MR GLADSTONE’S SUBURBAN RESIDENCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 15, 11 April 1891, Page 10

MR GLADSTONE’S SUBURBAN RESIDENCE.

SEE ILLUSTRATION. That yearning for retirement, which is ever held to possses the truly great, was reported to have seized upon the Grand Old Man in February. Dollis Hill was said to be the selected haven of ‘fair, quiet and sweet rest.’ Then came more Home Rule ructions and the general crassidity of Pope Hennessey over the Religions Disabilities Bill. Of course the rumour ranks now with the lamest of canards, but I have it on the highest authority, that early in February Mr Gladstone was very much on his dignity, and something approaching dangerously close to final arrangements were made for his parliamentary adieux and his permanent rustication at Lord Aberdeen’s charming suburban seat. In the end more temperate counsel prevailed, and now the Liberal leader will have a town house—lB, Park Lane—and will only recuperate at Dollis Hill from Saturdays to Mondays. Dollis Hill is neither a ‘ place ’ nor a mansion, but an unpretentious, squarely-built country house, standing in its own grounds, with a porticoed entrance and a deep verandah, which, in due season, is rich in the purple blossom of the./<irAnnzin/i clematis. Being only a nine miles drive from the Marble Arch, the inmates of Dollis Hill are within easy and pleasant summons of the great city, and on this account, no doubt, it has been selected by Mr Glad stone. Standing on the summit of one of the lesser elevations, which, with Wembly, Great Stanmore, Harrow, Hampstead, and Highgate, form special features in the landscape of the northern portion of Middlesex, the residence of Lord and Ladv Aberdeen lies nearly eqni distant from Cricklewood and Neasden. The view from the Dollis Hill verandahs, without possessing any special claim to remarkable beauty, is sufficiently breezy and verdant. On one side we catch a glimpse of London, with the dim outline of the Berkshire Downs away in the western distance, with the spire of Harrow Church for a landmark in the northern landscape. The house, to which Mr Gladstone is no stranger, is furnished with some quaint Sheraton furniture, possesses some tine mezzotints and rare oils by Morland.