n8 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



who have our pictures before them. The whole 

 composition is indeed most attractive, and with the 

 ivy and flowering climbers which cling to the old 

 stonework the effect is truly superb. Nothing could 

 exceed the fine character of the ornamental terrace 

 wall, with its perforated stonework and the admirable 

 vases which now adorn it. 



Sir Henry Rich, to whom much of Holland 

 House is due in its lighter and more graceful features, 

 was created Lord Kensington in 1622, and Earl of 

 Holland in 1644. He was also a Knight of the 

 Garter, and became a very remarkable man in his 

 time, although he faltered much in his principles and 

 his end was disaster. Upon his returning from the 

 Dutch Wars James I. heaped honours upon him. 

 In 1639 ne was made Lord-General of the Horse in 

 the Scottish War, but two years later seceded to 

 the Parliament, and the Cromwellian leaders met at 

 his house, which by this time had acquired the name 

 it has ever since borne. He rejoined the King in 

 1643, an d fought with considerable bravery in the 

 first battle of Newbury, but, finding himself coldly 

 received, again deserted to the enemy. In 1648, 

 however, he wavered, and made a feeble demonstration 

 on behalf of Charles, being tiken by the Parlia- 

 mentary forces in the fight at St. Neot's. He was 

 despatched to Warwick, and afterwards to London, 

 being tried by the same court which had administered 

 its cruel justice to the King. The Earl appealed to 

 the House of Commons, but his petition was refused, 

 and he was condemned. He appeared on the scaffold 

 in front of Westminster Hall clad in a white satin 

 dress, with something of the foppery that had always 

 characterised him. He behaved with dignity, blessed 

 the people, laid his head upon the block, and gave 

 the signal for the axe to fall. " Such," says Miss 

 Kox, " was the end of Henry Rich, first Earl of 

 Holland, who owed Holland House to his wife, and 

 to whom Holland House owes its name." 



After the execution of the Earl, his house came 

 for a time into the possession of the Parliamentary 

 generals, and Fairfax and Lambert were there. It is 

 stated that on the lawn Cromwell and Ireton discussed 

 their projects of military rule and government. The 

 Earl's widow soon returned, however, with her 

 numerous family, and continued to improve the place, 

 her residence there being marked by her name on a 

 stone with the date 1654. It is said that the discon- 

 solate widow solaced her loneliness by indulging here 

 in theatricals, which were strictly banned by the 

 Puritan Government. Her eldest son succeeded to 

 the estate on her death in 1655, and eventually to his 

 father's title of Earl of Holland, and to his grand- 

 father's of Earl of Warwick. By this time Holland 

 House had assumed much of the character which it 

 still possesses, and the quaint aspect of the older 

 portions of its gardens is a reminiscence of that day. 

 There existed, no doubt, ancient trees, but, as we shall 

 see, much planting was conducted at a somewhat later 

 period. The. widow of the third Earl married Joseph 

 Addison, and thus its literary associations may be said 

 to have begun. The great writer was by this time a 

 well-known politician. Upon the death of Queen 

 Anne he had acted for a time as Secretary to the 

 Regency, and had been a Commissioner for Trade 

 and Colonies. He married the dowager countess 

 in 1716, and apparently had had charge of the 

 education of her young son, with whom some of his 

 correspondence is preserved, at an earlier date. The 



marriage was not a very happy one, according to the 

 gossip of the times, but doubtless Addison was gratified 

 with the amenities of the abode and the calm of its 

 beautiful gardens. Johnson says of his marriage that 

 it was " on terms very much like those on which a 

 Turkish princess is espoused, to whom the Sultan is 

 said to pronounce, ' Daughter, I give thee this man 

 for thy slave.' ' The wits made busy with the 

 rumoured infelicity of the writer and his spouse, and 

 one said that, though Holland House was very large, 

 it was not large enough for the Countess and Addison 

 with one guest named Peace. However, when 

 Addison died, he left to his widow all he possessed. 

 He passed away in what is now the dining-room on 

 the first floor, looking north over the gardens and 

 park. Tickell, in verses on the death of Addison 

 addressed to the Earl of Warwick and Holland, 

 the writer's stepson, described the character of the 

 grounds : 



How sweet were once thy prospects fresh and fair, 

 Thy sloping walks and unpolluted air. 

 How sweet the gloom beneath thy aged trees, 

 Thy noontide shadow, and thy evening breeze. 



The young lord did not long survive his kindly 

 stepfather, for he died within the space of two years, 

 at the age of twenty-four, when the title and estate 

 passed to a cousin. The house, soon after this, was 

 let, among others, to Henry, son of Sir Stephen 

 Fox, and was eventually purchased by him. The 

 new possessor of the famous estate, like his prede- 

 cessors in the place, rose to distinction and wealth. 

 He held lucrative posts under the Government, was 

 Paymaster-General of the Forces under George II., 

 and was raised to the peerage as Lord Holland in 

 1763, while his brother Stephen had been made Earl 

 of Ilchester in 1756. Henry Fox, the first Lord 

 Holland of this creation, married Caroline, daughter 

 of Charles, second Duke of Richmond. It was 

 a love match, and her parents did not approve 

 it. The lady, however, was equal to the occasion, 

 and is said to have disfigured herself by cutting 

 off her eyebrows, and, taking advantage of the 

 temporary seclusion, to have slipped away with 

 her handsome lover. She had already been made 

 Lady Holland, and when Fox himself was raised to 

 the peerage he took the same title. The first Lord 

 Holland was, as all the world knows, a great politician. 

 He was always regarded as a Whig of the Whigs, 

 but had joined Lord Bute in his attack on the party, 

 and is said to have deliberately set to work to buy 

 a majority in the House, his paymaster's office 

 becoming a shop for the purchase of votes. It has 

 even been asserted that .25,000 was thus expended 

 in one morning. 



When Holland House came into the possession 

 of the politician it was further beautified and adorned. 

 The terrace garden had been there in older times, 

 but to the ancient elms and sycamores many trees 

 were added, and the work was carried out under the 

 care of one whose judgment and success have given 

 him a high place in the history of gardens the Hon. 

 Charles Hamilton, who had imbibed the spirit of 

 that school which Kent began. The gardens at Stowe, 

 Esher and Claremont were the patterns upon which 

 many other grounds were laid out, and Mr. 

 Hamilton's house at Pain's Hill, near Weybridge in 

 Surrey, was esteemed to exceed in point of taste, 

 variety and extent anything that Kent had achieved. 

 Mr. Hamilton was a friend of Lord Holland's, and 



