HOLLAND HOUSE AND GARDENS 
, One marvels where all the wealth thus squandered came from, 
and how even the richest could support such charges, but in 
that corrupt period money was easy to get. ‘‘ Private vices,” 
says Trevelyan, ‘‘ were reflected in the conduct of public affairs, 
and the enormous expenditure which the habits and ideas of 
good society inexorably demanded, had to be met by one 
expedient or another, and an expedient was not far to seek 
when the same men who, as a class, were the most generally 
addicted to personal extravagance possessed a_ practical 
monopoly of political power. Everybody who had _ influence 
in Parliament or at court, used it for the express purpose 
of mending or repairing his fortunes. ... One nobleman had 
£8,000 a year in sinecures, and the colonelcies of three regi- 
ments ... another, an auditor of the Exchequer into which 
he never looked, had £8,000 a year in peace time, and £20,000 
in years of war.” 
Henry Fox himself held many of these lucrative appointments. 
Ultimately he became Paymaster to the Forces as his father 
had been before him; and whilst holding that post he was de- 
nounced in an address of the citizens of London, as a defaulter 
to the tune of millions. He cleared himself, but he was always 
unpopular. 
Before purchasing Holland House Fox had rented it on a lease 
of twenty-one years. He did a great deal for the gardens, for he 
was an enthusiastic gardener; and his wife, the daughter of the 
second Duke of Richmond, whose elopement with Fox had been 
a nine days’ society wonder, shared his horticultural tastes. In 
a letter to a friend he says: ‘“‘ And if you will permit us, Lady 
Caroline has a thousand questions to ask you about flowers, and 
not much fewer about plants.” Again, he writes concerning 
cypresses. “‘Can you procure me any cones? ... I want also 
some acorns of scarlet oak, and a bushel or more of chestnuts for 
sowing. Excuse me for troubling you; I think they are less 
likely to think of imposing on one so learned, than on your ignorant 
and humble servant, H. Fox. P.S. Mr. Watson advised me to 
sow something with a hard name, to creep on the ground and 
cover with green all the vacant places in my young plantations. 
I wish you would tell me what it was.” 
A note on the letter, probably written by the recipient, says : 
207 
