Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/112

by a motion against the Assessed Tax Bill, and though his speech had, as was to be expected, no influence on the division, it proved that he had inherited the oratorical abilities of his family, and pointed him out as the leader of his uncle s supporters in the Upper House. As his dis approval of most of the proceedings of the House of Lords was recorded by protests, his copiousness in this species of composition has perhaps never been equalled. These protests were afterwards collected and published by D. C. Moylan under the title The Opinions of Lord Holland as recorded in the Journals of the House of Lords, from 1797 to 1841 (London, 1841), and, besides constituting, as they necessarily do, a full though condensed account of his poli tical views and opinions, form one of the most authentic and original records of the course of Whig policy during the years to which they refer. After the peace of Amiens in 1802 Lord Holland proceeded to Paris, whence he went to Spain, staying in that country until the declaration of war in January 1805, when he returned to England, Of this second visit to Spain he doubtless took advantage for the purpose of acquiring a more complete mastery of the Spanish language and literature, and the fruit of this was seen by tlie publication in 1807 of The Life and Writings of Lope Felix de Vega Carpio, and in 1808 of Three Comedies from the Spanish. When the ministry of " All the Talents" came into office in 1806, Lord Holland was made a privy councillor, and was appointed along with Lord Auckland to negotiate with the American plenipoten tiaries that treaty the refusal of whose ratification by Mr Jefferson resulted in the subsequent war with America. On the death of Mr Fox, 15th October following, Lord Holland received the privy seal, holding office till the dis missal of the ministry in 1807. When the Spaniards rebelled against the French yoke in 1808, Lord Holland s interest in the country induced him to pay it a third visit. He landed at Corunna almost simultaneously with the division of the British army under Sir David Baird, and did not return to England till the close of 1809. During the long period when the Whigs were excluded from power Lord Holland continued to afford them his strenuous and steady support. He did not join the Canning ministry of 1827, but when the Whigs were recalled in 1830 he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, an office which, with the exception of two short intervals when his party were temporarily excluded from power, he continued to hold till his death at Holland House, 22d October 1840.

Although Lord Holland for the greater period of his life had to lead the forlorn hope of his party in the House of Lords, his influence on the politics of his country was of an importance far beyond what was manifest at the time, and without his persistent support in parliament and his aid in maintaining his party s courage and discipline, the triumph of many of the measures he advocated would in all probability not have been so speedy and complete. Few have been more closely identified with all the great political changes of the first half of the present century, more especi ally the extension of the suffrage, the abrogation of Catholic disabilities, the abolition of the Test and Corporation Acts, the repeal of the corn laws, and the repression of the slave trade. A sympathizer with the French Revolution, he differed from his party in his admiration and esteem for Napoleon, against whose imprisonment he protested as an outrageous violation both of good faith and of what was due to fallen greatness. The character of Lord Holland s oratory very closely resembled that of his uncle Charles Fox, and was inferior to it only perhaps because his natural indolence was not counteracted by the stimulus of a popular assembly encouraging him to a more careful study of the art of eloquence, and affording him more adequate oppor tunities for its display. He excelled principally in close reasoning rendered clear and easy of apprehension by copious illustration, and as was to be expected from the fact that he trusted little to previous preparation was more happy in reply than in original statement. The effect of the best passages of his speeches was often marred by a more aggravated form of that tendency to hesitation which was one of the principal oratorical defects of Fox, the rush of ideas seeming to be too rapid to permit him to select with ease from his copious vocabulary the word most appropriate for his purpose. According to Lord Brougham "The same delicate sense of humour which distinguished Mr Fox he also showed, and much of the exquisite Attic wit which formed so large and so effective a portion of that great orator s argumentation, never use lessly introduced, always adapted nicely to the occasion, always aiding and as it were directing the reasoning." The language both of his spoken and written style was graceful, pure, flowing, and vigorous, and entirely devoid of extra vagance, singularity, or affectation. In addition to his poetical translations, he was the author of fugitive verses of some elegance. Two of his works were published post humously by his son Henry Edward, fourth Lord Holland Foreign Reminiscences (1850), and Memoirs of the Whig Party during my Time (2 vols. 1852-54).

It is, however, as the restorer of Holland House, and as the host of the brilliant company which he there assembled, that Lord Holland in all probability will be chiefly remem bered by posterity. Though his temper was quick and excitable, his amiable disposition rendered his manners in private uniformly cordial and engaging. His conversation, easy, unconstrained, and of great variety both as to manner and matter, was enlivened by a peculiarly genial wit, and a never-failing supply of racy anecdote to which his powers of mimicry gave additional point and zest. The width of his sympathies and his manifold acquirements enabled him to enjoy the society of persons of every species of intellec tual eminence. Holland House, which owes its name to Henry Rich, first earl of Holland, who was no relation of the Fox family, and which had been afterwards the home of Addison and of other tenants of various kinds of distinction, was restored by Lord Holland in a manner worthy of the company of European statesmen, artists, and men of letters, of which it became the common meeting- place. Much of the attraction of these brilliant gatherings was due to the management and personal influence of Lady Holland, who had the peculiar gift of making herself both feared and fascinating at the same time. Of her the Princess Liechtenstein writes" Beautiful, clever, and well-informed, she exercised a natural authority over those around her. But a habit of contradiction which, it is fair to add, she did not mind being reciprocated upon her self occasionally lent animation, not to say animosity, to the arguments in which she engaged. It is easy for some natures to say a disagreeable thing, but it is not always easy to carry a disagreeable thing off cleverly. This Lady Holland could do."

See Macaulay s Essays ; Brougham s Statesmen of the Time of George III. and IV.; Hayward s Essays; Sir Henry Holland s Recollections; and Holland House, ly Princess Marie Liechten stein, 2 vols., 1874.

HOLLAR, Wenzel or Wenceslaus (1607 1G77), a celebrated etcher, was born at Prague on July 13, 1607, and died in Westminster, being buried at St Margaret s church on March 28, 1677. His family was ruined by the capture of Prague in the Thirty Years War, and young Hollar, who had been destined for the law, determined to become an artist. The earliest of his works that have come down to us are dated 1625 and 1626 ; they are small plates, and one of them is a copy of a Virgin and Child by Diirer, whose influence upon Hollar s work was always