Holland House and Lady Holland

Abstract

Thomas Creevey’s diary entry, dating from December 23, 1822, captures what contemporaries considered as the true spirit of Holland House in Kensington. Numerous guests described the playful interaction of this major literary and political salon as often bordering on the ridiculous, if not insane. It was frequented by members of an inner circle, habitués like the poet Samuel Rogers, occasionally visited by many others like the politician and reviewer Henry Brougham, and run by an imperious hostess who demanded absolute obedience, ordered her guests around, and aspired to rule not only over her own domestic space but also her husband’s, Lord Holland’s, political affairs (“Cabinet”). The imperious Lady Holland, whom her guests often described as imposing on them in any imaginable (and unspeakable) way, was the frequent subject of anecdotes. In Creevey’s parodistic account, the cat’s unprohibited physical assaults on the guests symbolize female sexuality and power, rendering Lady Holland a witch who cares more for her pet than for her guests.2 Brougham’s use of snuff appears as a last, desperate measure to keep masculinity intact on a physical as well as symbolic level. Masochistically, they all returned for more real and imagined humiliation at her hands.KeywordsEarly Nineteenth CenturyLate EighteenthSpanish JournalPrivate TheaterPuppet ShowThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.