The Baronial Halls, and Ancient Picturesque Edifices of England; Vol. 1 of 2

AND ANCIENT PICTURESQUE EDIFICES OF ENGLAND. FROM DRAWINGS BY J. D. HARDING, G. CATTERMOLE, S. PROUT, W. MÜLLER, J. HOLLAND. AND OTHER EMINENT ARTISTS. EXECUTED IN COLOURED LITHOTINTS, BY DAY AND SON AND HANHART. THE TEXT BY S. C. HALL, P.S.A. EMBELLISHED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: WILLIS AND SOTHERAN, 136, STRAND. MDCCCLVIII.



Day &c. Son, Lithʳˢ to The Queen.



The approach to Holland House is by an avenue of venerable elms; the entrance-gates are examples of wrought iron, remarkably elegant in design and fine in execution. Within the demesne, small although it be, all sense is lost of proximity to a great city: the close foliage completely shuts out the view of surrounding houses, and the birds are singing among the branches, as if enjoying the freedom of the forest. Yet Holland House is now enclosed on all sides—north, south, east, and west—by brick houses of all sorts and sizes, upon which it seems to look down, from its elevated position, with supreme contempt for the convenient “whimsies” of modern architects.
During the lifetime of the late peer, Holland House obtained a certain degree of fame as the occasional rendezvous of the wits of the age; and the fêtes at which they were assembled furnished brilliant themes for the exercise of poetical talent; but the records of genius there fostered and encouraged are singularly few. The historian, the poet, the artist, and the man of science, became guests in the mansion when they had acquired fame, but those who were achieving greatness, and stood in need of “patronage,” were not permitted to share its enjoyments and advantages.