Lady Holland died at Holland House on Monday, and with
her one of the most famous titles in English history becomes New Console (24) were on Friday 94 to 97.
extinct. The peerage ended with the death of her husband, who was the last male descendant of the man who might have rivalled Chatham had he not cared for money more than fame, and who left a son, Charles James Fox, to be the intellectual, moral, and political antithesis of William Pitt. Lady Holland had lived in retirement too long to make her death in any sense a great social event. London, however, is eager to learn what is to be the fate of the house, and as to how the heir—said to be Lord Rchester, the descendant of the elder brother of Henry Fox—will deal with the property. No doubt the associations of a house to which Crom- well, surrounded by his red-coated Lifeguards, was wont to ride from Whitehall, where Addison died, where Charles Fox spent his boyhood, and where the great Lady Holland drew round her all the wits and poets of two generations, are sufficient to claim its preservation. To us, however, it seems far more interesting as a beautiful piece of Elizabethan architecture set in an English park, and yet not four miles from Charing Cross. Surely there must be some millionaire ready, if it comes into the market, to purchase such an oasis in the desert of streets. It is a pity that the Royal Grants Bill is passed, or the nation might, by giving it to the Duchess of Fife as her dowry, have put Holland House out of the reach of the speculative builder.
Previous page
