338 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



fought for the King's cause. While he was on the 

 Parliamentary side, Holland House was often the 

 meeting-place of its leaders. Cromwell and Ireton 

 talked together in the centre of the field in front of 

 the house, so that their raised voices, occasioned by 

 Ireton's deafness, should not be overheard. For a time 

 after the Restoration, Holland House was tenanted by 

 various people of note, to whom it was let out in 

 suites by the widowed Countess. One among them, the 

 Frenchman Chardin, who became famous by his travels 

 to Persia, it has been surmised, may have brought some 

 of the rare plants to the garden. The connection with 

 Addison came from his marriage with the Dowager 

 Lady Warwick, to whom the house belonged, the 

 second Lord Holland having succeeded his cousin as 

 Earl of Warwick. He must have delighted in the 

 gardens of Holland House, although they were hardly 

 so wild as the ideal one he describes in the Spectator. 

 There he said, " I look upon the pleasure which we 

 take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights 

 in human life." No doubt he found some solace in 

 the beauties of Holland House garden to cheer the 

 depression of the unhappincss the marriage had 

 brought him. The brilliant days of Holland House 

 continued after it changed hands, and was owned by 

 Henry Fox, second son of Sir Stephen Fox, 

 who was chiefly instrumental in starting Chelsea 

 Hospital. Henry Fox eloped with Lady Caroline 

 Lennox, and was afterwards created Lord Holland. 

 He took great interest in his garden, and was advised 

 and helped by the well-known collector and horticul- 

 turist, Peter Collinson. This friend was the means 

 of introducing many new plants to this country — a 



