a statement of the whole American question for Jeffrey's Review, and having procured a copy, I shall inclose it to Lord Lauderdale and request him to forward it to you when he has read it. He was so good as to write me a letter on some points, at your desire; and I also had the benefit of consulting with Lord Holland and Allen respecting the negotiation with America. I should be glad to have your opinion respecting the general principle which I have ventured to propose for satisfying the Americans without giving up our search of merchantmen-viz., redress in our common law courts, and not our admiralty."

In 1796 the third Lord Holland had returned to England from his travels on the continent, and restored Holland House-that is, he fitted it up at great expense for his own private residence, and restored it intellec tually by bringing together wits and geniuses who invested it with even greater brilliancy than it had formerly enjoyed in the days of Addison. This beautiful dwelling stood in the old court suburb of the town, a sort of "enchanted palace," as Sydney Smith called it, "with charming nooks and corners, lovely gardens, weird traditions, famous pictures, literary treasures, and political memories." Lord Holland was the nephew of Charles James Fox, by whom he had been trained for public life, a man of elegant culture and amiable character, the steady friend of every political reform, and was of the same age exactly as Jeffrey. He delighted in generously extending courtly hospitalities, and from 1799 until 1840 there was hardly in all England a man of distinction in politics, science, or literature, from Charles James Fox and Lord Byron to Lord Macaulay and Lord John Russell, who was not at one time or another a guest at Holland House. It was a recognized centre of literature, and the most scholarly and refined men and women of the period were being constantly entertained under its roof. It was Lord John Russell who described Lord Holland as "a man who won without seeming to court, instructed without seeming to teach, and amused without laboring to be witty."

Lord Brougham was a constant dinner-visitor at Holland House, and his quick repartee and perennial gayety rendered his presence ever welcome. He was considered a star of magnificent promise, and had secured the friendship of Lord Grey and the leading Whig politicians. He was already pledged to those principles of progress and reform to which he was destined to render such signal services. In 1806 he was appointed secretary to a mission of Lord Rosslyn and Lord St. Vincent to the court. of Lisbon, with a view to counteract the anticipated French invasion of Portugal, but he was not absent over two months. During the same year

Lord Holland was appointed joint commissioner with Lord Auckland to adjust with the American commissioners, James Monroe and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the tangled matters between England and the United States.

Lady Holland was a beautiful, imperious, and accomplished woman, who presided over her household like a veritable queen. She ruled as well as reigned, and every one who crossed her threshold was made to feel her power. She was as well informed as the most versatile of her guests, and discussed political affairs, poetry, and prose with equal grace. A list of the celebrities with which Holland House was associated would be interesting in this connection, if space permitted, and serve to illustrate the broad sympathies and enlightened tastes of its genial and generous proprietors. Lord Byron dedicated to Lord Holland the Bride of Abydos. Men of science like Sir Humphry Davy, Count Rumford (of American birth), Alexander von Humboldt and his brother William, helped to swell the brilliant throng. Earl Grey, the courageous premier of England, Marquis of Lansdowne, Prince de Talleyrand, the diplomatic wit and witty diplomatist, Prince Metternich, the Duke of Clarence (William IV.), and the Duc d'Orleans (Louis Philippe) were often entertained. Poets like Coleridge, Wordsworth, Tom Moore, and Samuel Rogers met in the library such philosophic students as Bentham, Mackintosh, and Sir Samuel

Romilly, or Sir Walter Scott, Lord Lyndhurst, Dumont the publicist, Madame de Staël, and the Duchess of Devonshire, or statesmen and authors from the American shores, such as James Monroe, Washington Irving, and N. P. Willis. Tom Moore was sitting beside Lady Holland, at one of the Holland House dinners, about the time that he was writing a book which he fondly thought would prove lively and amusing, when she suddenly remarked to him, with characteristic frankness, "This will be a dull book of yours, this Sheridan, I fear." Moore was stunned with dismay, and tried to defend his work; but Lady Holland, who was a fearless critic, proceeded to point out its defects with precision. To Lord Porchester she said one evening, "I am sorry to hear you are going to publish a poem; can't you suppress it?"

With all her critical proclivities, however, Lady Holland was a loyal friend to those who once gained her esteem. Many of Sydney Smith's wittiest letters are addressed to her. Yet she had no hesitancy about issuing arbitrary commands to her distinguished guests. Once she exclaimed, "Sydney, ring the bell." He replied, "Oh, yes; and shall I sweep the room?" It is related of her that "in the midst of some of Macaulay's interesting anecdotes she would tap on the table with her fan and say, 'Now, Macaulay, we have had enough of this, give us something else.'" She was fond of crowding her dinner-table, and once, when the company was tightly packed, an unexpected guest arrived, and she ordered room made for him, which was not easy. Presently she addressed the celebrated humorist, "Lutrell! make room!" He replied gravely, "It must certainly be made, for it does not exist." Sydney Smith was conspicuous on almost all occasions, with his ponderous figure, and flashing pleasantries of so droll a description that even the servants who stood behind the chairs were often convulsed in fits of laughter. Lutrell, who was a reputed epicure, created quite a scene of merriment one day by letting the side-dishes all pass him-an extraordinary occurrence—in order to contemplate a guest who failed to laugh at Smith's jokes. On another occasion, when the Prince of Wales was one of the dinner company, the question arose as to who was the wickedest man that ever lived, and Smith, addressing the prince, said, "The Regent Orleans, and he was a prince." "I should give the preference to his tutor, the Abbé Dubois," retorted the prince, "and he was a priest, Mr. Sydney."

It was Lutrell who wrote the flowing lines concerning "Rogers's seat " in the summer-house in the Holland House grounds, on either side of which the family name was playfully illustrated by the design of a fox, in box:

There was no other mansion in Europe so attractive as Holland House. Among the luminaries not hitherto mentioned who might have been seen there, was the Duke of Richmond, Lord Macartney, ambassador to China, Sir Thomas Maitland, Edwards, the opponent of Wilberforce, Hallam the historian, Payne Knight the antiquary, Sir John Newport, Lytton Bulwer, "all collar, cuff, diamond pin, and wavy hair," Lord Aberdeen, Lord Moira, afterwards governor-general of India, the Duchess de Guiche and her brother, Prince Jules de Polignac, the two Erskines, Lord Thurlow, Lord Houghton, Thomas Campbell, who had risen to fame with one bound by the publication of the Pleasures of Hope, Curran, the embodiment of Irish wit and humor, Sir Gilbert Elliot, Sir John Leach, Sir Arthur Pigott, and Right Hon. John Hookham Frere, the minister to Spain, who earned literary distinction through his joint authorship with Canning of The Needy Knife Grinder.

During the years prior to the war of 1812 the affairs of America were much discussed at Holland House. Lord Brougham was about that time seriously contemplating a visit to America. Perhaps the sentiment recently uttered by Mr. Gladstone, "that the one series of historical developments of most use to the student is notably American," was more familiar to his predecessors than we have been apt to suppose. Mr. Gladstone believes that the seeds of freedom were sown in America by England, and that we revolted on matters of detail. He says: "You have in America these two things combined, the love of freedom and respect for law and a desire for the maintenance of order, and thus you have the elements of national excellence and national greatness." Lord Brougham, in 1808, as counsel for the Liverpool merchants, exercised his pen with prodigious activity, and gave the whole strength of his impassioned eloquence to the overthrow of the Orders in Council that had been framed in retaliation for the Berlin and Milan decrees. He conducted the lengthened inquiry in a masterly manner, displaying an insight into the principles of political economy and international law which at that time was possessed by no other advocate. It seems strange that the government of a great commercial nation should ever have believed that one of the most effectual and essential modes of carrying on war and destroying an enemy was to shut out the trade of neutrals. This was destroying the very sinews by which the burden of war could be sustained. Indeed, the trade of the country was suffering more from these fatal restrictions than from the war itself. But Brougham's efforts were not then successful. It was while he was in Parliament, in 1812, that he resumed his attack upon the Orders in Council with increased authority and vigor, and, aided by the peril and