MORE ABOUT HOLLAND HOUSE
Chronicles of Holland House, 1820-1900. By the Earl of Ilchester. (John Murray. 18s.)
THIS is a companion volume to The Home of the Hollands, which was one of the most interesting books of the summer. Lord Ilchester has now completed his story in a total of some nine hundred pages, crammed with information and entirely free from dullness. He has also set an example of singular candour in drawing upon his family records.
For the first twenty years of the period with which this volume is concerned, the third Lord Holland was alive to uphold the great tradition, founded by himself, of Holland House as a centre of hospitality for- the Whigs, and for all the social and intellectual distinction that they could gather round them. The long period of Tory dominance was drawing to an end, and in 1830 Lord Holland and his friends at last came back to power. He himself, except for two short Tory intervals, was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from that year until his death in 1840. Yet in spite of the strictness of his views, his house was open to many of his most illustrious opponents. Among the ultras, Wellington and Eldon were his guests, and Castlereagh was his friend. Mme. de Lieven was an absentee for many years, but it seems that this was due to a diplomatic misunderstanding. Moderate Tories like Canning were entirely at home in the company of Grey and Melbourne, and among the portraits and unfinished biographies of Fox.
The Fitzpatricks, the Hares, the C.rirlisles—all of Fox's own generation were disappearing. New _ men like- Lord John Russell took their places. Landseer and Dickens began to appear among the guests. Only Fox's widow, the sweetest and most pathetic of old ladies, lived on to the age of ninety- two, surviving her patriarchal nephew. But no change and no decay ever impaired the charm of Holland himself. - He was acknowledged by every party and generation to be the most amiable of human beings. Some even compared his kindness and good-nature with the magical charm of Fox himself. - And though his literary remains are singularly unimpressive, he does seem to have inherited a certain share of the intellectual eminence of his uncle. In the Cabinet, his opinions, particu- larly on foreign affairs, were highly regarded. He dabbled quite seriously, it seems, in Spanish literature. His conversa- tion was excellent. There is a story of his grave humour, - concerning a schoolboy and a roast duck, which Lord Ilchester does not recount ; but I hope that does not mean that it is not true.
Had Lord Holland been a bachelor, his fame would have been far greater than it is. It was for the charm of his company that people went to Holland House': but it was the strange behaviour of Lady Holland that they recorded when they came away. She was not a woman who attracted anyone except a few faithful slaves like Dr. Allen. Her manners embarrassed all her guests, and revolted a few. And as time went on, she became increasingly inconsiderate and domineering. She was openly hostile to her children. The most robust of women, she filled the house with a regiment of doctors, and revelled in imaginary ailments. - Yet she was sincerely devoted to the husband whom she bullied so unmercifully, and he repaid her with meek submission. In the end, he made a will by which she was left in almost entire control of his estate. The result was disastrous. She scattered many of the treasures of the house ; she wholly alienated her children ; and finally she made Lord John Russell her residuary legatee.
When we consider that Holland House stands at this day in the minds of most people as a consoling symbol of continuity and permanence, it is all the more exciting to learn how it was imperilled nearly a hundred years back by the misconduct of a devastating widow. Even before that, too, Holland himself had had doubts about the security of his position. He relied very largely upon the income from his wife's West Indian properties, which lost all their value by the abolition of slave labour. Yet it was characteristic of him that he never made excuses for slavery, and was indeed a leader in the movement for emancipation.
The fourth Lord Holland, whose diaries were published by Lord Ilchester some years ago, was a diplomat, and preferred to live abroad. Nevertheless, the glory did not quite depart from Holland House. He was accustomed to reside there, or at Saint Anne's Hill, which he had inherited from Mrs. Fox, for some three months in the year ; and the invaluable Dinner Books were still kept up. Now they were full of such -names as Thackeray, Gladstone, and G. F. Watts, who was for Some years a permanent inmate of their home in Italy. General Foi, the elder son, being unfOrtunately not born in wedlock, lived more simply in a small property adjoining to the north, fighting a losing battle against the perpetual encroachments of new building schemes and railway projects. He had married a natural daughter of King William IV, thereby creating a curious relationship between his father and the King in the years when the former was a member of the Government.
The fourth Lord Holland died childless in 1859. There followed another disastrous widowhood, during which much of the property was broken up, before it was inherited by Lord Ilchester's father in 1889. By then it was no longer a country house, nor even a retreat. It was an anachronism then ; and precious as it is to every Londoner, it is an almost preposterous survival today. Lord Ilchester ventures no prophecies : but if the existence of his house were seriously threatened, he would at least be sure of the support of every reasonable man. For Holland House has been not merely owned but deserved ; and not least by the enterprise and cantle* of Lord Ilchester in making available,- in a most attractive shape; so much of the
private treasures of his home. "
CHRISTOPHER HOBHODSE.
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