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Argyle. She and her husband alienated the estate to Sir Walter Cope, and thus the property, which had been in the family of De Vere from 1066 to 1610 (very nearly six hundred years), at length, and for ever, passed away to other blood. The following abstract of pedigree (with stars and numbers) will show more clearly than the text the way in which the estate descended in the family of De Vere, and passed away through the female line.

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With the acquirement of the De Vere property at Kensington by Sir Walter Cope, a distinct period in its history commences. Cope appears to have been a thriving favourite of King James I. From that monarch he received a variety of grants-grants of fines and grants of offices. Among others, he held for life a grant of office as one of the chamberlains of the Exchequer. Cope was useful to the king in procuring money; and in the various favours and grants conferred upon him we may recognize the royal quid pro quo. Through

Sir Thomas Cecil, and by grants from Queen Elizabeth, he had acquired extensive property in and about Kensington. The manors of West-Town and of Earl's Court had both come into his possession, forming one large Kensington estate. Although tradition says that there was a manor-house upon that part of the property which is now included in Holland Park, and some traces of the building are reported to exist behind the villas in Addison Road, there was no residence fitted for the habitation of Sir Walter. He accordingly began to build, and to him we are indebted for the Jacobean structure which is now called Holland House. It was erected in 1607. Having no son to succeed him, Holland House and the estate passed, upon the death of Sir Walter, to his daughter, Isabel Cope, who was married to Henry Rich, second son of Robert, Lord Rich, first Earl of Warwick. The family of Rich had risen to influence and wealth, during the reign of Henry VIII., in the person of Sir Robin Rich, the SolicitorGeneral. The infamous conduct of Rich, and his perjury upon the trial of Sir Thomas More, are matters of history. "I am more sorry for your perjury than for mine own perils," said Sir Thomas to Rich. Henry Rich, the husband of Isabel Cope, was a man remarkable for his handsome person and polished manners as a courtier. He became a favourite of King James I., and still more so of Charles I. and Henrietta his queen. His character will be found ably drawn in Clarendon's "History of the Rebellion." By a glance at the abstract of pedigree which follows, it will be seen that this Henry Rich and both his brothers were earls. Three brother earls is a somewhat remarkable fact in the romance of the peerage. Henry made himself acceptable to Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the favourite of James I. He found a staunch friend also in Hay, Earl of Carlisle. It was through Villiers that he won his wife, the heiress of Sir Walter Cope. The next good fortune that attended him was being created Baron, and then Earl of Holland. He was subsequently attached to the person of Charles, Prince of Wales, and made a Privy Councillor and Knight of the Garter. He went as ambassador to France, to treat for the Prince's marriage with Henrietta, the future Queen of England. With Henrietta he subsequently became a great favourite, "who vouchsafed to own a particular trust in him.". . . . When the civil war broke out, his conduct was time-serving and contemptible. He deserted the Royal cause (owing, it has been said, to his enmity for the Earl of Strafford), and took a decided part with the Parliament.

It was at Holland House that the Members of Parliament were

received by him to meet General Fairfax, and subscribe the declaration to the army. From thence, Fairfax, the assembled members, and the Speaker, went in procession to Westminster, being joined in Hyde Park by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. On the king's cause becoming desperate, Henry Rich seems to have felt compunction of conscience, and, returning to his allegiance, made an effort to restore the king. Having fought gallantly in an encounter near Kingston, he was obliged to flee, and was shortly taken prisoner, and confined in Holland House. Being brought before the High Court of Justice, he was condemned to death, and beheaded, March 9, 1649.

After his execution, Holland House was for a time occupied by Fairfax, as his head-quarters; and tradition says that Fairfax and Cromwell used to hold private interviews in the midst of the open ground-the present meadow, lying between the house and Kensington high-road. The widowed Countess was soon afterwards allowed to return to her residence. During the Protectorate, when all the theatres were closed by the Puritans, plays were enacted on several occasions at Holland House, to the great delight of the nobility and gentry, who were privately summoned to the performances. On the death of the Countess, Robert, the second Earl, seems to have resided chiefly at Holland House. He married twice. By his first marriage he had a son, Henry, Lord Kensington, who died a minor. By his second, Edward, who succeeded him as third Earl in 1675.

A strange, ghostly story is told by Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies," concerning the Lady Diana Rich, a daughter of this Earl of Holland. "As she was walking in her father's garden at Kensington, she met with her own apparition, habit, and everything, as in a looking-glass. About a month after, she died. And it is said that her sister, the Lady Isabella, saw the like of herself also before she died. This account I had from a person of honour." This Lady Isabella, who married into the Thynne family, is eulogized by Waller, for her playing on the lute:

"The trembling strings about her fingers crowd,
And tell their joy for every kiss aloud;

Small force there needs to make them tremble so-
Touched by that hand, who would not tremble too?"

The succession of Edward Rich, third Earl, introduces to the history of Holland House a lady, through whom it acquired part of the special interest which now attaches to it. The Earl married Charlotte,

daughter of Sir Thomas Middleton, of Chirke Castle, Denbigh. She was left a widow in 1701, with an only son, born in 1697. Having devoted herself to the education of this youth, at the end of fifteen years (1716) the Countess married for her second husband the Right Hon. Joseph Addison, who was made a Secretary of State the year after his marriage; but is far better known as the man of letters, the author of the "Spectator," and one of the most polished masters of the English language. Of Addison, and of the young earl (Edward Henry, sixth Earl of Holland), more will be said when the interior of the house is described. This marriage is commonly reported to have been ill-assorted. But it was brief. "Holland House," says Dr. Johnson, "although a large house, could not contain Mr. Addison, the Countess of Warwick, and one guest-Peace." Addison died in 1719, and two years afterward the young Earl also died, unmarried. The titles and estates passed to his second cousin, Edward Rich, grandson of Cope Rich, younger brother of Robert, the second Earl, and great grandson of Henry Rich, and Isabel Cope. For thirty-eight years, during the reigns of George I and II., this nobleman enjoyed the estates and double earldoms of Warwick and Holland. By him Holland House was allowed to fall into a state of neglect and decay. A curious fact in connection with the life of this Earl, and of Robert, the second Earl, is, that on various occasions Holland House was let on short leases, and occupied by several persons altogether unconnected with the Rich family. Among others, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire, a daughter of James II., kept great state at Holland House. William Penn, when in England between the years 1685 and 1693, resided here for some time, and carried on his communications with James II. Mrs. Morrice, the daughter of Bishop Atterbury, also lived for several years with her husband at Holland House, when her father was exiled, and residing in Paris. 'Downright Shippen," as Pope called him, and the "incorruptible Shippen," as Sir Robert Walpole called him, whom even he could not bribe, also lived in this house, and boldly proclaimed his Jacobite opinions. It is difficult at this date to determine who were visitors, and who occupied the house on short tenancies; nor, indeed, does it much concern us to know. But upon the Rich's, Earls of Holland, becoming likewise Earls of Warwick, it is certain that they frequently resided in the country, and thus Holland House was let for brief periods to strangers. Upon the death of Edward, fifth Earl of Holland, in 1759, without issue, and the extinction of the double carldoms, the Kensington property reverted

to the sister of Edward, the third Earl, the Lady Elizabeth Rich, who had married Mr. Francis Edwardes, of Haverfordwest. By him the estate was divided. The one part, now called Holland Park (after having for a few years been held on lease from the last Earl), was sold to the tenant, Mr. Henry Fox in 1762. The other, or Earl's Court portion, was retained, and descended to Mr. Edwardes' son, created Baron Kensington, 1776. It still remains in possession of the same family.

The subjoined abstract of pedigree will show the various possessors of Holland House, while it continued in the hands of the Rich family:

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By the purchase effected in the year 1762, the venerable mansion and estate passed into possession of the Fox family, with which name it has now been associated for a century past. The memory of Charles James Fox, and the courtly hospitality of his nephew, Henry Richard Vassal, third Baron Holland, who made his house the head-quarters of the Whig party, and the home of the most distinguished men of his day (distinguished not only in rank, influence, and politics, but

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