At one time he thought of Holland House, the villa of the noble family of Rich; and he actually resided there some weeks.
[65] But he at length fixed his choice on Kensington House, the suburban residence of the Earl of Nottingham.

The purchase was made for eighteen thousand guineas, and was followed by more building, more planting, more expense, and more discontent.

[66] At present Kensington House is considered as a part of London.

It was then a rural mansion, and could not, in those days of highwaymen and scourers, of roads deep in mire and nights without lamps, be the rallying point of fashionable society.
It was well known that the King, who treated the English nobility and gentry so ungraciously, could, in a small circle of his own countrymen, be easy, friendly, even jovial, could pour out his feelings garrulously, could fill his glass, perhaps too often; and this was, in the view of our forefathers, an aggravation of his offences.

Yet our forefathers should have had the sense and the justice to acknowledge that the patriotism which they considered as a virtue in themselves, could not be a fault in him.