HOLLAND HOUSE AND GARDENS 
impression they made on me when I turned the corner of the house 
from the north side, and came upon them suddenly. This garden, 
which lies to the west of the house, is a vast parterre that slopes 
gently downwards from the mansion, till it is shut in at the lower 
end by the high, creeper-covered arcade just mentioned. My 
drawing is taken looking east, in order to introduce the fine old 
house itself as a background. The parterre is intersected by the 
little, lozenge-shaped beds, known as “‘ knots.” These are separated 
from each other by. very narrow walks, edged with high box—as 
we have seen them in the Bishop’s rose-garden at Fulham—but 
in this larger area the dividing borders are lost sight of, and the 
effect in sunshine, is of a lake of scarlet flame. 
It is the fashion—one which I have deprecated elsewhere—to 
brand the geranium as vulgar, and crude. It is undoubtedly 
vulgar, in opposition to certain strongly-contrasting yellows and. 
blues; or when used in “ ribbon-borders,” or, as commonly 
planted, in beds, in the garden plots of suburban villas. But as. 
seen at Holland House it is a truly regal flower, and its splendour 
under such conditions is undeniable. 
Quite as striking and surprising as the effect of this blazing 
parterre, was the profound quiet and seclusion of the place. For 
all that it is within a few minutes’ walk of one of the liveliest of 
London’s thoroughfares, the sunny stillness was unbroken. 
‘I might be fifty miles in the country,” I said to myself, ‘‘ instead 
of well within the four-mile radius.” 
True, the season was over; the great house shut up; society 
had fled to the sea or the moor; or had crossed the Channel, to the 
Continent, for as yet no war. or rumours of war, had disturbed the 
tranquility of Europe. But even in normal years, though fashion 
is out of town there is an influx from the country to take its place ; 
and the great arteries of London are thronged, and of these the 
gayest and busiest is that which passes the handsome gates of 
Holland House. 
Eighty years ago it was not so peaceful ; then the Whigs were in 
power, and the house was the ministerial social headquarters. 
Dinner-parties and crowded receptions were the order of the day. 
_Lady Holland, sardonic but brilliant, ill-tempered and kindly, 
imperious, and gracious by turns, ‘‘ received her subjects,” says one 
of them, ‘“‘ on her throne, a pony-chaise on the lawn ”—a much 
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