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 
Iichester, 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 beenestablished. 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 entrée 
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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