.\ ff. A' AM ( >; 



