heiress of Sir Walter Cope of Kensington, and, besides several
daughters, had four sons, of whom the eldest, Robert, succeeded him as
2nd earl of Holland, and inherited the earldom of Warwick in 1673.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] _Hist. of the Rebellion_, xi. 263.
HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX, 3RD BARON (1773-1840), was the son
of Stephen Fox, 2nd Baron Holland, his mother, Lady Mary Fitzpatrick,
being the daughter of the earl of Upper Ossory. He was born at
Winterslow House in Wiltshire, on the 21st of November 1773, and his
father died in the following year. He was educated at Eton and at Christ
Church, Oxford, where he became the friend of Canning, of Hookham Frere,
and of other wits of the time. Lord Holland did not take the same
political side as his friends in the conflicts of the revolutionary
epoch. He was from his boyhood deeply attached to his uncle, C. J. Fox,
and remained steadily loyal to the Whig party. In 1791 he visited Paris
and became acquainted with Lafayette and Talleyrand, and in 1793 he
again went abroad to travel in France and Italy. At Florence he met with
Lady Webster, wife of Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart., who left her husband
for him. She was by birth Elizabeth Vassall (1770-1845), daughter of
Richard Vassall, a planter in Jamaica. A son was born of their irregular
union, a Charles Richard Fox (1796-1873), who after some service in the
navy entered the Grenadiers, and was known in later life as a collector
of Greek coins. His collection was bought for the royal museum of Berlin
when he died in 1873. He married Lady Mary Fitzclarence, a daughter of
William IV. by Mrs Jordan. Sir Godfrey Webster having obtained a
divorce, Lord Holland was enabled to marry on the 6th of July 1797. He
had taken his seat in the House of Lords on the 5th of October 1796.
During several years he may be said almost to have constituted the Whig
party in the Upper House. His protests against the measures of the Tory
ministers were collected and published, as the _Opinions of Lord
Holland_ (1841), by Dr Moylan of Lincoln's Inn. In 1800 he was
authorized to take the name of Vassall, and after 1807 he signed himself
Vassall Holland, though the name was no part of his title. In 1800 Lord
and Lady Holland went abroad and remained in France and Spain till 1805,
visiting Paris during the Peace of Amiens, and being well received by
Napoleon. Lady Holland always professed a profound admiration of
Napoleon, of which she made a theatrical display after his fall, and he
left her a gold snuff-box by his will. In public life Lord Holland took
a share proportionate to his birth and opportunities. He was appointed
to negotiate with the American envoys, Monroe and W. Pinkney, was
admitted to the privy council on the 27th of August 1806, and on the
15th of October entered the cabinet "of all the talents" as lord privy
seal, retiring with the rest of his colleagues in March 1807. He led the
opposition to the Regency bill in 1811, and he attacked the "orders in
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