University of Virginia Library

TO JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

Since I wrote you last, I have made two excursions,
one to Holland, and one of a week to the Hyde, the
seat of Mr. Brand-Hollis. Here I was both entertained
and delighted. In the first place, I must
describe Mr. Hollis to you. He is a neat, nice
bachelor, about fifty years old; a learned, sensible
antiquarian. The late Mr. Hollis whose name
he bears, could not have chosen a better representative
to have bestowed his mantle upon, for with it
has descended that same love of liberty, benevolence,
and philanthropy, which distinguished his
worthy benefactor. At the entrance of the hall

you discover the prevailing taste. There are a
number of ancient busts, amongst which is one of
Marcus Aurelius, who is a great favorite of Mr.
Hollis. He told us, that all the great painters who
had drawn Jesus Christ, had taken the busts of Marcus
Aurelius as a model. There is a fine white
marble bust of the late Mr. Hollis in this collection.
This hall is large and spacious, and has been added
to the house by Mr. Brand-Hollis since the death of
his father[1] who left it to him. The chamber where
we lodged was hung round with portraits of his
family. It is at one end of the house, and from
two windows in front, and one at the end, we had
a beautiful view of lawns and glades, clumps of
trees and stately groves, and a piece of water full of
fish. The borders of the walks in the pleasure-grounds
are full of rare shrubs and trees, to which
America has contributed her full proportion. To
give you some idea of the singularity in which this
good man discovers his taste, near the walk from
his door to the road, he has a large and beautiful
fir, which he calls Dr. Jebb. Having paled this
tree in with a neat ornament, he has consecrated it
to the memory of that excellent man, with whom I
had only the pleasure of a short acquaintance, before
he was called to the regions of immortality.
He possessed an excellent understanding, an unshaken
integrity, and a universal benevolence, and
was one of the few firm and steady friends to
America. Cut off in middle age, he left a companion
endowed with an understanding superior to most
of her sex; always in delicate health, but now a
prey to the most piercing grief, which will shortly
close the scene with her. They had no children,
and, being wholly a domestic woman, the pleasures
of the world have no relish for her. Her friends
have at length prevailed with her to go into the
country for a few weeks.

But to return to Mr. Hollis's curiosities. In his
garden he has a tall cypress, which he calls General
Washington, and another by its side, which he
has named for Colonel Smith, as his aid-de-camp.
This gentleman possesses a taste for all the fine arts.
In architecture, Palladio is his oracle. Amongst his
paintings are several of the first masters. Over his
chimney, in his cabinet, are four small portraits,
which he told me were his hero, his general, his
philosopher, and his writer. Marcus Aurelius was
his general; his hero, pardon me, I have forgotten
him. Plato was his writer, and Hutcheson his philosopher,
who was also his preceptor. Mr. Hollis
speaks also of him with great veneration and affection.
In the dining-room is a luxuriant picture for a
bachelor, a Venus and Adonis, by Rembrandt, and
two views, of a modern date, of the estate in Dorsetshire,
which the late Mr. Hollis gave him. As there
is only a farm-house upon it, he never resides there.
There are three pastures belonging to it, which are
called Hollis, Mead, and Brand. In Hollis pasture,

are the remains of its late owner, who left it as an
order, which was faithfully executed, to be buried
there, and ten feet deep, the ground to be ploughed
up over his grave, that not a monument nor stone
should tell where he lay. This was whimsical and
singular, be sure, but singularity was his characteristic,
as many of his works show.

Between Mr. Hollis's drawing-room and his library,
is a small cabinet which he calls the Boudoir,
which is full of curiosities; amongst them a dagger
made of the sword which killed Sir Edmondbury
Godfrey, and an inscription, "Memento Godfrey, Protomartyr,
pro Religione Protestantium." In every
part of the house you see Mr. Hollis's owl, cap of
liberty, and dagger. In this cabinet is a silver cup,
with a cover in the shape of an owl, with two rubies
for eyes. This piece of antiquity was dug up at
Canterbury from ten feet depth, and is considered a
monkish conceit. Amongst the curiosities in this
room is a collection of duodecimo prints, to the
number of forty-five, of all the orders of nuns,
which Mr. Bridgen purchased some years ago in the
Austrian Netherlands, and presented to Mr. Hollis.
Mr. Bridgen has lately composed some verses which
are placed by the side of them. The idea is, that,
banished from Germany by the Emperor, they have
taken an asylum at the Hyde in sight of the Druids,
the Portico of Athens, and the venerable remains of
Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities. I would
not omit the mention of a curious medallion, on which
is wrought a feast of all the heathen gods and goddesses

sitting round a table. Jupiter throws down
upon the middle of it one of his thunderbolts, flaming
at each end with lightning; he lights his own
pipe at it, and all the rest follow his example; Venus,
Minerva, and Diana are whiffing away. This is the
first time I ever conceived tobacco an ingredient in.
the feast of the Celestials. It must have been the
invention of some Dutchman.

As select and highly-honored friends, we were admitted
into the library and to a view of the Miltonian
Cabinet. In this, he has the original edition of Milton's
works, and every other to the present day.
His library, his pictures, busts, medals, coins, Greek,
Roman, Carthaginian, and Egyptian, are really a
selection, as well as a collection, of most rare and
valuable curiosities. In the early part of his life, he
visited Rome, Italy, and many other countries. His
fortune is easy, and, as he has lived a bachelor, his
time is occupied wholly by the sciences. He has a
maiden sister of forty-five, I should judge, who lives
with him when he is in the country. They each of
them own a house in town, and live separate during
the winter. Miss Brand is curious in China and in
birds. She has a piece of all the different manufactures
of Porcelain made in this kingdom; either a cup
or bowl, a mug or jar. She has also a variety of singing-birds.
But what I esteem her much more for is,
that she has taken from the streets half a dozen poor
children, clothed them, and put them to school.
This is doing good not only to the present, but future
generations. 'T is really curious to see how the

taste of the master has pervaded all the family.
John, the coachman, has a small garden spot, which
he invited me to see. Here was a collection of
curious flowers, and a little grotto filled with fossils
and shells. The gardener, whose house stands within
a few rods of the mansion-house, is hee mad. He
has a great number of glass hives, in which you may
see the bees at work; and he showed me the queen's
cell. He handles the bees as one would flies; they
never sting him. He insists that they know him,
and will, with great fluency, read you a lecture of an
hour, upon their laws and government. He has an
invention for excluding the drones, who are larger
bees than the rest, and when once out of the hive,
they cannot return.

It would require a whole volume to enumerate to
you all that was worthy attention, and, had you been
one of the visiters, I dare say you would have collected
a larger stock of improvement, and been
much more minute than I have been in my account
of curiosities; but I could not remember amidst
such a variety. I enclose you a drawing of the
house, which Mr. Hollis gave me.

My visit to Holland was agreeable, but to your
aunt Cranch I must refer you for particulars. Madam
Dumas and Miss were absent upon her estate
until the evening before I came away. I called to pay
them a visit, and had a very cordial reception. Mr.
Dumas speaks of you with great affection, as well as
Madame, and Miss looked kind. The Marquis de
Verac inquired after you with great politeness;

said you were interpreter for him and Mr. Dana
when you were at Petersburgh, and that, if I was
dressed in your clothes, he should have taken me for
you. "Years excepted," he should have added;
but that was a mental reservation. He is ambassador
at the Hague.

Remember me affectionately to your brothers,
and to all other friends; and believe me most tenderly