GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 



the road adds tantalizingly to its charm ; only in winter, or early 

 spring, or in the fall of the leaf, may one now, from the roof of 

 an omnibus, catch sight of its tall chimney -tops above the 

 embosoming trees. Therefore, is it more than ever at least in 

 my eyes some palace of fairyland in which a Sleeping Princess 

 dreams away the centuries may the kiss of the Prince never 

 be that of the jerry builder ! 



It cannot be claimed for Holland House that it has the symmetry 

 and proportion of strict architectural beauty much of its charm 

 lies in the unexpectedness and irregularity of the pile but it is emi- 

 nently picturesque, and being so has always attracted the attention 

 of painters but it has been very difficult to get permission to 

 draw there. Therefore I render grateful thanks to Mary, Lady 

 Ilchester, for making an exception in my favour. 



There is a tradition that Vandyke dwelt at Holland House for 

 a year or more ; but the fact has not been established. Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds probably frequented the place for there is a " Reynolds 

 room " and there, too, is the famous picture of Charles James Fox 

 as a boy, his aunt, the Lady Sarah Lennox first love of George III., 

 and the Lady Susan Strangways. Canova, the sculptor, was enter- 

 tained there ; and Wilkie was an occasional visitor. This we 

 know from Macaulay's letters, but otherwise I can find no trace 

 of any steady and special encouragement of the fine arts by the 

 third Lord Holland. The late G. F. Watts, who was an intimate 

 friend of the owners, and Sir Frederick Leighton, had the entree 

 in the eighties, during the reigns of the fourth Lord and Lady 

 Holland, and of the Earl and Countess of Ilchester. 



Independently of the beauty of its gardens and the picturesque- 

 ness of its exterior (this is not the place in which to refer to its 

 internal treasures), Holland House has the additional attraction 

 of a famous history. In the seventeenth century Cromwell and 

 Ireton crossed its stage ; Fairfax and William Penn were for a 

 time resident there. 



But after the Civil Wars were over, the place played no great 

 part in military history ; but it concerned itself greatly with 

 politics as well as with literature. Joseph Addison's connection 

 with it is commemorated in the name of the well-known road 

 and station : and it was the boyish home of Charles James Fox, 

 the great Whig leader. In the next generation the great house 



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