of the title of Lord Holland: his son was the celebrated Charles James Fox, whose grandson was Henry, Lord Holland. It was during his time that Holland House became not only the centre of literary London and the country, but the place where, for upwards of forty years, the great leaders of the Whig party-then in the height of its power-congregated.

The Lady Holland of that time was a wonderful woman. She was, heart and soul, a Whig, and exercised great influence with the party; but she was by nature excessively overbearing, and at times, it is alleged, was even insolent.

Lord Holland died in 1840, her ladyship a few years afterwards, and in 1859 the property came into the possession of another branch of the family.

It would be sad indeed if a house so full of historic memories should be sacrificed; a house whose interior teems with relics and records of the past.

Can nothing be done? nothing undertaken to avert such a dire catastrophe? Is there no one rich enough and interested sufficiently in so noble and so ancient a mansion, with its beautiful park

and grand forest trees, to become its purchaser? Will no one come forward and rescue from the builders a house dating from 1607, and one, too, of the very best of its period?

That this appeal can do but little good I am but too well aware, but no harm can be done by what I have written, and it is only in such a way the possible destruction of one of the country's most valuable and most interesting monuments can be opposed.

When a day came that was suitable for my photographic work—and a highly favourable one did come-I chartered a four-wheel cab and drove to Kensington, entering the park by the gate just below the terrace-wall.

There was a particular object for taking the four-wheeler, for I saw from my previous examination that to accomplish what I required, a platform was needed over six feet high, and for this the cab was used. Eight stout wedges were brought with me, these being applied to the cab's springs in order to prevent their action.

The horse was taken out, and the driver, evidently a kind-hearted man, asked whether his

horse might roam in the luxurious grass, and, upon my assenting, the horse was turned loose.

It was too funny to witness what then took place. The cabman, quite unprepared for what the horse would do, had not removed the harness, and he, appreciating his liberty and the abundance of grass in the park, sped away at a gallop, stopping not until he had nearly reached the lower end of the park; and then, to the horror of the cabman, he lay down and indulged in a roll, turning from side to side, over and over again, evidently with great enjoyment.

What the driver feared was that the harness would be entirely destroyed; though, as it turned out, it was quite uninjured. When at last the horse got up, he commenced feeding, and as it was half-past eleven when we arrived and five o'clock when we left, he had a feast which lasted five hours and a half, the result being that it was with the utmost difficulty he was put into the shafts. This, however, was managed, but we had then to discover that little more than a walk was the utmost pace that could be got out of him.

The day had been altogether so lovely that

my work was everything that could be desired, especially the negative taken from the top of the cab, which embraced not only the whole of the south front, but the terrace and the terracewall in the foreground.

It may be added that this negative, due to the conditions under which it was obtained, was so perfect that it was used for an enlargement whose base-line was fifty-three inches-one of the largest and most successful autotypes that have yet been produced.

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Queen's Jubilee Garden Party: A fine day, and a brilliant Assembly--The private Grounds of the Palace striking and beautiful -An extraordinary and unusual Visitor-The March Past of the Volunteers-The Mob Storm my Platform.

THE night before the Jubilee Garden Party, I received a telegram from Lord Bradford requesting me to be prepared to take groups of Her Majesty's guests at Buckingham Palace whenever opportunity offered.

The day was admirable for the purpose, with scarcely any wind, the brilliancy of the sun being occasionally softened by light clouds. An immense number of invitations had been issued ; so many, indeed, that the list of names, in close, small print, occupied nearly seven columns of the Times newspaper.

Her Majesty received the Royal guests and members of the Royal Family at the garden entrance, and afterwards proceeded with them to