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+Project Gutenberg's The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Portland Peerage Romance
+
+Author: Charles J. Archard
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2004 [EBook #14371]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES J. ARCHARD
+
+
+
+
+GREENING'S NEW NOVELS
+
+"The name =GREENING= on a book is a guarantee of excellence."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+RICHARD THE BRAZEN
+BY CYRUS BRADY AND EDWARD PEPLE
+
+THE TANGLED SKEIN
+BY THE BARONESS ORCZY. _18th Thousand. 6s._
+
+THE MASCOTTE OF PARK LANE
+BY LUCAS CLEEVE. _Third Edition. 6s_.
+
+THE DUPE
+BY GERALD BISS. _Second Edition. 6s._
+
+THE WOMAN FRIEND AND THE WIFE
+BY ETHEL HILL. _6s._
+
+THE PALM OIL RUFFIAN
+BY ANTHONY HAMILTON. _6s._
+
+AND THE MOOR GAVE UP ITS DEAD
+BY ERIC HARRISON. _6s._
+
+WHEN TERROR RULED
+BY MAY WYNNE. _3s. 6d._
+
+THE BISHOP'S EMERALDS
+BY HOUGHTON TOWNLEY.  _6s._
+
+
+
+
+THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES J. ARCHARD
+
+
+LONDON:
+GREENING & CO., LTD.
+1907
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+   I. THE FIRST BENTINCK A HERO                                      7
+
+  II. HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK.--A FEMININE
+      INTRIGUE                                                      22
+
+ III. THE FARMER DUKE--WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT--HIS HIGH-SPIRITED
+      SONS AND DAUGHTERS                                            33
+
+  IV. THE FARMER DUKE'S DAUGHTER AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS'
+      SPEAKER.--BECOMES A BENEVOLENT VISCOUNTESS                    38
+
+   V. EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF
+      PORTLAND.--THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE                        45
+
+  VI. LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S RACING CAREER.--QUARREL WITH HIS
+      COUSIN.--DUEL WITH SQUIRE OSBALDESTON.--"SURPLICE" WINS THE
+      DERBY AND ST. LEGER.--ATTEMPTS TO POISON THE
+      HORSE.--FRIENDSHIP WITH DISRAELI.--TRAGIC DEATH               49
+
+ VII. THE ECCENTRIC DUKE AND HIS UNDERGROUND TUNNELS                77
+
+VIII. THE PRESENT DUKE AND DUCHESS.--A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT          95
+
+  IX. THE DUKE AND DUCHESS AT HOME.--THE DUCHESS AS PRINCESS
+      BOUNTIFUL.--THE DUCHESS AT COURT                             114
+
+   X. CLAIMS TO THE PORTLAND PEERAGE BY MRS. DRUCE AND
+      MR. G.H. DRUCE                                               121
+
+
+
+
+THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE FIRST BENTINCK A HERO
+
+
+What a delightful story is that of the Portland peerage, in which
+fidelity, heroism, chivalry and romance are blended and interwoven in
+the annals of the noble families of England. Who that has been to
+Welbeck Abbey, that magnificent palace in the heart of Sherwood Forest,
+with its legends of Robin Hood and his merrie men, with its stately oaks
+and undulating woodlands, stretching away to fertile pastures, dotted
+over with prosperous farmsteads, as far as the eye can reach, does not
+feel interested in the fortunes of the noble owner; and who that has
+seen the Duke and Duchess on some festive occasion at Welbeck, moving to
+and fro among their thousand guests, a perfectly happy couple, in which
+the course of true love runs smooth, and whose supreme delight appears
+to be to spread happiness around them, is so churlish as not to wish
+them long life, as types of the English nobility it is a delight to
+honour?
+
+There is no affectation about this illustrious pair, the Duke never
+poses in relation to affairs of State, and the Duchess has a natural
+grace all her own, to which art can add no touch of dignity.
+
+Welbeck is now the home of peace and joy; but there have been times when
+its history has been shrouded in tragic mystery, and even to-day there
+is the Druce claim to give piquancy to its story.
+
+The family springs from the alliance of the Bentincks and the
+Cavendishes. Theirs is a telling motto: _Dominus providebit_ (The Lord
+will provide) was on the crest of the Bentincks, and it befitted a
+family not too richly endowed with this world's goods according to the
+position of the Dutch nobility 250 years ago; but being of sterling
+qualities devoted to the cause they espoused, their descendants have met
+with their reward. _Craignez honte_ (Fear disgrace) was another motto of
+the family, and the fear of dishonour has been a characteristic trait
+from the time when the first Bentinck set foot in England, till to-day.
+
+Before unfolding the drama of tragedy, love, and comedy of these later
+years let us go back to the tale of heroism surrounding the character of
+the first Bentinck to make a name for himself in this country.
+Englishmen are apt to forget the debt of gratitude owing to men of the
+past; had it not been for Hans William Bentinck this favoured land might
+still have been under the Stuart tyranny, and the scions of the House of
+Brunswick might never have occupied the Throne of Great Britain.
+
+James the Second had made an indifferent display of qualities as a
+ruler, and the nation was tired of a superstitious monarch who was
+fostering a condition of affairs which was turning England into a
+hot-bed of religious and political plots and counter-plots. James's
+daughter, Mary, had married William, Prince of Orange, who was invited
+to come and take his father-in-law's place as King of England. That
+invitation was extended in no uncertain way, and James having withdrawn
+to the continent left the vacancy for his son-in-law and daughter to
+fill.
+
+When William of Orange came over at the request of many of the nobility
+and influential commoners in this country there was in his train, Hans
+William Bentinck, who had previously been to England on a political
+mission for the Prince.
+
+Bentinck was of noble Batavian descent and served William as a page of
+honour. His family had its local habitation at Overyssel in the
+Netherlands and still is known there. At Welbeck a curious old chest,
+made of metal and carved, is one of his relics, for in it he brought
+over from Holland all his family plate and jewels.
+
+The Prince was delicate of constitution and his ailments made him
+passionate and fretful, though to the multitude he preserved a
+phlegmatic exterior.
+
+To Bentinck he confided his feelings of joy and grief, and the faithful
+courtier tended him with a devotion which deserves the conspicuous place
+given to it in English history.
+
+The Prince was in the prime of manhood when he was seized with a severe
+attack of small-pox. It was a time of anxiety, not only on account of
+the possible fatal termination of the disease, but in an age of plots,
+of the advantage that might be taken to bring about his end by means of
+poison or other foul play.
+
+It was Bentinck alone that fed the Prince and administered his medicine;
+it was Bentinck who helped him out of bed and laid him down again.
+
+"Whether Bentinck slept or not while I was ill," said William to an
+English courtier, "I know not. But this I know, that through sixteen
+days and nights, I never once called for anything but that Bentinck was
+instantly at my side." Such fidelity was remarkable; he risked his life
+for the Prince, who was not convalescent before Bentinck himself was
+attacked and had to totter home to bed. His illness was severe, but
+happily he recovered and once more took his place by William's side.
+
+"When an heir is born to Bentinck, he will live I hope," said the
+Prince, "to be as good a fellow as you are; and if I should have a son,
+our children will love each other, I hope, as we have done."
+
+It was about the time of the Prince's perilous voyage to England to
+fight, if need be, for the Throne, that he poured out his feelings to
+his friend. "My sufferings, my disquiet, are dreadful," he said, "I
+hardly see my way. Never in my life did I so much feel the need of God's
+guidance."
+
+At this time Bentinck's wife was seriously ill, and both Prince and
+subject were anxious about her. "God support you," wrote William, "and
+enable you to bear your part in a work on which, as far as human beings
+can see, the welfare of His Church depends."
+
+In November, 1688, the Prince landed in England, and with him was
+Bentinck, accompanied by a band of soldiery, called after his name, as
+part of the Dutch army. The Prince and his wife were eventually declared
+King and Queen, and Bentinck experienced substantial proof of the royal
+favour by being given the office of Groom of the Stole, and First
+Gentleman of the Bedchamber, with a salary of 5000l. a year. Not long
+after, in 1689, he was created Earl of Portland, and his other titles in
+the peerage were Baron Cirencester and Viscount Woodstock; he was also a
+Knight of the Garter and Privy Councillor. In 1689 he accompanied the
+King to Ireland and commanded a regiment of Horse Guards, taking part as
+a Lieutenant-General, in the battle of the Boyne, where his Dutch
+cavalry did effective service.
+
+He was again at the battle of Namur when William's forces were engaged
+in fighting the French for the liberties of Europe.
+
+That was in 1695, and in the same year the King once more gave evidence
+of the affection he bore for his favourite. "He had set his heart,"
+said Macaulay, "on placing the House of Bentinck on a level in wealth
+and dignity with the Houses of Howard and Seymour, of Russell and
+Cavendish. Some of the fairest hereditary domains of the Crown had been
+granted to Portland, not without murmuring on the part both of Whigs and
+Tories."
+
+It was perfectly natural that William should wish to requite his
+henchman with rich estates, and in doing so he was acting as other
+monarchs had done before him, and not upon such good grounds as the
+services rendered to the State by Bentinck.
+
+Jealousy was, however, aroused among the English nobility at the
+favouritism shown the Dutch newcomer, and it found strong expression
+when the King ordered the Lords of the Treasury to issue a warrant
+endowing Portland with an estate in Denbighshire worth 100,000l., the
+annual rent reserved to the Crown being only 6s. 8d. There were also
+royalties connected with this estate which Welshmen were opposed to
+alienating from the Crown and placing in the hands of a private subject.
+There was opposition to the grant in the House of Commons and an address
+was voted, asking the King to revoke it.
+
+Portland behaved with great magnanimity in the matter, his one chief
+desire appeared to be to avoid a quarrel between his royal friend and
+Parliament. Not many men would have had such self-abnegation as to
+renounce an estate estimated to be worth 6,000l. per annum, besides
+the product of royalties, when they had a King and a victorious army to
+support them in its possession. The Earl had saved the King's life, he
+had rendered invaluable services as a diplomatist and General in raising
+forces to fight for the cause of Protestantism; but for him the
+probabilities were that James would have retained possession of the
+Throne and that red ruin would have spread itself over the land. Surely
+he had won as great a reward as those of the nobility whose only
+recommendation was that they were the natural sons of royalty.
+
+To have refused this immense estate simply because he was the victim for
+the time being of racial jealousy is a rare and conspicuous instance in
+English history of self-sacrifice to honourable motives. His uprightness
+of character was again tried by the East India Company, who offered him
+a £50,000 bribe to exert his interest on behalf of that Corporation; but
+he was not to be tempted by the offer. It will be seen later how the
+great families, such as Cavendish, became allied with that of Bentinck
+when the pride of nationality had been reconciled.
+
+Once more in February, 1696, was Portland the means of saving the King's
+life, through the information he had received of a plot for his
+assassination by the Papists. The details of the scheme were eventually
+laid bare and the conspirators brought to justice.
+
+Few men have had a life so full of activity and importance to the State
+as this Hans William Bentinck. While the Ambassadors were tediously
+endeavouring at Ryswick to bring about peace between England and France
+and not making much progress, William took the unceremonious course of
+sending Portland to have an interview with Marshal Boufflers as
+representing Lewis. Both were soldiers and men of honour. The meeting
+took place at Hal, near Brussels, where their attendants were bidden to
+leave them alone in an orchard. "Here they walked up and down during two
+hours," says Macaulay, "and in that time did much more business than the
+plenipotentiaries at Ryswick were able to despatch in as many months."
+
+"It is odd," said Harley, "that while the Ambassadors are making war
+the Generals should be making peace." In the end the terms these two men
+negotiated were elaborated in the Treaty of Ryswick, which was the great
+instrument consolidating William on the Throne, wresting England from
+the Stuart ascendancy and completing the work of the Revolution.
+
+Such is an outline of the vicissitudes which this extraordinary man
+passed through in the course of his exciting career. He died in 1709 and
+was succeeded by his son.
+
+Henry, the second Earl, was Governor of Jamaica, and created Marquis of
+Titchfield and Duke of Portland in 1716.
+
+His death took place in 1726, and he too was succeeded by his son.
+
+William, second Duke, was a Knight of the Garter, as most of the other
+holders of the title have been, and he died in 1762. It was through his
+marriage with the grand-daughter of the Duke of Newcastle that the
+Bentincks became possessed of Welbeck.
+
+He was succeeded by his son, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, third
+Duke, K.G., who had been M.P. for Weobley. This Duke became Prime
+Minister of England in 1783, when a Coalition Government was in office.
+Again in 1807 he was Premier, and was at the head of the Ministry up to
+shortly before his death in 1809. Other positions held by him were
+Viceroy of Ireland, Secretary of State for the Home Department, 1794;
+Lord President of the Council, 1801; Chancellor of Oxford University;
+High Steward of Bristol and Lord Lieutenant of Notts.; he assumed the
+additional name of Cavendish by royal licence in 1801. He received his
+early education at Eton, but in after life declared that he got nothing
+out of Eton except a sound flogging. It was not claimed for the Duke
+that he was a man of brilliant attainments, but he was the soul of
+honour, and for this reputation and for his conciliatory disposition,
+was chosen to head the Government, which relied for its precarious
+existence on the reconciliation of the contending parties among the
+Whigs and Tories. He married the only daughter of the Duke of Devonshire
+and the male direct line continued in the succession of his eldest son.
+
+The fourth Duke was William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, who married
+Henrietta, eldest daughter of Major-General John Scott, a descendant of
+Balliol and Bruce, the heroes of Scottish history. There were four sons
+and six daughters of the marriage, the succession being continued by the
+second son. The fourth was known as the "Farmer Duke," and with his love
+of country presuits he lived to the ripe age of eighty-five, dying in
+1854.
+
+The most eccentric character in this ducal line was the fifth holder of
+the title, William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, born in 1800. He was
+M.P. for Lynn 1824-1826, and died in December, 1879. Of his
+extraordinary predilections more will be related in succeeding chapters.
+
+The sixth and present Duke is William John Arthur Charles James
+Cavendish-Bentinck, who was born on December 28th, 1857, and succeeded
+to the title in 1879. His elevation to the Dukedom is an example of the
+fortune of birth; the old and eccentric Duke died unmarried, or so it
+was assumed, and therefore his honours in the peerage passed to his
+second cousin.
+
+To trace the lineage of the present Duke we must go back to the third
+Duke, who had a third son (Lord William Charles Augustus). This third
+son, who was uncle of the eccentric Duke, had issue, Lieut.-General
+Arthur Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, the father of the present Duke, his
+mother being Elizabeth Sophia, daughter of Sir St. Vincent Hawkins
+Whitshed, Bart. The name of Scott was not part of his cognomen; he
+sprang from another branch in which there was no trace of the Scott
+element, and the name having been borne by two Dukes for a lady's
+fortune, there was no further obligation to continue it in connection
+with the Cavendish-Bentincks.
+
+The marriage of his Grace took place in 1889 to Winifred, only daughter
+of Thomas Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and their children
+are: William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born March 16th, 1893,
+Lady Victoria Alexandrina Violet, born 1890, and Lord Francis Norwen
+Dallas, born 1900.
+
+The Duke was formerly a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, then after
+succeeding to the title, he became Lieut-Colonel of the Honourable
+Artillery Company of London; he is also Hon. Colonel of the 1st
+Lanarkshire Volunteer Artillery, and 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters
+Derbyshire Regiment. He is Lord Lieutenant of Notts. and Caithness, and
+was Master of the Horse from 1886-1892 and 1895-1905. He is a family
+trustee of the British Museum, and is the patron of thirteen livings.
+The Portland estates comprise 180,000 acres, and his income is estimated
+at 160,000l. a year from them alone.
+
+Besides Welbeck Abbey, he has country seats at Fullarton House, Troon,
+Ayrshire; Langwell, Berriedale, Caithness; Bothal Castle,
+Northumberland, and a London residence at 3, Grovesnor Square.
+
+There are still descendants of the Hon. William Bentinck, eldest son, by
+the second marriage of the first Earl of Portland. The Hon. William was
+born in 1704 and created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1732.
+
+The vast fortune of the House of Portland has been built up in a
+remarkably short space of time, a little over 200 years, and no other
+great family has received so many honours and acquired such wealth in
+the same period. In the last century one of the Dukes held fourteen
+different public offices at the same time, while a younger son was Clerk
+of the Pipe, and a brother-in-law and nephew had 7,000l. per annum in
+official salaries; a daughter too was the recipient of a State pension
+for pin-money.
+
+One of the characteristic traits of the Bentincks has been that in
+founding the fortunes of the family in the past their scions were
+successful in capturing great heiresses. These brief genealogical
+details will help to explain future developments in the history of this
+noble family.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK,--A FEMININE INTRIGUE
+
+
+_Cherchez la femme_ is a French saying, which has somewhat of a cynical
+ring about it. The female hand has to be discovered in the family
+alliances of the Cavendishes and the Bentincks from which a tangle of
+intrigue may be unravelled. There was in the first instance that
+accomplished matchmaker, Bess Hardwick, a country squire's daughter, who
+was married four times, and from her sprang children and grandchildren
+with whom were intertwined the families of no less than five Dukes.
+
+To the north of the county of Nottingham, in the heart of England, is a
+rich and fertile tract of country known as "The Dukeries," once embraced
+by Sherwood Forest, and even now thickly wooded with magnificent oaks
+and presenting charming forest scenery.
+
+Its fastnesses were the home of the romantic Robin Hood and his
+"merrie" band of robbers, the subject of legend and adventure. To-day
+there are in this beautiful region, within two or three miles of each
+other, the seats of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, the Duke of
+Newcastle at Clumber, the Earl Manvers (whose family formerly had the
+title of Duke of Kingston) at Thoresby, and Worksop Manor, formerly the
+seat of the Duke of Norfolk. It was this cluster of the homes of the
+nobility that gave it the name of "The Dukeries."
+
+Both Welbeck and Clumber belonged to the Dukes of Newcastle at one time;
+but to elucidate their settlement upon these vast estates and the
+subsequent division of the domains, through marriage, we must take up
+the thread of Bess Hardwick's machinations.
+
+She was the daughter of the Derbyshire squire of Hardwick, and in 1534
+was married, when she was only 14 years of age, to Robert Barley, of
+Barley, in the same county. It was not long before he passed over to the
+majority, leaving his fascinating widow with a substantial jointure on
+his property.
+
+For twelve years she was a widow, and then she was married to Sir
+William Cavendish, who himself had been married twice before.
+
+He was a Hertfordshire magnate, but the strong will of his new wife
+induced him to sell his estate in that county in order to provide money
+for another scheme she had in view. It was the ambitious one of
+purchasing Chatsworth and building the magnificent mansion which
+tourists from all parts of the world find so much delight in visiting. A
+house already existed at Chatsworth, but it was not pretentious enough
+for the squire's daughter, and she prevailed upon her husband to have it
+demolished. He had started to carry out her wishes when death overtook
+him, and Bess was a widow for the second time.
+
+The new house at Chatsworth was not finished; but she had a penchant for
+building, and continued the work after his death till its completion.
+There were three sons and three daughters of this marriage, concerning
+the future wedded lives of which there were deep schemes and plots.
+
+Another courtier fell beneath her wiles in Sir William St. Loe, Captain
+of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. He was so enamoured of her that he
+endowed her with his estates, and disinherited his own kinsfolk. Then he
+died, and Bess still went on conquering and to conquer.
+
+Her fourth husband was the great prize of all, as far as rank was
+concerned, for he was none other than George Talbot, sixth Earl of
+Shrewsbury, one of whose seats at that time was Worksop Manor.
+
+It was not Bess's way to accept a suitor without a bargain being made,
+having ulterior objects. The Earl had been married before, and had
+children, so that Bess insisted upon two other matrimonial matches
+before she would enter into the bonds of matrimony herself for the
+fourth time.
+
+The stipulation was that her daughter, Mary Cavendish, should marry the
+Earl's heir and his daughter was to marry her son. These alliances were
+duly entered into, and brought with them new honours and additional
+wealth. The building of Worksop Manor house had been commenced in the
+time of the first Earl of Shrewsbury, but was not finished when the new
+Countess became its mistress. Having built Chatsworth, here was another
+opportunity for her to display her genius in architecture, and under her
+direction it was completed, and became a sumptuous residence.
+
+The Earl must have been a nobleman of redoubtable and fearless
+disposition, or a courtier whose pliant will was easily moulded by
+accomplished and attractive women, else he would not have been involved
+in the feminine intrigues that he was.
+
+Not only had he his imperious wife to consider, but he was appointed
+custodian of Mary Queen of Scots when that unhappy personage was under
+the ban of Queen Elizabeth and was sent prisoner to Worksop Manor. She
+was kept strictly in durance vile, for the Earl was a rigid warder, and
+did not even allow her to walk in Sherwood Forest.
+
+There is a portrait of Bess of Hardwick in the collection of the Duke of
+Devonshire at Chatsworth. When Mary was in the custody of her husband
+Bess first fawned upon her royal prisoner; but a new matrimonial scheme
+filled her mind which led her to change her conduct into one of hatred.
+Bess had a grandchild, Lady Arabella Stuart, for whom she planned an
+alliance hostile to the Queen's interests, hence her smiles were turned
+to frowns.
+
+_En passant_ it may be said that the Manor went by marriage to the Dukes
+of Norfolk, who held it for generations and then sold it. Of Bess of
+Hardwick's building enterprises it may be added that she built Hardwick
+Hall, "more glass than wall" (according to an old rhyme), in 1587. The
+Earl died in 1590, and the Countess had another long widowhood of 17
+years. Her second son, William Cavendish, was created Baron Cavendish
+and his great-grandson Duke of Devonshire.
+
+Charles Cavendish was another son of this extraordinary woman, and he
+bought the Welbeck estate, towards the end of the sixteenth century,
+from two or three men of obscurity to whom it had passed, after Henry
+the Eighth had ordered the monastic establishment at the Abbey to be
+dissolved. His son became Baron Ogle and Viscount Mansfield, and
+subsequently Earl, Marquis and Duke of Newcastle in 1644.
+
+This nobleman was devoted to the fortunes of Charles I. and was a
+skilful General during the time of the Civil War. He also wrote a book
+on "Horsemanship," which was regarded as a remarkable production of its
+time, and he built a riding-school at Welbeck, where his theories in the
+training of horses could be carried into effect; but the structure has
+in recent years been devoted to other purposes, and a new and more
+spacious riding-school erected to take its place.
+
+The dukedom became extinct for want of male heirs, but his daughter,
+Lady Margaret Cavendish, married John Holies, Earl of Clare, who, in
+1691, obtained a further step in the peerage by the resuscitation of
+the dukedom, and once more there was a Duke of Newcastle.
+
+A valuable appointment by the Crown came in his way, for he was chosen
+Warden of Sherwood, with which office went the privilege of enclosing
+land at Clumber under the royal prerogative. Again there was no prospect
+of male heirs, so the Duke left the Clumber property to his sister's
+son, Thomas Lord Pelham, who traced his descent from Bess of Hardwick
+through the Pierrepoints (Earls Manvers). Thomas Pelham assumed the name
+of Holles, and was created Duke of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1715.
+
+But to return to the Duke who was Warden of Sherwood Forest; he had one
+daughter, Lady Henrietta Cavendish-Holles, who married Edward Harley,
+second Earl of Oxford. Their only daughter, Margaret, married William
+Bentinck, second Duke of Portland.
+
+Hers was a fortunate alliance for the Bentincks. She was a rich heiress,
+and the vast property at Welbeck and Bolsover belonging to her
+grandfather, John Holles, was her dowry. This was the first introduction
+of the Dutch family into Nottinghamshire in 1734.
+
+Having thus traced how this delightful domain passed by matrimonial
+intrigues into the possession of its present owner, it will be
+appropriate to glance at the ancient history of the Abbey and see how it
+has been transformed from its original state to what it now is by
+successive occupants, and especially by the eccentric fifth Duke.
+
+About the twelfth century a new religious order of monks came to settle
+in England. They were called Premonstratensians, and wore white cassocks
+and caps, by which they were known as white canons as distinguishing
+them from black canons, attired in more sombre garb. About 1140, one
+Thomas de Cuckney founded the Abbey at Welbeck, which was to become an
+important centre for the Order, as in 1515 there were no fewer than 35
+Premonstratensian monasteries in England, all subordinate in importance
+to Welbeck.
+
+Thomas de Cuckney was a _vir bellicosus_, and having built a castle at
+Cuckney, was a formidable subject during the troublous times of King
+Stephen's reign. John Hotham, Bishop of Ely, obtained possession of the
+Manor of Cuckney in the 14th century, and devoted its revenues to the
+Abbey, with an addition of eight canons to be supported from its wealth.
+
+Then came the edict of Henry VIII., which suppressed monasteries as
+being detrimental to the State. The abbots and their canons were
+dispersed, and their lands and property given to royal favourites.
+Richard Whalley obtained a grant of Welbeck from the King about 1539,
+and in succeeding generations others who held it were Osborne, Booth and
+Catterall, till it was purchased by Sir Charles Cavendish.
+
+This was at the beginning of the reign of James I., and Cavendish
+inheriting the predilections of his mother, Bess of Hardwick, set to
+work pulling down the old walls and transforming a house of religion
+into one for the pleasure of the Dukes that were to come of his family.
+In 1619, King James paid a visit to Welbeck, and Charles I. was
+entertained there, when "there was such excess in feasting as had
+scarcely ever been known in England," and Ben Jonson was present at the
+invitation of the Duke to enliven the festivities with his wit.
+
+The main portions of the abbey and the abbey church became merged in the
+new structure; but there are legendary stories that the bodies of the
+Cuckneys and the abbots remain entombed upon the site, and that their
+stone coffins form part of massive walls and hidden foundations.
+
+The remains of the ancient Abbey of St. James have been carefully
+preserved, and the arched ceilings of two or three apartments are
+interesting examples of the Gothic period. The Servants' Hall is a relic
+of the monastic buildings, and three other rooms adjacent are in the
+same style. There is a small doorway with Norman features of
+architecture, and some roomy vaults and parts of inner walls on which
+are the effigies of departed monks, indicating the original purpose of
+the great house as an ecclesiastical establishment.
+
+Bess of Hardwick had a hand in building part of the present mansion,
+when the domain came into the hands of her third son, Sir Charles
+Cavendish. Her design, bearing the date 1604, was on the foundations of
+the old abbey, and still another noble lady added her quota to its
+architecture. There is the Oxford wing built by the Countess of Oxford,
+whose daughter Margaret had Welbeck as her dower when she married into
+the Bentinck family. The Countess had the date 1734 affixed to the wing
+erected under her auspices. There is the Gothic Hall which was part of
+her design, and by some is regarded as a gem of its particular style of
+architecture, with an elegantly-adorned ceiling and fan tracery of
+stucco on basket-work. The carving is rich and over the fireplace are
+the Countess of Oxford's armorial bearings.
+
+A tradition exists that Bess acted under the spell of a fortune-teller
+who predicted that death would be relegated to the distant future so
+long as she kept on her building operations. It was in 1607 that her end
+came when her masons could not continue their labours owing to a severe
+frost, although the urgency of the task was such that they tried to mix
+their mortar with hot ale. It was a fight with the spectre of death and
+the spectre won the contest.
+
+She was immensely rich; but could not number a real friend in the world.
+Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, Bolsover and Worksop Manor were either
+built or partly built under her auspices. Lodge says: "She was a woman
+of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish, and
+unfeeling, a builder, a buyer and seller of estates, a money-lender, a
+farmer, and a merchant of lead and coals."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE FARMER DUKE--WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT--HIS HIGH-SPIRITED SONS AND
+DAUGHTERS
+
+The fourth Duke was known as the "Farmer Duke," from his love of
+agriculture and rural pursuits, though he was a D.C.L. and F.R.S. and
+possessed the feudal dignity of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex. His father
+had been Prime Minister; but the son made no effort to shine in politics
+and contented himself with developing the resources of his estates and
+adding to the wealth of his patrimony.
+
+He had the prescience to choose an heiress for his Duchess and went to
+Scotland for the purpose.
+
+Major-General John Scott of Balcomie, Fife, had three daughters, the
+eldest was known as "the rich Miss Scott," the second as "the witty Miss
+Scott," and the third as "the pretty Miss Scott." The Duke selected
+Henrietta, "the rich Miss Scott," who besides her wealth had coursing
+through her veins the blood of Balliol and Bruce, the chieftains of
+Highland chivalry.
+
+Having secured the hand of the heiress, he assumed by royal licence in
+1795, the additional surname of Scott.
+
+Well might the Duke be willing to couple that simple syllable with the
+patrician accents of Cavendish-Bentinck, for by his marriage with the
+Fifeshire heiress there came into the family an unexpected windfall of
+60,000l. Among the bride's possessions was an island in Scotland, and
+the Government of the day being desirous of improving the beacon-light,
+paid 60,000l, for the island and spent about half that sum in addition
+in erecting a new lighthouse.
+
+Their domestic life was happiness itself, neither was brilliant, but
+both were honoured by those among whom they lived. The Duchess
+interested herself in her husband's vast estates, as well as in her own,
+and in the domestic welfare of their dependants. For a long period she
+was a fitting companion for the Duke and pre-deceased him ten years, in
+May, 1844.
+
+Two of their sons developed some remarkable traits and two of the
+daughters became rich heiresses. The eldest son died young, which opened
+the way for Lord John to become Marquis of Titchfield and eventually
+fifth Duke of Portland of eccentric fame. The third was Lord George
+Bentinck, born on February 27th, 1802. Of the daughters, Lady Charlotte
+married Mr. Speaker Denison and became Viscountess Ossington and Lady
+Lucy married Lord Howard de Walden. Clipstone forms part of the Welbeck
+estate and with the Duke's practical knowledge of agriculture he ordered
+to be constructed an irrigation system by which he reclaimed thousands
+of acres of land, formerly rabbit-warrens and swamps, so that they
+became productive farms. The Duke's flood-dyke, and diversion of the
+little river Maun for the purposes of drainage, cost him £80,000. His
+weather-beaten coat and huge leather shoes, extending above the knees,
+were familiar to the labourers and were characteristic of the simple
+attire he wore when among them giving instructions as to the laying of
+his drainpipes.
+
+Many of the oaks on the Welbeck estate were transplanted thither under
+the fourth Duke's direction, a mechanical appliance being used for the
+purpose.
+
+One of the lodges in the park was occupied by a porter whose duty was to
+give beer, wine, bread and cake to any tramping man, woman or child who
+chose to call.
+
+The Farmer Duke was a lover of horses and racing, though there was
+nothing mercenary in his connection with the Turf, for he never betted.
+He took pride in rearing thoroughbred horses at Welbeck and had some of
+them trained by R. Prince at Newmarket. In the course of his career he
+had the satisfaction of winning the Derby in 1819 with Tiresias. It was
+his custom to ride a cob led by a groom, and for the purpose of watching
+the racing at Newmarket he had a structure placed on wheels which could
+be moved from point to point, where he could gain a better view of the
+running through a telescope.
+
+There is an anecdote of the Duke's agility when about eighty years old.
+He was about to undertake a long walk from Harcourt House; upon which
+the Ladies Charlotte and Lucy tried to persuade him to ride; but he
+declined and challenged them to a race. They went into the garden for
+the purpose and naturally Lady Charlotte won in high spirits.
+
+His death took place at Welbeck on March 27th, 1854, at half-past four
+in the afternoon, at the age of eighty-five years, having been born in
+London on June 24th, 1768. His remains were laid to rest in the family
+vault in the school of St. Mary at Bolsover, the funeral being
+conducted without pomp, as the executors were limited to an expenditure
+of £100. The obsequies were not attended by the Marquis, who had not
+been on friendly terms with his father.
+
+The venerable Duke was immensely rich, for not only had he the patrimony
+of the Bentincks; but by his marriage with Miss Scott, there was brought
+into the family another acquisition of wealth.
+
+He left his London property, so that if his son, the Marquis, had no
+male heirs, it should pass into the female line, which it did, and the
+first to inherit was the Viscountess Ossington.
+
+This London property was of fabulous value and included Portland-place,
+Cavendish-square, Wimpole-street, Harley-street, Wigmore-street, and
+other houses in the neighbourhood.
+
+Lady Ossington died before her sister, so all this wealth came to the
+Dowager Lady Howard de Walden, furnishing her with the splendid income
+of 180,000l. per annum.
+
+The stake in the Druce claim is not only the Dukedom of Portland and the
+entailed estates of the Bentincks in the male line; but in the female
+line too, including this dazzling dowry of 180,000l. a year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE FARMER DUKE'S DAUGHTER AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS' SPEAKER.--BECOMES A
+BENEVOLENT VISCOUNTESS
+
+
+_Place aux dames._ Before relating some of the incidents in the careers
+of the fourth Duke's high-spirited sons, the Marquis of Titchfield and
+Lord George Bentinck, place must be given to the social triumphs of his
+third daughter, Lady Charlotte Cavendish-Bentinck.
+
+With all the advantages that wealth and birth could give her among the
+proud aristocracy of England the love affairs of Lady Charlotte did not
+run smooth. Her lover was Mr. John Evelyn Denison of Ossington Hall,
+about twenty miles from Welbeck in the same county of Nottingham. That
+the young Squire--of well-born family though he was--should aspire to
+the hand of a Duke's daughter showed no want of spirit on his part. But
+after all he was only a Commoner, though he had in him the making of the
+First Commoner of England leading to a still higher elevation on the
+ladder of social distinction, until he became a peer of the realm, only
+three degrees lower in rank than the head of the Cavendish-Bentincks
+himself.
+
+The Farmer Duke, simple though his tastes were, did not view with
+pleasure the courtship of his daughter by the young Squire of Ossington.
+
+Lady Charlotte had mingling in her veins the blood of the highest
+nobility of three nations. The Cavendishes were among the flower of
+English chivalry, the Bentincks were renowned in Holland and the Scotts
+traced their lineage from the pride of Scotland.
+
+The Duke could not bring himself all at once to give Lady Charlotte away
+to one who had no title.
+
+She was a little over twenty years of age and when her father refused to
+hear of the suit of John Evelyn Denison she shed many tears in the
+presence of her maid. Life to her at this time was by no means so full
+of sunshine as is usually supposed to be the good fortune of Duke's
+daughters.
+
+At length Lady Charlotte expressed her intention of eloping with Mr.
+Denison, and at the prospect of indirectly creating a sensation in high
+life the Farmer Duke relented.
+
+Lady Charlotte's marriage was her first triumph. Her next was when her
+husband rose to be Speaker of the House of Commons in 1857 and she
+herself one of the most important personages at the Court of Queen
+Victoria.
+
+She had become rich and influential, so that when her husband retired
+from the Speakership he was in a position to tell the Government of the
+day that he did not intend to take the pension of £5000 a year, to which
+he was entitled as an ex-Speaker. His refusal was couched in the
+following words:--"Though without any pretensions to wealth, I have a
+private fortune which will suffice, and for the few years of life that
+remain to me I shall be happier in the feeling that I am not a burden to
+my fellow-countrymen."
+
+Such self-abnegation is not characteristic of many men. On being
+elevated to the House of Lords he took the title of Viscount Ossington
+(after the village of Ossington in Notts, which was his ancestral home)
+and Lady Charlotte was henceforth known as the Viscountess Ossington.
+
+It was a step downward in rank for her, as her marriage with a Commoner
+did not degrade her to his status. As a Duke's daughter she was still
+Lady Charlotte and took precedence of Marchionesses, Countesses, and
+Viscountesses in the etiquette of royal courts and drawing-rooms.
+
+When her husband became a peer she had to take his rank, and it was one
+of those indefinable sacrifices associated with noble birth, that, as a
+Viscountess, she had to give precedence to the wives of Marquises and
+Earls.
+
+To one who had filled so high a position as Lady Ossington had done in
+political and social life the descent in status involved by the adoption
+of the new title was not of much moment. She had been honoured by
+royalty and had done the honours to royalty, she had tasted all the
+pleasures that aristocratic Society could provide.
+
+Like her brother, the eccentric Duke, Lady Ossington spent large sums of
+money, intended, directly or indirectly, to benefit the wage-earning
+classes.
+
+In a spirit of philanthropy she built a coffee palace at Newark, Notts,
+a town nine miles from Ossington, at a cost of over £20,000. Her object
+was to provide a hostel where travellers of humble means could find
+accommodation for the night, at charges within their means, and that it
+should be a centre of meeting for Friendly Societies and other bodies in
+their business and social gatherings. The profits of the establishment
+she directed to be paid to the hospital.
+
+Another coffee palace on similar lines she erected in Marylebone,
+London, involving an outlay of several thousands.
+
+South African colonization found in her a sympathetic patroness in days
+when South Africa was little more than a name to the large majority of
+Englishmen. At her expense in 1886 a party of twenty-four families was
+sent to the Wolseley settlement, an estate acquired by purchase, about
+seventeen miles from King William's Town, where full preparations for
+their reception had been made by a committee. Within two years and
+a-half the settlement was closed, the cheapness of untaxed drink having
+changed the settlers from abstainers into drunkards.
+
+The Viscountess was not daunted by this failure to realise her hopes,
+and in 1888 another attempt at colonization was made under her auspices.
+Twenty-five families, mostly from Hampshire, sailed for the Cape and
+formed a new settlement, called by the name of the poet Tennyson. This
+time the experience of the past was a warning, the enterprise was
+attended by fairer prospects of success and before her death she had
+the gratification of knowing that the settlers were contented and happy.
+
+Another of the Duke's daughters was the Dowager Lady Howard de Walden,
+who became immensely rich on the death of Lady Ossington. Their father
+had so willed it that if the fifth Duke died without male heirs the
+London property was to pass to his daughters. Lady Ossington had no
+children and her rich dowry passed to her sister, who thereby had a
+double portion. Ossington Hall, after having been for so many years the
+home of a Duke's daughter, reverted to the Denison family.
+
+From allusions made by Lord George Bentinck to his friends, when he had
+lost heavily on the turf, it was understood that his mother and sisters,
+especially Lady Charlotte, were always ready to help him over his
+difficulties. It is surmised that they knew more of his secrets and of
+the secrets of the Marquis of Titchfield than the old Farmer Duke who
+frowned upon betting transactions and was not known to have been
+involved in the excitements of a duel and gallantries to actresses, not
+to mention a nebulous secondary existence as Thomas Druce.
+
+Ossington is within easy carriage distance of Welbeck, but the
+eccentric brother rarely saw his sister and the latter was astonished at
+the transformation of the Abbey and grounds brought about by him. Before
+the alteration of her ancestral home she made an interesting sketch of
+it, as it was in her father's lifetime.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF
+PORTLAND.--THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE
+
+
+Lord John Bentinck was born in September 1800, the second son of the
+fourth Duke. His name in its extended form was William John
+Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, and for many years, till the death of his
+brother Henry, he had no prospect of succeeding to the Dukedom. At
+nineteen he was a lieutenant in the army, and in 1824 was returned as
+Member of Parliament for King's Lynn; but the duties of a legislator do
+not seem to have been much to his taste and he resigned in 1826, his
+brother, Lord George Bentinck, being elected to take his place.
+
+The fourth Duke kept a large stud of race-horses and Lord John was
+brought up in the atmosphere of the turf. When a young man he was a
+horseman, fearless and even reckless in his equestrian exploits. There
+used to be a gate six feet high at Serlby Hall, the seat of Viscount
+Galway, which it was said he had jumped one day when hunting.
+
+The three brothers, Henry, John and George, formed a racing partnership
+under the name of "Mr. Bowes" and were for a time successful in their
+enterprise, their transactions bringing in considerable sums of money.
+
+The death of the eldest, Henry, in 1824 transformed Lord John into
+Marquis of Titchfield, heir to the Dukedom and enormous estates of the
+House of Portland.
+
+With all his splendid advantages of birth and fortune he does not appear
+to have sought for a wife among the aristocratic families of the land,
+and it is said that he only made one offer of marriage in his life; at
+least that was known to his friends. This was to Miss Adelaide Kemble,
+the celebrated actress.
+
+The tempting proposal was probably made some time between June and
+October, 1834, when the lady was twenty-five years of age and the
+Marquis thirty-four.
+
+Judge of his astonishment when she had to confess to him that it was
+impossible for her to accept his offer as she was already secretly
+married.
+
+She was at the height of her popularity on the stage, having achieved a
+splendid triumph in redeeming the fallen fortunes of her family, and
+though married to another, she cherished kindly remembrances of the
+noble suitor who made her the proud offer of a ducal coronet.
+
+In reading the "Records" of Fanny Kemble (Adelaide's sister), it is
+impossible not to be struck with her high ideals and lofty sentiments.
+Now and then there is an allusion to the Marquis, which shows him in a
+welcome light and how delicate were his attentions.
+
+On December 1st, 1842, writing to "My dearest Harriet," she says:--"Lord
+Titchfield, who was here yesterday, begged me to ascertain from you
+whether it is only my bust that you desire, or whether you would like to
+have casts from my father's and from the two of Adelaide. Write me word,
+dear, that the magnificent Marquis may fulfil your wishes, which he is
+only waiting to know in order to send the one or the four heads to you
+in Ireland."
+
+Then in a note she explains:--"The Marquis of Titchfield was employing
+the French sculptor, Dantan, to make busts of my father, my sister, and
+myself, for him, and most kindly gave me casts of them all, and sent my
+friend, Miss St. Leger, a cast of mine."
+
+On January 6th, 1843, there is another letter to "Dearest Hal,"
+containing the following allusion:--"I have sent your wishes to Lord
+Titchfield, and I am sure they will be quickly complied with. I have no
+idea that he means otherwise than to give you my bust; any other species
+of transaction being apparently quite out of his line, and giving his
+especial gift. I have, nevertheless, taken pains to make clear to him
+your intentions in the matter; I have desired him to have the bust
+forwarded to the care of Mr. Green, because I thought you would easily
+find means of transporting it thence to Ardgillan. Was this right?"
+
+"Blessings on Lord Titchfield" invokes Fanny Kemble, in a letter dated
+from Liverpool, May 4th, 1843:--"I wrote to you last thing last night,
+dearest Hal, and now farewell! I have received a better account of my
+father. Dear love to Dorothy, and my last dear love to you. I shall
+write and send no more loves to anyone. Lord Titchfield--blessings on
+him!--has sent me a miniature of my father and four different ones of
+Adelaide, God bless you, dear. Good-bye."
+
+This was not the character of an ogre, and though their marriage could
+not be, Fanny Kemble evidently thought well of the man, who years
+afterwards, it was alleged, was leading a double life at this time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S RACING CAREER.--QUARREL WITH HIS COUSIN.--DUEL
+WITH SQUIRE OSBALDESTON.--"SURPLICE" WINS THE DERBY AND ST.
+LEGER.--ATTEMPTS TO POISON THE HORSE.--FRIENDSHIP WITH DISRAELI.--TRAGIC
+DEATH
+
+
+One of the great sensations in the middle of the nineteenth century was
+the mysterious death of Lord George Bentinck, who for many years was the
+prince of the turf, but who sold his race-horses in order to give more
+attention to politics and the spread of Protectionist principles, of
+which he was the leading exponent at that time.
+
+Lord George was born in February 1802, the third son of the Farmer Duke;
+his elder brother, the Marquis of Titchfield, being that eccentric
+personage who succeeded to the Dukedom.
+
+After going through the Eton College course and becoming an officer in
+the Lancers and Life Guards, Lord George took the seat vacated by the
+Marquis, as M.P. for King's Lynn, in 1826. His life was curiously
+intermingled with all sorts and conditions of men. Having the hereditary
+instincts of his family he was a keen votary of the turf and daring
+early manhood had a partnership with his brother, the Marquis, in the
+ownership of race-horses, and it was said that at a later time they were
+both enamoured of Miss Annie May Berkeley, who was the cause of a
+quarrel between them.
+
+That he was a nobleman of high spirits is evident from the strenuousness
+with which he lived his short life.
+
+Lord George lost heavily by backing horses for the St. Leger of 1826;
+the amount was shown to be £30,000, which his mother and sister (Lady
+Charlotte) helped him to meet. The old Duke, his father, was too
+cautious to bet, and in order to induce his son to settle down to
+country pursuits he bought him an estate at Muirkirk, Ayrshire; but the
+life of a farmer did not suit Lord George for long and he was soon
+exploiting in horse-racing again, so that in 1833 he was a heavy loser
+at Goodwood.
+
+He formed studs at Doncaster, Goodwood and Danebury, and at various
+times his horses were run in the name of Mr. John Bowe, a publican, Mr.
+King, the Duke of Richmond, and John Day.
+
+Lord George and his cousin, Mr. Charles Greville, were great friends
+and partners in racing affairs for a time; but both were self-willed and
+quarrelled, never to heal up their differences.
+
+In the intricacies of their partnership in horses Lord George became the
+owner of a mare called Preserve, who gained a great reputation about the
+year 1834.
+
+At the Newmarket meeting there was an attempt to wear down her spirit by
+false starts, upon which Lord George visited his anger upon his cousin,
+whom he held responsible.
+
+Years afterwards an attempt was made by Colonel Anson to bring about a
+reconciliation; but Lord George said he would not have anything to do
+with "the fellow."
+
+A great stroke was made in 1836 when Lord George won the St. Leger with
+Elis, it was the first time a horse was conveyed in a van from his
+training-stable to a race-course.
+
+A specially-constructed vehicle was made and caused consternation among
+old trainers when they found out the secret of the horse's mode of
+travelling. Elis was fresh for the race, his advent had been kept a
+secret, and Lord George won a large sum, one bet being £12,000 to
+£1,000.
+
+The sensational duel between Lord George and Squire Osbaldeston has
+passed into the history of racing.
+
+It was 1836, but had its origin in events occurring in 1835. Heaton Park
+races, near Manchester, attracted a large number of aristocratic
+jockeys, and Squire Osbaldeston got it into his head that the handicaps
+were so adjusted as to give the immediate friends of Lord Wilton an
+advantage.
+
+So the Squire laid himself out to be even with the Wilton party, and
+when at Doncaster, for the St. Leger, discovered a horse called Rush
+with powers of running unknown to the sporting clique he desired to
+circumvent.
+
+The Squire mounted Rush himself and rode him over the St. Leger course,
+having a mare belonging to Marson the trainer to make the running.
+Finding that the colt could easily beat, Squire Osbaldeston held him in
+so that the mare finished the trial a considerable distance in advance.
+
+Rush was consequently given the benefit of the handicapping at Heaton
+Park and was backed heavily for the cup by the Squire, whose
+commissioner was ready to meet the Lord Wilton party in any bets they
+thought well to lay against the colt.
+
+"Two hundred to one against Rush" shouted Lord George Bentinck as
+Squire Osbaldeston was riding Rush at walking pace past the stand to the
+starting-post just before the race.
+
+"Done," replied the Squire.
+
+The loud tones of the two men were such as to attract particular notice
+and the sequel was an exciting one.
+
+The race was brought off and the Squire on Rush won with ease. Then
+followed a storm of argument as to how and why and wherefore had Rush's
+powers, so greatly deprecated beforehand, developed to such an extent as
+to leave all competitors behind.
+
+Another victory was achieved by Rush next day and Squire Osbaldeston
+having defeated the Wilton clique on the race-course betook himself
+hunting.
+
+Some months elapsed before the next scene was enacted. Lord George had
+not settled the bet, and whether he intended to do so or not is an open
+question. Probably the Squire had not asked him for settlement till the
+Spring of 1836, when they were brought into contact with each other at
+the Craven race-meeting.
+
+"My Lord," said the Squire, "May I ask you for the £200 I won from you?
+You have had time to get over your beating."
+
+"I'm surprised you should ask for the money," replied Lord George, "the
+affair was robbery; but can you count?"
+
+The Squire rejoined something to the effect that he could count when he
+was at Eton, and Lord George then counted out a number of banknotes into
+Osbaldeston's hand.
+
+"It will not end here, Lord George," said the Squire in high dudgeon.
+
+The conversation was at the entrance to the rooms of the Jockey Club,
+and shortly after it had taken place the Squire sent a second to demand
+an apology, or that Lord George would fight a duel. The challenge was
+declined, but the fiery Squire returned to the charge.
+
+"I will pull your nose the next time I see you," was the message he sent
+to his Lordship, who had no alternative but to meet in a duel or to be
+subjected to continuous annoyance from the doughty Osbaldeston.
+
+Colonel Anson was named as Lord George's second and the meeting-place
+was at Wormwood Scrubs at six a.m. The weapons were pistols and the
+antagonists stood twelve steps apart.
+
+The Squire was a real country sportsman, a fine horseman and a dead
+shot, his skill with the pistol was such that he could kill pigeons
+flying and rarely missed, whereas the elegant Lord George was more at
+home in the boudoir and was unaccustomed to pistol-practice. Osbaldeston
+had given it out that he would put a bullet through his opponent, which
+was a rumour not pleasant to reach Lord George's ears.
+
+It was through the finesse of Colonel Anson that the affair ended as it
+did. By agreement he was to count up to three and when he called the
+last number both men were to fire.
+
+"One" was uttered with great deliberation.
+
+"Two, three" the Colonel called out in rapid succession, so that the
+Squire was taken unawares and his shot went an inch or two above Lord
+George's hair, piercing his hat.
+
+As for Lord George he fired skywards and so the duel ended.
+
+Colonel Anson and Lord George were friends for life, and years
+afterwards the quarrel with the Squire was so far made up that Lord
+George invited him to see his horses in training at Danebury. For the
+greater part of the period between 1830 and 1846 he was regarded as the
+Dictator of the Turf.
+
+In 1841 he removed his stables from Danebury to Goodwood where his
+friend, the Duke of Richmond, allowed him every facility on his estate
+for training horses.
+
+To his honour, be it said, he exercised a powerful influence in
+endeavouring to rid horse-racing of some of its worst features, and
+incurred the hostility of the cheats and rogues which have at all times
+been associated with it.
+
+Finding that a check was being put upon their operations, the welshing
+fraternity assumed a virtuous attitude and actually put into operation
+an old statute passed in the reign of Queen Anne, which enabled any
+private informer to sue and recover treble the amount of a bet made over
+and above £10. Six writs were served upon Lord George and six upon his
+partner, Mr. Bowes, in the year 1843, but the plantiff failed to prove
+the making of the bets and it is obvious that the statute was
+unworkable. The attempt to put it into force merely shows the condition
+of racing at the time and the opposition which men who were honourable
+in their motives had to meet with in their efforts to guard it against
+reproach, as far as their sporting instincts allowed them.
+
+In 1844 Lord George had as many as thirty-eight horses running in races,
+and his estimated expenses in 1845 for sixty horses in training were
+about £40,000, while, the value of the stakes was about £18,000, so that
+to make racing pay he had to rely upon the success of his betting
+transactions.
+
+Disraeli called him the "Lord Paramount of the British Turf," which well
+described his ascendency at the time.
+
+Notwithstanding the magnitude of his bets, Lord George was always cool
+in temperament while other men who, though they might be quite able to
+stand a loss, were full of nervous excitement when only a small sum was
+risked.
+
+He kept on terms of affection with his mother and sisters and he could
+always rely upon the Duchess for help when his racing extravagances had
+led him too far.
+
+Lord George was over six feet in stature and his figure was handsome and
+distinguished. His style of dress was according to the best canons of
+fashion, elegant and fastidious. A long gold chain was looped upon the
+breast of his waistcoat and with it he wore costly jewels. He had a new
+satin scarf of cream colour every day, although the cost of each was
+about a sovereign.
+
+A frock coat and tall beaver hat completed his costume. His race-course
+attire consisted of a green coat, top boots and buckskin breeches.
+
+When in Nottinghamshire he used to hunt with the Bufford hounds and kept
+his hunters at Welbeck.
+
+He was a Freemason, though he does not appear to have had time from his
+devotion to politics and racing to take any high position in the Order.
+As to some of his personal habits it may be said that he was not a
+smoker; but he drank four glasses of wine at dinner-time.
+
+The figure of Lord George has been described by his friend Benjamin
+Disraeli, afterwards Earl of Beaconsfield, in a few striking sentences
+thus: "Nature had clothed this vehement spirit with a material form
+which was in perfect harmony with its noble and commanding character. He
+was tall and remarkable for his presence; his countenance almost a model
+of manly beauty; the face oval, the complexion clear and mantling; the
+forehead lofty and white; the nose aquiline and delicately moulded; the
+upper lip short. But it was in the dark brown eye that flashed with
+piercing scrutiny that all the character of the man came forth; a
+brilliant glance, not soft, but ardent, acute, imperious, incapable of
+deception or of being deceived."
+
+He was a dandy rivalling d'Orsay, his cravats made other young men of
+his time envious, and his suits were in the highest style of taste. They
+were indeed works of art worthy of the genius of Beau Brummell. As for
+the House of Commons, until he turned serious politician, he treated
+that old-fashioned assembly with haughty indifference, and when he was
+pressed to record his vote in party division he entered the House on
+more than one occasion at a late hour, "clad in a white great-coat,
+which softened, but did not conceal, the scarlet hunting coat beneath
+it."
+
+He was a breeder and backer of horses for twenty years, and the
+recklessness of his wagers staggered the gamblers of his time.
+
+The training of race-horses was brought to a fine art in his day. It had
+been the custom for owners to send their horses to and fro between
+Newmarket, Epsom and Doncaster along the high-ways, with the result
+that although the road hardened their muscles, it militated against
+their speed.
+
+Lord George raised a protest from some of the old-time patrons of the
+turf by introducing an innovation in the construction of a large van in
+which they could travel calmly, without fatigue, these long distances to
+various parts of England.
+
+It was the precursor of railway travelling then coming into vogue, for
+Lord George foresaw that the railways would revolutionize racing and
+enormously increase the votaries of the turf.
+
+After having sat in the House of Commons for 18 years, and taking little
+interest in the proceedings, Lord George, about 1844, suddenly attracted
+attention by his attacks on Sir Robert Peel and the Free Traders. He
+showed an aptitude for Parliamentary business that he had not been
+credited with in racing circles in which he had held such a leading
+position. His absorption in politics, which had newly aroused his
+interest, led him to dispose of his race-horses.
+
+"In the autumn of this year (1846) at Goodwood races," says Disraeli,
+"the sporting world was astonished by hearing that Lord George Bentinck
+had parted with his racing stud at an almost nominal price. Lord George
+was present, as was his custom, at this meeting held in the demesne of
+one who was among his dearest friends. Lord George was not only present,
+but apparently absorbed in the sport, and his horses were very
+successful. The world has hardly done justice to the great sacrifice
+which he made on this occasion to a high sense of duty. He not only
+parted with the finest racing stud in England, but he parted with it at
+a moment when its prospects were never so brilliant; and he knew this
+well.
+
+"He could scarcely have quitted the turf that day without a pang. He had
+become the Lord Paramount of that strange world, so difficult to sway,
+and which requires, for its government, both a stern resolve and a
+courtly breeding. He had them both; and though the black-leg might quail
+before the awful scrutiny of his piercing eye, there never was a man so
+scrupulously polite to his inferiors as Lord George Bentinck. The turf,
+too, was not merely the scene of the triumphs of his stud and his
+betting-book. He had purified its practice and had elevated its
+character, and he was prouder of this achievement than of any other
+connected with his sporting life. Notwithstanding his mighty stakes,
+and the keenness with which he backed his opinion, no one perhaps ever
+cared less for money. His habits were severely simple, and he was the
+most generous of men. He valued the acquisition of money on the turf,
+because there it was the test of success. He counted his thousands after
+a great race, as a victorious general counts his cannon and his
+prisoners."
+
+Up to the time that he developed a new interest in politics, his great
+ambition in life had been for one of his horses to win the Derby. And
+one of the horses that he had owned did win it; but to his chagrin it
+was no longer his property. That horse was Surplice, the winner in the
+year 1848; but Lord George had disposed of it with his stud in 1846.
+
+Under any circumstances and whatever the prospects of political success
+which opened up in Lord George's mind, his decision to dispose of his
+stud must have caused him a pang as it created a sensation among all who
+were attracted towards turf doings.
+
+There were two horses in Lord George's stables, which, if he could have
+laid claim to the powers of divination would have kept him still "Lord
+Paramount of the Turf." They were the yearlings Surplice and Loadstone,
+and both were destined to make historic names in the classic races.
+
+But the die was cast and the immense establishment which his friend the
+Duke of Richmond permitted him to keep on the Goodwood estate was sold.
+
+There were no fewer than 208 thoroughbreds, which all passed into the
+hands of the Hon. E. M.L. Mostyn, for the small sum of £10,000.
+
+This was in August, 1846, and the light-blue jacket and white cap of
+Lord George Bentinck were to be seen no more on a race-course.
+
+The stables had been on such an immense scale that the responsibility
+was too much for one man to undertake, so that the monetary interest was
+divided, and two or three turf celebrities of the day entered into
+partnership, which accounts for the fact that when Surplice ran in the
+Derby of 1848 he was entered in Lord Clifden's name.
+
+From that time to this the career of Surplice has always been of
+interest to racing men. His trainer was John Kent, who faithfully
+discharged his duty in guarding the horse from the machinations of
+unscrupulous loafers and touts.
+
+There was a dead set against the horse. He was naturally a lazy runner
+and took a great deal of skill to ride. All sorts of rumours were
+started about him; that he was not well, that he was lame and that he
+was not the equal of Loadstone, although from the same stable. Up and
+down went the betting respecting Surplice until the market was in such a
+state that it was to the interest of an unscrupulous gang to poison or
+lame him.
+
+Detectives, policemen, trainer and stablemen had to watch him night and
+day and the excitement waxed intense as the date of the Derby drew near.
+When the horse was taken from Goodwood to Epsom and from the stable to
+the course a crowd of horsemen and pedestrians dogged his steps.
+
+Fortunately, with all the precaution taken, Surplice was got into the
+paddock in fit condition. His jockey was Sim Templeman and after a
+severe contest Surplice won, there being a neck between him and Springy
+Jack, while Loadstone was well beaten, to the chagrin of those who had
+tried to set him off against the better horse Surplice.
+
+The result of the race was £11,000 to the credit of Lord George; but
+this was nothing compared with his regret that he had not continued the
+owner of his racing-stud, so that he might have had the honour of
+winning the Derby in his own name, instead of seeing a horse that he had
+bred win it in the name of another.
+
+Then came the St. Leger of 1848, and Surplice was again the winner, with
+further pangs for Lord George. Barely does the same horse win both the
+Derby and the St. Leger, and proud indeed is the owner who can carry off
+the blue ribbon of the turf and the St. Leger too. The stars in their
+courses seemed to be against Lord George at this time.
+
+This is how Disraeli relates the effect the Derby had upon his hero:--
+
+"A few days before, it was the day after the Derby, May 25th, 1848, the
+writer (Disraeli) met Lord George Bentinck in the Library of the House
+of Commons. He was standing before the book-shelves with a volume in his
+hand, and his countenance was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in
+favour of the colonial interest, after all his labours, had been
+negatived by the committee on the 22nd, and on the 24th, his horse,
+Surplice, which he had parted with among the rest of the stud, solely
+that he might pursue without distraction his labours on behalf of the
+great interests of the country, had won that paramount and Olympian
+stake, to gain which had been the object of his life. He had nothing to
+console him, and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that
+deserted him before a heart which he knew at least could yield him
+sympathy. He gave a sort of superb groan:
+
+"'All my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I
+sacrificed it?' he murmured.
+
+"It was in vain to offer solace.'
+
+"'You do not know what the Derby is,' he moaned out.
+
+"'Yes I do, it is the blue ribbon of the turf.'
+
+"'It is the blue ribbon of the turf,' he slowly repeated to himself, and
+sitting down at the table he buried himself in a folio of statistics."
+
+In a personal allusion to the arduous political labours of Lord George
+Bentinck, Disraeli says: "What was not his least remarkable trait, is
+that although he only breakfasted on dry toast, he took no sustenance
+all this time, dining at White's at half-past two o'clock in the
+morning. After his severe attack of influenza he broke through this
+habit a little during the last few months of his life, moved by the
+advice of his physician and the instance of his friends. The writer of
+these observations prevailed upon him a little the last year to fall
+into the easy habit of dining at Bellamy's, which saves much time and
+permits the transaction of business in conversation with a congenial
+friend. But he grudged it; he always thought that something would be
+said or done in his absence, which would not have occurred had he been
+there; some motion whisked through or some return altered. His principle
+was that a member should never be absent from his seat."
+
+Disraeli thus describes the last farewell he took of Lord George and his
+tragic death a few days afterwards:
+
+"He goes to his native county and his father's proud domain, to breathe
+the air of his boyhood and move amid the parks and meads of his youth.
+Every breeze will bear health, and the sight of every hallowed haunt
+will stimulate his pulse. He is scarcely older than Julius Cæsar when he
+commenced his public career, he looks as high and brave, and he springs
+from a long-lived race.
+
+"He stood upon the perron of Harcourt House, the last of the great
+hotels of an age of stately manners, with its wings and courtyard, and
+carriage portal, and huge outward walls. He put forth his hand to bid
+farewell, and his last words are characteristic of the man, of his warm
+feelings, and of his ruling passion: 'God bless you; we must work, and
+the country will come round us.'"
+
+A few days after this interview Lord George returned to Welbeck.
+
+"Some there were who thought him worn by the exertion of the session,
+and that an unusual pallor had settled upon that mantling and animated
+countenance. He himself never felt in better health or was ever in
+higher spirits, and greatly enjoyed the change of life, and that change
+in a scene so dear to him.
+
+"On the 21st of September, 1848, after breakfasting with his family, he
+retired to his dressing-room, where he employed himself with some papers
+and then wrote three letters, one to Lord Enfield, another to the Duke
+of Richmond, and the third to the writer of these pages. That letter is
+now at hand; it is of considerable length, consisting of seven sheets of
+notepaper, full of interesting details of men and things, and written
+not only in a cheerful but even in a merry mood. Then, when his letters
+were sealed, about four o'clock he took his staff and went forth to
+walk to Thoresby, the seat of Lord Manvers, distant between five and six
+miles from Welbeck, and where Lord George was to make a visit of two
+days. In consequence of this his valet drove over to Thoresby at the
+same time to meet his master. But the master never came. At length the
+anxious servant returned to Welbeck, and called up the groom who had
+driven him over to Thoresby, and who was in bed, and enquired whether he
+had seen anything of Lord George on the way back, as his Lord had never
+reached Thoresby. The groom got up, and along with the valet and two
+others, took lanthorns and followed the footpath which they had seen
+Lord George pursuing as they themselves went to Thoresby.
+
+"About a mile from the Abbey, on the path which they had observed him
+following, lying close to the gate which separates a water meadow from
+the deer park, they found the body of Lord George Bentinck. He was lying
+on his face; his arms were under his body, and in one hand he grasped
+his walking-stick. His hat was a yard or two before him, having
+evidently been thrown off in falling. The body was cold and stiff. He
+had been long dead.
+
+"A woodman and some peasants passing near the spot, about two hundred
+yards from the gate in question, had observed Lord George, whom at the
+distance they had mistaken for his brother, the Marquis of Titchfield,
+leaning against this gate. It was then about half-past four o'clock, or
+it might be a quarter to five, so he could not have left his home much
+more than half-an-hour. The woodman and his companions thought 'the
+gentleman' was reading, as he held his head down. One of them lingered
+for a minute looking at the gentleman, who then turned round, and might
+have seen these passers-by, but he made no sign to them.
+
+"Thus it seems that the attack, which was supposed to be a spasm of the
+heart, was not instantaneous in its effects, but with proper remedies,
+might have been baffled. Terrible to think of him in his death-struggle
+without aid and so near a devoted hearth. For that hearth too, what an
+inpending future!
+
+"The terrible news reached Nottingham on the morning of the 22nd, at
+half-past nine o'clock, and immediately telegraphed to London, was
+announced by a second edition of the _Times_ to the country.
+Consternation and deep grief fell upon all men. One week later, the
+remains arrived from Welbeck at Harcourt House, to be entombed in the
+family vault of the Bentincks, that is to be found in a small building
+in a dingy street, now a chapel of ease, but in old days the Parish
+Church among the fields of the pretty village of Marylebone.
+
+"The day of the interment was dark and cold, and drizzling. Although the
+last offices were performed in the most scrupulously private manner, the
+feelings of the community could not be repressed. From nine till eleven
+o'clock that day all the British shipping in the docks and the river,
+from London Bridge to Gravesend, hoisted their flags half-mast high, and
+minute guns were fired from appointed stations along the Thames. The
+same mournful ceremony was observed in all the ports of England and
+Ireland; and not only in these, for the flag was half-mast high on every
+British ship at Antwerp, at Rotterdam, at Havre.
+
+"Ere the last minute gun sounded all was over. Followed to his tomb by
+those brothers who, if not consoled, might at this moment be sustained
+by the remembrance that to him they had ever been brothers, not only in
+name but in spirit, the vault at length closed on the mortal remains of
+George Bentinck."
+
+Such was the conventional view which Society took of the sad
+circumstances of Lord George's death.
+
+The old Duke was over eighty years of age and too infirm to attend the
+funeral, but the Marquis of Titchfield and Lord Henry Bentinck were
+present.
+
+As in most mysteries, there were other conjectures more or less
+improbable.
+
+Years afterwards it was put down to the account of Palmer the poisoner,
+who it was said had administered strychnine to Lord George as he did to
+some other members of the aristocracy.
+
+But what was Palmer's motive?
+
+Had Lord George and he any betting transactions together in which Palmer
+had lost, and finding himself unable to pay, destroyed his noble
+creditor with diabolical secrecy?
+
+Yet Palmer in 1848 was a young doctor, aged about twenty-three, just
+setting out on his professional career.
+
+It was not until a few years afterwards that Palmer commenced to turn
+his attention to turf transactions, therefore it is difficult to find a
+motive which should be some evidence against him as the perpetrator of
+this crime.
+
+The case of Palmer was an extraordinary one. He was a medical
+practitioner at Rugeley in Staffordshire, and having become infatuated
+with betting had no scruples about removing those to whom he had
+contracted debts of honour. It was not till the early months of 1856
+that light was shed upon some of his fiendish designs and after a long
+trial he was sentenced to be hanged at Stafford gaol.
+
+Palmer boasted of his racing transactions with the aristocracy, and if
+Lord George was one of his victims seven years before 1856, the
+miscreant had had plenty of time to harden his conscience in working his
+foul plots against others whom it was his sordid interest to destroy.
+
+Another wild theory was that there had been a quarrel between the
+Marquis of Titchfield and Lord George.
+
+One reason for the dispute was alleged to be that Lord George had been a
+heavy loser instead of a gainer by his gigantic gambling operations,
+that he was in want of money, either from his brother the Marquis, or
+his father, the Duke.
+
+To allege that he was in debt is not consistent with the belief that he
+had won large sums by backing horses of which he was so keen a judge.
+
+Again it was surmised that the reason for the quarrel--if there was
+one--was Miss A.M. Berkeley, with whom they were reputed to be both
+enamoured.
+
+The origin of this lady gives a glimpse of another romance. Her mother
+was an exceedingly beautiful lady, the daughter of a tradesman, and she
+became the wife of the Earl of Berkeley.
+
+Fanny Kemble writes of the Countess in terms of admiration; but alludes
+to the marriage with the addition of the phrase ("by courtesy") and how,
+on being presented at Court she was frowned at by Queen Charlotte,
+though George III. did not share the unfavourable sentiments entertained
+by his wife.
+
+The marriage with the Earl was the subject of a _cause celèbre_ before
+the House of Lords, with the result that the ceremony was held to be
+illegal, which thus affected the position of Miss A.M. Berkeley.
+
+Mrs. Margaret Jane Louise Hamilton, a widow lady, the daughter of Mr.
+Robert Lennox Stuart, made a startling statement which was widely
+reported in the newspapers at the time that the Druce case assumed a
+new aspect in 1903. She said that she had been told the details of the
+death of Lord George Bentinck by her father, who was an eye-witness of
+the quarrel--if quarrel there was.
+
+Her father was a playmate of the Duke's when they were boys, and she
+herself was a god-daughter of the fourth Duke.
+
+Not only was Mr. Stuart an eye-witness, but she said Mr. Sergeant,
+another gentleman, was too.
+
+Lord George was violent in manner towards the Marquis (whom Mrs.
+Hamilton identified as Mr. Druce) using threatening language towards him
+and striking him repeatedly.
+
+At last the Marquis retaliated with one blow over the heart, and
+although it was not a heavy blow, the position where it struck was
+sufficient to cause death.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton added that she had heard Druce say to her father, "You
+know, Stuart, I never intended to kill him. I only struck in
+self-defence."
+
+Druce was remorseful after the tragedy and spoke of surrendering to the
+police, but Mr. Stuart and Mr. Sergeant persuaded him not to.
+
+Her father said that Druce was nervous and always afraid that the deed
+would come to light.
+
+Whether the Marquis was there or not to quarrel with his brother, the
+labourers who said they thought they recognised him, acknowledged that
+they might have been mistaken.
+
+A point which the evidence at the inquest did not clear up was the
+whereabouts of the Marquis at the time of the tragedy. The labourers
+said they thought they saw him.
+
+If it was not he, where was he?
+
+That is a question unanswered to this day.
+
+Lord George was never married, and it has been said of him that "he was
+notable for the purity of his life."
+
+It was believed that he entertained a deep regard for a highly-placed
+married lady, whose virtue was beyond suspicion, and hence he lived and
+died a bachelor.
+
+Three years after the death of Lord George it is said that the Marquis
+married Miss Annie May Berkeley in the name of Druce.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE ECCENTRIC DUKE AND HIS UNDERGROUND TUNNELS
+
+
+The story of the transformation of Welbeck enters upon a new stage with
+the succession, in 1854, of the Marquis of Titchfield (William John
+Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck) as fifth Duke, born in 1800. He it was who
+designed and had constructed the mysterious underground apartments and
+tunnels for which the Abbey and its environs are famous. There were
+miles of weird passages beneath the surface of the earth, one tunnel
+alone being nearly a mile and a half in length, stretching towards
+Worksop, while others ran in various directions.
+
+Welbeck is nearly 4 miles from Worksop, and a stranger on approaching
+the Abbey is likely to receive a mean impression of its vast extent. The
+architecture is a mixture of the Italian and classical styles, and its
+having been built at different periods, with so many of its adjuncts
+underground, makes it wanting in imposing features.
+
+In various parts of the estate about 50 lodges were erected for the
+occupancy of gardeners and keepers. They were of Steetley stone, all
+similarly planned and pleasing to the eye, what there was of them above
+ground; but the Duke had subterranean kitchens made at the side and
+lighted them with bulls'-eyes at the top.
+
+He spent about 100,000l. a year in the development of his plans, and
+employed as many as 1,500 workpeople in helping him to gratify his
+hobby. When it is remembered that his reign as Duke lasted a quarter of
+a century, from 1854 to 1879, it will be seen that artisans of all
+descriptions found Welbeck a veritable gold-mine. Even so late as
+November, 1878, a Nottingham newspaper correspondent, on visiting
+Welbeck, was impressed with its appearance as that of the premises of
+"some great contractor who had an order for the building of a big
+village." There was the buzz of machinery, large areas were covered with
+bricklayers', masons' and joiners' sheds, wherein any new mechanical
+contrivance was put to the test. For more than eighteen years the
+vicinity of the house resembled a builder's yard, in the centre of which
+the Duke lived and moved and had his being, enjoying, in his way, the
+piles of bricks and mortar surrounding him. After he had decided upon
+the erection of a new building he had a model of it made for his
+inspection, and if approved of, it was proceeded with.
+
+Any tramp or wayfarer who applied for work at Welbeck was put on the
+staff, and the market value of his labour paid. The Duke seemed to find
+grim pleasure in the society of the casuals who made their way to his
+stone-yards.
+
+The wing built by the Countess of Oxford in a former generation had a
+new storey put to it, with a magnificent suite of 14 new rooms furnished
+in Louis XIV. style, richly gilded, and with mantelpieces of white
+marble.
+
+An underground passage was made leading to the old riding school, built
+by the Duke of Newcastle in 1623, but since converted to other uses,
+such as a library and church, after the erection of the new riding
+school. Beneath it are great wine cellars with subterranean
+communications.
+
+The most wonderful of the underground apartments built by the Duke was
+the picture-gallery, or as it was intended to be, the ball-room. It is
+lighted from the roof by means of bulls'-eyes. An enormous sum was spent
+in labour, excavating the solid clay in order that this magnificent
+saloon might be constructed.
+
+Some choice examples of the great masters are contained in this palace
+of art, which is 158 feet long, 63 feet wide, and 22 feet high. Here are
+examples of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, de Mytens, Tintoretto,
+Teniers, Snyders, Bassano, Wyck, de Vos, Greffier, Francks, Berghem,
+Zucchero, Wootton, Breughel, Dirk Maas, Netscher, Gagnacci, Gerard
+Honthorst, Van der Meulen, Rigaud, Vandyke, Holbein, Kneller, Lely,
+Dahl, M. Shee, Knapton, West, Jansen, Verelst; in fact not only in the
+picture-gallery, but in all parts of the Abbey are scattered treasures
+of art and vertu. Among the interesting curiosities are the one-pearl
+drop-earrings seen in the portraits of Charles I., and worn by him on
+the morning of his execution; also the silver-gilt chalice from which he
+received the consecrated wine on that fateful morning at Whitehall. The
+chalice bears the following inscription; "King Charles the First
+received the communion in this Boule on Tuesday the 30th of January,
+1664, being the day in which he was murthered." In the library are
+autograph letters from the Stuarts, including one from Mary Queen of
+Scots, signed "Your very good friend."
+
+There is a portrait of Adelaide Kemble, with whom the Duke is said to
+have been in love in early manhood. The actress is in the pose of her
+histrionic profession, and in another part of the gallery is a bust of
+the Duke by H.R. Pinker (1880).
+
+The gigantic riding school is about 380 feet long, 112 feet wide, and 50
+feet high, and from it is a subterranean passage leading to the tan
+gallop, designed for the exercise of horses. The length of this gallop
+is 1270 feet, and it is all under a glass roof. He had about 100 horses,
+and his stables extended over an area almost as large as a village.
+
+Of all his extraordinary hobbies that of planning subterranean passages
+has excited the most wonder and satire. These tunnels, in which it was
+possible for three persons to walk abreast in some parts, were lighted
+with gas jets placed at intervals. One at least of the tunnels is large
+enough for a horse and cart to be driven through.
+
+The drive from Worksop is a delightful one, but all at once the stranger
+is surprised to find himself in a cavern, leading as might be supposed
+to the catacombs. It was no uncommon thing for the Duke to rise up out
+of a tunnel and appear in the midst of a gang of workmen when they were
+little expecting him, and when, perhaps, they were idling their time,
+or making uncomplimentary remarks about him.
+
+When the tunnels were in course of construction there might be seen a
+procession of men on donkeys going to and fro. It was all in a piece
+with his Grace's conduct that he should purchase donkeys for them to
+ride upon; but the animals, when let loose, would gnaw at the trees, so
+the services of the four-legged asses were dispensed with.
+
+His manner of dealing with a strike was a summary one. The wages of the
+excavators of the tunnels were fifteen shillings a week regularly,
+sunshine or rain; but the men thought their rich employer could afford
+them an increase, so they struck.
+
+"You can strike as long as you like," was the message sent by the Duke,
+"it does not matter to me if the work is never done."
+
+This cool attitude had its effect, the strike was at an end, and the
+tunnelling proceeded.
+
+One reason given for planning the tunnels was that when he first desired
+to withdraw himself from observation he tried to close the public rights
+of way over the estate. This brought him into collision with the powers
+that be, and he compromised matters to his own satisfaction by making
+the underground roadways. His cynicism was rich.
+
+"Here have I had provided for you at enormous expense a clean pathway
+underground, lighted with gas too, and you will persist in walking above
+ground," was his salute to some astounded visitors. The idea that they
+should prefer the sunshine, the delightful woodland scenery and
+sweet-smelling scents wafted over Welbeck in summer-time, to the gaseous
+tunnels, as if they were rabbits having natural affinities to the
+burrows of the earth, was one only worthy of a ducal misanthropist.
+
+He was "The Invisible Prince," he liked to take men unawares, he enjoyed
+a grim joke at their expense, though whether he ever showed signs of
+merriment, at least in after life, is not so much in the memories of
+those who knew him, as his eccentricities. He is more associated with
+the character of an ogre and a cynic who shunned his fellow-men, yet
+there are some of his employees still living who give him a good word as
+a kind and considerate master.
+
+There have been various reasons put forth to account for his withdrawal
+from the society of his peers. It was said that he was smitten with
+leprosy, that he had an incurable skin desease; then that his love
+affairs had gone awry when he was a young man, with the result that he
+became a woman-hater, then a hater of mankind generally.
+
+The Duke was moody and uncertain in his temper. Sometimes he would pass
+pedestrians in the park without noticing them; at other times strangers
+would be astonished to hear a shabby old ogre break out at them in
+profane language because of their intrusion upon his domains, and they
+would be still more astonished when making complaints about the conduct
+of this disreputable person, to find that it was the Duke himself.
+
+At that time the use of a traction-engine in agriculture was somewhat of
+a novelty, and because it was different from the appliances generally
+used by farmers, was a recommendation to the Duke.
+
+It was nine o'clock one night when he said to his haymakers: "Take the
+carts home and bring another load with the engine."
+
+"Excuse me, your Grace," said one, "If the engine is made of steel and
+iron I'm not. I'm tired out."
+
+"Well, perhaps you are, go home then," came the order, which is
+testimony to the consideration he had for his employees when he was
+addressed in a manly, straightforward way.
+
+There was a grotesque procession one day at a farm on the Welbeck
+estate. It was a rainy summer, and the farmers were at their wits'-ends
+to know how they were to secure their hay in anything like good
+condition.
+
+The Duke was not a man to be beaten by the weather; he defied it; he was
+determined to have his grass in the rickyard, wet or dry. So the order
+went forth that his traction-engine and waggons were to be ready for
+carrying it on a certain day.
+
+There was to be no shirking, for the Duke's intention was to be with his
+men to see that the work was done. So he went to the farm in his long
+brown cape and high silk hat and an umbrella which might have done duty
+for Hans William Bentinck in the swamps of Holland.
+
+The harvesters filled the waggons in a downpour of rain and the
+cavalcade started for the homestead. There were three or four waggons
+behind the engine, and in the last, lo and behold, sat his Grace, grim,
+silent and self-satisfied that the elements had no terrors for him.
+
+What a life his was to lead; he was a veritable prisoner, having himself
+for a warder.
+
+The special apartment used by him in the daytime was fitted with a
+trap-door in the floor, by which he could descend to the regions below,
+and thus roam about his underground tunnels without the servants knowing
+whether he was in the house or had left it. By means of this trap-door,
+after walking to some distant part of his estate and astonishing his
+workmen there, he could re-appear in the Abbey as mysteriously as he had
+left it.
+
+The apartment with the trap-door had another door opening into an
+ante-room, and here his servants received their orders.
+
+The "Prince of Silence" rarely spoke to his attendants; he wrote down on
+paper what he required and placed it in the letter-box of the door
+opening into the ante-room. Then he rang a bell, when a servant would
+come and read what he had written and carry out the order accordingly.
+
+The Duke's bedstead was an immense square erection, constructed in an
+extraordinary manner. There were large doors to it, so arranged that
+when folded it was impossible to know whether the bed was occupied by
+its owner.
+
+He was a lonely traveller, and even when he went to Paris would have no
+companion with him. His arrangements were made by an _avant courier_,
+and when it became known that he had arrived in the gay city, the
+English aristocracy paid formal visits to him.
+
+These attentions were too much for his habit of loneliness, and he
+vanished to St. Germains. A few weeks' stay here was enough for him, and
+he came back to Paris, not lingering more than a couple of days, and
+then proceeded by stages to Calais and on to London.
+
+One of the best authenticated stories of the fifth Duke relates to his
+habit of riding alone in a carriage specially constructed to secure
+privacy. As was natural the more it became known that he wanted to
+escape observation the more was curiosity aroused to see him, so that a
+considerable part of his life was spent in adopting stratagems to
+prevent sight-seers from catching a glimpse of the aristocratic enigma.
+
+The carriage was so made that when the doors were closed no one could
+see into it, though there were spy-holes arranged that the Duke could
+look out on all sides and not be observed.
+
+One day the Duke had sent his usual written order for his carriage to
+proceed by road to London.
+
+The postillions started quite oblivious that they had his Grace with
+them in his mysteriously-constructed vehicle.
+
+It was a long journey, and as they passed stage after stage, their
+delays for refreshments became longer and their stoppages more frequent.
+
+They had just pulled up at a country inn when they were horrified to
+hear a sepulchral voice from the hearse-like chariot shouting,
+
+"What the devil are you stopping for?"
+
+These few words were enough. They came from the voice of the Duke whom
+they saw not, but recognised by his tones from his tomb on wheels.
+
+The postillions sprang upon the horses and tarried not till they had
+arrived before the portico of Harcourt House where the great myth
+descended unseen to his room.
+
+Harcourt House, Cavendish-square, was a famous London mansion, for many
+years in the possession of the Dukes of Portland. The building of this
+stately town residence was commenced in 1722 for Earl Harcourt. It had
+a noble courtyard facing Cavendish-square, and an imposing _porte
+cochère_, with a large garden and wide-spreading trees, which were such
+extraordinary features to be found as adjuncts to the old London palaces
+of the nobility. Then there was a range of stabling enough to
+accommodate the stud of a monarch.
+
+This noble mansion was gambled away at a card-party when the stakes were
+high and the players were the third Duke, grandfather of the eccentric
+peer, and Earl Harcourt. Thus it came into possession of the Bentincks.
+
+During the occupancy of the fifth Duke, the curious freaks of building
+for which he was so famous at Welbeck were repeated at Harcourt House.
+He had the garden enclosed with a gigantic screen of ground-glass,
+extending for 200 feet on each side and 80 feet high. His object in
+having this screen constructed was that the residents of
+Henrietta-street and Wigmore-street might be prevented from seeing into
+the garden and possibly catching a glimpse of his Grace when taking a
+stroll.
+
+The gamble for Harcourt House was commuted into a leasehold tenancy by
+the intervention of the lawyers, who declared that the ownership of the
+mansion could not be separated from the rest of the estate.
+
+In more recent years the leasehold interest was purchased by the Earl of
+Breadalbane, and on its expiration, it eventually came to Sir William
+Harcourt, the statesman, and in August, 1904, was offered for sale. The
+site of the beautiful garden, with its screen and stables, was purchased
+by the Post-office authorities. _Sic gloria transit_ of one of the
+famous houses of London.
+
+Though he had such magnificent palaces, both in Sherwood Forest and in
+London, the Duke was not given to entertaining guests after the manner
+of a great noble. His father had sent the family plate to be kept by
+Messrs. Drummond, bankers, and it was the current belief that the son
+never had it from the vaults of the bank to grace his tables at Welbeck
+or Harcourt House.
+
+His sisters seldom visited him, although one of them, Lady Ossington,
+lived at Ossington Hall, about 15 miles away, in the same county as
+Welbeck.
+
+The gossips of his lifetime would have it that his pet aversions were
+tobacco, women, and anyone in the garb of a gentleman; but he had a
+taste for drinking stout and lived on a simple dietary.
+
+These stories involve a tissue of inconsistencies. His correspondence
+with Fanny Kemble when he was Marquis of Titchfield, already quoted,
+shows his kind consideration, not only for her, but for other ladies who
+moved in higher circles. There was his friendship with Lady Cork, who
+was often seen by the workmen on the estate driving Shetland ponies. She
+was a visitor at Cuckney Hall, which was part of the Welbeck domain.
+Again there are instances on record of his courtesy to those of the
+opposite sex whom he met in the park; besides which there were many
+female servants engaged at the Abbey.
+
+"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast"; but among the other
+idiosyncrasies laid to his charge, it was said that rather than soothe,
+it irritated him.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton's testimony is that Mr. Druce (assuming him to have been
+identical with the Duke) was extremely fond of music, and that she had
+played to him for hours at a time.
+
+"Sing me the old songs, Stuart" Druce would say to her father, who not
+only sang, but played the violin.
+
+Moreover the workmen at Welbeck were allowed to have a band which
+performed at the Abbey on Christmas-eve and the bandsmen were given
+refreshments.
+
+What a quaint figure the Duke's was. When away from home he wore a wig,
+but not indoors, his tall hat had a broad brim, he wore a white tie and
+high collar, his trousers tied round his legs, were of check, with a
+frock coat and dark waistcoat.
+
+His habits were fastidious, and he would not handle bronze or silver
+coins before they had been washed. Then he forbade persons to touch
+their hats to him if they met him.
+
+His manner of dispensing benefactions was characteristic. Sometimes he
+was lavish in his generosity, while on other occasions he replied in
+burning words to those who appealed to him.
+
+An instance of the latter is afforded in his reply to the members of a
+Friendly Society which was in straits for the want of 10l. He told
+them that if it was a Club established on sound lines, it would be worth
+their while to subscribe the money among themselves, and if not, he
+declined to maintain a bankrupt organisation.
+
+He was a devourer of the contents of newspapers, and took all the
+principal London and provincial daily issues, as well as many weekly
+journals, which were filed and bound. His bill for one year came to
+1,300l. He had four sets of the papers he thought worth preserving,
+one being at Welbeck, another at Fullarton House, a third at Bothal
+Castle, and a fourth at Harcourt House. This collection of current
+literature of the day is believed to be the largest private library
+outside the British Museum.
+
+In January, 1855, the Crimean War was in progress, and the Duke having
+given 500l. to the Patriotic Fund, further showed his bounty by
+ordering that several fat bullocks, 100 head of deer and 1,000 hares
+should be potted and sent out to the scene of action. Besides these
+eatables he gave a quantity of unbleached cotton and flannel to be made
+into shirts and other garments by the ladies of Worksop and district. In
+that same month Major-General Bentinck, who had been wounded in the
+right arm, arrived at Welbeck, intending to return to the war as soon as
+his wound would allow him.
+
+It was formerly the custom for everyone who paid a visit to the stately
+home in Sherwood Forest, whether on business or pleasure, not to come
+away without tasting the Worksop ale. Its quality was renowned, and the
+Duke sent 1,000 gallons of it to the Army fighting in the Crimea.
+
+The lake at Welbeck is three miles long, and its waters are supplied
+from an irrigation system at Clipstone, costing the fourth Duke
+80,000l. to carry out, draining a tract of marshy land and making it
+one of the most fertile districts in England. After supplying the lake
+at Welbeck the stream flows to that at Clumber.
+
+It was estimated that between two and three millions sterling were spent
+by the Duke in putting his ideas into execution, and the one beneficent
+effect of his expenditure was the employment of a large number of men in
+work that was not altogether of a useless nature, as witness his great
+improvements in agriculture, following up his father's ideas, adding to
+the national wealth by the crops this hitherto uncultivated area was
+made to produce.
+
+After his long and chequered career the Duke passed away in December,
+1879, having nearly reached eighty years of age. Peace be to his ashes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PRESENT DUKE AND DUCHESS.--A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT
+
+
+There must have been a thrilling sensation of delight at the good
+fortune that had overtaken him when the present Duke found himself in
+possession of the family honours and estates. There had been so many
+vicissitudes in the Dukedom that any chance survival might have stepped
+in to bar his claim. "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip"
+is an old saying, and many a relation of a great noble is near the
+succession of his honours, only to see them pass to some other branch
+where least expected.
+
+The present Duke, or to give him his full family name, William John
+Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, was a long way off the fifth
+Duke, in the table of consanguinity, he had no trace of the Scott blood
+in him, and was in fact only second cousin of his eccentric predecessor
+in the title.
+
+His father was Lieutenant-General A.C. Cavendish-Bentinck, whose
+descent was through the third Duke, so that the two branches had to go
+back nearly a hundred years to find a common ancestor. His birth took
+place on December 28th, 1857, and it must have seemed then a remote
+possibility that in less than five and twenty years he would succeed to
+one of the proudest Dukedoms in the land, with the opportunities of a
+royal alliance.
+
+Two of the Duke's half-brothers were engaged in the South African war;
+Lord Charles Bentinck was a Lieutenant in the 9th Lancers and was
+slightly wounded in the siege of Mafeking; for his services he won a
+medal and a brevet-majority. He was born in 1868 and was educated at
+Eton; he married in 1897 a daughter of Mr. Charles Seymour Grenfell of
+Taplow. In the East Midlands he has won considerable popularity as
+Master of the Blankney Hunt.
+
+Lord William Bentinck was a Captain in the 10th Hussars and showed his
+ardour in the war by endeavouring to form a body of Colonial Mounted
+Rifles.
+
+Among the eccentricities laid to the charge of the old Duke it was said
+that on his young heir going to visit him on one occasion at Welbeck,
+he ordered him to stand in a corner of the room.
+
+When in 1879 the old Duke passed away from his world of mysteries and
+escapades, the heir was a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards. He was
+not long in the Army, and when he came into the title there were too
+many other engagements for him to attend to without troubling himself as
+to the routine of military duty, though he kept up a connection with the
+forces by becoming Lieutenant-Colonel of the Honourable Artillery
+Company of London, Honorary Colonel of the 1st Lanarkshire Volunteer
+Artillery, and of the 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters Regiment.
+
+Welbeck soon began to assume a new aspect under his regime. Gradually it
+lost its appearance of a contractor's yard and looked like one of the
+stately homes of England.
+
+Looking back to the time when he first came into his noble heritage, the
+Duke made a touching reference at the Welbeck Tenants' Show, in 1906, to
+the death of his agent, Mr. F.J. Turner, who for 48 years was in the
+service of the fifth Duke and himself.
+
+"When I first came to Welbeck, now twenty-seven years ago," said the
+Duke, "I was a mere boy, very ignorant of the ways of the world, and
+more ignorant still, if it were possible, of business habits and of the
+management of a great estate. I shudder to think what might have been my
+fate, and the sad fate of those dependent upon me, if Mr. Turner and
+others, who guided my footsteps, had been different from what they
+proved themselves to be. It was in his power to make or mar the
+happiness and prosperity, not only of myself, but also of many of those
+who live in this district and who farm my land."
+
+The Duke followed the traditions of his family and commenced to form an
+expensive racing stud.
+
+In 1882 his attention was concentrated to a considerable degree upon
+this object. He bought the famous sire, St. Simon, at the sale of the
+late Prince Batthyany's horses. St. Simon could not compete in the
+classic races in consequence of the death of his owner, and all through
+his racing career he was not put to any severe test of speed, or most
+likely his name would have represented the double achievement of being a
+famous racer, and the sire of famous racers too. He was bought for
+1,600l., the purchase being effected on the recommendation of Mat
+Dawson, the trainer, and the horse was then a two-year-old. That he
+could go at a terrific pace is proved by an observation made one day by
+Fred Archer to the trainer. St. Simon was at exercise when Archer's spur
+touched him, unintentionally by the jockey. He bounded into a gallop--a
+state of action rarely seen before--and Archer subsequently said that he
+had never been whizzed through the air at such a terrific pace. In the
+very pink of condition, fresh and strong, the Duke had to congratulate
+himself on securing his bargain, for he was sent from the course to the
+stud, with the result that the magnificent total of 246,000l. was won
+by his progeny in stakes alone.
+
+At length, in 1888, the Duke reached the goal of his ambition in his
+career on the turf, for he was the winner of the Derby with Ayrshire,
+which also won the Two Thousand Guineas. Then he followed up his success
+next year by winning the Derby again with Donovan, a horse that also won
+the St. Leger.
+
+The names of the mares finding their habitation at Woodhouse Hall,
+about a mile and a quarter from Welbeck Abbey, are identified with some
+of the most remarkable successes of the turf. Here is a string of
+animals through the veins of which ran purest blood. Amoena, Atalanta,
+Battlewings, Danceaway, Golden Eye, Lady Mar, Larissa, Marquesa,
+Mowerina, Modwena, Miss Middlewick, Shaker, Semolina, Staffa, Wheel of
+Fortune, Tact, Ulster Queen, and many besides. The Goddess of Fortune
+beamed on his Grace's colours whenever they appeared in the great races.
+The long series of victories resulted in immense winnings. For instance,
+Modwena was credited with 5,884l.; Ayrshire, 35,915l.; Johnny
+Morgan, 4,067l.; Donovan, 55,154l.; Semolina, 12,686l.; Miss
+Butterwick, 8,179l.; Raeburn, 8,374l.; The Prize, 3,134l.; St.
+Serf, 5,809l.; Memoir, 17,300l.; Schoolbrook, 2,705l.; Amiable,
+10,582l.; Other celebrated stock also bred by the Duke included Anna,
+Charm, Catcher Clatterfeet, Elsie, Eisteddfod, Galston, Katherine II.,
+Little Go, Oyster, Rattleheels, St. Bridget, Simony II., The Task, The
+Owl, The Smew, Troon, Ulva, and many more. Major Loder's Spearmint was
+the winner of the Derby in 1906, and it was a bay colt by Carbine--Maid
+of the Mint, so that a horse owned by the Duke was again associated
+with the blue ribbon, Carbine having been imported from Australia by his
+Grace some years before. Carbine had another name, "Old Jack," given him
+because of his laziness, and a whip-stock, had to be used occasionally
+to keep him up to the mark. An Australian picture of the horse was
+painted by Mr. W. Scott, and after being in the possession of Mr.
+Herbert Garratt for some years was sent to his Grace with a request that
+he would accept it, which he did.
+
+All the time that the Duke was paying so much attention to horse-racing
+it was being asked in Nottinghamshire whether Welbeck was ever to see
+another Duchess of Portland. The palace of the magician in the heart of
+Sherwood Forest had not had a mistress for forty years, and the gossips
+were not diffident in expressing their opinion that it was time the
+splendour of its hospitality was graced by the presence of a Duchess.
+
+The Duke was thirty-two years of age in 1889, and his name had been
+coupled with that of a royal princess; but whatever foundation there may
+have been for the rumour that he was going to marry into the royal
+family, it was seen eventually that he was determined to wed for love
+and not for pride of place.
+
+Of the rich and well-born heiresses tracing their lineage through
+generation after generation of English chivalry, and who would have
+deemed it the prize of a lifetime to become Duchess of Portland, the
+Duke's choice fell upon a young lady whose name was unknown to the
+denizens of Nottinghamshire. She was Winifred, only daughter of Thomas
+Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and came of an old Lincolnshire
+family.
+
+She was a merry girl as she used to ride her pony in the Lincolnshire
+lanes, indeed, she was regarded as somewhat of a tomboy, but a year or
+two passed away, and she surprised those who had known her in girlhood,
+to see her the most fashionable beauty in the Row.
+
+She had a wondrous type of beauty too, that made all those who admired
+its style, fall beneath her spell, her complexion was delicate, yet with
+the glow of health upon it, her teeth were pearly, her eyes full of
+sweet reasonableness, her nose that of the classic heroines of Greece,
+and her willowy form such as Sir Joshua Reynolds would have delighted to
+paint in a portrait, that would have been one more justification of the
+poetical phrase, "Art is long and life is fleeting."
+
+Her lithe and graceful figure, nearly six feet in height, with a face
+pleasing and mobile, and a voice that charmed in its tone, made her
+distinguished in any society where she appeared.
+
+The story is that once when staying with some friends at Brighton she
+went to the Devil's Dyke, a romantic place visited by almost every
+tourist and resident in that neighbourhood. There she was prevailed upon
+to consult a gipsy as to her future, and the fortune-teller prophesied
+truth, for the oracular words came forth:--
+
+"You will carry off the greatest matrimonial prize in all England," the
+gipsy said, as she went through the palmistry study of Miss
+Dallas-Yorke's shapely hand; "but shortly after your marriage there's
+trouble of some sort, for the lines become cloudy. I know what it will
+be, young lady; a terrible illness must attack you, yet take courage and
+have no fear, my dear, for all will turn out well in the end."
+
+The sequel to the story is that after the happy event of the marriage
+the gipsy had a black gown and a purse of money presented to her by the
+Duchess as a compliment to her sagacity as a prophetess.
+
+The latter part of the prediction was fulfilled also, for soon after
+her marriage the Duchess was attacked by typhoid fever at Welbeck, and
+her life hung in the balance for a short time during her illness.
+Happily she recovered to take her place in Society, as graceful and
+winsome as ever.
+
+She had been out, in the Society sense of the term, several seasons
+before she became acquainted with the Duke. How the meeting came about
+is thus related:--
+
+She was on a visit during the autumn of 1888 to a country house In
+Scotland, and while waiting with her maid on the platform of Carlisle
+station, she was noticed by the Duke, who was also northward bound for
+sport on the moors.
+
+The Duke was waiting on the platform too, and was attracted by the
+perfection of her appearance, her lofty carriage and the expression of
+the true gentlewoman on her countenance.
+
+A few weeks afterwards an introduction took place at the house of a
+friend, when they spoke of their recollection of having seen each other
+on the platform of the railway station.
+
+Although the Duke must have known that he was the most coveted
+matrimonial prize in England at that time, yet it is said he was shy at
+proposing to this magnificent daughter of a Lincolnshire squire.
+
+He must have done, however, for in a few months the marriage was
+celebrated.
+
+Soon after the engagement the Duke bought a sable cloak of immense value
+for his fiancée; but Mrs. Dallas-Yorke protested against the gift and
+said that her daughter had not been accustomed to such costly attire.
+
+What was the Duke's observation upon this has not passed current;
+suffice it to say that the priceless cloak was received and worn by Miss
+Dallas-Yorke, who in Society was chaperoned by the Marchioness of
+Granby, now Duchess of Rutland.
+
+Such a fluttering among Society dove-cotes was seldom seen, and sound of
+wedding-bells rarely heard with such gleeful joy. It was a love-match,
+and, therefore, a popular event all over the land. Only a few weeks
+before, the Duke's horse had won the Derby, and the ovation given him by
+the racing fraternity was unprecedented to any one, peer or commoner,
+below royal rank.
+
+Then the bride was so full of smiles to all who had the privilege of
+offering her congratulations.
+
+The Duke had earned the reputation of being a "good fellow," a phrase
+carrying its own meaning in relation to a typical English nobleman. At
+the zenith of his popularity there is no wonder that crowds lined the
+streets on the wedding morning to catch a glimpse of the happy pair as
+they drove back from Church. The Prince and Princess of Wales honoured
+the ceremony with their presence, and such cheering there was as the
+faces of the bride and bridegroom were seen at the windows of the
+carriage. It was a smart equipage, and even the coachmen and footmen
+were decorated with horse-shoes of flowers on their coats.
+
+Then there were the rejoicings at Welbeck, where the new Duchess soon
+ingratiated herself with the tenantry. "The Good Duchess" was smiling
+and approachable, and quickly found her way to the heart of the most
+churlish country herdsman.
+
+It was apparent that the Duchess's mind was not solely occupied with
+plans for reigning in London Society and dictating the fashions for a
+select and fastidious circle. She knew her powers in that respect; she
+had already conquered and was content to please the Duke, and fulfil the
+duties of her station towards those who were her equals, and towards the
+Duke's retainers on his estates and their dependants.
+
+Not that she ceased to dazzle with the radiant splendour of her jewels,
+which adorned her natural gracefulness.
+
+Her coronet of diamonds contains in it a lustrous gem, called the
+Portland stone, worth 10,000l., and her jewels altogether are of
+fabulous value. Nothwithstanding the changing fashions of High Society,
+she retains her preference for a Medici collar of lace and a spray of
+Malmaison carnations.
+
+With the immense sums of money the Duke had won over the Derby victories
+he was desirous of adding new treasures to his wife's jewel-case; but
+she prevailed upon him to build some almshouses for poor old women at
+Welbeck; moreover she is credited with having influenced him to moderate
+his indulgence in racing.
+
+The almshouses, which were called "The Winnings," have upon them the
+following inscription: "These houses were erected by the sixth Duke of
+Portland at the request of his wife, for the benefit of the poor and to
+commemorate the the success of his race-horses." They were not built out
+of money made by betting, a habit not encouraged by the Duke.
+
+At a later period, addressing a meeting of young men, he said: "Turn a
+cold shoulder to the bookmaker and those who would advise you to throw
+your money into the lap of fickle Fortune If you want to be happy. You
+might just as well throw the money into a pond."
+
+The Duchess always has a happy way of opening a Bazaar for some
+philanthropic object, and her radiant and affable manner charm those
+with whom she is brought into contact, perhaps for the first time. She
+is a supporter of the Church Army Training Homes, Bryanston-street, and
+she has had the courage to preside over a temperance demonstration in
+Hyde Park. Swimming has become a fashionable accomplishment with Society
+ladies, and she has shown her interest in extending the cultivation of
+that exercise. This is only to mention but a few of the objects that
+claim her time and attention, and no lady of high position is more ready
+to aid a worthy charity where possible.
+
+The first child that came to the Duke and Duchess was Lady Victoria
+Alexandrina Violet, born in 1890. She was highly honoured at her
+christening, for Queen Victoria acted as sponsor person, and held the
+baby in her arms. There is at Welbeck an autograph letter from the
+Queen, congratulating the parents on their firstborn. The next was the
+heir to the Dukedom, William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born
+March 16th, 1893, and the third Lord Francis Norwen Dallas, born in
+1900.
+
+The Duke was Master of the Horse from 1886 to 1892, and from 1895 to
+1905; and the Duchess acted as Mistress of the Robes for a short time in
+1905, she was also one of the "Canopy Duchesses" at the Coronation.
+
+The Duke's estates in Scotland include Langwell Lodge, which the family
+has frequently visited for deer-stalking and grouse-shooting in the
+autumn. Then there is Cessnock Castle, near Galston, Ayrshire, where the
+Duke and Duchess had not stayed for many years till 1906. A considerable
+part of the fifth Duke's Ayrshire estates, including the Kilmarnock
+property, passed at his death to his sister, Lady Ossington, and at her
+death to another sister, Lady Howard de Walden, and thence to Lord
+Howard de Walden. The Duke has extensive shootings at Fullarton, near
+Troon, and Fullarton House was for some time the residence of Louis
+Philippe of France.
+
+The house of Langwell is situated on a beautiful grassy slope, with the
+sea in front, while in the background are the silver-clad Scarabines,
+rising with imposing grandeur. The Langdale and Berriedale rivers here
+join and flow into the sea, and there are picturesque gorges, with
+cave-dwellings and ancient ruins having historic associations. Frowning
+cliffs rise precipitously from the waves, and weird caves, only to be
+entered when the tide is low, add to the romantic character of the
+scenery.
+
+In the neighbourhood of this favourite shooting lodge are some steep and
+dangerous hills which presented great difficulties to the horses when
+taking his Grace's guests to and fro to enjoy their sport. But having
+become a votary of the motorcar, these stiff hills have been surmounted
+with ease by the four or five vehicles which the Duke has acquired for
+sporting purposes. Helmsdale is the nearest railway station to Langwell,
+and the road over the Ord of Caithness includes several hills with rough
+and loose surfaces, and gradients ranging from 1 in 2 to 1 in 16, so
+that the journey is not without its stress both for horses and
+motorcars. John o' Groat's is forty-five miles distant, but this, as
+well as other places of interest in the neighbourhood, is within
+visiting range by the cars, though such long distances were not
+attempted with the equine species.
+
+To capture the Master of the Horse as an automobilist was a great
+achievement for enthusiasts in the advocacy of the new mode of
+travelling. The Duke of Portland has been such a devotee to the horse,
+as were his ancestors centuries before him, that it was not to be
+expected all at once, that he would, give his countenance to any new
+invention likely to supplant the noble animal in its position as the
+servant and friend of man. Having been a cyclist, when that hobby seized
+the fancy of the fashionable world, it was not a long step to
+automobilism, and having proved the superiority of the motor vehicle,
+the Duke gave orders for some of the best types of cars to be supplied
+to him. One of the most luxurious is a Limousine de Deitrich, and his
+interest in the new art of locomotion is such that he has had a perfect
+track prepared at Clipstone, called "The flying kilometre."
+
+In 1907 the Duke became a member of the Royal Automobile Club and
+submitted all his drivers for examination for the certificate. The test
+took place at Welbeck, when there were shown several technical drawings
+executed by the candidates, who all passed with merit and received their
+certificates.
+
+The Duchess on one occasion made some observations in public on motors,
+and expressed a doubt as to whether any of her friends would forsake the
+horse in favour of mechanical locomotion. That time, however, came
+about, and now the Duchess is claimed as a patroness of the car, which
+if prosy, compared with the delights of horsemanship, is, nevertheless,
+useful for accomplishing distances which horses are not expected to
+cover.
+
+In a speech in the House of Lords, the Duke said he considered the
+advent of the motorcar could not but have a weakening influence on the
+horse-breeding industry, and before very long several of the functions
+which horses at present perform, both in the towns and country
+districts, would be carried out by mechanical means. His object in
+making these remarks was to call attention to what was impending in
+order that some steps might be taken to foster the horse-breeding
+industry.
+
+As far as a continuance of interest in race-horses is concerned, the
+Duke had at the commencement of the season 1906 twenty-one horses in
+training with W. Waugh at Kingsclere, including thirteen two-year-olds.
+
+Both King Edward and the Queen have been entertained at Welbeck since
+their accession to the throne, and in 1906 there was a visit from the
+Duke and Duchess of Sparta, the Crown Prince and Princess of Greece.
+
+The Duke's sentiments on "patriotism" may be gathered from some remarks
+he made when opening a miniature rifle range constructed at the
+Nottingham High School. He referred with approbation to the work of Mr.
+Robins, Premier of Manitoba, through whose policy the Union Jack was
+unfurled from the roof of every school in the province: "The man who
+objects to perpetuating the glories of the flag, who declines to have
+his children infused with British patriotism is undesirable." "These
+words," said the Duke, "apply to the anti-patriot, the pro-Zulu, the
+pro-Boer, the inciter to rebellion in Egypt, and to the stirrer-up of
+strife in India. I do not see why rifle-shooting should not become a
+popular national sport, equal in prestige to games like cricket and
+football."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE DUKE AND DUCHESS AT HOME.--THE DUCHESS AS PRINCESS BOUNTIFUL.--THE
+DUCHESS AT COURT
+
+Christmas is usually spent by the Duke and Duchess at Welbeck, and one
+of the events of the season is the Household Ball to celebrate the
+Duke's birthday, which falls on December 28th. It is held in the vast
+underground picture-gallery, with the subjects of the old painters
+looking down from their canvases upon the gay dancers.
+
+Choice exotics, stately palms and seasonable shrubs add to the variety
+of the decorations. The band is almost hidden in a bower of foliage in
+the centre of the great saloon, and there are 500 guests of all ranks of
+society from peers and peeresses to the humblest domestic servant.
+
+About ten o'olock the Duke and Duchess appear with their house party,
+and dancing commences with a Circassion Circle. The Duke has the
+housekeeper for partner and the Duchess the house-steward, while the
+aristocratic guests find partners among other chiefs of departments in
+the Welbeck household.
+
+With midnight comes supper, served in two adjacent underground rooms,
+that owe their excavation to the grim hobby of the old Duke. All the
+festive party sit down to supper at the same time, the Duke's French
+chef providing the menu. The house-steward presides and proposes the
+health of the ducal family. This is welcomed in the manner it deserves
+and then dancing is resumed in the picture-gallery.
+
+On another evening the children on the Welbeck estate are invited to a
+party when the head of a giant Christmas-tree is reared in the centre of
+the ball-room, laden with toys for distribution to them, and the
+pleasures of the entertainment are varied with the tricks of a conjurer
+and ventriloquist. Thus is afforded a glimpse of the happy relations
+existing between the Portland family and their retainers.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Cresswell, and the mining
+district between Mansfield and Worksop the Duchess is regarded as a
+Princess Bountiful in reality, rather than a creation of fairyland. Her
+visits to some of the homes of the miners are generally unexpected; for
+instance one Monday morning in the late autumn she rode up to the
+unpretending dwelling of a collier to enquire about "an old friend," as
+she called him, who had worked in Cresswell pits. A few years before he
+had met with an accident and injured his spine. The occurrence came to
+the ears of her Grace, who arranged for the patient to visit London to
+undergo an operation, which he did, with favourable results. A
+bath-chair was obtained for him and since then she had evinced
+sympathetic interest in his condition.
+
+As may well be imagined appeals to the Duchess's sympathies are made
+from all quarters. One day she is taking the chair at the annual meeting
+of the Children's Hospital at Nottingham. On another day the Nottingham
+Samaritan Hospital for Women is having her support in the opening of a
+bazaar in its aid.
+
+Not only suffering humanity, but suffering brute creation has found in
+her a sympathetic chord. The Bev. H. Russell, who is well known in the
+county for his efforts on behalf of the Royal Society for the Prevention
+of Cruelty to Animals, told two interesting stories of her Grace in her
+presence at the opening of the bazaar.
+
+A show of cab-horses and costermongers' donkeys was being held in
+Nottingham, when Mr. Russell called the attention of the Duchess to an
+old rag-and-bone dealer, who had won no prize, but who was known to
+treat his donkey humanely.
+
+"What shall I give him?" asked the Duchess.
+
+"Half a sovereign will be enough, I should think," replied the
+clergyman.
+
+She then handed the money to the man, but she had to borrow it though,
+"and," added Mr. Russell, "I do not know whether she ever paid it back
+but the result was the same."
+
+When in Scotland once she found that a man with a cart-load of herrings
+had been using a piece of barbed wire to flog his horse with.
+
+He was taxed with the barbarity, but denied it.
+
+The Duchess thereupon walked back and found the wire. She and the Duke
+then bought up the horse, cart, harness, and herrings, rejecting the
+only worthless part of the lot--the man.
+
+Sandy's greed and Sandy's conscience were most likely on a par in their
+flinty qualities, and the dour Scot would be glad to bargain with the
+Duchess again on similar terms, eliminating the factor of
+humanitarianism.
+
+On another occasion she is presiding at the annual meeting of the local
+branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at
+Grantham. "Such meetings as these," she told her audience, "are valuable
+because they call attention to the cruelty which exists in such forms
+as the decrepit horse traffic, of which the general public has little or
+no knowledge. To be ignorant may save trouble; but if it makes us
+indifferent and lethargic with regard to suffering, when we ought to be
+helpers in the cause of humanity, the sooner we increase our knowledge
+the better we shall be able to stop this great evil and rouse public
+opinion on the valuable work done by the officers of the Society."
+
+Again she is a visitor at Mansfield to distribute the prizes in
+connection with singing, needlework, and other competitions organized by
+the girls' clubs in the district. She spoke of these competitions as
+promoting a healthy spirit of rivalry, and promised to give a silver
+shield for proficiency in physical drill among girls.
+
+Her catholic spirit was evinced on her attendance one day early in
+February, 1907, at the Mikado Café, Nottingham, when the members of a
+Sunday afternoon Wesleyan Bible Class, numbering ninety men, assembled
+for dinner. She expressed her interest in the aims of the Bible Class
+and in all efforts for the encouragement of right living. A bouquet was
+presented to her from the members.
+
+The Duchess as a flower-seller was a delightful attraction at a Church
+bazaar at Sutton-in-Ashfield, a town where there is considerable ducal
+property. In a graceful little speech declaring the bazaar open she
+said: "I know you are all tired of bazaars and desirous of adopting some
+better method of collecting money, if such could be devised, but until
+some brilliant or practical mind finds such a way, you are forced to
+move in the old groove and repeat the same efforts."
+
+The story of borrowing half a sovereign is not the only
+well-authenticated instance of her Grace having to negotiate a loan in
+consequence of her liberal instincts having prompted her to outrun the
+resources of her pocket.
+
+After opening a bazaar for the Newark Hospital she passed round the
+stalls and made purchases freely, so that by the time she had made the
+round she had completely exhausted her purse. It was necessary that she
+should have enough to pay her railway fare to London, whither she wished
+to travel, and the honour of tending her the amount she wanted, fell to
+one of the stewards. The loan, I believe, was promptly repaid.
+
+A Court of exceptional, splendour was held by the King and Queen at
+Buckingham Palace in May, 1905, and as the then Mistress of the Robes,
+the Duchess of Buccleugh, was unable to attend through being in
+mourning, her place was taken by the Duchess of Portland, none eclipsing
+her in that brilliant throng of English nobility. She wore a gown of
+ivory velvet, brocaded round the skirt with bouquets of flowers and
+trimmed with Italian lace and cream chiffon; the train of superb
+Brussels lace belonged to Marie Antoinette. Her jewels were diamonds,
+pearls and emeralds.
+
+A brilliant Chapter of the Garter was held in November, 1906, and was
+followed by a banquet. The regal appearance of the Duchess may be
+gathered from a description of her dress of cloudy white, embroidered
+with mother-of-pearl, a high diamond tiara on her dark hair and a
+magnificent bouquet of flowers, surrounded with a wealth of glittering
+diamonds on her corsage.
+
+Miss May Cavendish-Bentinck was married to Mr. John Ford on November
+3rd, 1906, when Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck made her appearance for
+the first time as a bridesmaid. Mr. Ford was secretary of the British
+Legation at Copenhagen and the bride was one of the Duke's cousins. Lady
+Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck, the Duke's only daughter, will probably be
+presented at Court next season.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CLAIMS TO THE PORTLAND PEERAGE BY MRS. DRUCE AND MR. G.H. DRUCE.
+
+
+Full of romance as the Portland peerage was up to recent years, there is
+still another chapter to be added, in relating some of the statements
+made in connection with the claims put forward by Mrs. Druce and Mr.
+G.H. Druce to the honours and wealth of the Bentincks. It must be stated
+emphatically that there is no intention whatever to comment upon these
+claims or to prejudice their fair consideration, in the tribunals of the
+land. No literary sketch of the great House of Portland would be
+complete without it summarised the salient points in the Druce claims as
+they have appeared from time to time in newspaper reports and in the
+narratives of those who knew the fifth Duke in his lifetime. This
+compilation is intended to epitomise the history of the illustrious
+family of Bentinck in consecutive order of the events as they have
+occurred, in such a manner as is not found in any other publication; but
+in no way to influence opinion either on one side or the other. It was
+in 1898 that public attention was called to the case, when Mrs. Druce
+set up a claim to the Portland peerage on behalf of her son.
+
+The ground on which it was based was that her father-in-law, Mr. Thomas
+Charles Druce, and the fifth Duke of Portland were one and the same
+person; that in fact the Duke had a double existence.
+
+Mr. Druce was in a large way of business at the Baker-street Bazaar, an
+enterprise opened about 1834 or 1835, with a capital estimated at
+100,000l. At that time the Duke had not succeeded to his family
+estates, but was Marquis of Titchfield. It was known that he and his
+brothers had been successful in horse-racing and if, as Marquis, he
+could spare 100,000l. to open this London business, some indication is
+given of his winnings.
+
+In the construction of the Bazaar it was said that there was an
+underground passage leading from the back of the premises. By this means
+of ingress or egress Druce could appear in the midst of his shopmen when
+they least expected him and as suddenly vanish, possibly into an
+underground passage, which it was believed was no myth, leading from
+Baker-street to Harcourt House.
+
+While conducting this important business at Baker-street, Mr. Druce
+married in 1851 Annie May Berkeley, daughter of the Earl of Berkeley.
+The Earl's marriage with this lady's mother had been disputed, and was
+held by the House of Lords to be illegal.
+
+That, however, has no bearing on the Portland romance, the question that
+arose in 1898 was whether the Duke, under the alias of T.C. Druce,
+married Miss Berkeley. The strange part of the contention is that Mr.
+Druce died, or there was a mock burial of his body in Highgate Cemetery,
+in 1864, whereas the Duke lived on till 1879. The allegation is that
+there was no death of that particular person in 1864, and that the
+coffin at the sham funeral was filled with lead or stones.
+
+Mr. Druce had a residence at Holcolmbe House, Hendon, and it was here
+that he repaired to die.
+
+The funeral was on December 31st, 1864, and the vault was prepared in
+Highgate Cemetery. There was a stately hearse accompanied by six
+bearers. The coffin was noticed to be of enormous weight, and the
+strength of the men were taxed when their duties came to carrying and
+lowering it into the grave.
+
+From this circumstance arose a curious idea that it did not contain the
+body of Druce, who was not stout and heavy; but that it was filled with
+stones or lead. There were no burial certificates forthcoming, but the
+owners of the cemetery accepted the coffin for burial.
+
+When Mr. Druce died there were two sons left of the alliance with Miss
+Berkeley, one of whom continued the Baker-street establishment.
+
+But what was the astonishment of some of the frequenters of the purlieus
+of Baker-street to see the man who was supposed to have been buried
+visiting the same haunts where they had seen him before.
+
+To have witnessed or heard of the funeral of a man, and then to meet
+that same man in his customary sphere of business afterwards, is of the
+nature of a ghost-story. "What did the coffin in Highgate Cemetery
+contain?" was the riddle.
+
+Mrs. Druce's husband was a son of the late Mr. T.C. Druce, and it was on
+behalf of her son that proceedings were commenced. She made an
+application to the Consistory Court for a faculty granting her power to
+have the coffin in Highgate Cemetery opened in order to see whether it
+contained a body or only some heavy substance such as lead.
+
+It was asserted that T.C. Druce had been seen alive some years after it
+was supposed that he had been buried; that he was identified as the Duke
+of Portland, and that there were persons cognisant of the fact that the
+Duke and Druce were one and the same person before 1864. Dr. Tristram,
+the judge, granted the faculty, but notice of appeal was given to
+prevent the coffin being opened.
+
+The case then came before the Divisional Court, which ruled that the
+London Cemetery Company was right in resisting the order of Dr.
+Tristram, and that the grave could not be opened without the licence of
+the Home Secretary. The decision was in effect that Dr. Tristram had no
+jurisdiction to make such an order, except as conditional on the
+authority of the Home Secretary being obtained.
+
+At length the case reached the Court of Appeal in December, 1899, when
+Mrs. Druce made no appearance to support the faculty she had obtained,
+and the appeal was dismissed with costs against her.
+
+In the course of the proceedings the statements of two or three persons
+who knew Mr. Druce were published in the Press.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton's narrative was to the effect that from a girl she had
+known the same gentleman both as Mr. Druce and the Duke of Portland, her
+father, Mr. Robert Lennox Stuart, being a great friend of his from
+boyhood days, and, it was averred, distantly related. There were
+frequent visits both to Cavendish-square and to the Baker-street Bazaar,
+and on one occasion, about 1849, Mrs. Hamilton says she was taken by
+her father to Welbeck where they were met by Druce. Then, in 1851, her
+father attended the marriage of Druce and Annie May Berkeley. At length
+the time came when Druce determined to be dead to the outer world. "I
+must die," he said to Mr. Stuart.
+
+The arrangements for the death were duly carried out and there ensued a
+sham burial, at which Mrs. Hamilton says her father was present.
+
+Two years passed away and Mrs. Hamilton was greatly astonished one day
+to see Mr. Druce enter the house where she and her father were staying.
+
+"I thought you were dead," she said naïvely.
+
+Druce was not well pleased at the remark and continued the conversation
+with her father.
+
+On another occasion Druce took Mrs. Hamilton, then a girl, to Madame
+Tussaud's, at which her father was angry; he also gave her money for
+sweets and flowers.
+
+A great many transactions took place between her father and Druce
+relative to a lady whom they spoke of as "Emmy," and who was eventually
+sent to France, by Druce, who gave her 5,000l. This was in 1876, and
+Mr. Stuart went to Welbeck to arrange for the departure with her two
+children. She died not long afterwards. The last time that Mrs.
+Hamilton says she saw Druce was in 1876, when he called at her father's
+and complained of being unwell. He spoke of his visits to his old friend
+Stuart as being the happiest hours of his life. Some little time after
+the sham burial Mrs. Annie May Druce came to Mrs. Hamilton's father's
+house, and was introduced to Mrs. Hamilton as "Mrs. Druce." Another
+statement was made by Mrs. F. M. Wright, nee Robinson, nee Weatherell,
+who said that when she was 20 years of age she lived near the
+Baker-street Bazaar, owned by Mr. T.C. Druce, and frequently saw that
+gentleman. After the supposed death and burial of Mr. Druce she saw him
+often, and in her mind he was identical with the Duke of Portland. As to
+her knowledge of the Duke her father was in the service of his Grace
+when she was a young girl, and she was familiar with his features. Mr.
+Druce had a large bump on the left side of his forehead, which appeared
+to have been caused by a blow. The Duke also had a bump, and in her
+opinion this resemblance was evidence that the owner of the Baker-street
+Bazaar and the Duke were one and the same person. While these statements
+were causing some amount of public interest there was a new development
+in this extraordinary case. The legal proceedings commenced by Mrs.
+Druce were widely reported in the Press and accounts of them reached
+Australia, where they were read by a man pursuing the calling of a
+miner. His name is Mr. George Hollamby Druce, who put forward a prior
+claim to the Dukedom than that urged by Mrs. Druce on behalf of her son.
+
+His contention is that the Duke, as T.C. Druce, married in October,
+1816, Miss Elizabeth Crickmer, of Bury St. Edmunds, by whom he had a son
+named George. This youth took to a sea-faring life and eventually
+settled in Australia, where he had a son, namely Mr. George Hollamby
+Druce, whose claim to the title takes precedence of that set up by Mrs.
+Druce for the offspring of the second marriage with Annie May Berkeley.
+
+The question of the exhumation of the body appears to be involved in
+legal technicalities as to the ownership of the vault. At one time it
+was vested in the son of Mrs. Druce who commenced the litigation. Then
+there appeared this other claimant, Mr. George Hollamby Druce, and it is
+said that the present owner of the vault, Mr. Herbert Druce, is not in
+favour of complying with Mr. G.H. Druce's wish to open it, therefore the
+secret of the grave remains unrevealed.
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Anchor Press, Ltd., Tiptree Heath, Essex._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard.
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+
+Project Gutenberg's The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Portland Peerage Romance
+
+Author: Charles J. Archard
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2004 [EBook #14371]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1" />THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>CHARLES J. ARCHARD</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><a name="GREENINGS_NEW_NOVELS" id="GREENINGS_NEW_NOVELS" /><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2" />GREENING'S NEW NOVELS</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The name <b>GREENING</b> on a book is a guarantee of excellence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>
+RICHARD THE BRAZEN<br />
+BY CYRUS BRADY AND EDWARD PEPLE<br />
+<br />
+THE TANGLED SKEIN<br />
+BY THE BARONESS ORCZY. <i>18th Thousand. 6s.</i><br />
+<br />
+THE MASCOTTE OF PARK LANE<br />
+BY LUCAS CLEEVE. <i>Third Edition. 6s</i>.<br />
+<br />
+THE DUPE<br />
+BY GERALD BISS. <i>Second Edition. 6s.</i><br />
+<br />
+THE WOMAN FRIEND AND THE WIFE<br />
+BY ETHEL HILL. <i>6s.</i><br />
+<br />
+THE PALM OIL RUFFIAN<br />
+BY ANTHONY HAMILTON. <i>6s.</i><br />
+<br />
+AND THE MOOR GAVE UP ITS DEAD<br />
+BY ERIC HARRISON. <i>6s.</i><br />
+<br />
+WHEN TERROR RULED<br />
+BY MAY WYNNE. <i>3s. 6d.</i><br />
+<br />
+THE BISHOP'S EMERALDS<br />
+BY HOUGHTON TOWNLEY.  <i>6s.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" />THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>BY</p>
+
+<h3>CHARLES J. ARCHARD</h3>
+
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>
+LONDON:<br />
+GREENING &amp; CO., LTD.<br />
+1907<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS" /><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" />CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="list">
+<ol class="rom">
+<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">THE FIRST BENTINCK A HERO</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK.&mdash;A FEMININE INTRIGUE</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">THE FARMER DUKE&mdash;WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT&mdash;HIS HIGH-SPIRITED SONS AND DAUGHTERS</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">THE FARMER DUKE'S DAUGHTER AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS' SPEAKER.&mdash;BECOMES A BENEVOLENT VISCOUNTESS</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF PORTLAND.&mdash;THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S RACING CAREER.&mdash;QUARREL WITH HIS COUSIN.&mdash;DUEL WITH SQUIRE OSBALDESTON.&mdash;&quot;SURPLICE&quot; WINS THE DERBY AND ST. LEGER.&mdash;ATTEMPTS TO POISON THE HORSE.&mdash;FRIENDSHIP WITH DISRAELI.&mdash;TRAGIC DEATH</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE ECCENTRIC DUKE AND HIS UNDERGROUND TUNNELS</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">THE PRESENT DUKE AND DUCHESS.&mdash;A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE DUKE AND DUCHESS AT HOME.&mdash;THE DUCHESS AS PRINCESS BOUNTIFUL.&mdash;THE DUCHESS AT COURT</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CLAIMS TO THE PORTLAND PEERAGE BY MRS. DRUCE AND MR. G.H. DRUCE</a></li>
+</ol>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" />THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE</h2>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>THE FIRST BENTINCK A HERO</p>
+
+
+<p>What a delightful story is that of the Portland peerage, in which
+fidelity, heroism, chivalry and romance are blended and interwoven in
+the annals of the noble families of England. Who that has been to
+Welbeck Abbey, that magnificent palace in the heart of Sherwood Forest,
+with its legends of Robin Hood and his merrie men, with its stately oaks
+and undulating woodlands, stretching away to fertile pastures, dotted
+over with prosperous farmsteads, as far as the eye can reach, does not
+feel interested in the fortunes of the noble owner; and who that has
+seen the Duke and Duchess on some festive occasion at Welbeck, moving to
+and fro among their thousand guests, a perfectly happy couple, in which
+the course of true love runs smooth, and <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" />whose supreme delight appears
+to be to spread happiness around them, is so churlish as not to wish
+them long life, as types of the English nobility it is a delight to
+honour?</p>
+
+<p>There is no affectation about this illustrious pair, the Duke never
+poses in relation to affairs of State, and the Duchess has a natural
+grace all her own, to which art can add no touch of dignity.</p>
+
+<p>Welbeck is now the home of peace and joy; but there have been times when
+its history has been shrouded in tragic mystery, and even to-day there
+is the Druce claim to give piquancy to its story.</p>
+
+<p>The family springs from the alliance of the Bentincks and the
+Cavendishes. Theirs is a telling motto: <i>Dominus providebit</i> (The Lord
+will provide) was on the crest of the Bentincks, and it befitted a
+family not too richly endowed with this world's goods according to the
+position of the Dutch nobility 250 years ago; but being of sterling
+qualities devoted to the cause they espoused, their descendants have met
+with their reward. <i>Craignez honte</i> (Fear disgrace) was another motto of
+the family, and the fear of dishonour has been a characteristic trait
+from the time when the first <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" />Bentinck set foot in England, till to-day.</p>
+
+<p>Before unfolding the drama of tragedy, love, and comedy of these later
+years let us go back to the tale of heroism surrounding the character of
+the first Bentinck to make a name for himself in this country.
+Englishmen are apt to forget the debt of gratitude owing to men of the
+past; had it not been for Hans William Bentinck this favoured land might
+still have been under the Stuart tyranny, and the scions of the House of
+Brunswick might never have occupied the Throne of Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>James the Second had made an indifferent display of qualities as a
+ruler, and the nation was tired of a superstitious monarch who was
+fostering a condition of affairs which was turning England into a
+hot-bed of religious and political plots and counter-plots. James's
+daughter, Mary, had married William, Prince of Orange, who was invited
+to come and take his father-in-law's place as King of England. That
+invitation was extended in no uncertain way, and James having withdrawn
+to the continent left the vacancy for his son-in-law and daughter to
+fill.</p>
+
+<p>When William of Orange came over at the request of many of the nobility
+and influential commoners in this country there was in his train, <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" />Hans
+William Bentinck, who had previously been to England on a political
+mission for the Prince.</p>
+
+<p>Bentinck was of noble Batavian descent and served William as a page of
+honour. His family had its local habitation at Overyssel in the
+Netherlands and still is known there. At Welbeck a curious old chest,
+made of metal and carved, is one of his relics, for in it he brought
+over from Holland all his family plate and jewels.</p>
+
+<p>The Prince was delicate of constitution and his ailments made him
+passionate and fretful, though to the multitude he preserved a
+phlegmatic exterior.</p>
+
+<p>To Bentinck he confided his feelings of joy and grief, and the faithful
+courtier tended him with a devotion which deserves the conspicuous place
+given to it in English history.</p>
+
+<p>The Prince was in the prime of manhood when he was seized with a severe
+attack of small-pox. It was a time of anxiety, not only on account of
+the possible fatal termination of the disease, but in an age of plots,
+of the advantage that might be taken to bring about his end by means of
+poison or other foul play.</p>
+
+<p>It was Bentinck alone that fed the Prince and administered his medicine;
+it was Bentinck who <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" />helped him out of bed and laid him down again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whether Bentinck slept or not while I was ill,&quot; said William to an
+English courtier, &quot;I know not. But this I know, that through sixteen
+days and nights, I never once called for anything but that Bentinck was
+instantly at my side.&quot; Such fidelity was remarkable; he risked his life
+for the Prince, who was not convalescent before Bentinck himself was
+attacked and had to totter home to bed. His illness was severe, but
+happily he recovered and once more took his place by William's side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When an heir is born to Bentinck, he will live I hope,&quot; said the
+Prince, &quot;to be as good a fellow as you are; and if I should have a son,
+our children will love each other, I hope, as we have done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was about the time of the Prince's perilous voyage to England to
+fight, if need be, for the Throne, that he poured out his feelings to
+his friend. &quot;My sufferings, my disquiet, are dreadful,&quot; he said, &quot;I
+hardly see my way. Never in my life did I so much feel the need of God's
+guidance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this time Bentinck's wife was seriously ill, and both Prince and
+subject were anxious about her. &quot;God support you,&quot; wrote William, &quot;and
+<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" />enable you to bear your part in a work on which, as far as human beings
+can see, the welfare of His Church depends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In November, 1688, the Prince landed in England, and with him was
+Bentinck, accompanied by a band of soldiery, called after his name, as
+part of the Dutch army. The Prince and his wife were eventually declared
+King and Queen, and Bentinck experienced substantial proof of the royal
+favour by being given the office of Groom of the Stole, and First
+Gentleman of the Bedchamber, with a salary of 5000<i>l</i>. a year. Not long
+after, in 1689, he was created Earl of Portland, and his other titles in
+the peerage were Baron Cirencester and Viscount Woodstock; he was also a
+Knight of the Garter and Privy Councillor. In 1689 he accompanied the
+King to Ireland and commanded a regiment of Horse Guards, taking part as
+a Lieutenant-General, in the battle of the Boyne, where his Dutch
+cavalry did effective service.</p>
+
+<p>He was again at the battle of Namur when William's forces were engaged
+in fighting the French for the liberties of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>That was in 1695, and in the same year the King once more gave evidence
+of the affection he bore for his favourite. &quot;He had set his heart,&quot;
+<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" />said Macaulay, &quot;on placing the House of Bentinck on a level in wealth
+and dignity with the Houses of Howard and Seymour, of Russell and
+Cavendish. Some of the fairest hereditary domains of the Crown had been
+granted to Portland, not without murmuring on the part both of Whigs and
+Tories.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was perfectly natural that William should wish to requite his
+henchman with rich estates, and in doing so he was acting as other
+monarchs had done before him, and not upon such good grounds as the
+services rendered to the State by Bentinck.</p>
+
+<p>Jealousy was, however, aroused among the English nobility at the
+favouritism shown the Dutch newcomer, and it found strong expression
+when the King ordered the Lords of the Treasury to issue a warrant
+endowing Portland with an estate in Denbighshire worth 100,000<i>l.</i>, the
+annual rent reserved to the Crown being only 6s. 8d. There were also
+royalties connected with this estate which Welshmen were opposed to
+alienating from the Crown and placing in the hands of a private subject.
+There was opposition to the grant in the House of Commons and an address
+was voted, asking the King to revoke it.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" />Portland behaved with great magnanimity in the matter, his one chief
+desire appeared to be to avoid a quarrel between his royal friend and
+Parliament. Not many men would have had such self-abnegation as to
+renounce an estate estimated to be worth 6,000<i>l</i>. per annum, besides
+the product of royalties, when they had a King and a victorious army to
+support them in its possession. The Earl had saved the King's life, he
+had rendered invaluable services as a diplomatist and General in raising
+forces to fight for the cause of Protestantism; but for him the
+probabilities were that James would have retained possession of the
+Throne and that red ruin would have spread itself over the land. Surely
+he had won as great a reward as those of the nobility whose only
+recommendation was that they were the natural sons of royalty.</p>
+
+<p>To have refused this immense estate simply because he was the victim for
+the time being of racial jealousy is a rare and conspicuous instance in
+English history of self-sacrifice to honourable motives. His uprightness
+of character was again tried by the East India Company, who offered him
+a &pound;50,000 bribe to exert his interest on behalf of that Corporation; but
+he was not to be tempted <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" />by the offer. It will be seen later how the
+great families, such as Cavendish, became allied with that of Bentinck
+when the pride of nationality had been reconciled.</p>
+
+<p>Once more in February, 1696, was Portland the means of saving the King's
+life, through the information he had received of a plot for his
+assassination by the Papists. The details of the scheme were eventually
+laid bare and the conspirators brought to justice.</p>
+
+<p>Few men have had a life so full of activity and importance to the State
+as this Hans William Bentinck. While the Ambassadors were tediously
+endeavouring at Ryswick to bring about peace between England and France
+and not making much progress, William took the unceremonious course of
+sending Portland to have an interview with Marshal Boufflers as
+representing Lewis. Both were soldiers and men of honour. The meeting
+took place at Hal, near Brussels, where their attendants were bidden to
+leave them alone in an orchard. &quot;Here they walked up and down during two
+hours,&quot; says Macaulay, &quot;and in that time did much more business than the
+plenipotentiaries at Ryswick were able to despatch in as many months.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" />It is odd,&quot; said Harley, &quot;that while the Ambassadors are making war
+the Generals should be making peace.&quot; In the end the terms these two men
+negotiated were elaborated in the Treaty of Ryswick, which was the great
+instrument consolidating William on the Throne, wresting England from
+the Stuart ascendancy and completing the work of the Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>Such is an outline of the vicissitudes which this extraordinary man
+passed through in the course of his exciting career. He died in 1709 and
+was succeeded by his son.</p>
+
+<p>Henry, the second Earl, was Governor of Jamaica, and created Marquis of
+Titchfield and Duke of Portland in 1716.</p>
+
+<p>His death took place in 1726, and he too was succeeded by his son.</p>
+
+<p>William, second Duke, was a Knight of the Garter, as most of the other
+holders of the title have been, and he died in 1762. It was through his
+marriage with the grand-daughter of the Duke of Newcastle that the
+Bentincks became possessed of Welbeck.</p>
+
+<p>He was succeeded by his son, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, third
+Duke, K.G., who had been M.P. for Weobley. This Duke became Prime
+<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" />Minister of England in 1783, when a Coalition Government was in office.
+Again in 1807 he was Premier, and was at the head of the Ministry up to
+shortly before his death in 1809. Other positions held by him were
+Viceroy of Ireland, Secretary of State for the Home Department, 1794;
+Lord President of the Council, 1801; Chancellor of Oxford University;
+High Steward of Bristol and Lord Lieutenant of Notts.; he assumed the
+additional name of Cavendish by royal licence in 1801. He received his
+early education at Eton, but in after life declared that he got nothing
+out of Eton except a sound flogging. It was not claimed for the Duke
+that he was a man of brilliant attainments, but he was the soul of
+honour, and for this reputation and for his conciliatory disposition,
+was chosen to head the Government, which relied for its precarious
+existence on the reconciliation of the contending parties among the
+Whigs and Tories. He married the only daughter of the Duke of Devonshire
+and the male direct line continued in the succession of his eldest son.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth Duke was William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, who married
+Henrietta, eldest daughter of Major-General John Scott, a des<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" />cendant of
+Balliol and Bruce, the heroes of Scottish history. There were four sons
+and six daughters of the marriage, the succession being continued by the
+second son. The fourth was known as the &quot;Farmer Duke,&quot; and with his love
+of country presuits he lived to the ripe age of eighty-five, dying in
+1854.</p>
+
+<p>The most eccentric character in this ducal line was the fifth holder of
+the title, William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, born in 1800. He was
+M.P. for Lynn 1824-1826, and died in December, 1879. Of his
+extraordinary predilections more will be related in succeeding chapters.</p>
+
+<p>The sixth and present Duke is William John Arthur Charles James
+Cavendish-Bentinck, who was born on December 28th, 1857, and succeeded
+to the title in 1879. His elevation to the Dukedom is an example of the
+fortune of birth; the old and eccentric Duke died unmarried, or so it
+was assumed, and therefore his honours in the peerage passed to his
+second cousin.</p>
+
+<p>To trace the lineage of the present Duke we must go back to the third
+Duke, who had a third son (Lord William Charles Augustus). This third
+son, who was uncle of the eccentric Duke, had issue, Lieut.-General
+Arthur Charles Cavendish-<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" />Bentinck, the father of the present Duke, his
+mother being Elizabeth Sophia, daughter of Sir St. Vincent Hawkins
+Whitshed, Bart. The name of Scott was not part of his cognomen; he
+sprang from another branch in which there was no trace of the Scott
+element, and the name having been borne by two Dukes for a lady's
+fortune, there was no further obligation to continue it in connection
+with the Cavendish-Bentincks.</p>
+
+<p>The marriage of his Grace took place in 1889 to Winifred, only daughter
+of Thomas Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and their children
+are: William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born March 16th, 1893,
+Lady Victoria Alexandrina Violet, born 1890, and Lord Francis Norwen
+Dallas, born 1900.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke was formerly a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, then after
+succeeding to the title, he became Lieut-Colonel of the Honourable
+Artillery Company of London; he is also Hon. Colonel of the 1st
+Lanarkshire Volunteer Artillery, and 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters
+Derbyshire Regiment. He is Lord Lieutenant of Notts. and Caithness, and
+was Master of the Horse from 1886-1892 and 1895-1905. He is a family
+<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" />trustee of the British Museum, and is the patron of thirteen livings.
+The Portland estates comprise 180,000 acres, and his income is estimated
+at 160,000<i>l</i>. a year from them alone.</p>
+
+<p>Besides Welbeck Abbey, he has country seats at Fullarton House, Troon,
+Ayrshire; Langwell, Berriedale, Caithness; Bothal Castle,
+Northumberland, and a London residence at 3, Grovesnor Square.</p>
+
+<p>There are still descendants of the Hon. William Bentinck, eldest son, by
+the second marriage of the first Earl of Portland. The Hon. William was
+born in 1704 and created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1732.</p>
+
+<p>The vast fortune of the House of Portland has been built up in a
+remarkably short space of time, a little over 200 years, and no other
+great family has received so many honours and acquired such wealth in
+the same period. In the last century one of the Dukes held fourteen
+different public offices at the same time, while a younger son was Clerk
+of the Pipe, and a brother-in-law and nephew had 7,000<i>l</i>. per annum in
+official salaries; a daughter too was the recipient of a State pension
+for pin-money.</p>
+
+<p>One of the characteristic traits of the Bentincks <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" />has been that in
+founding the fortunes of the family in the past their scions were
+successful in capturing great heiresses. These brief genealogical
+details will help to explain future developments in the history of this
+noble family.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" /><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" />CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK,&mdash;A FEMININE INTRIGUE</p>
+
+
+<p><i>Cherchez la femme</i> is a French saying, which has somewhat of a cynical
+ring about it. The female hand has to be discovered in the family
+alliances of the Cavendishes and the Bentincks from which a tangle of
+intrigue may be unravelled. There was in the first instance that
+accomplished matchmaker, Bess Hardwick, a country squire's daughter, who
+was married four times, and from her sprang children and grandchildren
+with whom were intertwined the families of no less than five Dukes.</p>
+
+<p>To the north of the county of Nottingham, in the heart of England, is a
+rich and fertile tract of country known as &quot;The Dukeries,&quot; once embraced
+by Sherwood Forest, and even now thickly wooded with magnificent oaks
+and presenting charming forest scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Its fastnesses were the home of the romantic <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" />Robin Hood and his
+&quot;merrie&quot; band of robbers, the subject of legend and adventure. To-day
+there are in this beautiful region, within two or three miles of each
+other, the seats of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, the Duke of
+Newcastle at Clumber, the Earl Manvers (whose family formerly had the
+title of Duke of Kingston) at Thoresby, and Worksop Manor, formerly the
+seat of the Duke of Norfolk. It was this cluster of the homes of the
+nobility that gave it the name of &quot;The Dukeries.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Both Welbeck and Clumber belonged to the Dukes of Newcastle at one time;
+but to elucidate their settlement upon these vast estates and the
+subsequent division of the domains, through marriage, we must take up
+the thread of Bess Hardwick's machinations.</p>
+
+<p>She was the daughter of the Derbyshire squire of Hardwick, and in 1534
+was married, when she was only 14 years of age, to Robert Barley, of
+Barley, in the same county. It was not long before he passed over to the
+majority, leaving his fascinating widow with a substantial jointure on
+his property.</p>
+
+<p>For twelve years she was a widow, and then she was married to Sir
+William Cavendish, <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" />who himself had been married twice before.</p>
+
+<p>He was a Hertfordshire magnate, but the strong will of his new wife
+induced him to sell his estate in that county in order to provide money
+for another scheme she had in view. It was the ambitious one of
+purchasing Chatsworth and building the magnificent mansion which
+tourists from all parts of the world find so much delight in visiting. A
+house already existed at Chatsworth, but it was not pretentious enough
+for the squire's daughter, and she prevailed upon her husband to have it
+demolished. He had started to carry out her wishes when death overtook
+him, and Bess was a widow for the second time.</p>
+
+<p>The new house at Chatsworth was not finished; but she had a penchant for
+building, and continued the work after his death till its completion.
+There were three sons and three daughters of this marriage, concerning
+the future wedded lives of which there were deep schemes and plots.</p>
+
+<p>Another courtier fell beneath her wiles in Sir William St. Loe, Captain
+of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. He was so enamoured of her that he
+endowed her with his estates, and disinherited his own kinsfolk. Then he
+died, and Bess still went on conquering and to conquer.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" />Her fourth husband was the great prize of all, as far as rank was
+concerned, for he was none other than George Talbot, sixth Earl of
+Shrewsbury, one of whose seats at that time was Worksop Manor.</p>
+
+<p>It was not Bess's way to accept a suitor without a bargain being made,
+having ulterior objects. The Earl had been married before, and had
+children, so that Bess insisted upon two other matrimonial matches
+before she would enter into the bonds of matrimony herself for the
+fourth time.</p>
+
+<p>The stipulation was that her daughter, Mary Cavendish, should marry the
+Earl's heir and his daughter was to marry her son. These alliances were
+duly entered into, and brought with them new honours and additional
+wealth. The building of Worksop Manor house had been commenced in the
+time of the first Earl of Shrewsbury, but was not finished when the new
+Countess became its mistress. Having built Chatsworth, here was another
+opportunity for her to display her genius in architecture, and under her
+direction it was completed, and became a sumptuous residence.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl must have been a nobleman of redoubtable and fearless
+disposition, or a courtier whose <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" />pliant will was easily moulded by
+accomplished and attractive women, else he would not have been involved
+in the feminine intrigues that he was.</p>
+
+<p>Not only had he his imperious wife to consider, but he was appointed
+custodian of Mary Queen of Scots when that unhappy personage was under
+the ban of Queen Elizabeth and was sent prisoner to Worksop Manor. She
+was kept strictly in durance vile, for the Earl was a rigid warder, and
+did not even allow her to walk in Sherwood Forest.</p>
+
+<p>There is a portrait of Bess of Hardwick in the collection of the Duke of
+Devonshire at Chatsworth. When Mary was in the custody of her husband
+Bess first fawned upon her royal prisoner; but a new matrimonial scheme
+filled her mind which led her to change her conduct into one of hatred.
+Bess had a grandchild, Lady Arabella Stuart, for whom she planned an
+alliance hostile to the Queen's interests, hence her smiles were turned
+to frowns.</p>
+
+<p><i>En passant</i> it may be said that the Manor went by marriage to the Dukes
+of Norfolk, who held it for generations and then sold it. Of Bess of
+Hardwick's building enterprises it may be added that she built Hardwick
+Hall, &quot;more glass than wall&quot; (according to an old rhyme), in 1587. The
+Earl died in 1590, and the Countess had another <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26" />long widowhood of 17
+years. Her second son, William Cavendish, was created Baron Cavendish
+and his great-grandson Duke of Devonshire.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Cavendish was another son of this extraordinary woman, and he
+bought the Welbeck estate, towards the end of the sixteenth century,
+from two or three men of obscurity to whom it had passed, after Henry
+the Eighth had ordered the monastic establishment at the Abbey to be
+dissolved. His son became Baron Ogle and Viscount Mansfield, and
+subsequently Earl, Marquis and Duke of Newcastle in 1644.</p>
+
+<p>This nobleman was devoted to the fortunes of Charles I. and was a
+skilful General during the time of the Civil War. He also wrote a book
+on &quot;Horsemanship,&quot; which was regarded as a remarkable production of its
+time, and he built a riding-school at Welbeck, where his theories in the
+training of horses could be carried into effect; but the structure has
+in recent years been devoted to other purposes, and a new and more
+spacious riding-school erected to take its place.</p>
+
+<p>The dukedom became extinct for want of male heirs, but his daughter,
+Lady Margaret Cavendish, married John Holies, Earl of Clare, who, in
+<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27" />1691, obtained a further step in the peerage by the resuscitation of
+the dukedom, and once more there was a Duke of Newcastle.</p>
+
+<p>A valuable appointment by the Crown came in his way, for he was chosen
+Warden of Sherwood, with which office went the privilege of enclosing
+land at Clumber under the royal prerogative. Again there was no prospect
+of male heirs, so the Duke left the Clumber property to his sister's
+son, Thomas Lord Pelham, who traced his descent from Bess of Hardwick
+through the Pierrepoints (Earls Manvers). Thomas Pelham assumed the name
+of Holles, and was created Duke of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1715.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to the Duke who was Warden of Sherwood Forest; he had one
+daughter, Lady Henrietta Cavendish-Holles, who married Edward Harley,
+second Earl of Oxford. Their only daughter, Margaret, married William
+Bentinck, second Duke of Portland.</p>
+
+<p>Hers was a fortunate alliance for the Bentincks. She was a rich heiress,
+and the vast property at Welbeck and Bolsover belonging to her
+grandfather, John Holles, was her dowry. This was the first introduction
+of the Dutch family into Nottinghamshire in 1734.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28" />Having thus traced how this delightful domain passed by matrimonial
+intrigues into the possession of its present owner, it will be
+appropriate to glance at the ancient history of the Abbey and see how it
+has been transformed from its original state to what it now is by
+successive occupants, and especially by the eccentric fifth Duke.</p>
+
+<p>About the twelfth century a new religious order of monks came to settle
+in England. They were called Premonstratensians, and wore white cassocks
+and caps, by which they were known as white canons as distinguishing
+them from black canons, attired in more sombre garb. About 1140, one
+Thomas de Cuckney founded the Abbey at Welbeck, which was to become an
+important centre for the Order, as in 1515 there were no fewer than 35
+Premonstratensian monasteries in England, all subordinate in importance
+to Welbeck.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas de Cuckney was a <i>vir bellicosus</i>, and having built a castle at
+Cuckney, was a formidable subject during the troublous times of King
+Stephen's reign. John Hotham, Bishop of Ely, obtained possession of the
+Manor of Cuckney in the 14th century, and devoted its revenues to the
+Abbey, with an addition of eight canons to be supported from its wealth.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29" />Then came the edict of Henry VIII., which suppressed monasteries as
+being detrimental to the State. The abbots and their canons were
+dispersed, and their lands and property given to royal favourites.
+Richard Whalley obtained a grant of Welbeck from the King about 1539,
+and in succeeding generations others who held it were Osborne, Booth and
+Catterall, till it was purchased by Sir Charles Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>This was at the beginning of the reign of James I., and Cavendish
+inheriting the predilections of his mother, Bess of Hardwick, set to
+work pulling down the old walls and transforming a house of religion
+into one for the pleasure of the Dukes that were to come of his family.
+In 1619, King James paid a visit to Welbeck, and Charles I. was
+entertained there, when &quot;there was such excess in feasting as had
+scarcely ever been known in England,&quot; and Ben Jonson was present at the
+invitation of the Duke to enliven the festivities with his wit.</p>
+
+<p>The main portions of the abbey and the abbey church became merged in the
+new structure; but there are legendary stories that the bodies of the
+Cuckneys and the abbots remain entombed upon the site, and that their
+stone <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30" />coffins form part of massive walls and hidden foundations.</p>
+
+<p>The remains of the ancient Abbey of St. James have been carefully
+preserved, and the arched ceilings of two or three apartments are
+interesting examples of the Gothic period. The Servants' Hall is a relic
+of the monastic buildings, and three other rooms adjacent are in the
+same style. There is a small doorway with Norman features of
+architecture, and some roomy vaults and parts of inner walls on which
+are the effigies of departed monks, indicating the original purpose of
+the great house as an ecclesiastical establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Bess of Hardwick had a hand in building part of the present mansion,
+when the domain came into the hands of her third son, Sir Charles
+Cavendish. Her design, bearing the date 1604, was on the foundations of
+the old abbey, and still another noble lady added her quota to its
+architecture. There is the Oxford wing built by the Countess of Oxford,
+whose daughter Margaret had Welbeck as her dower when she married into
+the Bentinck family. The Countess had the date 1734 affixed to the wing
+erected under her auspices. There is the Gothic Hall which was <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31" />part of
+her design, and by some is regarded as a gem of its particular style of
+architecture, with an elegantly-adorned ceiling and fan tracery of
+stucco on basket-work. The carving is rich and over the fireplace are
+the Countess of Oxford's armorial bearings.</p>
+
+<p>A tradition exists that Bess acted under the spell of a fortune-teller
+who predicted that death would be relegated to the distant future so
+long as she kept on her building operations. It was in 1607 that her end
+came when her masons could not continue their labours owing to a severe
+frost, although the urgency of the task was such that they tried to mix
+their mortar with hot ale. It was a fight with the spectre of death and
+the spectre won the contest.</p>
+
+<p>She was immensely rich; but could not number a real friend in the world.
+Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, Bolsover and Worksop Manor were either
+built or partly built under her auspices. Lodge says: &quot;She was a woman
+of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish, and
+unfeeling, a builder, a buyer and seller of estates, a money-lender, a
+farmer, and a merchant of lead and coals.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" /><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32" />CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>THE FARMER DUKE&mdash;WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT&mdash;HIS HIGH-SPIRITED SONS AND
+DAUGHTERS</p>
+
+<p>The fourth Duke was known as the &quot;Farmer Duke,&quot; from his love of
+agriculture and rural pursuits, though he was a D.C.L. and F.R.S. and
+possessed the feudal dignity of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex. His father
+had been Prime Minister; but the son made no effort to shine in politics
+and contented himself with developing the resources of his estates and
+adding to the wealth of his patrimony.</p>
+
+<p>He had the prescience to choose an heiress for his Duchess and went to
+Scotland for the purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Major-General John Scott of Balcomie, Fife, had three daughters, the
+eldest was known as &quot;the rich Miss Scott,&quot; the second as &quot;the witty Miss
+Scott,&quot; and the third as &quot;the pretty Miss Scott.&quot; The Duke selected
+Henrietta, &quot;the rich Miss Scott,&quot; who besides her wealth had coursing
+through her veins the blood of Balliol and Bruce, the chieftains of
+Highland chivalry.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33" />Having secured the hand of the heiress, he assumed by royal licence in
+1795, the additional surname of Scott.</p>
+
+<p>Well might the Duke be willing to couple that simple syllable with the
+patrician accents of Cavendish-Bentinck, for by his marriage with the
+Fifeshire heiress there came into the family an unexpected windfall of
+60,000<i>l</i>. Among the bride's possessions was an island in Scotland, and
+the Government of the day being desirous of improving the beacon-light,
+paid 60,000<i>l</i>, for the island and spent about half that sum in addition
+in erecting a new lighthouse.</p>
+
+<p>Their domestic life was happiness itself, neither was brilliant, but
+both were honoured by those among whom they lived. The Duchess
+interested herself in her husband's vast estates, as well as in her own,
+and in the domestic welfare of their dependants. For a long period she
+was a fitting companion for the Duke and pre-deceased him ten years, in
+May, 1844.</p>
+
+<p>Two of their sons developed some remarkable traits and two of the
+daughters became rich heiresses. The eldest son died young, which opened
+the way for Lord John to become Marquis of Titchfield and eventually
+fifth Duke of Portland <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34" />of eccentric fame. The third was Lord George
+Bentinck, born on February 27th, 1802. Of the daughters, Lady Charlotte
+married Mr. Speaker Denison and became Viscountess Ossington and Lady
+Lucy married Lord Howard de Walden. Clipstone forms part of the Welbeck
+estate and with the Duke's practical knowledge of agriculture he ordered
+to be constructed an irrigation system by which he reclaimed thousands
+of acres of land, formerly rabbit-warrens and swamps, so that they
+became productive farms. The Duke's flood-dyke, and diversion of the
+little river Maun for the purposes of drainage, cost him &pound;80,000. His
+weather-beaten coat and huge leather shoes, extending above the knees,
+were familiar to the labourers and were characteristic of the simple
+attire he wore when among them giving instructions as to the laying of
+his drainpipes.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the oaks on the Welbeck estate were transplanted thither under
+the fourth Duke's direction, a mechanical appliance being used for the
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>One of the lodges in the park was occupied by a porter whose duty was to
+give beer, wine, bread and cake to any tramping man, woman or child who
+chose to call.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35" />The Farmer Duke was a lover of horses and racing, though there was
+nothing mercenary in his connection with the Turf, for he never betted.
+He took pride in rearing thoroughbred horses at Welbeck and had some of
+them trained by R. Prince at Newmarket. In the course of his career he
+had the satisfaction of winning the Derby in 1819 with Tiresias. It was
+his custom to ride a cob led by a groom, and for the purpose of watching
+the racing at Newmarket he had a structure placed on wheels which could
+be moved from point to point, where he could gain a better view of the
+running through a telescope.</p>
+
+<p>There is an anecdote of the Duke's agility when about eighty years old.
+He was about to undertake a long walk from Harcourt House; upon which
+the Ladies Charlotte and Lucy tried to persuade him to ride; but he
+declined and challenged them to a race. They went into the garden for
+the purpose and naturally Lady Charlotte won in high spirits.</p>
+
+<p>His death took place at Welbeck on March 27th, 1854, at half-past four
+in the afternoon, at the age of eighty-five years, having been born in
+London on June 24th, 1768. His remains were laid to rest in the family
+vault in the school of St. Mary at <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36" />Bolsover, the funeral being
+conducted without pomp, as the executors were limited to an expenditure
+of &pound;100. The obsequies were not attended by the Marquis, who had not
+been on friendly terms with his father.</p>
+
+<p>The venerable Duke was immensely rich, for not only had he the patrimony
+of the Bentincks; but by his marriage with Miss Scott, there was brought
+into the family another acquisition of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>He left his London property, so that if his son, the Marquis, had no
+male heirs, it should pass into the female line, which it did, and the
+first to inherit was the Viscountess Ossington.</p>
+
+<p>This London property was of fabulous value and included Portland-place,
+Cavendish-square, Wimpole-street, Harley-street, Wigmore-street, and
+other houses in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Ossington died before her sister, so all this wealth came to the
+Dowager Lady Howard de Walden, furnishing her with the splendid income
+of 180,000<i>l.</i> per annum.</p>
+
+<p>The stake in the Druce claim is not only the Dukedom of Portland and the
+entailed estates of the Bentincks in the male line; but in the female
+line too, including this dazzling dowry of 180,000<i>l.</i> a year.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" /><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37" />CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>THE FARMER DUKE'S DAUGHTER AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS' SPEAKER.&mdash;BECOMES A
+BENEVOLENT VISCOUNTESS</p>
+
+
+<p><i>Place aux dames.</i> Before relating some of the incidents in the careers
+of the fourth Duke's high-spirited sons, the Marquis of Titchfield and
+Lord George Bentinck, place must be given to the social triumphs of his
+third daughter, Lady Charlotte Cavendish-Bentinck.</p>
+
+<p>With all the advantages that wealth and birth could give her among the
+proud aristocracy of England the love affairs of Lady Charlotte did not
+run smooth. Her lover was Mr. John Evelyn Denison of Ossington Hall,
+about twenty miles from Welbeck in the same county of Nottingham. That
+the young Squire&mdash;of well-born family though he was&mdash;should aspire to
+the hand of a Duke's daughter showed no want of spirit on his part. But
+after all he was only a Commoner, though he had in him the making of the
+First Commoner of England leading to a still higher elevation on the
+<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38" />ladder of social distinction, until he became a peer of the realm, only
+three degrees lower in rank than the head of the Cavendish-Bentincks
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>The Farmer Duke, simple though his tastes were, did not view with
+pleasure the courtship of his daughter by the young Squire of Ossington.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Charlotte had mingling in her veins the blood of the highest
+nobility of three nations. The Cavendishes were among the flower of
+English chivalry, the Bentincks were renowned in Holland and the Scotts
+traced their lineage from the pride of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke could not bring himself all at once to give Lady Charlotte away
+to one who had no title.</p>
+
+<p>She was a little over twenty years of age and when her father refused to
+hear of the suit of John Evelyn Denison she shed many tears in the
+presence of her maid. Life to her at this time was by no means so full
+of sunshine as is usually supposed to be the good fortune of Duke's
+daughters.</p>
+
+<p>At length Lady Charlotte expressed her intention of eloping with Mr.
+Denison, and at the prospect of indirectly creating a sensation in high
+life the Farmer Duke relented.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39" />Lady Charlotte's marriage was her first triumph. Her next was when her
+husband rose to be Speaker of the House of Commons in 1857 and she
+herself one of the most important personages at the Court of Queen
+Victoria.</p>
+
+<p>She had become rich and influential, so that when her husband retired
+from the Speakership he was in a position to tell the Government of the
+day that he did not intend to take the pension of &pound;5000 a year, to which
+he was entitled as an ex-Speaker. His refusal was couched in the
+following words:&mdash;&quot;Though without any pretensions to wealth, I have a
+private fortune which will suffice, and for the few years of life that
+remain to me I shall be happier in the feeling that I am not a burden to
+my fellow-countrymen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Such self-abnegation is not characteristic of many men. On being
+elevated to the House of Lords he took the title of Viscount Ossington
+(after the village of Ossington in Notts, which was his ancestral home)
+and Lady Charlotte was henceforth known as the Viscountess Ossington.</p>
+
+<p>It was a step downward in rank for her, as her marriage with a Commoner
+did not degrade her to his status. As a Duke's daughter she was still
+Lady Charlotte and took precedence of <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40" />Marchionesses, Countesses, and
+Viscountesses in the etiquette of royal courts and drawing-rooms.</p>
+
+<p>When her husband became a peer she had to take his rank, and it was one
+of those indefinable sacrifices associated with noble birth, that, as a
+Viscountess, she had to give precedence to the wives of Marquises and
+Earls.</p>
+
+<p>To one who had filled so high a position as Lady Ossington had done in
+political and social life the descent in status involved by the adoption
+of the new title was not of much moment. She had been honoured by
+royalty and had done the honours to royalty, she had tasted all the
+pleasures that aristocratic Society could provide.</p>
+
+<p>Like her brother, the eccentric Duke, Lady Ossington spent large sums of
+money, intended, directly or indirectly, to benefit the wage-earning
+classes.</p>
+
+<p>In a spirit of philanthropy she built a coffee palace at Newark, Notts,
+a town nine miles from Ossington, at a cost of over &pound;20,000. Her object
+was to provide a hostel where travellers of humble means could find
+accommodation for the night, at charges within their means, and that it
+should be a centre of meeting for Friendly Societies and other bodies in
+their business and social <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41" />gatherings. The profits of the establishment
+she directed to be paid to the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Another coffee palace on similar lines she erected in Marylebone,
+London, involving an outlay of several thousands.</p>
+
+<p>South African colonization found in her a sympathetic patroness in days
+when South Africa was little more than a name to the large majority of
+Englishmen. At her expense in 1886 a party of twenty-four families was
+sent to the Wolseley settlement, an estate acquired by purchase, about
+seventeen miles from King William's Town, where full preparations for
+their reception had been made by a committee. Within two years and
+a-half the settlement was closed, the cheapness of untaxed drink having
+changed the settlers from abstainers into drunkards.</p>
+
+<p>The Viscountess was not daunted by this failure to realise her hopes,
+and in 1888 another attempt at colonization was made under her auspices.
+Twenty-five families, mostly from Hampshire, sailed for the Cape and
+formed a new settlement, called by the name of the poet Tennyson. This
+time the experience of the past was a warning, the enterprise was
+attended by fairer prospects of success and before her <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42" />death she had
+the gratification of knowing that the settlers were contented and happy.</p>
+
+<p>Another of the Duke's daughters was the Dowager Lady Howard de Walden,
+who became immensely rich on the death of Lady Ossington. Their father
+had so willed it that if the fifth Duke died without male heirs the
+London property was to pass to his daughters. Lady Ossington had no
+children and her rich dowry passed to her sister, who thereby had a
+double portion. Ossington Hall, after having been for so many years the
+home of a Duke's daughter, reverted to the Denison family.</p>
+
+<p>From allusions made by Lord George Bentinck to his friends, when he had
+lost heavily on the turf, it was understood that his mother and sisters,
+especially Lady Charlotte, were always ready to help him over his
+difficulties. It is surmised that they knew more of his secrets and of
+the secrets of the Marquis of Titchfield than the old Farmer Duke who
+frowned upon betting transactions and was not known to have been
+involved in the excitements of a duel and gallantries to actresses, not
+to mention a nebulous secondary existence as Thomas Druce.</p>
+
+<p>Ossington is within easy carriage distance of <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43" />Welbeck, but the
+eccentric brother rarely saw his sister and the latter was astonished at
+the transformation of the Abbey and grounds brought about by him. Before
+the alteration of her ancestral home she made an interesting sketch of
+it, as it was in her father's lifetime.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" /><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44" />CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF
+PORTLAND.&mdash;THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE</p>
+
+
+<p>Lord John Bentinck was born in September 1800, the second son of the
+fourth Duke. His name in its extended form was William John
+Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, and for many years, till the death of his
+brother Henry, he had no prospect of succeeding to the Dukedom. At
+nineteen he was a lieutenant in the army, and in 1824 was returned as
+Member of Parliament for King's Lynn; but the duties of a legislator do
+not seem to have been much to his taste and he resigned in 1826, his
+brother, Lord George Bentinck, being elected to take his place.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth Duke kept a large stud of race-horses and Lord John was
+brought up in the atmosphere of the turf. When a young man he was a
+horseman, fearless and even reckless in his equestrian exploits. There
+used to be a gate six feet high at Serlby Hall, the seat of Viscount
+Galway, which <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45" />it was said he had jumped one day when hunting.</p>
+
+<p>The three brothers, Henry, John and George, formed a racing partnership
+under the name of &quot;Mr. Bowes&quot; and were for a time successful in their
+enterprise, their transactions bringing in considerable sums of money.</p>
+
+<p>The death of the eldest, Henry, in 1824 transformed Lord John into
+Marquis of Titchfield, heir to the Dukedom and enormous estates of the
+House of Portland.</p>
+
+<p>With all his splendid advantages of birth and fortune he does not appear
+to have sought for a wife among the aristocratic families of the land,
+and it is said that he only made one offer of marriage in his life; at
+least that was known to his friends. This was to Miss Adelaide Kemble,
+the celebrated actress.</p>
+
+<p>The tempting proposal was probably made some time between June and
+October, 1834, when the lady was twenty-five years of age and the
+Marquis thirty-four.</p>
+
+<p>Judge of his astonishment when she had to confess to him that it was
+impossible for her to accept his offer as she was already secretly
+married.</p>
+
+<p>She was at the height of her popularity on the stage, having achieved a
+splendid triumph in redeeming the fallen fortunes of her family, and
+<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46" />though married to another, she cherished kindly remembrances of the
+noble suitor who made her the proud offer of a ducal coronet.</p>
+
+<p>In reading the &quot;Records&quot; of Fanny Kemble (Adelaide's sister), it is
+impossible not to be struck with her high ideals and lofty sentiments.
+Now and then there is an allusion to the Marquis, which shows him in a
+welcome light and how delicate were his attentions.</p>
+
+<p>On December 1st, 1842, writing to &quot;My dearest Harriet,&quot; she says:&mdash;&quot;Lord
+Titchfield, who was here yesterday, begged me to ascertain from you
+whether it is only my bust that you desire, or whether you would like to
+have casts from my father's and from the two of Adelaide. Write me word,
+dear, that the magnificent Marquis may fulfil your wishes, which he is
+only waiting to know in order to send the one or the four heads to you
+in Ireland.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then in a note she explains:&mdash;&quot;The Marquis of Titchfield was employing
+the French sculptor, Dantan, to make busts of my father, my sister, and
+myself, for him, and most kindly gave me casts of them all, and sent my
+friend, Miss St. Leger, a cast of mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On January 6th, 1843, there is another letter to &quot;Dearest Hal,&quot;
+containing the following allusion:&mdash;<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47" />&quot;I have sent your wishes to Lord
+Titchfield, and I am sure they will be quickly complied with. I have no
+idea that he means otherwise than to give you my bust; any other species
+of transaction being apparently quite out of his line, and giving his
+especial gift. I have, nevertheless, taken pains to make clear to him
+your intentions in the matter; I have desired him to have the bust
+forwarded to the care of Mr. Green, because I thought you would easily
+find means of transporting it thence to Ardgillan. Was this right?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blessings on Lord Titchfield&quot; invokes Fanny Kemble, in a letter dated
+from Liverpool, May 4th, 1843:&mdash;&quot;I wrote to you last thing last night,
+dearest Hal, and now farewell! I have received a better account of my
+father. Dear love to Dorothy, and my last dear love to you. I shall
+write and send no more loves to anyone. Lord Titchfield&mdash;blessings on
+him!&mdash;has sent me a miniature of my father and four different ones of
+Adelaide, God bless you, dear. Good-bye.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was not the character of an ogre, and though their marriage could
+not be, Fanny Kemble evidently thought well of the man, who years
+afterwards, it was alleged, was leading a double life at this time.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" /><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48" />CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S RACING CAREER.&mdash;QUARREL WITH HIS COUSIN.&mdash;DUEL
+WITH SQUIRE OSBALDESTON.&mdash;&quot;SURPLICE&quot; WINS THE DERBY AND ST.
+LEGER.&mdash;ATTEMPTS TO POISON THE HORSE.&mdash;FRIENDSHIP WITH DISRAELI.&mdash;TRAGIC
+DEATH</p>
+
+
+<p>One of the great sensations in the middle of the nineteenth century was
+the mysterious death of Lord George Bentinck, who for many years was the
+prince of the turf, but who sold his race-horses in order to give more
+attention to politics and the spread of Protectionist principles, of
+which he was the leading exponent at that time.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George was born in February 1802, the third son of the Farmer Duke;
+his elder brother, the Marquis of Titchfield, being that eccentric
+personage who succeeded to the Dukedom.</p>
+
+<p>After going through the Eton College course and becoming an officer in
+the Lancers and Life Guards, Lord George took the seat vacated by the
+Marquis, as M.P. for King's Lynn, in 1826. His life was curiously
+intermingled with all sorts and conditions of men. Having the hereditary
+<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49" />instincts of his family he was a keen votary of the turf and daring
+early manhood had a partnership with his brother, the Marquis, in the
+ownership of race-horses, and it was said that at a later time they were
+both enamoured of Miss Annie May Berkeley, who was the cause of a
+quarrel between them.</p>
+
+<p>That he was a nobleman of high spirits is evident from the strenuousness
+with which he lived his short life.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George lost heavily by backing horses for the St. Leger of 1826;
+the amount was shown to be &pound;30,000, which his mother and sister (Lady
+Charlotte) helped him to meet. The old Duke, his father, was too
+cautious to bet, and in order to induce his son to settle down to
+country pursuits he bought him an estate at Muirkirk, Ayrshire; but the
+life of a farmer did not suit Lord George for long and he was soon
+exploiting in horse-racing again, so that in 1833 he was a heavy loser
+at Goodwood.</p>
+
+<p>He formed studs at Doncaster, Goodwood and Danebury, and at various
+times his horses were run in the name of Mr. John Bowe, a publican, Mr.
+King, the Duke of Richmond, and John Day.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George and his cousin, Mr. Charles <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50" />Greville, were great friends
+and partners in racing affairs for a time; but both were self-willed and
+quarrelled, never to heal up their differences.</p>
+
+<p>In the intricacies of their partnership in horses Lord George became the
+owner of a mare called Preserve, who gained a great reputation about the
+year 1834.</p>
+
+<p>At the Newmarket meeting there was an attempt to wear down her spirit by
+false starts, upon which Lord George visited his anger upon his cousin,
+whom he held responsible.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterwards an attempt was made by Colonel Anson to bring about a
+reconciliation; but Lord George said he would not have anything to do
+with &quot;the fellow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A great stroke was made in 1836 when Lord George won the St. Leger with
+Elis, it was the first time a horse was conveyed in a van from his
+training-stable to a race-course.</p>
+
+<p>A specially-constructed vehicle was made and caused consternation among
+old trainers when they found out the secret of the horse's mode of
+travelling. Elis was fresh for the race, his advent had been kept a
+secret, and Lord George won a large sum, one bet being &pound;12,000 to
+&pound;1,000.</p>
+
+<p>The sensational duel between Lord George <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51" />and Squire Osbaldeston has
+passed into the history of racing.</p>
+
+<p>It was 1836, but had its origin in events occurring in 1835. Heaton Park
+races, near Manchester, attracted a large number of aristocratic
+jockeys, and Squire Osbaldeston got it into his head that the handicaps
+were so adjusted as to give the immediate friends of Lord Wilton an
+advantage.</p>
+
+<p>So the Squire laid himself out to be even with the Wilton party, and
+when at Doncaster, for the St. Leger, discovered a horse called Rush
+with powers of running unknown to the sporting clique he desired to
+circumvent.</p>
+
+<p>The Squire mounted Rush himself and rode him over the St. Leger course,
+having a mare belonging to Marson the trainer to make the running.
+Finding that the colt could easily beat, Squire Osbaldeston held him in
+so that the mare finished the trial a considerable distance in advance.</p>
+
+<p>Rush was consequently given the benefit of the handicapping at Heaton
+Park and was backed heavily for the cup by the Squire, whose
+commissioner was ready to meet the Lord Wilton party in any bets they
+thought well to lay against the colt.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52" />Two hundred to one against Rush&quot; shouted Lord George Bentinck as
+Squire Osbaldeston was riding Rush at walking pace past the stand to the
+starting-post just before the race.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Done,&quot; replied the Squire.</p>
+
+<p>The loud tones of the two men were such as to attract particular notice
+and the sequel was an exciting one.</p>
+
+<p>The race was brought off and the Squire on Rush won with ease. Then
+followed a storm of argument as to how and why and wherefore had Rush's
+powers, so greatly deprecated beforehand, developed to such an extent as
+to leave all competitors behind.</p>
+
+<p>Another victory was achieved by Rush next day and Squire Osbaldeston
+having defeated the Wilton clique on the race-course betook himself
+hunting.</p>
+
+<p>Some months elapsed before the next scene was enacted. Lord George had
+not settled the bet, and whether he intended to do so or not is an open
+question. Probably the Squire had not asked him for settlement till the
+Spring of 1836, when they were brought into contact with each other at
+the Craven race-meeting.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My Lord,&quot; said the Squire, &quot;May I ask <a name="Page_53" id="Page_53" />you for the &pound;200 I won from you?
+You have had time to get over your beating.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm surprised you should ask for the money,&quot; replied Lord George, &quot;the
+affair was robbery; but can you count?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Squire rejoined something to the effect that he could count when he
+was at Eton, and Lord George then counted out a number of banknotes into
+Osbaldeston's hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will not end here, Lord George,&quot; said the Squire in high dudgeon.</p>
+
+<p>The conversation was at the entrance to the rooms of the Jockey Club,
+and shortly after it had taken place the Squire sent a second to demand
+an apology, or that Lord George would fight a duel. The challenge was
+declined, but the fiery Squire returned to the charge.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will pull your nose the next time I see you,&quot; was the message he sent
+to his Lordship, who had no alternative but to meet in a duel or to be
+subjected to continuous annoyance from the doughty Osbaldeston.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Anson was named as Lord George's second and the meeting-place
+was at Wormwood Scrubs at six a.m. The weapons were pistols and the
+antagonists stood twelve steps apart.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54" />The Squire was a real country sportsman, a fine horseman and a dead
+shot, his skill with the pistol was such that he could kill pigeons
+flying and rarely missed, whereas the elegant Lord George was more at
+home in the boudoir and was unaccustomed to pistol-practice. Osbaldeston
+had given it out that he would put a bullet through his opponent, which
+was a rumour not pleasant to reach Lord George's ears.</p>
+
+<p>It was through the finesse of Colonel Anson that the affair ended as it
+did. By agreement he was to count up to three and when he called the
+last number both men were to fire.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;One&quot; was uttered with great deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Two, three&quot; the Colonel called out in rapid succession, so that the
+Squire was taken unawares and his shot went an inch or two above Lord
+George's hair, piercing his hat.</p>
+
+<p>As for Lord George he fired skywards and so the duel ended.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Anson and Lord George were friends for life, and years
+afterwards the quarrel with the Squire was so far made up that Lord
+George invited him to see his horses in training at <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55" />Danebury. For the
+greater part of the period between 1830 and 1846 he was regarded as the
+Dictator of the Turf.</p>
+
+<p>In 1841 he removed his stables from Danebury to Goodwood where his
+friend, the Duke of Richmond, allowed him every facility on his estate
+for training horses.</p>
+
+<p>To his honour, be it said, he exercised a powerful influence in
+endeavouring to rid horse-racing of some of its worst features, and
+incurred the hostility of the cheats and rogues which have at all times
+been associated with it.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that a check was being put upon their operations, the welshing
+fraternity assumed a virtuous attitude and actually put into operation
+an old statute passed in the reign of Queen Anne, which enabled any
+private informer to sue and recover treble the amount of a bet made over
+and above &pound;10. Six writs were served upon Lord George and six upon his
+partner, Mr. Bowes, in the year 1843, but the plantiff failed to prove
+the making of the bets and it is obvious that the statute was
+unworkable. The attempt to put it into force merely shows the condition
+of racing at the time and the opposition <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56" />which men who were honourable
+in their motives had to meet with in their efforts to guard it against
+reproach, as far as their sporting instincts allowed them.</p>
+
+<p>In 1844 Lord George had as many as thirty-eight horses running in races,
+and his estimated expenses in 1845 for sixty horses in training were
+about &pound;40,000, while, the value of the stakes was about &pound;18,000, so that
+to make racing pay he had to rely upon the success of his betting
+transactions.</p>
+
+<p>Disraeli called him the &quot;Lord Paramount of the British Turf,&quot; which well
+described his ascendency at the time.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the magnitude of his bets, Lord George was always cool
+in temperament while other men who, though they might be quite able to
+stand a loss, were full of nervous excitement when only a small sum was
+risked.</p>
+
+<p>He kept on terms of affection with his mother and sisters and he could
+always rely upon the Duchess for help when his racing extravagances had
+led him too far.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George was over six feet in stature and his figure was handsome and
+distinguished. His style of dress was according to the best canons of
+fashion, <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57" />elegant and fastidious. A long gold chain was looped upon the
+breast of his waistcoat and with it he wore costly jewels. He had a new
+satin scarf of cream colour every day, although the cost of each was
+about a sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>A frock coat and tall beaver hat completed his costume. His race-course
+attire consisted of a green coat, top boots and buckskin breeches.</p>
+
+<p>When in Nottinghamshire he used to hunt with the Bufford hounds and kept
+his hunters at Welbeck.</p>
+
+<p>He was a Freemason, though he does not appear to have had time from his
+devotion to politics and racing to take any high position in the Order.
+As to some of his personal habits it may be said that he was not a
+smoker; but he drank four glasses of wine at dinner-time.</p>
+
+<p>The figure of Lord George has been described by his friend Benjamin
+Disraeli, afterwards Earl of Beaconsfield, in a few striking sentences
+thus: &quot;Nature had clothed this vehement spirit with a material form
+which was in perfect harmony with its noble and commanding character. He
+was tall and remarkable for his presence; his countenance almost a model
+of manly beauty; the face oval, the complexion clear and mantling; the
+<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58" />forehead lofty and white; the nose aquiline and delicately moulded; the
+upper lip short. But it was in the dark brown eye that flashed with
+piercing scrutiny that all the character of the man came forth; a
+brilliant glance, not soft, but ardent, acute, imperious, incapable of
+deception or of being deceived.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was a dandy rivalling d'Orsay, his cravats made other young men of
+his time envious, and his suits were in the highest style of taste. They
+were indeed works of art worthy of the genius of Beau Brummell. As for
+the House of Commons, until he turned serious politician, he treated
+that old-fashioned assembly with haughty indifference, and when he was
+pressed to record his vote in party division he entered the House on
+more than one occasion at a late hour, &quot;clad in a white great-coat,
+which softened, but did not conceal, the scarlet hunting coat beneath
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was a breeder and backer of horses for twenty years, and the
+recklessness of his wagers staggered the gamblers of his time.</p>
+
+<p>The training of race-horses was brought to a fine art in his day. It had
+been the custom for owners to send their horses to and fro between
+Newmarket, Epsom and Doncaster along the high-<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59" />ways, with the result
+that although the road hardened their muscles, it militated against
+their speed.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George raised a protest from some of the old-time patrons of the
+turf by introducing an innovation in the construction of a large van in
+which they could travel calmly, without fatigue, these long distances to
+various parts of England.</p>
+
+<p>It was the precursor of railway travelling then coming into vogue, for
+Lord George foresaw that the railways would revolutionize racing and
+enormously increase the votaries of the turf.</p>
+
+<p>After having sat in the House of Commons for 18 years, and taking little
+interest in the proceedings, Lord George, about 1844, suddenly attracted
+attention by his attacks on Sir Robert Peel and the Free Traders. He
+showed an aptitude for Parliamentary business that he had not been
+credited with in racing circles in which he had held such a leading
+position. His absorption in politics, which had newly aroused his
+interest, led him to dispose of his race-horses.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In the autumn of this year (1846) at Goodwood races,&quot; says Disraeli,
+&quot;the sporting world was astonished by hearing that Lord George Bentinck
+had parted with his racing stud at an <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60" />almost nominal price. Lord George
+was present, as was his custom, at this meeting held in the demesne of
+one who was among his dearest friends. Lord George was not only present,
+but apparently absorbed in the sport, and his horses were very
+successful. The world has hardly done justice to the great sacrifice
+which he made on this occasion to a high sense of duty. He not only
+parted with the finest racing stud in England, but he parted with it at
+a moment when its prospects were never so brilliant; and he knew this
+well.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He could scarcely have quitted the turf that day without a pang. He had
+become the Lord Paramount of that strange world, so difficult to sway,
+and which requires, for its government, both a stern resolve and a
+courtly breeding. He had them both; and though the black-leg might quail
+before the awful scrutiny of his piercing eye, there never was a man so
+scrupulously polite to his inferiors as Lord George Bentinck. The turf,
+too, was not merely the scene of the triumphs of his stud and his
+betting-book. He had purified its practice and had elevated its
+character, and he was prouder of this achievement than of any other
+connected with his sporting life. Notwith<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61" />standing his mighty stakes,
+and the keenness with which he backed his opinion, no one perhaps ever
+cared less for money. His habits were severely simple, and he was the
+most generous of men. He valued the acquisition of money on the turf,
+because there it was the test of success. He counted his thousands after
+a great race, as a victorious general counts his cannon and his
+prisoners.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Up to the time that he developed a new interest in politics, his great
+ambition in life had been for one of his horses to win the Derby. And
+one of the horses that he had owned did win it; but to his chagrin it
+was no longer his property. That horse was Surplice, the winner in the
+year 1848; but Lord George had disposed of it with his stud in 1846.</p>
+
+<p>Under any circumstances and whatever the prospects of political success
+which opened up in Lord George's mind, his decision to dispose of his
+stud must have caused him a pang as it created a sensation among all who
+were attracted towards turf doings.</p>
+
+<p>There were two horses in Lord George's stables, which, if he could have
+laid claim to the powers of divination would have kept him still &quot;Lord
+<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62" />Paramount of the Turf.&quot; They were the yearlings Surplice and Loadstone,
+and both were destined to make historic names in the classic races.</p>
+
+<p>But the die was cast and the immense establishment which his friend the
+Duke of Richmond permitted him to keep on the Goodwood estate was sold.</p>
+
+<p>There were no fewer than 208 thoroughbreds, which all passed into the
+hands of the Hon. E. M.L. Mostyn, for the small sum of &pound;10,000.</p>
+
+<p>This was in August, 1846, and the light-blue jacket and white cap of
+Lord George Bentinck were to be seen no more on a race-course.</p>
+
+<p>The stables had been on such an immense scale that the responsibility
+was too much for one man to undertake, so that the monetary interest was
+divided, and two or three turf celebrities of the day entered into
+partnership, which accounts for the fact that when Surplice ran in the
+Derby of 1848 he was entered in Lord Clifden's name.</p>
+
+<p>From that time to this the career of Surplice has always been of
+interest to racing men. His trainer was John Kent, who faithfully
+discharged his duty in guarding the horse from the machinations of
+unscrupulous loafers and touts.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63" />There was a dead set against the horse. He was naturally a lazy runner
+and took a great deal of skill to ride. All sorts of rumours were
+started about him; that he was not well, that he was lame and that he
+was not the equal of Loadstone, although from the same stable. Up and
+down went the betting respecting Surplice until the market was in such a
+state that it was to the interest of an unscrupulous gang to poison or
+lame him.</p>
+
+<p>Detectives, policemen, trainer and stablemen had to watch him night and
+day and the excitement waxed intense as the date of the Derby drew near.
+When the horse was taken from Goodwood to Epsom and from the stable to
+the course a crowd of horsemen and pedestrians dogged his steps.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, with all the precaution taken, Surplice was got into the
+paddock in fit condition. His jockey was Sim Templeman and after a
+severe contest Surplice won, there being a neck between him and Springy
+Jack, while Loadstone was well beaten, to the chagrin of those who had
+tried to set him off against the better horse Surplice.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the race was &pound;11,000 to the credit of Lord George; but
+this was nothing compared with his regret that he had not <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64" />continued the
+owner of his racing-stud, so that he might have had the honour of
+winning the Derby in his own name, instead of seeing a horse that he had
+bred win it in the name of another.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the St. Leger of 1848, and Surplice was again the winner, with
+further pangs for Lord George. Barely does the same horse win both the
+Derby and the St. Leger, and proud indeed is the owner who can carry off
+the blue ribbon of the turf and the St. Leger too. The stars in their
+courses seemed to be against Lord George at this time.</p>
+
+<p>This is how Disraeli relates the effect the Derby had upon his hero:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A few days before, it was the day after the Derby, May 25th, 1848, the
+writer (Disraeli) met Lord George Bentinck in the Library of the House
+of Commons. He was standing before the book-shelves with a volume in his
+hand, and his countenance was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in
+favour of the colonial interest, after all his labours, had been
+negatived by the committee on the 22nd, and on the 24th, his horse,
+Surplice, which he had parted with among the rest of the stud, solely
+that he might pursue without distraction his labours on behalf of the
+great <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65" />interests of the country, had won that paramount and Olympian
+stake, to gain which had been the object of his life. He had nothing to
+console him, and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that
+deserted him before a heart which he knew at least could yield him
+sympathy. He gave a sort of superb groan:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'All my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I
+sacrificed it?' he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was in vain to offer solace.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'You do not know what the Derby is,' he moaned out.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Yes I do, it is the blue ribbon of the turf.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'It is the blue ribbon of the turf,' he slowly repeated to himself, and
+sitting down at the table he buried himself in a folio of statistics.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In a personal allusion to the arduous political labours of Lord George
+Bentinck, Disraeli says: &quot;What was not his least remarkable trait, is
+that although he only breakfasted on dry toast, he took no sustenance
+all this time, dining at White's at half-past two o'clock in the
+morning. After his severe attack of influenza he broke through this
+habit a little during the last few months of his life, moved by the
+advice of his physician and the instance of his friends. The <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66" />writer of
+these observations prevailed upon him a little the last year to fall
+into the easy habit of dining at Bellamy's, which saves much time and
+permits the transaction of business in conversation with a congenial
+friend. But he grudged it; he always thought that something would be
+said or done in his absence, which would not have occurred had he been
+there; some motion whisked through or some return altered. His principle
+was that a member should never be absent from his seat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Disraeli thus describes the last farewell he took of Lord George and his
+tragic death a few days afterwards:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He goes to his native county and his father's proud domain, to breathe
+the air of his boyhood and move amid the parks and meads of his youth.
+Every breeze will bear health, and the sight of every hallowed haunt
+will stimulate his pulse. He is scarcely older than Julius C&aelig;sar when he
+commenced his public career, he looks as high and brave, and he springs
+from a long-lived race.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He stood upon the perron of Harcourt House, the last of the great
+hotels of an age of stately manners, with its wings and courtyard, and
+<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67" />carriage portal, and huge outward walls. He put forth his hand to bid
+farewell, and his last words are characteristic of the man, of his warm
+feelings, and of his ruling passion: 'God bless you; we must work, and
+the country will come round us.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A few days after this interview Lord George returned to Welbeck.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some there were who thought him worn by the exertion of the session,
+and that an unusual pallor had settled upon that mantling and animated
+countenance. He himself never felt in better health or was ever in
+higher spirits, and greatly enjoyed the change of life, and that change
+in a scene so dear to him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the 21st of September, 1848, after breakfasting with his family, he
+retired to his dressing-room, where he employed himself with some papers
+and then wrote three letters, one to Lord Enfield, another to the Duke
+of Richmond, and the third to the writer of these pages. That letter is
+now at hand; it is of considerable length, consisting of seven sheets of
+notepaper, full of interesting details of men and things, and written
+not only in a cheerful but even in a merry mood. Then, when his letters
+were sealed, <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68" />about four o'clock he took his staff and went forth to
+walk to Thoresby, the seat of Lord Manvers, distant between five and six
+miles from Welbeck, and where Lord George was to make a visit of two
+days. In consequence of this his valet drove over to Thoresby at the
+same time to meet his master. But the master never came. At length the
+anxious servant returned to Welbeck, and called up the groom who had
+driven him over to Thoresby, and who was in bed, and enquired whether he
+had seen anything of Lord George on the way back, as his Lord had never
+reached Thoresby. The groom got up, and along with the valet and two
+others, took lanthorns and followed the footpath which they had seen
+Lord George pursuing as they themselves went to Thoresby.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;About a mile from the Abbey, on the path which they had observed him
+following, lying close to the gate which separates a water meadow from
+the deer park, they found the body of Lord George Bentinck. He was lying
+on his face; his arms were under his body, and in one hand he grasped
+his walking-stick. His hat was a yard or two before him, having
+evidently been thrown off in falling. The body was cold <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69" />and stiff. He
+had been long dead.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A woodman and some peasants passing near the spot, about two hundred
+yards from the gate in question, had observed Lord George, whom at the
+distance they had mistaken for his brother, the Marquis of Titchfield,
+leaning against this gate. It was then about half-past four o'clock, or
+it might be a quarter to five, so he could not have left his home much
+more than half-an-hour. The woodman and his companions thought 'the
+gentleman' was reading, as he held his head down. One of them lingered
+for a minute looking at the gentleman, who then turned round, and might
+have seen these passers-by, but he made no sign to them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thus it seems that the attack, which was supposed to be a spasm of the
+heart, was not instantaneous in its effects, but with proper remedies,
+might have been baffled. Terrible to think of him in his death-struggle
+without aid and so near a devoted hearth. For that hearth too, what an
+inpending future!</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The terrible news reached Nottingham on the morning of the 22nd, at
+half-past nine o'clock, and immediately telegraphed to London, was
+announced by a second edition of the <i>Times</i> to <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70" />the country.
+Consternation and deep grief fell upon all men. One week later, the
+remains arrived from Welbeck at Harcourt House, to be entombed in the
+family vault of the Bentincks, that is to be found in a small building
+in a dingy street, now a chapel of ease, but in old days the Parish
+Church among the fields of the pretty village of Marylebone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The day of the interment was dark and cold, and drizzling. Although the
+last offices were performed in the most scrupulously private manner, the
+feelings of the community could not be repressed. From nine till eleven
+o'clock that day all the British shipping in the docks and the river,
+from London Bridge to Gravesend, hoisted their flags half-mast high, and
+minute guns were fired from appointed stations along the Thames. The
+same mournful ceremony was observed in all the ports of England and
+Ireland; and not only in these, for the flag was half-mast high on every
+British ship at Antwerp, at Rotterdam, at Havre.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ere the last minute gun sounded all was over. Followed to his tomb by
+those brothers who, if not consoled, might at this moment be sustained
+by the remembrance that to him they had ever <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71" />been brothers, not only in
+name but in spirit, the vault at length closed on the mortal remains of
+George Bentinck.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Such was the conventional view which Society took of the sad
+circumstances of Lord George's death.</p>
+
+<p>The old Duke was over eighty years of age and too infirm to attend the
+funeral, but the Marquis of Titchfield and Lord Henry Bentinck were
+present.</p>
+
+<p>As in most mysteries, there were other conjectures more or less
+improbable.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterwards it was put down to the account of Palmer the poisoner,
+who it was said had administered strychnine to Lord George as he did to
+some other members of the aristocracy.</p>
+
+<p>But what was Palmer's motive?</p>
+
+<p>Had Lord George and he any betting transactions together in which Palmer
+had lost, and finding himself unable to pay, destroyed his noble
+creditor with diabolical secrecy?</p>
+
+<p>Yet Palmer in 1848 was a young doctor, aged about twenty-three, just
+setting out on his professional career.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until a few years afterwards that Palmer commenced to turn
+his attention to turf <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72" />transactions, therefore it is difficult to find a
+motive which should be some evidence against him as the perpetrator of
+this crime.</p>
+
+<p>The case of Palmer was an extraordinary one. He was a medical
+practitioner at Rugeley in Staffordshire, and having become infatuated
+with betting had no scruples about removing those to whom he had
+contracted debts of honour. It was not till the early months of 1856
+that light was shed upon some of his fiendish designs and after a long
+trial he was sentenced to be hanged at Stafford gaol.</p>
+
+<p>Palmer boasted of his racing transactions with the aristocracy, and if
+Lord George was one of his victims seven years before 1856, the
+miscreant had had plenty of time to harden his conscience in working his
+foul plots against others whom it was his sordid interest to destroy.</p>
+
+<p>Another wild theory was that there had been a quarrel between the
+Marquis of Titchfield and Lord George.</p>
+
+<p>One reason for the dispute was alleged to be that Lord George had been a
+heavy loser instead of a gainer by his gigantic gambling operations,
+that he was in want of money, either from his brother the Marquis, or
+his father, the Duke.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73" />To allege that he was in debt is not consistent with the belief that he
+had won large sums by backing horses of which he was so keen a judge.</p>
+
+<p>Again it was surmised that the reason for the quarrel&mdash;if there was
+one&mdash;was Miss A.M. Berkeley, with whom they were reputed to be both
+enamoured.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of this lady gives a glimpse of another romance. Her mother
+was an exceedingly beautiful lady, the daughter of a tradesman, and she
+became the wife of the Earl of Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>Fanny Kemble writes of the Countess in terms of admiration; but alludes
+to the marriage with the addition of the phrase (&quot;by courtesy&quot;) and how,
+on being presented at Court she was frowned at by Queen Charlotte,
+though George III. did not share the unfavourable sentiments entertained
+by his wife.</p>
+
+<p>The marriage with the Earl was the subject of a <i>cause cel&egrave;bre</i> before
+the House of Lords, with the result that the ceremony was held to be
+illegal, which thus affected the position of Miss A.M. Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Margaret Jane Louise Hamilton, a widow lady, the daughter of Mr.
+Robert Lennox Stuart, made a startling statement which was widely
+<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74" />reported in the newspapers at the time that the Druce case assumed a
+new aspect in 1903. She said that she had been told the details of the
+death of Lord George Bentinck by her father, who was an eye-witness of
+the quarrel&mdash;if quarrel there was.</p>
+
+<p>Her father was a playmate of the Duke's when they were boys, and she
+herself was a god-daughter of the fourth Duke.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was Mr. Stuart an eye-witness, but she said Mr. Sergeant,
+another gentleman, was too.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George was violent in manner towards the Marquis (whom Mrs.
+Hamilton identified as Mr. Druce) using threatening language towards him
+and striking him repeatedly.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Marquis retaliated with one blow over the heart, and
+although it was not a heavy blow, the position where it struck was
+sufficient to cause death.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hamilton added that she had heard Druce say to her father, &quot;You
+know, Stuart, I never intended to kill him. I only struck in
+self-defence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Druce was remorseful after the tragedy and spoke of surrendering to the
+police, but Mr. <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75" />Stuart and Mr. Sergeant persuaded him not to.</p>
+
+<p>Her father said that Druce was nervous and always afraid that the deed
+would come to light.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the Marquis was there or not to quarrel with his brother, the
+labourers who said they thought they recognised him, acknowledged that
+they might have been mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>A point which the evidence at the inquest did not clear up was the
+whereabouts of the Marquis at the time of the tragedy. The labourers
+said they thought they saw him.</p>
+
+<p>If it was not he, where was he?</p>
+
+<p>That is a question unanswered to this day.</p>
+
+<p>Lord George was never married, and it has been said of him that &quot;he was
+notable for the purity of his life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was believed that he entertained a deep regard for a highly-placed
+married lady, whose virtue was beyond suspicion, and hence he lived and
+died a bachelor.</p>
+
+<p>Three years after the death of Lord George it is said that the Marquis
+married Miss Annie May Berkeley in the name of Druce.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" /><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76" />CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>THE ECCENTRIC DUKE AND HIS UNDERGROUND TUNNELS</p>
+
+
+<p>The story of the transformation of Welbeck enters upon a new stage with
+the succession, in 1854, of the Marquis of Titchfield (William John
+Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck) as fifth Duke, born in 1800. He it was who
+designed and had constructed the mysterious underground apartments and
+tunnels for which the Abbey and its environs are famous. There were
+miles of weird passages beneath the surface of the earth, one tunnel
+alone being nearly a mile and a half in length, stretching towards
+Worksop, while others ran in various directions.</p>
+
+<p>Welbeck is nearly 4 miles from Worksop, and a stranger on approaching
+the Abbey is likely to receive a mean impression of its vast extent. The
+architecture is a mixture of the Italian and classical styles, and its
+having been built at different periods, with so many of its adjuncts
+under<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77" />ground, makes it wanting in imposing features.</p>
+
+<p>In various parts of the estate about 50 lodges were erected for the
+occupancy of gardeners and keepers. They were of Steetley stone, all
+similarly planned and pleasing to the eye, what there was of them above
+ground; but the Duke had subterranean kitchens made at the side and
+lighted them with bulls'-eyes at the top.</p>
+
+<p>He spent about 100,000<i>l.</i> a year in the development of his plans, and
+employed as many as 1,500 workpeople in helping him to gratify his
+hobby. When it is remembered that his reign as Duke lasted a quarter of
+a century, from 1854 to 1879, it will be seen that artisans of all
+descriptions found Welbeck a veritable gold-mine. Even so late as
+November, 1878, a Nottingham newspaper correspondent, on visiting
+Welbeck, was impressed with its appearance as that of the premises of
+&quot;some great contractor who had an order for the building of a big
+village.&quot; There was the buzz of machinery, large areas were covered with
+bricklayers', masons' and joiners' sheds, wherein any new mechanical
+contrivance was put to the test. For more than eighteen years the
+vicinity of the house resembled a builder's yard, in the centre of which
+the Duke lived and moved and had his being, enjoying, in his <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78" />way, the
+piles of bricks and mortar surrounding him. After he had decided upon
+the erection of a new building he had a model of it made for his
+inspection, and if approved of, it was proceeded with.</p>
+
+<p>Any tramp or wayfarer who applied for work at Welbeck was put on the
+staff, and the market value of his labour paid. The Duke seemed to find
+grim pleasure in the society of the casuals who made their way to his
+stone-yards.</p>
+
+<p>The wing built by the Countess of Oxford in a former generation had a
+new storey put to it, with a magnificent suite of 14 new rooms furnished
+in Louis XIV. style, richly gilded, and with mantelpieces of white
+marble.</p>
+
+<p>An underground passage was made leading to the old riding school, built
+by the Duke of Newcastle in 1623, but since converted to other uses,
+such as a library and church, after the erection of the new riding
+school. Beneath it are great wine cellars with subterranean
+communications.</p>
+
+<p>The most wonderful of the underground apartments built by the Duke was
+the picture-gallery, or as it was intended to be, the ball-room. It is
+lighted from the roof by means of bulls'-eyes. An enormous sum was spent
+in labour, excavating the <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79" />solid clay in order that this magnificent
+saloon might be constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Some choice examples of the great masters are contained in this palace
+of art, which is 158 feet long, 63 feet wide, and 22 feet high. Here are
+examples of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, de Mytens, Tintoretto,
+Teniers, Snyders, Bassano, Wyck, de Vos, Greffier, Francks, Berghem,
+Zucchero, Wootton, Breughel, Dirk Maas, Netscher, Gagnacci, Gerard
+Honthorst, Van der Meulen, Rigaud, Vandyke, Holbein, Kneller, Lely,
+Dahl, M. Shee, Knapton, West, Jansen, Verelst; in fact not only in the
+picture-gallery, but in all parts of the Abbey are scattered treasures
+of art and vertu. Among the interesting curiosities are the one-pearl
+drop-earrings seen in the portraits of Charles I., and worn by him on
+the morning of his execution; also the silver-gilt chalice from which he
+received the consecrated wine on that fateful morning at Whitehall. The
+chalice bears the following inscription; &quot;King Charles the First
+received the communion in this Boule on Tuesday the 30th of January,
+1664, being the day in which he was murthered.&quot; In the library are
+autograph letters from the Stuarts, including one from Mary Queen of
+Scots, signed &quot;Your very good friend.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80" />There is a portrait of Adelaide Kemble, with whom the Duke is said to
+have been in love in early manhood. The actress is in the pose of her
+histrionic profession, and in another part of the gallery is a bust of
+the Duke by H.R. Pinker (1880).</p>
+
+<p>The gigantic riding school is about 380 feet long, 112 feet wide, and 50
+feet high, and from it is a subterranean passage leading to the tan
+gallop, designed for the exercise of horses. The length of this gallop
+is 1270 feet, and it is all under a glass roof. He had about 100 horses,
+and his stables extended over an area almost as large as a village.</p>
+
+<p>Of all his extraordinary hobbies that of planning subterranean passages
+has excited the most wonder and satire. These tunnels, in which it was
+possible for three persons to walk abreast in some parts, were lighted
+with gas jets placed at intervals. One at least of the tunnels is large
+enough for a horse and cart to be driven through.</p>
+
+<p>The drive from Worksop is a delightful one, but all at once the stranger
+is surprised to find himself in a cavern, leading as might be supposed
+to the catacombs. It was no uncommon thing for the Duke to rise up out
+of a tunnel and appear in the midst of a gang of workmen when they were
+little <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81" />expecting him, and when, perhaps, they were idling their time,
+or making uncomplimentary remarks about him.</p>
+
+<p>When the tunnels were in course of construction there might be seen a
+procession of men on donkeys going to and fro. It was all in a piece
+with his Grace's conduct that he should purchase donkeys for them to
+ride upon; but the animals, when let loose, would gnaw at the trees, so
+the services of the four-legged asses were dispensed with.</p>
+
+<p>His manner of dealing with a strike was a summary one. The wages of the
+excavators of the tunnels were fifteen shillings a week regularly,
+sunshine or rain; but the men thought their rich employer could afford
+them an increase, so they struck.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You can strike as long as you like,&quot; was the message sent by the Duke,
+&quot;it does not matter to me if the work is never done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This cool attitude had its effect, the strike was at an end, and the
+tunnelling proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>One reason given for planning the tunnels was that when he first desired
+to withdraw himself from observation he tried to close the public rights
+of way over the estate. This brought him <a name="Page_82" id="Page_82" />into collision with the powers
+that be, and he compromised matters to his own satisfaction by making
+the underground roadways. His cynicism was rich.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here have I had provided for you at enormous expense a clean pathway
+underground, lighted with gas too, and you will persist in walking above
+ground,&quot; was his salute to some astounded visitors. The idea that they
+should prefer the sunshine, the delightful woodland scenery and
+sweet-smelling scents wafted over Welbeck in summer-time, to the gaseous
+tunnels, as if they were rabbits having natural affinities to the
+burrows of the earth, was one only worthy of a ducal misanthropist.</p>
+
+<p>He was &quot;The Invisible Prince,&quot; he liked to take men unawares, he enjoyed
+a grim joke at their expense, though whether he ever showed signs of
+merriment, at least in after life, is not so much in the memories of
+those who knew him, as his eccentricities. He is more associated with
+the character of an ogre and a cynic who shunned his fellow-men, yet
+there are some of his employees still living who give him a good word as
+a kind and considerate master.</p>
+
+<p>There have been various reasons put forth to <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83" />account for his withdrawal
+from the society of his peers. It was said that he was smitten with
+leprosy, that he had an incurable skin desease; then that his love
+affairs had gone awry when he was a young man, with the result that he
+became a woman-hater, then a hater of mankind generally.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke was moody and uncertain in his temper. Sometimes he would pass
+pedestrians in the park without noticing them; at other times strangers
+would be astonished to hear a shabby old ogre break out at them in
+profane language because of their intrusion upon his domains, and they
+would be still more astonished when making complaints about the conduct
+of this disreputable person, to find that it was the Duke himself.</p>
+
+<p>At that time the use of a traction-engine in agriculture was somewhat of
+a novelty, and because it was different from the appliances generally
+used by farmers, was a recommendation to the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>It was nine o'clock one night when he said to his haymakers: &quot;Take the
+carts home and bring another load with the engine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Excuse me, your Grace,&quot; said one, &quot;If the <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84" />engine is made of steel and
+iron I'm not. I'm tired out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, perhaps you are, go home then,&quot; came the order, which is
+testimony to the consideration he had for his employees when he was
+addressed in a manly, straightforward way.</p>
+
+<p>There was a grotesque procession one day at a farm on the Welbeck
+estate. It was a rainy summer, and the farmers were at their wits'-ends
+to know how they were to secure their hay in anything like good
+condition.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke was not a man to be beaten by the weather; he defied it; he was
+determined to have his grass in the rickyard, wet or dry. So the order
+went forth that his traction-engine and waggons were to be ready for
+carrying it on a certain day.</p>
+
+<p>There was to be no shirking, for the Duke's intention was to be with his
+men to see that the work was done. So he went to the farm in his long
+brown cape and high silk hat and an umbrella which might have done duty
+for Hans William Bentinck in the swamps of Holland.</p>
+
+<p>The harvesters filled the waggons in a downpour of rain and the
+cavalcade started for the homestead. There were three or four waggons
+<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85" />behind the engine, and in the last, lo and behold, sat his Grace, grim,
+silent and self-satisfied that the elements had no terrors for him.</p>
+
+<p>What a life his was to lead; he was a veritable prisoner, having himself
+for a warder.</p>
+
+<p>The special apartment used by him in the daytime was fitted with a
+trap-door in the floor, by which he could descend to the regions below,
+and thus roam about his underground tunnels without the servants knowing
+whether he was in the house or had left it. By means of this trap-door,
+after walking to some distant part of his estate and astonishing his
+workmen there, he could re-appear in the Abbey as mysteriously as he had
+left it.</p>
+
+<p>The apartment with the trap-door had another door opening into an
+ante-room, and here his servants received their orders.</p>
+
+<p>The &quot;Prince of Silence&quot; rarely spoke to his attendants; he wrote down on
+paper what he required and placed it in the letter-box of the door
+opening into the ante-room. Then he rang a bell, when a servant would
+come and read what he had written and carry out the order accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke's bedstead was an immense square erection, constructed in an
+extraordinary manner. <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86" />There were large doors to it, so arranged that
+when folded it was impossible to know whether the bed was occupied by
+its owner.</p>
+
+<p>He was a lonely traveller, and even when he went to Paris would have no
+companion with him. His arrangements were made by an <i>avant courier</i>,
+and when it became known that he had arrived in the gay city, the
+English aristocracy paid formal visits to him.</p>
+
+<p>These attentions were too much for his habit of loneliness, and he
+vanished to St. Germains. A few weeks' stay here was enough for him, and
+he came back to Paris, not lingering more than a couple of days, and
+then proceeded by stages to Calais and on to London.</p>
+
+<p>One of the best authenticated stories of the fifth Duke relates to his
+habit of riding alone in a carriage specially constructed to secure
+privacy. As was natural the more it became known that he wanted to
+escape observation the more was curiosity aroused to see him, so that a
+considerable part of his life was spent in adopting stratagems to
+prevent sight-seers from catching a glimpse of the aristocratic enigma.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage was so made that when the doors were closed no one could
+see into it, though there <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87" />were spy-holes arranged that the Duke could
+look out on all sides and not be observed.</p>
+
+<p>One day the Duke had sent his usual written order for his carriage to
+proceed by road to London.</p>
+
+<p>The postillions started quite oblivious that they had his Grace with
+them in his mysteriously-constructed vehicle.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long journey, and as they passed stage after stage, their
+delays for refreshments became longer and their stoppages more frequent.</p>
+
+<p>They had just pulled up at a country inn when they were horrified to
+hear a sepulchral voice from the hearse-like chariot shouting,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What the devil are you stopping for?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>These few words were enough. They came from the voice of the Duke whom
+they saw not, but recognised by his tones from his tomb on wheels.</p>
+
+<p>The postillions sprang upon the horses and tarried not till they had
+arrived before the portico of Harcourt House where the great myth
+descended unseen to his room.</p>
+
+<p>Harcourt House, Cavendish-square, was a famous London mansion, for many
+years in the possession of the Dukes of Portland. The building of this
+stately town residence was commenced in 1722 <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88" />for Earl Harcourt. It had
+a noble courtyard facing Cavendish-square, and an imposing <i>porte
+coch&egrave;re</i>, with a large garden and wide-spreading trees, which were such
+extraordinary features to be found as adjuncts to the old London palaces
+of the nobility. Then there was a range of stabling enough to
+accommodate the stud of a monarch.</p>
+
+<p>This noble mansion was gambled away at a card-party when the stakes were
+high and the players were the third Duke, grandfather of the eccentric
+peer, and Earl Harcourt. Thus it came into possession of the Bentincks.</p>
+
+<p>During the occupancy of the fifth Duke, the curious freaks of building
+for which he was so famous at Welbeck were repeated at Harcourt House.
+He had the garden enclosed with a gigantic screen of ground-glass,
+extending for 200 feet on each side and 80 feet high. His object in
+having this screen constructed was that the residents of
+Henrietta-street and Wigmore-street might be prevented from seeing into
+the garden and possibly catching a glimpse of his Grace when taking a
+stroll.</p>
+
+<p>The gamble for Harcourt House was commuted into a leasehold tenancy by
+the intervention of <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89" />the lawyers, who declared that the ownership of the
+mansion could not be separated from the rest of the estate.</p>
+
+<p>In more recent years the leasehold interest was purchased by the Earl of
+Breadalbane, and on its expiration, it eventually came to Sir William
+Harcourt, the statesman, and in August, 1904, was offered for sale. The
+site of the beautiful garden, with its screen and stables, was purchased
+by the Post-office authorities. <i>Sic gloria transit</i> of one of the
+famous houses of London.</p>
+
+<p>Though he had such magnificent palaces, both in Sherwood Forest and in
+London, the Duke was not given to entertaining guests after the manner
+of a great noble. His father had sent the family plate to be kept by
+Messrs. Drummond, bankers, and it was the current belief that the son
+never had it from the vaults of the bank to grace his tables at Welbeck
+or Harcourt House.</p>
+
+<p>His sisters seldom visited him, although one of them, Lady Ossington,
+lived at Ossington Hall, about 15 miles away, in the same county as
+Welbeck.</p>
+
+<p>The gossips of his lifetime would have it that his pet aversions were
+tobacco, women, and anyone in the garb of a gentleman; but he had a
+<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90" />taste for drinking stout and lived on a simple dietary.</p>
+
+<p>These stories involve a tissue of inconsistencies. His correspondence
+with Fanny Kemble when he was Marquis of Titchfield, already quoted,
+shows his kind consideration, not only for her, but for other ladies who
+moved in higher circles. There was his friendship with Lady Cork, who
+was often seen by the workmen on the estate driving Shetland ponies. She
+was a visitor at Cuckney Hall, which was part of the Welbeck domain.
+Again there are instances on record of his courtesy to those of the
+opposite sex whom he met in the park; besides which there were many
+female servants engaged at the Abbey.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast&quot;; but among the other
+idiosyncrasies laid to his charge, it was said that rather than soothe,
+it irritated him.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hamilton's testimony is that Mr. Druce (assuming him to have been
+identical with the Duke) was extremely fond of music, and that she had
+played to him for hours at a time.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sing me the old songs, Stuart&quot; Druce would say to her father, who not
+only sang, but played the violin.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91" />Moreover the workmen at Welbeck were allowed to have a band which
+performed at the Abbey on Christmas-eve and the bandsmen were given
+refreshments.</p>
+
+<p>What a quaint figure the Duke's was. When away from home he wore a wig,
+but not indoors, his tall hat had a broad brim, he wore a white tie and
+high collar, his trousers tied round his legs, were of check, with a
+frock coat and dark waistcoat.</p>
+
+<p>His habits were fastidious, and he would not handle bronze or silver
+coins before they had been washed. Then he forbade persons to touch
+their hats to him if they met him.</p>
+
+<p>His manner of dispensing benefactions was characteristic. Sometimes he
+was lavish in his generosity, while on other occasions he replied in
+burning words to those who appealed to him.</p>
+
+<p>An instance of the latter is afforded in his reply to the members of a
+Friendly Society which was in straits for the want of 10<i>l</i>. He told
+them that if it was a Club established on sound lines, it would be worth
+their while to subscribe the money among themselves, and if not, he
+declined to maintain a bankrupt organisation.</p>
+
+<p>He was a devourer of the contents of news<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92" />papers, and took all the
+principal London and provincial daily issues, as well as many weekly
+journals, which were filed and bound. His bill for one year came to
+1,300<i>l</i>. He had four sets of the papers he thought worth preserving,
+one being at Welbeck, another at Fullarton House, a third at Bothal
+Castle, and a fourth at Harcourt House. This collection of current
+literature of the day is believed to be the largest private library
+outside the British Museum.</p>
+
+<p>In January, 1855, the Crimean War was in progress, and the Duke having
+given 500<i>l</i>. to the Patriotic Fund, further showed his bounty by
+ordering that several fat bullocks, 100 head of deer and 1,000 hares
+should be potted and sent out to the scene of action. Besides these
+eatables he gave a quantity of unbleached cotton and flannel to be made
+into shirts and other garments by the ladies of Worksop and district. In
+that same month Major-General Bentinck, who had been wounded in the
+right arm, arrived at Welbeck, intending to return to the war as soon as
+his wound would allow him.</p>
+
+<p>It was formerly the custom for everyone who paid a visit to the stately
+home in Sherwood Forest, whether on business or pleasure, not to <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93" />come
+away without tasting the Worksop ale. Its quality was renowned, and the
+Duke sent 1,000 gallons of it to the Army fighting in the Crimea.</p>
+
+<p>The lake at Welbeck is three miles long, and its waters are supplied
+from an irrigation system at Clipstone, costing the fourth Duke
+80,000<i>l.</i> to carry out, draining a tract of marshy land and making it
+one of the most fertile districts in England. After supplying the lake
+at Welbeck the stream flows to that at Clumber.</p>
+
+<p>It was estimated that between two and three millions sterling were spent
+by the Duke in putting his ideas into execution, and the one beneficent
+effect of his expenditure was the employment of a large number of men in
+work that was not altogether of a useless nature, as witness his great
+improvements in agriculture, following up his father's ideas, adding to
+the national wealth by the crops this hitherto uncultivated area was
+made to produce.</p>
+
+<p>After his long and chequered career the Duke passed away in December,
+1879, having nearly reached eighty years of age. Peace be to his ashes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" /><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94" />CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>THE PRESENT DUKE AND DUCHESS.&mdash;A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT</p>
+
+
+<p>There must have been a thrilling sensation of delight at the good
+fortune that had overtaken him when the present Duke found himself in
+possession of the family honours and estates. There had been so many
+vicissitudes in the Dukedom that any chance survival might have stepped
+in to bar his claim. &quot;There's many a slip between the cup and the lip&quot;
+is an old saying, and many a relation of a great noble is near the
+succession of his honours, only to see them pass to some other branch
+where least expected.</p>
+
+<p>The present Duke, or to give him his full family name, William John
+Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, was a long way off the fifth
+Duke, in the table of consanguinity, he had no trace of the Scott blood
+in him, and was in fact only second cousin of his eccentric predecessor
+in the title.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95" />His father was Lieutenant-General A.C. Cavendish-Bentinck, whose
+descent was through the third Duke, so that the two branches had to go
+back nearly a hundred years to find a common ancestor. His birth took
+place on December 28th, 1857, and it must have seemed then a remote
+possibility that in less than five and twenty years he would succeed to
+one of the proudest Dukedoms in the land, with the opportunities of a
+royal alliance.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the Duke's half-brothers were engaged in the South African war;
+Lord Charles Bentinck was a Lieutenant in the 9th Lancers and was
+slightly wounded in the siege of Mafeking; for his services he won a
+medal and a brevet-majority. He was born in 1868 and was educated at
+Eton; he married in 1897 a daughter of Mr. Charles Seymour Grenfell of
+Taplow. In the East Midlands he has won considerable popularity as
+Master of the Blankney Hunt.</p>
+
+<p>Lord William Bentinck was a Captain in the 10th Hussars and showed his
+ardour in the war by endeavouring to form a body of Colonial Mounted
+Rifles.</p>
+
+<p>Among the eccentricities laid to the charge of the old Duke it was said
+that on his young <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96" />heir going to visit him on one occasion at Welbeck,
+he ordered him to stand in a corner of the room.</p>
+
+<p>When in 1879 the old Duke passed away from his world of mysteries and
+escapades, the heir was a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards. He was
+not long in the Army, and when he came into the title there were too
+many other engagements for him to attend to without troubling himself as
+to the routine of military duty, though he kept up a connection with the
+forces by becoming Lieutenant-Colonel of the Honourable Artillery
+Company of London, Honorary Colonel of the 1st Lanarkshire Volunteer
+Artillery, and of the 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters Regiment.</p>
+
+<p>Welbeck soon began to assume a new aspect under his regime. Gradually it
+lost its appearance of a contractor's yard and looked like one of the
+stately homes of England.</p>
+
+<p>Looking back to the time when he first came into his noble heritage, the
+Duke made a touching reference at the Welbeck Tenants' Show, in 1906, to
+the death of his agent, Mr. F.J. Turner, who for 48 years was in the
+service of the fifth Duke and himself.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97" />When I first came to Welbeck, now twenty-seven years ago,&quot; said the
+Duke, &quot;I was a mere boy, very ignorant of the ways of the world, and
+more ignorant still, if it were possible, of business habits and of the
+management of a great estate. I shudder to think what might have been my
+fate, and the sad fate of those dependent upon me, if Mr. Turner and
+others, who guided my footsteps, had been different from what they
+proved themselves to be. It was in his power to make or mar the
+happiness and prosperity, not only of myself, but also of many of those
+who live in this district and who farm my land.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Duke followed the traditions of his family and commenced to form an
+expensive racing stud.</p>
+
+<p>In 1882 his attention was concentrated to a considerable degree upon
+this object. He bought the famous sire, St. Simon, at the sale of the
+late Prince Batthyany's horses. St. Simon could not compete in the
+classic races in consequence of the death of his owner, and all through
+his racing career he was not put to any severe test of speed, or most
+likely his name would have represented the double achievement of being a
+<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98" />famous racer, and the sire of famous racers too. He was bought for
+1,600<i>l.</i>, the purchase being effected on the recommendation of Mat
+Dawson, the trainer, and the horse was then a two-year-old. That he
+could go at a terrific pace is proved by an observation made one day by
+Fred Archer to the trainer. St. Simon was at exercise when Archer's spur
+touched him, unintentionally by the jockey. He bounded into a gallop&mdash;a
+state of action rarely seen before&mdash;and Archer subsequently said that he
+had never been whizzed through the air at such a terrific pace. In the
+very pink of condition, fresh and strong, the Duke had to congratulate
+himself on securing his bargain, for he was sent from the course to the
+stud, with the result that the magnificent total of 246,000<i>l.</i> was won
+by his progeny in stakes alone.</p>
+
+<p>At length, in 1888, the Duke reached the goal of his ambition in his
+career on the turf, for he was the winner of the Derby with Ayrshire,
+which also won the Two Thousand Guineas. Then he followed up his success
+next year by winning the Derby again with Donovan, a horse that also won
+the St. Leger.</p>
+
+<p>The names of the mares finding their habitation <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99" />at Woodhouse Hall,
+about a mile and a quarter from Welbeck Abbey, are identified with some
+of the most remarkable successes of the turf. Here is a string of
+animals through the veins of which ran purest blood. Amoena, Atalanta,
+Battlewings, Danceaway, Golden Eye, Lady Mar, Larissa, Marquesa,
+Mowerina, Modwena, Miss Middlewick, Shaker, Semolina, Staffa, Wheel of
+Fortune, Tact, Ulster Queen, and many besides. The Goddess of Fortune
+beamed on his Grace's colours whenever they appeared in the great races.
+The long series of victories resulted in immense winnings. For instance,
+Modwena was credited with 5,884<i>l.</i>; Ayrshire, 35,915<i>l.</i>; Johnny
+Morgan, 4,067<i>l.</i>; Donovan, 55,154<i>l.</i>; Semolina, 12,686<i>l.</i>; Miss
+Butterwick, 8,179<i>l.</i>; Raeburn, 8,374<i>l.</i>; The Prize, 3,134<i>l.</i>; St.
+Serf, 5,809<i>l.</i>; Memoir, 17,300<i>l.</i>; Schoolbrook, 2,705<i>l.</i>; Amiable,
+10,582<i>l.</i>; Other celebrated stock also bred by the Duke included Anna,
+Charm, Catcher Clatterfeet, Elsie, Eisteddfod, Galston, Katherine II.,
+Little Go, Oyster, Rattleheels, St. Bridget, Simony II., The Task, The
+Owl, The Smew, Troon, Ulva, and many more. Major Loder's Spearmint was
+the winner of the Derby in 1906, and it was a bay colt by Carbine&mdash;Maid
+of the Mint, so that <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100" />a horse owned by the Duke was again associated
+with the blue ribbon, Carbine having been imported from Australia by his
+Grace some years before. Carbine had another name, &quot;Old Jack,&quot; given him
+because of his laziness, and a whip-stock, had to be used occasionally
+to keep him up to the mark. An Australian picture of the horse was
+painted by Mr. W. Scott, and after being in the possession of Mr.
+Herbert Garratt for some years was sent to his Grace with a request that
+he would accept it, which he did.</p>
+
+<p>All the time that the Duke was paying so much attention to horse-racing
+it was being asked in Nottinghamshire whether Welbeck was ever to see
+another Duchess of Portland. The palace of the magician in the heart of
+Sherwood Forest had not had a mistress for forty years, and the gossips
+were not diffident in expressing their opinion that it was time the
+splendour of its hospitality was graced by the presence of a Duchess.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke was thirty-two years of age in 1889, and his name had been
+coupled with that of a royal princess; but whatever foundation there may
+have been for the rumour that he was going to marry into the royal
+family, it was seen eventually that he was determined to wed for love
+and not for pride of place.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101" />Of the rich and well-born heiresses tracing their lineage through
+generation after generation of English chivalry, and who would have
+deemed it the prize of a lifetime to become Duchess of Portland, the
+Duke's choice fell upon a young lady whose name was unknown to the
+denizens of Nottinghamshire. She was Winifred, only daughter of Thomas
+Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and came of an old Lincolnshire
+family.</p>
+
+<p>She was a merry girl as she used to ride her pony in the Lincolnshire
+lanes, indeed, she was regarded as somewhat of a tomboy, but a year or
+two passed away, and she surprised those who had known her in girlhood,
+to see her the most fashionable beauty in the Row.</p>
+
+<p>She had a wondrous type of beauty too, that made all those who admired
+its style, fall beneath her spell, her complexion was delicate, yet with
+the glow of health upon it, her teeth were pearly, her eyes full of
+sweet reasonableness, her nose that of the classic heroines of Greece,
+and her willowy form such as Sir Joshua Reynolds would have delighted to
+paint in a portrait, that would have been one more justification of the
+poetical phrase, &quot;Art is long and life is fleeting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102" />Her lithe and graceful figure, nearly six feet in height, with a face
+pleasing and mobile, and a voice that charmed in its tone, made her
+distinguished in any society where she appeared.</p>
+
+<p>The story is that once when staying with some friends at Brighton she
+went to the Devil's Dyke, a romantic place visited by almost every
+tourist and resident in that neighbourhood. There she was prevailed upon
+to consult a gipsy as to her future, and the fortune-teller prophesied
+truth, for the oracular words came forth:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will carry off the greatest matrimonial prize in all England,&quot; the
+gipsy said, as she went through the palmistry study of Miss
+Dallas-Yorke's shapely hand; &quot;but shortly after your marriage there's
+trouble of some sort, for the lines become cloudy. I know what it will
+be, young lady; a terrible illness must attack you, yet take courage and
+have no fear, my dear, for all will turn out well in the end.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The sequel to the story is that after the happy event of the marriage
+the gipsy had a black gown and a purse of money presented to her by the
+Duchess as a compliment to her sagacity as a prophetess.</p>
+
+<p>The latter part of the prediction was fulfilled <a name="Page_103" id="Page_103" />also, for soon after
+her marriage the Duchess was attacked by typhoid fever at Welbeck, and
+her life hung in the balance for a short time during her illness.
+Happily she recovered to take her place in Society, as graceful and
+winsome as ever.</p>
+
+<p>She had been out, in the Society sense of the term, several seasons
+before she became acquainted with the Duke. How the meeting came about
+is thus related:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She was on a visit during the autumn of 1888 to a country house In
+Scotland, and while waiting with her maid on the platform of Carlisle
+station, she was noticed by the Duke, who was also northward bound for
+sport on the moors.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke was waiting on the platform too, and was attracted by the
+perfection of her appearance, her lofty carriage and the expression of
+the true gentlewoman on her countenance.</p>
+
+<p>A few weeks afterwards an introduction took place at the house of a
+friend, when they spoke of their recollection of having seen each other
+on the platform of the railway station.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Duke must have known that he was the most coveted
+matrimonial prize in England at that time, yet it is said he was shy at
+proposing to this magnificent daughter of a Lincolnshire squire.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104" />He must have done, however, for in a few months the marriage was
+celebrated.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the engagement the Duke bought a sable cloak of immense value
+for his fianc&eacute;e; but Mrs. Dallas-Yorke protested against the gift and
+said that her daughter had not been accustomed to such costly attire.</p>
+
+<p>What was the Duke's observation upon this has not passed current;
+suffice it to say that the priceless cloak was received and worn by Miss
+Dallas-Yorke, who in Society was chaperoned by the Marchioness of
+Granby, now Duchess of Rutland.</p>
+
+<p>Such a fluttering among Society dove-cotes was seldom seen, and sound of
+wedding-bells rarely heard with such gleeful joy. It was a love-match,
+and, therefore, a popular event all over the land. Only a few weeks
+before, the Duke's horse had won the Derby, and the ovation given him by
+the racing fraternity was unprecedented to any one, peer or commoner,
+below royal rank.</p>
+
+<p>Then the bride was so full of smiles to all who had the privilege of
+offering her congratulations.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke had earned the reputation of being a &quot;good fellow,&quot; a phrase
+carrying its own meaning in relation to a typical English nobleman. At
+<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105" />the zenith of his popularity there is no wonder that crowds lined the
+streets on the wedding morning to catch a glimpse of the happy pair as
+they drove back from Church. The Prince and Princess of Wales honoured
+the ceremony with their presence, and such cheering there was as the
+faces of the bride and bridegroom were seen at the windows of the
+carriage. It was a smart equipage, and even the coachmen and footmen
+were decorated with horse-shoes of flowers on their coats.</p>
+
+<p>Then there were the rejoicings at Welbeck, where the new Duchess soon
+ingratiated herself with the tenantry. &quot;The Good Duchess&quot; was smiling
+and approachable, and quickly found her way to the heart of the most
+churlish country herdsman.</p>
+
+<p>It was apparent that the Duchess's mind was not solely occupied with
+plans for reigning in London Society and dictating the fashions for a
+select and fastidious circle. She knew her powers in that respect; she
+had already conquered and was content to please the Duke, and fulfil the
+duties of her station towards those who were her equals, and towards the
+Duke's retainers on his estates and their dependants.</p>
+
+<p>Not that she ceased to dazzle with the radiant <a name="Page_106" id="Page_106" />splendour of her jewels,
+which adorned her natural gracefulness.</p>
+
+<p>Her coronet of diamonds contains in it a lustrous gem, called the
+Portland stone, worth 10,000<i>l</i>., and her jewels altogether are of
+fabulous value. Nothwithstanding the changing fashions of High Society,
+she retains her preference for a Medici collar of lace and a spray of
+Malmaison carnations.</p>
+
+<p>With the immense sums of money the Duke had won over the Derby victories
+he was desirous of adding new treasures to his wife's jewel-case; but
+she prevailed upon him to build some almshouses for poor old women at
+Welbeck; moreover she is credited with having influenced him to moderate
+his indulgence in racing.</p>
+
+<p>The almshouses, which were called &quot;The Winnings,&quot; have upon them the
+following inscription: &quot;These houses were erected by the sixth Duke of
+Portland at the request of his wife, for the benefit of the poor and to
+commemorate the the success of his race-horses.&quot; They were not built out
+of money made by betting, a habit not encouraged by the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>At a later period, addressing a meeting of young men, he said: &quot;Turn a
+cold shoulder to the book<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107" />maker and those who would advise you to throw
+your money into the lap of fickle Fortune If you want to be happy. You
+might just as well throw the money into a pond.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Duchess always has a happy way of opening a Bazaar for some
+philanthropic object, and her radiant and affable manner charm those
+with whom she is brought into contact, perhaps for the first time. She
+is a supporter of the Church Army Training Homes, Bryanston-street, and
+she has had the courage to preside over a temperance demonstration in
+Hyde Park. Swimming has become a fashionable accomplishment with Society
+ladies, and she has shown her interest in extending the cultivation of
+that exercise. This is only to mention but a few of the objects that
+claim her time and attention, and no lady of high position is more ready
+to aid a worthy charity where possible.</p>
+
+<p>The first child that came to the Duke and Duchess was Lady Victoria
+Alexandrina Violet, born in 1890. She was highly honoured at her
+christening, for Queen Victoria acted as sponsor person, and held the
+baby in her arms. There is at Welbeck an autograph letter from the
+Queen, congratulating the parents on their firstborn. The <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108" />next was the
+heir to the Dukedom, William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born
+March 16th, 1893, and the third Lord Francis Norwen Dallas, born in
+1900.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke was Master of the Horse from 1886 to 1892, and from 1895 to
+1905; and the Duchess acted as Mistress of the Robes for a short time in
+1905, she was also one of the &quot;Canopy Duchesses&quot; at the Coronation.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke's estates in Scotland include Langwell Lodge, which the family
+has frequently visited for deer-stalking and grouse-shooting in the
+autumn. Then there is Cessnock Castle, near Galston, Ayrshire, where the
+Duke and Duchess had not stayed for many years till 1906. A considerable
+part of the fifth Duke's Ayrshire estates, including the Kilmarnock
+property, passed at his death to his sister, Lady Ossington, and at her
+death to another sister, Lady Howard de Walden, and thence to Lord
+Howard de Walden. The Duke has extensive shootings at Fullarton, near
+Troon, and Fullarton House was for some time the residence of Louis
+Philippe of France.</p>
+
+<p>The house of Langwell is situated on a beautiful grassy slope, with the
+sea in front, while in the background are the silver-clad Scarabines,
+rising <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109" />with imposing grandeur. The Langdale and Berriedale rivers here
+join and flow into the sea, and there are picturesque gorges, with
+cave-dwellings and ancient ruins having historic associations. Frowning
+cliffs rise precipitously from the waves, and weird caves, only to be
+entered when the tide is low, add to the romantic character of the
+scenery.</p>
+
+<p>In the neighbourhood of this favourite shooting lodge are some steep and
+dangerous hills which presented great difficulties to the horses when
+taking his Grace's guests to and fro to enjoy their sport. But having
+become a votary of the motorcar, these stiff hills have been surmounted
+with ease by the four or five vehicles which the Duke has acquired for
+sporting purposes. Helmsdale is the nearest railway station to Langwell,
+and the road over the Ord of Caithness includes several hills with rough
+and loose surfaces, and gradients ranging from 1 in 2 to 1 in 16, so
+that the journey is not without its stress both for horses and
+motorcars. John o' Groat's is forty-five miles distant, but this, as
+well as other places of interest in the neighbourhood, is within
+visiting range by the cars, though such long distances were not
+attempted with the equine species.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110" />To capture the Master of the Horse as an automobilist was a great
+achievement for enthusiasts in the advocacy of the new mode of
+travelling. The Duke of Portland has been such a devotee to the horse,
+as were his ancestors centuries before him, that it was not to be
+expected all at once, that he would, give his countenance to any new
+invention likely to supplant the noble animal in its position as the
+servant and friend of man. Having been a cyclist, when that hobby seized
+the fancy of the fashionable world, it was not a long step to
+automobilism, and having proved the superiority of the motor vehicle,
+the Duke gave orders for some of the best types of cars to be supplied
+to him. One of the most luxurious is a Limousine de Deitrich, and his
+interest in the new art of locomotion is such that he has had a perfect
+track prepared at Clipstone, called &quot;The flying kilometre.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1907 the Duke became a member of the Royal Automobile Club and
+submitted all his drivers for examination for the certificate. The test
+took place at Welbeck, when there were shown several technical drawings
+executed by the candidates, who all passed with merit and received their
+certificates.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111" />The Duchess on one occasion made some observations in public on motors,
+and expressed a doubt as to whether any of her friends would forsake the
+horse in favour of mechanical locomotion. That time, however, came
+about, and now the Duchess is claimed as a patroness of the car, which
+if prosy, compared with the delights of horsemanship, is, nevertheless,
+useful for accomplishing distances which horses are not expected to
+cover.</p>
+
+<p>In a speech in the House of Lords, the Duke said he considered the
+advent of the motorcar could not but have a weakening influence on the
+horse-breeding industry, and before very long several of the functions
+which horses at present perform, both in the towns and country
+districts, would be carried out by mechanical means. His object in
+making these remarks was to call attention to what was impending in
+order that some steps might be taken to foster the horse-breeding
+industry.</p>
+
+<p>As far as a continuance of interest in race-horses is concerned, the
+Duke had at the commencement of the season 1906 twenty-one horses in
+training with W. Waugh at Kingsclere, including thirteen two-year-olds.</p>
+
+<p>Both King Edward and the Queen have been <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112" />entertained at Welbeck since
+their accession to the throne, and in 1906 there was a visit from the
+Duke and Duchess of Sparta, the Crown Prince and Princess of Greece.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke's sentiments on &quot;patriotism&quot; may be gathered from some remarks
+he made when opening a miniature rifle range constructed at the
+Nottingham High School. He referred with approbation to the work of Mr.
+Robins, Premier of Manitoba, through whose policy the Union Jack was
+unfurled from the roof of every school in the province: &quot;The man who
+objects to perpetuating the glories of the flag, who declines to have
+his children infused with British patriotism is undesirable.&quot; &quot;These
+words,&quot; said the Duke, &quot;apply to the anti-patriot, the pro-Zulu, the
+pro-Boer, the inciter to rebellion in Egypt, and to the stirrer-up of
+strife in India. I do not see why rifle-shooting should not become a
+popular national sport, equal in prestige to games like cricket and
+football.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" /><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113" />CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+
+<p>THE DUKE AND DUCHESS AT HOME.&mdash;THE DUCHESS AS PRINCESS BOUNTIFUL.&mdash;THE
+DUCHESS AT COURT</p>
+
+<p>Christmas is usually spent by the Duke and Duchess at Welbeck, and one
+of the events of the season is the Household Ball to celebrate the
+Duke's birthday, which falls on December 28th. It is held in the vast
+underground picture-gallery, with the subjects of the old painters
+looking down from their canvases upon the gay dancers.</p>
+
+<p>Choice exotics, stately palms and seasonable shrubs add to the variety
+of the decorations. The band is almost hidden in a bower of foliage in
+the centre of the great saloon, and there are 500 guests of all ranks of
+society from peers and peeresses to the humblest domestic servant.</p>
+
+<p>About ten o'olock the Duke and Duchess appear with their house party,
+and dancing commences with a Circassion Circle. The Duke has the
+housekeeper for partner and the Duchess the house-steward, while the
+aristocratic guests find partners among other <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114" />chiefs of departments in
+the Welbeck household.</p>
+
+<p>With midnight comes supper, served in two adjacent underground rooms,
+that owe their excavation to the grim hobby of the old Duke. All the
+festive party sit down to supper at the same time, the Duke's French
+chef providing the menu. The house-steward presides and proposes the
+health of the ducal family. This is welcomed in the manner it deserves
+and then dancing is resumed in the picture-gallery.</p>
+
+<p>On another evening the children on the Welbeck estate are invited to a
+party when the head of a giant Christmas-tree is reared in the centre of
+the ball-room, laden with toys for distribution to them, and the
+pleasures of the entertainment are varied with the tricks of a conjurer
+and ventriloquist. Thus is afforded a glimpse of the happy relations
+existing between the Portland family and their retainers.</p>
+
+<p>In the neighbourhood of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Cresswell, and the mining
+district between Mansfield and Worksop the Duchess is regarded as a
+Princess Bountiful in reality, rather than a creation of fairyland. Her
+visits to some of the homes of the miners are generally unexpected; for
+instance one Monday morning in the late autumn she rode up to the
+unpretending dwelling of a collier to enquire <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115" />about &quot;an old friend,&quot; as
+she called him, who had worked in Cresswell pits. A few years before he
+had met with an accident and injured his spine. The occurrence came to
+the ears of her Grace, who arranged for the patient to visit London to
+undergo an operation, which he did, with favourable results. A
+bath-chair was obtained for him and since then she had evinced
+sympathetic interest in his condition.</p>
+
+<p>As may well be imagined appeals to the Duchess's sympathies are made
+from all quarters. One day she is taking the chair at the annual meeting
+of the Children's Hospital at Nottingham. On another day the Nottingham
+Samaritan Hospital for Women is having her support in the opening of a
+bazaar in its aid.</p>
+
+<p>Not only suffering humanity, but suffering brute creation has found in
+her a sympathetic chord. The Bev. H. Russell, who is well known in the
+county for his efforts on behalf of the Royal Society for the Prevention
+of Cruelty to Animals, told two interesting stories of her Grace in her
+presence at the opening of the bazaar.</p>
+
+<p>A show of cab-horses and costermongers' donkeys was being held in
+Nottingham, when Mr. Russell called the attention of the Duchess to an
+old rag-and-bone dealer, who had won no prize, <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116" />but who was known to
+treat his donkey humanely.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What shall I give him?&quot; asked the Duchess.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Half a sovereign will be enough, I should think,&quot; replied the
+clergyman.</p>
+
+<p>She then handed the money to the man, but she had to borrow it though,
+&quot;and,&quot; added Mr. Russell, &quot;I do not know whether she ever paid it back
+but the result was the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When in Scotland once she found that a man with a cart-load of herrings
+had been using a piece of barbed wire to flog his horse with.</p>
+
+<p>He was taxed with the barbarity, but denied it.</p>
+
+<p>The Duchess thereupon walked back and found the wire. She and the Duke
+then bought up the horse, cart, harness, and herrings, rejecting the
+only worthless part of the lot&mdash;the man.</p>
+
+<p>Sandy's greed and Sandy's conscience were most likely on a par in their
+flinty qualities, and the dour Scot would be glad to bargain with the
+Duchess again on similar terms, eliminating the factor of
+humanitarianism.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion she is presiding at the annual meeting of the local
+branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at
+Grantham. &quot;Such meetings as these,&quot; she told her audience, &quot;are valuable
+because they call <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117" />attention to the cruelty which exists in such forms
+as the decrepit horse traffic, of which the general public has little or
+no knowledge. To be ignorant may save trouble; but if it makes us
+indifferent and lethargic with regard to suffering, when we ought to be
+helpers in the cause of humanity, the sooner we increase our knowledge
+the better we shall be able to stop this great evil and rouse public
+opinion on the valuable work done by the officers of the Society.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Again she is a visitor at Mansfield to distribute the prizes in
+connection with singing, needlework, and other competitions organized by
+the girls' clubs in the district. She spoke of these competitions as
+promoting a healthy spirit of rivalry, and promised to give a silver
+shield for proficiency in physical drill among girls.</p>
+
+<p>Her catholic spirit was evinced on her attendance one day early in
+February, 1907, at the Mikado Caf&eacute;, Nottingham, when the members of a
+Sunday afternoon Wesleyan Bible Class, numbering ninety men, assembled
+for dinner. She expressed her interest in the aims of the Bible Class
+and in all efforts for the encouragement of right living. A bouquet was
+presented to her from the members.</p>
+
+<p>The Duchess as a flower-seller was a delightful <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118" />attraction at a Church
+bazaar at Sutton-in-Ashfield, a town where there is considerable ducal
+property. In a graceful little speech declaring the bazaar open she
+said: &quot;I know you are all tired of bazaars and desirous of adopting some
+better method of collecting money, if such could be devised, but until
+some brilliant or practical mind finds such a way, you are forced to
+move in the old groove and repeat the same efforts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The story of borrowing half a sovereign is not the only
+well-authenticated instance of her Grace having to negotiate a loan in
+consequence of her liberal instincts having prompted her to outrun the
+resources of her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>After opening a bazaar for the Newark Hospital she passed round the
+stalls and made purchases freely, so that by the time she had made the
+round she had completely exhausted her purse. It was necessary that she
+should have enough to pay her railway fare to London, whither she wished
+to travel, and the honour of tending her the amount she wanted, fell to
+one of the stewards. The loan, I believe, was promptly repaid.</p>
+
+<p>A Court of exceptional, splendour was held by the King and Queen at
+Buckingham Palace in May, 1905, and as the then Mistress of the Robes,
+<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119" />the Duchess of Buccleugh, was unable to attend through being in
+mourning, her place was taken by the Duchess of Portland, none eclipsing
+her in that brilliant throng of English nobility. She wore a gown of
+ivory velvet, brocaded round the skirt with bouquets of flowers and
+trimmed with Italian lace and cream chiffon; the train of superb
+Brussels lace belonged to Marie Antoinette. Her jewels were diamonds,
+pearls and emeralds.</p>
+
+<p>A brilliant Chapter of the Garter was held in November, 1906, and was
+followed by a banquet. The regal appearance of the Duchess may be
+gathered from a description of her dress of cloudy white, embroidered
+with mother-of-pearl, a high diamond tiara on her dark hair and a
+magnificent bouquet of flowers, surrounded with a wealth of glittering
+diamonds on her corsage.</p>
+
+<p>Miss May Cavendish-Bentinck was married to Mr. John Ford on November
+3rd, 1906, when Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck made her appearance for
+the first time as a bridesmaid. Mr. Ford was secretary of the British
+Legation at Copenhagen and the bride was one of the Duke's cousins. Lady
+Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck, the Duke's only daughter, will probably be
+presented at Court next season.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" /><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120" />CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<p style='text-align: center;'>CLAIMS TO THE PORTLAND PEERAGE BY MRS. DRUCE AND MR. G.H. DRUCE.</p>
+
+
+<p>Full of romance as the Portland peerage was up to recent years, there is
+still another chapter to be added, in relating some of the statements
+made in connection with the claims put forward by Mrs. Druce and Mr.
+G.H. Druce to the honours and wealth of the Bentincks. It must be stated
+emphatically that there is no intention whatever to comment upon these
+claims or to prejudice their fair consideration, in the tribunals of the
+land. No literary sketch of the great House of Portland would be
+complete without it summarised the salient points in the Druce claims as
+they have appeared from time to time in newspaper reports and in the
+narratives of those who knew the fifth Duke in his lifetime. This
+compilation is intended to epitomise the history of the illustrious
+family of Bentinck in consecutive order of the events as they have
+occurred, in such a manner as is not found in any other publication; but
+in no way to influence opinion either on one side or <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121" />the other. It was
+in 1898 that public attention was called to the case, when Mrs. Druce
+set up a claim to the Portland peerage on behalf of her son.</p>
+
+<p>The ground on which it was based was that her father-in-law, Mr. Thomas
+Charles Druce, and the fifth Duke of Portland were one and the same
+person; that in fact the Duke had a double existence.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Druce was in a large way of business at the Baker-street Bazaar, an
+enterprise opened about 1834 or 1835, with a capital estimated at
+100,000<i>l</i>. At that time the Duke had not succeeded to his family
+estates, but was Marquis of Titchfield. It was known that he and his
+brothers had been successful in horse-racing and if, as Marquis, he
+could spare 100,000<i>l</i>. to open this London business, some indication is
+given of his winnings.</p>
+
+<p>In the construction of the Bazaar it was said that there was an
+underground passage leading from the back of the premises. By this means
+of ingress or egress Druce could appear in the midst of his shopmen when
+they least expected him and as suddenly vanish, possibly into an
+underground passage, which it was believed was no myth, leading from
+Baker-street to Harcourt House.</p>
+
+<p>While conducting this important business at Baker-street, Mr. Druce
+married in 1851 Annie May Berke<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122" />ley, daughter of the Earl of Berkeley.
+The Earl's marriage with this lady's mother had been disputed, and was
+held by the House of Lords to be illegal.</p>
+
+<p>That, however, has no bearing on the Portland romance, the question that
+arose in 1898 was whether the Duke, under the alias of T.C. Druce,
+married Miss Berkeley. The strange part of the contention is that Mr.
+Druce died, or there was a mock burial of his body in Highgate Cemetery,
+in 1864, whereas the Duke lived on till 1879. The allegation is that
+there was no death of that particular person in 1864, and that the
+coffin at the sham funeral was filled with lead or stones.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Druce had a residence at Holcolmbe House, Hendon, and it was here
+that he repaired to die.</p>
+
+<p>The funeral was on December 31st, 1864, and the vault was prepared in
+Highgate Cemetery. There was a stately hearse accompanied by six
+bearers. The coffin was noticed to be of enormous weight, and the
+strength of the men were taxed when their duties came to carrying and
+lowering it into the grave.</p>
+
+<p>From this circumstance arose a curious idea that it did not contain the
+body of Druce, who was not stout and heavy; but that it was filled with
+stones or lead. There were no burial certificates forthcoming, but the
+owners of the <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123" />cemetery accepted the coffin for burial.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Druce died there were two sons left of the alliance with Miss
+Berkeley, one of whom continued the Baker-street establishment.</p>
+
+<p>But what was the astonishment of some of the frequenters of the purlieus
+of Baker-street to see the man who was supposed to have been buried
+visiting the same haunts where they had seen him before.</p>
+
+<p>To have witnessed or heard of the funeral of a man, and then to meet
+that same man in his customary sphere of business afterwards, is of the
+nature of a ghost-story. &quot;What did the coffin in Highgate Cemetery
+contain?&quot; was the riddle.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Druce's husband was a son of the late Mr. T.C. Druce, and it was on
+behalf of her son that proceedings were commenced. She made an
+application to the Consistory Court for a faculty granting her power to
+have the coffin in Highgate Cemetery opened in order to see whether it
+contained a body or only some heavy substance such as lead.</p>
+
+<p>It was asserted that T.C. Druce had been seen alive some years after it
+was supposed that he had been buried; that he was identified as the Duke
+of Portland, and that there were persons cognisant of the fact that the
+Duke and Druce were one <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124" />and the same person before 1864. Dr. Tristram,
+the judge, granted the faculty, but notice of appeal was given to
+prevent the coffin being opened.</p>
+
+<p>The case then came before the Divisional Court, which ruled that the
+London Cemetery Company was right in resisting the order of Dr.
+Tristram, and that the grave could not be opened without the licence of
+the Home Secretary. The decision was in effect that Dr. Tristram had no
+jurisdiction to make such an order, except as conditional on the
+authority of the Home Secretary being obtained.</p>
+
+<p>At length the case reached the Court of Appeal in December, 1899, when
+Mrs. Druce made no appearance to support the faculty she had obtained,
+and the appeal was dismissed with costs against her.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the proceedings the statements of two or three persons
+who knew Mr. Druce were published in the Press.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hamilton's narrative was to the effect that from a girl she had
+known the same gentleman both as Mr. Druce and the Duke of Portland, her
+father, Mr. Robert Lennox Stuart, being a great friend of his from
+boyhood days, and, it was averred, distantly related. There were
+frequent visits both to Cavendish-square and to the Baker-street Bazaar,
+and on one occasion, about <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125" />1849, Mrs. Hamilton says she was taken by
+her father to Welbeck where they were met by Druce. Then, in 1851, her
+father attended the marriage of Druce and Annie May Berkeley. At length
+the time came when Druce determined to be dead to the outer world. &quot;I
+must die,&quot; he said to Mr. Stuart.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangements for the death were duly carried out and there ensued a
+sham burial, at which Mrs. Hamilton says her father was present.</p>
+
+<p>Two years passed away and Mrs. Hamilton was greatly astonished one day
+to see Mr. Druce enter the house where she and her father were staying.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I thought you were dead,&quot; she said na&iuml;vely.</p>
+
+<p>Druce was not well pleased at the remark and continued the conversation
+with her father.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion Druce took Mrs. Hamilton, then a girl, to Madame
+Tussaud's, at which her father was angry; he also gave her money for
+sweets and flowers.</p>
+
+<p>A great many transactions took place between her father and Druce
+relative to a lady whom they spoke of as &quot;Emmy,&quot; and who was eventually
+sent to France, by Druce, who gave her 5,000<i>l</i>. This was in 1876, and
+Mr. Stuart went to Welbeck to arrange for the departure with her two
+children. She died not long afterwards. The last <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126" />time that Mrs.
+Hamilton says she saw Druce was in 1876, when he called at her father's
+and complained of being unwell. He spoke of his visits to his old friend
+Stuart as being the happiest hours of his life. Some little time after
+the sham burial Mrs. Annie May Druce came to Mrs. Hamilton's father's
+house, and was introduced to Mrs. Hamilton as &quot;Mrs. Druce.&quot; Another
+statement was made by Mrs. F. M. Wright, nee Robinson, nee Weatherell,
+who said that when she was 20 years of age she lived near the
+Baker-street Bazaar, owned by Mr. T.C. Druce, and frequently saw that
+gentleman. After the supposed death and burial of Mr. Druce she saw him
+often, and in her mind he was identical with the Duke of Portland. As to
+her knowledge of the Duke her father was in the service of his Grace
+when she was a young girl, and she was familiar with his features. Mr.
+Druce had a large bump on the left side of his forehead, which appeared
+to have been caused by a blow. The Duke also had a bump, and in her
+opinion this resemblance was evidence that the owner of the Baker-street
+Bazaar and the Duke were one and the same person. While these statements
+were causing some amount of public interest there was a new development
+in this extraordinary case. The legal pro<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127" />ceedings commenced by Mrs.
+Druce were widely reported in the Press and accounts of them reached
+Australia, where they were read by a man pursuing the calling of a
+miner. His name is Mr. George Hollamby Druce, who put forward a prior
+claim to the Dukedom than that urged by Mrs. Druce on behalf of her son.</p>
+
+<p>His contention is that the Duke, as T.C. Druce, married in October,
+1816, Miss Elizabeth Crickmer, of Bury St. Edmunds, by whom he had a son
+named George. This youth took to a sea-faring life and eventually
+settled in Australia, where he had a son, namely Mr. George Hollamby
+Druce, whose claim to the title takes precedence of that set up by Mrs.
+Druce for the offspring of the second marriage with Annie May Berkeley.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the exhumation of the body appears to be involved in
+legal technicalities as to the ownership of the vault. At one time it
+was vested in the son of Mrs. Druce who commenced the litigation. Then
+there appeared this other claimant, Mr. George Hollamby Druce, and it is
+said that the present owner of the vault, Mr. Herbert Druce, is not in
+favour of complying with Mr. G.H. Druce's wish to open it, therefore the
+secret of the grave remains unrevealed.</p>
+
+<p>THE END</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><i>The Anchor Press, Ltd., Tiptree Heath, Essex.</i></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Portland Peerage Romance
+
+Author: Charles J. Archard
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2004 [EBook #14371]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES J. ARCHARD
+
+
+
+
+GREENING'S NEW NOVELS
+
+"The name =GREENING= on a book is a guarantee of excellence."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+RICHARD THE BRAZEN
+BY CYRUS BRADY AND EDWARD PEPLE
+
+THE TANGLED SKEIN
+BY THE BARONESS ORCZY. _18th Thousand. 6s._
+
+THE MASCOTTE OF PARK LANE
+BY LUCAS CLEEVE. _Third Edition. 6s_.
+
+THE DUPE
+BY GERALD BISS. _Second Edition. 6s._
+
+THE WOMAN FRIEND AND THE WIFE
+BY ETHEL HILL. _6s._
+
+THE PALM OIL RUFFIAN
+BY ANTHONY HAMILTON. _6s._
+
+AND THE MOOR GAVE UP ITS DEAD
+BY ERIC HARRISON. _6s._
+
+WHEN TERROR RULED
+BY MAY WYNNE. _3s. 6d._
+
+THE BISHOP'S EMERALDS
+BY HOUGHTON TOWNLEY.  _6s._
+
+
+
+
+THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES J. ARCHARD
+
+
+LONDON:
+GREENING & CO., LTD.
+1907
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+   I. THE FIRST BENTINCK A HERO                                      7
+
+  II. HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK.--A FEMININE
+      INTRIGUE                                                      22
+
+ III. THE FARMER DUKE--WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT--HIS HIGH-SPIRITED
+      SONS AND DAUGHTERS                                            33
+
+  IV. THE FARMER DUKE'S DAUGHTER AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS'
+      SPEAKER.--BECOMES A BENEVOLENT VISCOUNTESS                    38
+
+   V. EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF
+      PORTLAND.--THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE                        45
+
+  VI. LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S RACING CAREER.--QUARREL WITH HIS
+      COUSIN.--DUEL WITH SQUIRE OSBALDESTON.--"SURPLICE" WINS THE
+      DERBY AND ST. LEGER.--ATTEMPTS TO POISON THE
+      HORSE.--FRIENDSHIP WITH DISRAELI.--TRAGIC DEATH               49
+
+ VII. THE ECCENTRIC DUKE AND HIS UNDERGROUND TUNNELS                77
+
+VIII. THE PRESENT DUKE AND DUCHESS.--A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT          95
+
+  IX. THE DUKE AND DUCHESS AT HOME.--THE DUCHESS AS PRINCESS
+      BOUNTIFUL.--THE DUCHESS AT COURT                             114
+
+   X. CLAIMS TO THE PORTLAND PEERAGE BY MRS. DRUCE AND
+      MR. G.H. DRUCE                                               121
+
+
+
+
+THE PORTLAND PEERAGE ROMANCE
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE FIRST BENTINCK A HERO
+
+
+What a delightful story is that of the Portland peerage, in which
+fidelity, heroism, chivalry and romance are blended and interwoven in
+the annals of the noble families of England. Who that has been to
+Welbeck Abbey, that magnificent palace in the heart of Sherwood Forest,
+with its legends of Robin Hood and his merrie men, with its stately oaks
+and undulating woodlands, stretching away to fertile pastures, dotted
+over with prosperous farmsteads, as far as the eye can reach, does not
+feel interested in the fortunes of the noble owner; and who that has
+seen the Duke and Duchess on some festive occasion at Welbeck, moving to
+and fro among their thousand guests, a perfectly happy couple, in which
+the course of true love runs smooth, and whose supreme delight appears
+to be to spread happiness around them, is so churlish as not to wish
+them long life, as types of the English nobility it is a delight to
+honour?
+
+There is no affectation about this illustrious pair, the Duke never
+poses in relation to affairs of State, and the Duchess has a natural
+grace all her own, to which art can add no touch of dignity.
+
+Welbeck is now the home of peace and joy; but there have been times when
+its history has been shrouded in tragic mystery, and even to-day there
+is the Druce claim to give piquancy to its story.
+
+The family springs from the alliance of the Bentincks and the
+Cavendishes. Theirs is a telling motto: _Dominus providebit_ (The Lord
+will provide) was on the crest of the Bentincks, and it befitted a
+family not too richly endowed with this world's goods according to the
+position of the Dutch nobility 250 years ago; but being of sterling
+qualities devoted to the cause they espoused, their descendants have met
+with their reward. _Craignez honte_ (Fear disgrace) was another motto of
+the family, and the fear of dishonour has been a characteristic trait
+from the time when the first Bentinck set foot in England, till to-day.
+
+Before unfolding the drama of tragedy, love, and comedy of these later
+years let us go back to the tale of heroism surrounding the character of
+the first Bentinck to make a name for himself in this country.
+Englishmen are apt to forget the debt of gratitude owing to men of the
+past; had it not been for Hans William Bentinck this favoured land might
+still have been under the Stuart tyranny, and the scions of the House of
+Brunswick might never have occupied the Throne of Great Britain.
+
+James the Second had made an indifferent display of qualities as a
+ruler, and the nation was tired of a superstitious monarch who was
+fostering a condition of affairs which was turning England into a
+hot-bed of religious and political plots and counter-plots. James's
+daughter, Mary, had married William, Prince of Orange, who was invited
+to come and take his father-in-law's place as King of England. That
+invitation was extended in no uncertain way, and James having withdrawn
+to the continent left the vacancy for his son-in-law and daughter to
+fill.
+
+When William of Orange came over at the request of many of the nobility
+and influential commoners in this country there was in his train, Hans
+William Bentinck, who had previously been to England on a political
+mission for the Prince.
+
+Bentinck was of noble Batavian descent and served William as a page of
+honour. His family had its local habitation at Overyssel in the
+Netherlands and still is known there. At Welbeck a curious old chest,
+made of metal and carved, is one of his relics, for in it he brought
+over from Holland all his family plate and jewels.
+
+The Prince was delicate of constitution and his ailments made him
+passionate and fretful, though to the multitude he preserved a
+phlegmatic exterior.
+
+To Bentinck he confided his feelings of joy and grief, and the faithful
+courtier tended him with a devotion which deserves the conspicuous place
+given to it in English history.
+
+The Prince was in the prime of manhood when he was seized with a severe
+attack of small-pox. It was a time of anxiety, not only on account of
+the possible fatal termination of the disease, but in an age of plots,
+of the advantage that might be taken to bring about his end by means of
+poison or other foul play.
+
+It was Bentinck alone that fed the Prince and administered his medicine;
+it was Bentinck who helped him out of bed and laid him down again.
+
+"Whether Bentinck slept or not while I was ill," said William to an
+English courtier, "I know not. But this I know, that through sixteen
+days and nights, I never once called for anything but that Bentinck was
+instantly at my side." Such fidelity was remarkable; he risked his life
+for the Prince, who was not convalescent before Bentinck himself was
+attacked and had to totter home to bed. His illness was severe, but
+happily he recovered and once more took his place by William's side.
+
+"When an heir is born to Bentinck, he will live I hope," said the
+Prince, "to be as good a fellow as you are; and if I should have a son,
+our children will love each other, I hope, as we have done."
+
+It was about the time of the Prince's perilous voyage to England to
+fight, if need be, for the Throne, that he poured out his feelings to
+his friend. "My sufferings, my disquiet, are dreadful," he said, "I
+hardly see my way. Never in my life did I so much feel the need of God's
+guidance."
+
+At this time Bentinck's wife was seriously ill, and both Prince and
+subject were anxious about her. "God support you," wrote William, "and
+enable you to bear your part in a work on which, as far as human beings
+can see, the welfare of His Church depends."
+
+In November, 1688, the Prince landed in England, and with him was
+Bentinck, accompanied by a band of soldiery, called after his name, as
+part of the Dutch army. The Prince and his wife were eventually declared
+King and Queen, and Bentinck experienced substantial proof of the royal
+favour by being given the office of Groom of the Stole, and First
+Gentleman of the Bedchamber, with a salary of 5000l. a year. Not long
+after, in 1689, he was created Earl of Portland, and his other titles in
+the peerage were Baron Cirencester and Viscount Woodstock; he was also a
+Knight of the Garter and Privy Councillor. In 1689 he accompanied the
+King to Ireland and commanded a regiment of Horse Guards, taking part as
+a Lieutenant-General, in the battle of the Boyne, where his Dutch
+cavalry did effective service.
+
+He was again at the battle of Namur when William's forces were engaged
+in fighting the French for the liberties of Europe.
+
+That was in 1695, and in the same year the King once more gave evidence
+of the affection he bore for his favourite. "He had set his heart,"
+said Macaulay, "on placing the House of Bentinck on a level in wealth
+and dignity with the Houses of Howard and Seymour, of Russell and
+Cavendish. Some of the fairest hereditary domains of the Crown had been
+granted to Portland, not without murmuring on the part both of Whigs and
+Tories."
+
+It was perfectly natural that William should wish to requite his
+henchman with rich estates, and in doing so he was acting as other
+monarchs had done before him, and not upon such good grounds as the
+services rendered to the State by Bentinck.
+
+Jealousy was, however, aroused among the English nobility at the
+favouritism shown the Dutch newcomer, and it found strong expression
+when the King ordered the Lords of the Treasury to issue a warrant
+endowing Portland with an estate in Denbighshire worth 100,000l., the
+annual rent reserved to the Crown being only 6s. 8d. There were also
+royalties connected with this estate which Welshmen were opposed to
+alienating from the Crown and placing in the hands of a private subject.
+There was opposition to the grant in the House of Commons and an address
+was voted, asking the King to revoke it.
+
+Portland behaved with great magnanimity in the matter, his one chief
+desire appeared to be to avoid a quarrel between his royal friend and
+Parliament. Not many men would have had such self-abnegation as to
+renounce an estate estimated to be worth 6,000l. per annum, besides
+the product of royalties, when they had a King and a victorious army to
+support them in its possession. The Earl had saved the King's life, he
+had rendered invaluable services as a diplomatist and General in raising
+forces to fight for the cause of Protestantism; but for him the
+probabilities were that James would have retained possession of the
+Throne and that red ruin would have spread itself over the land. Surely
+he had won as great a reward as those of the nobility whose only
+recommendation was that they were the natural sons of royalty.
+
+To have refused this immense estate simply because he was the victim for
+the time being of racial jealousy is a rare and conspicuous instance in
+English history of self-sacrifice to honourable motives. His uprightness
+of character was again tried by the East India Company, who offered him
+a L50,000 bribe to exert his interest on behalf of that Corporation; but
+he was not to be tempted by the offer. It will be seen later how the
+great families, such as Cavendish, became allied with that of Bentinck
+when the pride of nationality had been reconciled.
+
+Once more in February, 1696, was Portland the means of saving the King's
+life, through the information he had received of a plot for his
+assassination by the Papists. The details of the scheme were eventually
+laid bare and the conspirators brought to justice.
+
+Few men have had a life so full of activity and importance to the State
+as this Hans William Bentinck. While the Ambassadors were tediously
+endeavouring at Ryswick to bring about peace between England and France
+and not making much progress, William took the unceremonious course of
+sending Portland to have an interview with Marshal Boufflers as
+representing Lewis. Both were soldiers and men of honour. The meeting
+took place at Hal, near Brussels, where their attendants were bidden to
+leave them alone in an orchard. "Here they walked up and down during two
+hours," says Macaulay, "and in that time did much more business than the
+plenipotentiaries at Ryswick were able to despatch in as many months."
+
+"It is odd," said Harley, "that while the Ambassadors are making war
+the Generals should be making peace." In the end the terms these two men
+negotiated were elaborated in the Treaty of Ryswick, which was the great
+instrument consolidating William on the Throne, wresting England from
+the Stuart ascendancy and completing the work of the Revolution.
+
+Such is an outline of the vicissitudes which this extraordinary man
+passed through in the course of his exciting career. He died in 1709 and
+was succeeded by his son.
+
+Henry, the second Earl, was Governor of Jamaica, and created Marquis of
+Titchfield and Duke of Portland in 1716.
+
+His death took place in 1726, and he too was succeeded by his son.
+
+William, second Duke, was a Knight of the Garter, as most of the other
+holders of the title have been, and he died in 1762. It was through his
+marriage with the grand-daughter of the Duke of Newcastle that the
+Bentincks became possessed of Welbeck.
+
+He was succeeded by his son, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, third
+Duke, K.G., who had been M.P. for Weobley. This Duke became Prime
+Minister of England in 1783, when a Coalition Government was in office.
+Again in 1807 he was Premier, and was at the head of the Ministry up to
+shortly before his death in 1809. Other positions held by him were
+Viceroy of Ireland, Secretary of State for the Home Department, 1794;
+Lord President of the Council, 1801; Chancellor of Oxford University;
+High Steward of Bristol and Lord Lieutenant of Notts.; he assumed the
+additional name of Cavendish by royal licence in 1801. He received his
+early education at Eton, but in after life declared that he got nothing
+out of Eton except a sound flogging. It was not claimed for the Duke
+that he was a man of brilliant attainments, but he was the soul of
+honour, and for this reputation and for his conciliatory disposition,
+was chosen to head the Government, which relied for its precarious
+existence on the reconciliation of the contending parties among the
+Whigs and Tories. He married the only daughter of the Duke of Devonshire
+and the male direct line continued in the succession of his eldest son.
+
+The fourth Duke was William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, who married
+Henrietta, eldest daughter of Major-General John Scott, a descendant of
+Balliol and Bruce, the heroes of Scottish history. There were four sons
+and six daughters of the marriage, the succession being continued by the
+second son. The fourth was known as the "Farmer Duke," and with his love
+of country presuits he lived to the ripe age of eighty-five, dying in
+1854.
+
+The most eccentric character in this ducal line was the fifth holder of
+the title, William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, born in 1800. He was
+M.P. for Lynn 1824-1826, and died in December, 1879. Of his
+extraordinary predilections more will be related in succeeding chapters.
+
+The sixth and present Duke is William John Arthur Charles James
+Cavendish-Bentinck, who was born on December 28th, 1857, and succeeded
+to the title in 1879. His elevation to the Dukedom is an example of the
+fortune of birth; the old and eccentric Duke died unmarried, or so it
+was assumed, and therefore his honours in the peerage passed to his
+second cousin.
+
+To trace the lineage of the present Duke we must go back to the third
+Duke, who had a third son (Lord William Charles Augustus). This third
+son, who was uncle of the eccentric Duke, had issue, Lieut.-General
+Arthur Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, the father of the present Duke, his
+mother being Elizabeth Sophia, daughter of Sir St. Vincent Hawkins
+Whitshed, Bart. The name of Scott was not part of his cognomen; he
+sprang from another branch in which there was no trace of the Scott
+element, and the name having been borne by two Dukes for a lady's
+fortune, there was no further obligation to continue it in connection
+with the Cavendish-Bentincks.
+
+The marriage of his Grace took place in 1889 to Winifred, only daughter
+of Thomas Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and their children
+are: William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born March 16th, 1893,
+Lady Victoria Alexandrina Violet, born 1890, and Lord Francis Norwen
+Dallas, born 1900.
+
+The Duke was formerly a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, then after
+succeeding to the title, he became Lieut-Colonel of the Honourable
+Artillery Company of London; he is also Hon. Colonel of the 1st
+Lanarkshire Volunteer Artillery, and 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters
+Derbyshire Regiment. He is Lord Lieutenant of Notts. and Caithness, and
+was Master of the Horse from 1886-1892 and 1895-1905. He is a family
+trustee of the British Museum, and is the patron of thirteen livings.
+The Portland estates comprise 180,000 acres, and his income is estimated
+at 160,000l. a year from them alone.
+
+Besides Welbeck Abbey, he has country seats at Fullarton House, Troon,
+Ayrshire; Langwell, Berriedale, Caithness; Bothal Castle,
+Northumberland, and a London residence at 3, Grovesnor Square.
+
+There are still descendants of the Hon. William Bentinck, eldest son, by
+the second marriage of the first Earl of Portland. The Hon. William was
+born in 1704 and created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1732.
+
+The vast fortune of the House of Portland has been built up in a
+remarkably short space of time, a little over 200 years, and no other
+great family has received so many honours and acquired such wealth in
+the same period. In the last century one of the Dukes held fourteen
+different public offices at the same time, while a younger son was Clerk
+of the Pipe, and a brother-in-law and nephew had 7,000l. per annum in
+official salaries; a daughter too was the recipient of a State pension
+for pin-money.
+
+One of the characteristic traits of the Bentincks has been that in
+founding the fortunes of the family in the past their scions were
+successful in capturing great heiresses. These brief genealogical
+details will help to explain future developments in the history of this
+noble family.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK,--A FEMININE INTRIGUE
+
+
+_Cherchez la femme_ is a French saying, which has somewhat of a cynical
+ring about it. The female hand has to be discovered in the family
+alliances of the Cavendishes and the Bentincks from which a tangle of
+intrigue may be unravelled. There was in the first instance that
+accomplished matchmaker, Bess Hardwick, a country squire's daughter, who
+was married four times, and from her sprang children and grandchildren
+with whom were intertwined the families of no less than five Dukes.
+
+To the north of the county of Nottingham, in the heart of England, is a
+rich and fertile tract of country known as "The Dukeries," once embraced
+by Sherwood Forest, and even now thickly wooded with magnificent oaks
+and presenting charming forest scenery.
+
+Its fastnesses were the home of the romantic Robin Hood and his
+"merrie" band of robbers, the subject of legend and adventure. To-day
+there are in this beautiful region, within two or three miles of each
+other, the seats of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey, the Duke of
+Newcastle at Clumber, the Earl Manvers (whose family formerly had the
+title of Duke of Kingston) at Thoresby, and Worksop Manor, formerly the
+seat of the Duke of Norfolk. It was this cluster of the homes of the
+nobility that gave it the name of "The Dukeries."
+
+Both Welbeck and Clumber belonged to the Dukes of Newcastle at one time;
+but to elucidate their settlement upon these vast estates and the
+subsequent division of the domains, through marriage, we must take up
+the thread of Bess Hardwick's machinations.
+
+She was the daughter of the Derbyshire squire of Hardwick, and in 1534
+was married, when she was only 14 years of age, to Robert Barley, of
+Barley, in the same county. It was not long before he passed over to the
+majority, leaving his fascinating widow with a substantial jointure on
+his property.
+
+For twelve years she was a widow, and then she was married to Sir
+William Cavendish, who himself had been married twice before.
+
+He was a Hertfordshire magnate, but the strong will of his new wife
+induced him to sell his estate in that county in order to provide money
+for another scheme she had in view. It was the ambitious one of
+purchasing Chatsworth and building the magnificent mansion which
+tourists from all parts of the world find so much delight in visiting. A
+house already existed at Chatsworth, but it was not pretentious enough
+for the squire's daughter, and she prevailed upon her husband to have it
+demolished. He had started to carry out her wishes when death overtook
+him, and Bess was a widow for the second time.
+
+The new house at Chatsworth was not finished; but she had a penchant for
+building, and continued the work after his death till its completion.
+There were three sons and three daughters of this marriage, concerning
+the future wedded lives of which there were deep schemes and plots.
+
+Another courtier fell beneath her wiles in Sir William St. Loe, Captain
+of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. He was so enamoured of her that he
+endowed her with his estates, and disinherited his own kinsfolk. Then he
+died, and Bess still went on conquering and to conquer.
+
+Her fourth husband was the great prize of all, as far as rank was
+concerned, for he was none other than George Talbot, sixth Earl of
+Shrewsbury, one of whose seats at that time was Worksop Manor.
+
+It was not Bess's way to accept a suitor without a bargain being made,
+having ulterior objects. The Earl had been married before, and had
+children, so that Bess insisted upon two other matrimonial matches
+before she would enter into the bonds of matrimony herself for the
+fourth time.
+
+The stipulation was that her daughter, Mary Cavendish, should marry the
+Earl's heir and his daughter was to marry her son. These alliances were
+duly entered into, and brought with them new honours and additional
+wealth. The building of Worksop Manor house had been commenced in the
+time of the first Earl of Shrewsbury, but was not finished when the new
+Countess became its mistress. Having built Chatsworth, here was another
+opportunity for her to display her genius in architecture, and under her
+direction it was completed, and became a sumptuous residence.
+
+The Earl must have been a nobleman of redoubtable and fearless
+disposition, or a courtier whose pliant will was easily moulded by
+accomplished and attractive women, else he would not have been involved
+in the feminine intrigues that he was.
+
+Not only had he his imperious wife to consider, but he was appointed
+custodian of Mary Queen of Scots when that unhappy personage was under
+the ban of Queen Elizabeth and was sent prisoner to Worksop Manor. She
+was kept strictly in durance vile, for the Earl was a rigid warder, and
+did not even allow her to walk in Sherwood Forest.
+
+There is a portrait of Bess of Hardwick in the collection of the Duke of
+Devonshire at Chatsworth. When Mary was in the custody of her husband
+Bess first fawned upon her royal prisoner; but a new matrimonial scheme
+filled her mind which led her to change her conduct into one of hatred.
+Bess had a grandchild, Lady Arabella Stuart, for whom she planned an
+alliance hostile to the Queen's interests, hence her smiles were turned
+to frowns.
+
+_En passant_ it may be said that the Manor went by marriage to the Dukes
+of Norfolk, who held it for generations and then sold it. Of Bess of
+Hardwick's building enterprises it may be added that she built Hardwick
+Hall, "more glass than wall" (according to an old rhyme), in 1587. The
+Earl died in 1590, and the Countess had another long widowhood of 17
+years. Her second son, William Cavendish, was created Baron Cavendish
+and his great-grandson Duke of Devonshire.
+
+Charles Cavendish was another son of this extraordinary woman, and he
+bought the Welbeck estate, towards the end of the sixteenth century,
+from two or three men of obscurity to whom it had passed, after Henry
+the Eighth had ordered the monastic establishment at the Abbey to be
+dissolved. His son became Baron Ogle and Viscount Mansfield, and
+subsequently Earl, Marquis and Duke of Newcastle in 1644.
+
+This nobleman was devoted to the fortunes of Charles I. and was a
+skilful General during the time of the Civil War. He also wrote a book
+on "Horsemanship," which was regarded as a remarkable production of its
+time, and he built a riding-school at Welbeck, where his theories in the
+training of horses could be carried into effect; but the structure has
+in recent years been devoted to other purposes, and a new and more
+spacious riding-school erected to take its place.
+
+The dukedom became extinct for want of male heirs, but his daughter,
+Lady Margaret Cavendish, married John Holies, Earl of Clare, who, in
+1691, obtained a further step in the peerage by the resuscitation of
+the dukedom, and once more there was a Duke of Newcastle.
+
+A valuable appointment by the Crown came in his way, for he was chosen
+Warden of Sherwood, with which office went the privilege of enclosing
+land at Clumber under the royal prerogative. Again there was no prospect
+of male heirs, so the Duke left the Clumber property to his sister's
+son, Thomas Lord Pelham, who traced his descent from Bess of Hardwick
+through the Pierrepoints (Earls Manvers). Thomas Pelham assumed the name
+of Holles, and was created Duke of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1715.
+
+But to return to the Duke who was Warden of Sherwood Forest; he had one
+daughter, Lady Henrietta Cavendish-Holles, who married Edward Harley,
+second Earl of Oxford. Their only daughter, Margaret, married William
+Bentinck, second Duke of Portland.
+
+Hers was a fortunate alliance for the Bentincks. She was a rich heiress,
+and the vast property at Welbeck and Bolsover belonging to her
+grandfather, John Holles, was her dowry. This was the first introduction
+of the Dutch family into Nottinghamshire in 1734.
+
+Having thus traced how this delightful domain passed by matrimonial
+intrigues into the possession of its present owner, it will be
+appropriate to glance at the ancient history of the Abbey and see how it
+has been transformed from its original state to what it now is by
+successive occupants, and especially by the eccentric fifth Duke.
+
+About the twelfth century a new religious order of monks came to settle
+in England. They were called Premonstratensians, and wore white cassocks
+and caps, by which they were known as white canons as distinguishing
+them from black canons, attired in more sombre garb. About 1140, one
+Thomas de Cuckney founded the Abbey at Welbeck, which was to become an
+important centre for the Order, as in 1515 there were no fewer than 35
+Premonstratensian monasteries in England, all subordinate in importance
+to Welbeck.
+
+Thomas de Cuckney was a _vir bellicosus_, and having built a castle at
+Cuckney, was a formidable subject during the troublous times of King
+Stephen's reign. John Hotham, Bishop of Ely, obtained possession of the
+Manor of Cuckney in the 14th century, and devoted its revenues to the
+Abbey, with an addition of eight canons to be supported from its wealth.
+
+Then came the edict of Henry VIII., which suppressed monasteries as
+being detrimental to the State. The abbots and their canons were
+dispersed, and their lands and property given to royal favourites.
+Richard Whalley obtained a grant of Welbeck from the King about 1539,
+and in succeeding generations others who held it were Osborne, Booth and
+Catterall, till it was purchased by Sir Charles Cavendish.
+
+This was at the beginning of the reign of James I., and Cavendish
+inheriting the predilections of his mother, Bess of Hardwick, set to
+work pulling down the old walls and transforming a house of religion
+into one for the pleasure of the Dukes that were to come of his family.
+In 1619, King James paid a visit to Welbeck, and Charles I. was
+entertained there, when "there was such excess in feasting as had
+scarcely ever been known in England," and Ben Jonson was present at the
+invitation of the Duke to enliven the festivities with his wit.
+
+The main portions of the abbey and the abbey church became merged in the
+new structure; but there are legendary stories that the bodies of the
+Cuckneys and the abbots remain entombed upon the site, and that their
+stone coffins form part of massive walls and hidden foundations.
+
+The remains of the ancient Abbey of St. James have been carefully
+preserved, and the arched ceilings of two or three apartments are
+interesting examples of the Gothic period. The Servants' Hall is a relic
+of the monastic buildings, and three other rooms adjacent are in the
+same style. There is a small doorway with Norman features of
+architecture, and some roomy vaults and parts of inner walls on which
+are the effigies of departed monks, indicating the original purpose of
+the great house as an ecclesiastical establishment.
+
+Bess of Hardwick had a hand in building part of the present mansion,
+when the domain came into the hands of her third son, Sir Charles
+Cavendish. Her design, bearing the date 1604, was on the foundations of
+the old abbey, and still another noble lady added her quota to its
+architecture. There is the Oxford wing built by the Countess of Oxford,
+whose daughter Margaret had Welbeck as her dower when she married into
+the Bentinck family. The Countess had the date 1734 affixed to the wing
+erected under her auspices. There is the Gothic Hall which was part of
+her design, and by some is regarded as a gem of its particular style of
+architecture, with an elegantly-adorned ceiling and fan tracery of
+stucco on basket-work. The carving is rich and over the fireplace are
+the Countess of Oxford's armorial bearings.
+
+A tradition exists that Bess acted under the spell of a fortune-teller
+who predicted that death would be relegated to the distant future so
+long as she kept on her building operations. It was in 1607 that her end
+came when her masons could not continue their labours owing to a severe
+frost, although the urgency of the task was such that they tried to mix
+their mortar with hot ale. It was a fight with the spectre of death and
+the spectre won the contest.
+
+She was immensely rich; but could not number a real friend in the world.
+Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, Bolsover and Worksop Manor were either
+built or partly built under her auspices. Lodge says: "She was a woman
+of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish, and
+unfeeling, a builder, a buyer and seller of estates, a money-lender, a
+farmer, and a merchant of lead and coals."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE FARMER DUKE--WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT--HIS HIGH-SPIRITED SONS AND
+DAUGHTERS
+
+The fourth Duke was known as the "Farmer Duke," from his love of
+agriculture and rural pursuits, though he was a D.C.L. and F.R.S. and
+possessed the feudal dignity of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex. His father
+had been Prime Minister; but the son made no effort to shine in politics
+and contented himself with developing the resources of his estates and
+adding to the wealth of his patrimony.
+
+He had the prescience to choose an heiress for his Duchess and went to
+Scotland for the purpose.
+
+Major-General John Scott of Balcomie, Fife, had three daughters, the
+eldest was known as "the rich Miss Scott," the second as "the witty Miss
+Scott," and the third as "the pretty Miss Scott." The Duke selected
+Henrietta, "the rich Miss Scott," who besides her wealth had coursing
+through her veins the blood of Balliol and Bruce, the chieftains of
+Highland chivalry.
+
+Having secured the hand of the heiress, he assumed by royal licence in
+1795, the additional surname of Scott.
+
+Well might the Duke be willing to couple that simple syllable with the
+patrician accents of Cavendish-Bentinck, for by his marriage with the
+Fifeshire heiress there came into the family an unexpected windfall of
+60,000l. Among the bride's possessions was an island in Scotland, and
+the Government of the day being desirous of improving the beacon-light,
+paid 60,000l, for the island and spent about half that sum in addition
+in erecting a new lighthouse.
+
+Their domestic life was happiness itself, neither was brilliant, but
+both were honoured by those among whom they lived. The Duchess
+interested herself in her husband's vast estates, as well as in her own,
+and in the domestic welfare of their dependants. For a long period she
+was a fitting companion for the Duke and pre-deceased him ten years, in
+May, 1844.
+
+Two of their sons developed some remarkable traits and two of the
+daughters became rich heiresses. The eldest son died young, which opened
+the way for Lord John to become Marquis of Titchfield and eventually
+fifth Duke of Portland of eccentric fame. The third was Lord George
+Bentinck, born on February 27th, 1802. Of the daughters, Lady Charlotte
+married Mr. Speaker Denison and became Viscountess Ossington and Lady
+Lucy married Lord Howard de Walden. Clipstone forms part of the Welbeck
+estate and with the Duke's practical knowledge of agriculture he ordered
+to be constructed an irrigation system by which he reclaimed thousands
+of acres of land, formerly rabbit-warrens and swamps, so that they
+became productive farms. The Duke's flood-dyke, and diversion of the
+little river Maun for the purposes of drainage, cost him L80,000. His
+weather-beaten coat and huge leather shoes, extending above the knees,
+were familiar to the labourers and were characteristic of the simple
+attire he wore when among them giving instructions as to the laying of
+his drainpipes.
+
+Many of the oaks on the Welbeck estate were transplanted thither under
+the fourth Duke's direction, a mechanical appliance being used for the
+purpose.
+
+One of the lodges in the park was occupied by a porter whose duty was to
+give beer, wine, bread and cake to any tramping man, woman or child who
+chose to call.
+
+The Farmer Duke was a lover of horses and racing, though there was
+nothing mercenary in his connection with the Turf, for he never betted.
+He took pride in rearing thoroughbred horses at Welbeck and had some of
+them trained by R. Prince at Newmarket. In the course of his career he
+had the satisfaction of winning the Derby in 1819 with Tiresias. It was
+his custom to ride a cob led by a groom, and for the purpose of watching
+the racing at Newmarket he had a structure placed on wheels which could
+be moved from point to point, where he could gain a better view of the
+running through a telescope.
+
+There is an anecdote of the Duke's agility when about eighty years old.
+He was about to undertake a long walk from Harcourt House; upon which
+the Ladies Charlotte and Lucy tried to persuade him to ride; but he
+declined and challenged them to a race. They went into the garden for
+the purpose and naturally Lady Charlotte won in high spirits.
+
+His death took place at Welbeck on March 27th, 1854, at half-past four
+in the afternoon, at the age of eighty-five years, having been born in
+London on June 24th, 1768. His remains were laid to rest in the family
+vault in the school of St. Mary at Bolsover, the funeral being
+conducted without pomp, as the executors were limited to an expenditure
+of L100. The obsequies were not attended by the Marquis, who had not
+been on friendly terms with his father.
+
+The venerable Duke was immensely rich, for not only had he the patrimony
+of the Bentincks; but by his marriage with Miss Scott, there was brought
+into the family another acquisition of wealth.
+
+He left his London property, so that if his son, the Marquis, had no
+male heirs, it should pass into the female line, which it did, and the
+first to inherit was the Viscountess Ossington.
+
+This London property was of fabulous value and included Portland-place,
+Cavendish-square, Wimpole-street, Harley-street, Wigmore-street, and
+other houses in the neighbourhood.
+
+Lady Ossington died before her sister, so all this wealth came to the
+Dowager Lady Howard de Walden, furnishing her with the splendid income
+of 180,000l. per annum.
+
+The stake in the Druce claim is not only the Dukedom of Portland and the
+entailed estates of the Bentincks in the male line; but in the female
+line too, including this dazzling dowry of 180,000l. a year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE FARMER DUKE'S DAUGHTER AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS' SPEAKER.--BECOMES A
+BENEVOLENT VISCOUNTESS
+
+
+_Place aux dames._ Before relating some of the incidents in the careers
+of the fourth Duke's high-spirited sons, the Marquis of Titchfield and
+Lord George Bentinck, place must be given to the social triumphs of his
+third daughter, Lady Charlotte Cavendish-Bentinck.
+
+With all the advantages that wealth and birth could give her among the
+proud aristocracy of England the love affairs of Lady Charlotte did not
+run smooth. Her lover was Mr. John Evelyn Denison of Ossington Hall,
+about twenty miles from Welbeck in the same county of Nottingham. That
+the young Squire--of well-born family though he was--should aspire to
+the hand of a Duke's daughter showed no want of spirit on his part. But
+after all he was only a Commoner, though he had in him the making of the
+First Commoner of England leading to a still higher elevation on the
+ladder of social distinction, until he became a peer of the realm, only
+three degrees lower in rank than the head of the Cavendish-Bentincks
+himself.
+
+The Farmer Duke, simple though his tastes were, did not view with
+pleasure the courtship of his daughter by the young Squire of Ossington.
+
+Lady Charlotte had mingling in her veins the blood of the highest
+nobility of three nations. The Cavendishes were among the flower of
+English chivalry, the Bentincks were renowned in Holland and the Scotts
+traced their lineage from the pride of Scotland.
+
+The Duke could not bring himself all at once to give Lady Charlotte away
+to one who had no title.
+
+She was a little over twenty years of age and when her father refused to
+hear of the suit of John Evelyn Denison she shed many tears in the
+presence of her maid. Life to her at this time was by no means so full
+of sunshine as is usually supposed to be the good fortune of Duke's
+daughters.
+
+At length Lady Charlotte expressed her intention of eloping with Mr.
+Denison, and at the prospect of indirectly creating a sensation in high
+life the Farmer Duke relented.
+
+Lady Charlotte's marriage was her first triumph. Her next was when her
+husband rose to be Speaker of the House of Commons in 1857 and she
+herself one of the most important personages at the Court of Queen
+Victoria.
+
+She had become rich and influential, so that when her husband retired
+from the Speakership he was in a position to tell the Government of the
+day that he did not intend to take the pension of L5000 a year, to which
+he was entitled as an ex-Speaker. His refusal was couched in the
+following words:--"Though without any pretensions to wealth, I have a
+private fortune which will suffice, and for the few years of life that
+remain to me I shall be happier in the feeling that I am not a burden to
+my fellow-countrymen."
+
+Such self-abnegation is not characteristic of many men. On being
+elevated to the House of Lords he took the title of Viscount Ossington
+(after the village of Ossington in Notts, which was his ancestral home)
+and Lady Charlotte was henceforth known as the Viscountess Ossington.
+
+It was a step downward in rank for her, as her marriage with a Commoner
+did not degrade her to his status. As a Duke's daughter she was still
+Lady Charlotte and took precedence of Marchionesses, Countesses, and
+Viscountesses in the etiquette of royal courts and drawing-rooms.
+
+When her husband became a peer she had to take his rank, and it was one
+of those indefinable sacrifices associated with noble birth, that, as a
+Viscountess, she had to give precedence to the wives of Marquises and
+Earls.
+
+To one who had filled so high a position as Lady Ossington had done in
+political and social life the descent in status involved by the adoption
+of the new title was not of much moment. She had been honoured by
+royalty and had done the honours to royalty, she had tasted all the
+pleasures that aristocratic Society could provide.
+
+Like her brother, the eccentric Duke, Lady Ossington spent large sums of
+money, intended, directly or indirectly, to benefit the wage-earning
+classes.
+
+In a spirit of philanthropy she built a coffee palace at Newark, Notts,
+a town nine miles from Ossington, at a cost of over L20,000. Her object
+was to provide a hostel where travellers of humble means could find
+accommodation for the night, at charges within their means, and that it
+should be a centre of meeting for Friendly Societies and other bodies in
+their business and social gatherings. The profits of the establishment
+she directed to be paid to the hospital.
+
+Another coffee palace on similar lines she erected in Marylebone,
+London, involving an outlay of several thousands.
+
+South African colonization found in her a sympathetic patroness in days
+when South Africa was little more than a name to the large majority of
+Englishmen. At her expense in 1886 a party of twenty-four families was
+sent to the Wolseley settlement, an estate acquired by purchase, about
+seventeen miles from King William's Town, where full preparations for
+their reception had been made by a committee. Within two years and
+a-half the settlement was closed, the cheapness of untaxed drink having
+changed the settlers from abstainers into drunkards.
+
+The Viscountess was not daunted by this failure to realise her hopes,
+and in 1888 another attempt at colonization was made under her auspices.
+Twenty-five families, mostly from Hampshire, sailed for the Cape and
+formed a new settlement, called by the name of the poet Tennyson. This
+time the experience of the past was a warning, the enterprise was
+attended by fairer prospects of success and before her death she had
+the gratification of knowing that the settlers were contented and happy.
+
+Another of the Duke's daughters was the Dowager Lady Howard de Walden,
+who became immensely rich on the death of Lady Ossington. Their father
+had so willed it that if the fifth Duke died without male heirs the
+London property was to pass to his daughters. Lady Ossington had no
+children and her rich dowry passed to her sister, who thereby had a
+double portion. Ossington Hall, after having been for so many years the
+home of a Duke's daughter, reverted to the Denison family.
+
+From allusions made by Lord George Bentinck to his friends, when he had
+lost heavily on the turf, it was understood that his mother and sisters,
+especially Lady Charlotte, were always ready to help him over his
+difficulties. It is surmised that they knew more of his secrets and of
+the secrets of the Marquis of Titchfield than the old Farmer Duke who
+frowned upon betting transactions and was not known to have been
+involved in the excitements of a duel and gallantries to actresses, not
+to mention a nebulous secondary existence as Thomas Druce.
+
+Ossington is within easy carriage distance of Welbeck, but the
+eccentric brother rarely saw his sister and the latter was astonished at
+the transformation of the Abbey and grounds brought about by him. Before
+the alteration of her ancestral home she made an interesting sketch of
+it, as it was in her father's lifetime.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF
+PORTLAND.--THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE
+
+
+Lord John Bentinck was born in September 1800, the second son of the
+fourth Duke. His name in its extended form was William John
+Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, and for many years, till the death of his
+brother Henry, he had no prospect of succeeding to the Dukedom. At
+nineteen he was a lieutenant in the army, and in 1824 was returned as
+Member of Parliament for King's Lynn; but the duties of a legislator do
+not seem to have been much to his taste and he resigned in 1826, his
+brother, Lord George Bentinck, being elected to take his place.
+
+The fourth Duke kept a large stud of race-horses and Lord John was
+brought up in the atmosphere of the turf. When a young man he was a
+horseman, fearless and even reckless in his equestrian exploits. There
+used to be a gate six feet high at Serlby Hall, the seat of Viscount
+Galway, which it was said he had jumped one day when hunting.
+
+The three brothers, Henry, John and George, formed a racing partnership
+under the name of "Mr. Bowes" and were for a time successful in their
+enterprise, their transactions bringing in considerable sums of money.
+
+The death of the eldest, Henry, in 1824 transformed Lord John into
+Marquis of Titchfield, heir to the Dukedom and enormous estates of the
+House of Portland.
+
+With all his splendid advantages of birth and fortune he does not appear
+to have sought for a wife among the aristocratic families of the land,
+and it is said that he only made one offer of marriage in his life; at
+least that was known to his friends. This was to Miss Adelaide Kemble,
+the celebrated actress.
+
+The tempting proposal was probably made some time between June and
+October, 1834, when the lady was twenty-five years of age and the
+Marquis thirty-four.
+
+Judge of his astonishment when she had to confess to him that it was
+impossible for her to accept his offer as she was already secretly
+married.
+
+She was at the height of her popularity on the stage, having achieved a
+splendid triumph in redeeming the fallen fortunes of her family, and
+though married to another, she cherished kindly remembrances of the
+noble suitor who made her the proud offer of a ducal coronet.
+
+In reading the "Records" of Fanny Kemble (Adelaide's sister), it is
+impossible not to be struck with her high ideals and lofty sentiments.
+Now and then there is an allusion to the Marquis, which shows him in a
+welcome light and how delicate were his attentions.
+
+On December 1st, 1842, writing to "My dearest Harriet," she says:--"Lord
+Titchfield, who was here yesterday, begged me to ascertain from you
+whether it is only my bust that you desire, or whether you would like to
+have casts from my father's and from the two of Adelaide. Write me word,
+dear, that the magnificent Marquis may fulfil your wishes, which he is
+only waiting to know in order to send the one or the four heads to you
+in Ireland."
+
+Then in a note she explains:--"The Marquis of Titchfield was employing
+the French sculptor, Dantan, to make busts of my father, my sister, and
+myself, for him, and most kindly gave me casts of them all, and sent my
+friend, Miss St. Leger, a cast of mine."
+
+On January 6th, 1843, there is another letter to "Dearest Hal,"
+containing the following allusion:--"I have sent your wishes to Lord
+Titchfield, and I am sure they will be quickly complied with. I have no
+idea that he means otherwise than to give you my bust; any other species
+of transaction being apparently quite out of his line, and giving his
+especial gift. I have, nevertheless, taken pains to make clear to him
+your intentions in the matter; I have desired him to have the bust
+forwarded to the care of Mr. Green, because I thought you would easily
+find means of transporting it thence to Ardgillan. Was this right?"
+
+"Blessings on Lord Titchfield" invokes Fanny Kemble, in a letter dated
+from Liverpool, May 4th, 1843:--"I wrote to you last thing last night,
+dearest Hal, and now farewell! I have received a better account of my
+father. Dear love to Dorothy, and my last dear love to you. I shall
+write and send no more loves to anyone. Lord Titchfield--blessings on
+him!--has sent me a miniature of my father and four different ones of
+Adelaide, God bless you, dear. Good-bye."
+
+This was not the character of an ogre, and though their marriage could
+not be, Fanny Kemble evidently thought well of the man, who years
+afterwards, it was alleged, was leading a double life at this time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S RACING CAREER.--QUARREL WITH HIS COUSIN.--DUEL
+WITH SQUIRE OSBALDESTON.--"SURPLICE" WINS THE DERBY AND ST.
+LEGER.--ATTEMPTS TO POISON THE HORSE.--FRIENDSHIP WITH DISRAELI.--TRAGIC
+DEATH
+
+
+One of the great sensations in the middle of the nineteenth century was
+the mysterious death of Lord George Bentinck, who for many years was the
+prince of the turf, but who sold his race-horses in order to give more
+attention to politics and the spread of Protectionist principles, of
+which he was the leading exponent at that time.
+
+Lord George was born in February 1802, the third son of the Farmer Duke;
+his elder brother, the Marquis of Titchfield, being that eccentric
+personage who succeeded to the Dukedom.
+
+After going through the Eton College course and becoming an officer in
+the Lancers and Life Guards, Lord George took the seat vacated by the
+Marquis, as M.P. for King's Lynn, in 1826. His life was curiously
+intermingled with all sorts and conditions of men. Having the hereditary
+instincts of his family he was a keen votary of the turf and daring
+early manhood had a partnership with his brother, the Marquis, in the
+ownership of race-horses, and it was said that at a later time they were
+both enamoured of Miss Annie May Berkeley, who was the cause of a
+quarrel between them.
+
+That he was a nobleman of high spirits is evident from the strenuousness
+with which he lived his short life.
+
+Lord George lost heavily by backing horses for the St. Leger of 1826;
+the amount was shown to be L30,000, which his mother and sister (Lady
+Charlotte) helped him to meet. The old Duke, his father, was too
+cautious to bet, and in order to induce his son to settle down to
+country pursuits he bought him an estate at Muirkirk, Ayrshire; but the
+life of a farmer did not suit Lord George for long and he was soon
+exploiting in horse-racing again, so that in 1833 he was a heavy loser
+at Goodwood.
+
+He formed studs at Doncaster, Goodwood and Danebury, and at various
+times his horses were run in the name of Mr. John Bowe, a publican, Mr.
+King, the Duke of Richmond, and John Day.
+
+Lord George and his cousin, Mr. Charles Greville, were great friends
+and partners in racing affairs for a time; but both were self-willed and
+quarrelled, never to heal up their differences.
+
+In the intricacies of their partnership in horses Lord George became the
+owner of a mare called Preserve, who gained a great reputation about the
+year 1834.
+
+At the Newmarket meeting there was an attempt to wear down her spirit by
+false starts, upon which Lord George visited his anger upon his cousin,
+whom he held responsible.
+
+Years afterwards an attempt was made by Colonel Anson to bring about a
+reconciliation; but Lord George said he would not have anything to do
+with "the fellow."
+
+A great stroke was made in 1836 when Lord George won the St. Leger with
+Elis, it was the first time a horse was conveyed in a van from his
+training-stable to a race-course.
+
+A specially-constructed vehicle was made and caused consternation among
+old trainers when they found out the secret of the horse's mode of
+travelling. Elis was fresh for the race, his advent had been kept a
+secret, and Lord George won a large sum, one bet being L12,000 to
+L1,000.
+
+The sensational duel between Lord George and Squire Osbaldeston has
+passed into the history of racing.
+
+It was 1836, but had its origin in events occurring in 1835. Heaton Park
+races, near Manchester, attracted a large number of aristocratic
+jockeys, and Squire Osbaldeston got it into his head that the handicaps
+were so adjusted as to give the immediate friends of Lord Wilton an
+advantage.
+
+So the Squire laid himself out to be even with the Wilton party, and
+when at Doncaster, for the St. Leger, discovered a horse called Rush
+with powers of running unknown to the sporting clique he desired to
+circumvent.
+
+The Squire mounted Rush himself and rode him over the St. Leger course,
+having a mare belonging to Marson the trainer to make the running.
+Finding that the colt could easily beat, Squire Osbaldeston held him in
+so that the mare finished the trial a considerable distance in advance.
+
+Rush was consequently given the benefit of the handicapping at Heaton
+Park and was backed heavily for the cup by the Squire, whose
+commissioner was ready to meet the Lord Wilton party in any bets they
+thought well to lay against the colt.
+
+"Two hundred to one against Rush" shouted Lord George Bentinck as
+Squire Osbaldeston was riding Rush at walking pace past the stand to the
+starting-post just before the race.
+
+"Done," replied the Squire.
+
+The loud tones of the two men were such as to attract particular notice
+and the sequel was an exciting one.
+
+The race was brought off and the Squire on Rush won with ease. Then
+followed a storm of argument as to how and why and wherefore had Rush's
+powers, so greatly deprecated beforehand, developed to such an extent as
+to leave all competitors behind.
+
+Another victory was achieved by Rush next day and Squire Osbaldeston
+having defeated the Wilton clique on the race-course betook himself
+hunting.
+
+Some months elapsed before the next scene was enacted. Lord George had
+not settled the bet, and whether he intended to do so or not is an open
+question. Probably the Squire had not asked him for settlement till the
+Spring of 1836, when they were brought into contact with each other at
+the Craven race-meeting.
+
+"My Lord," said the Squire, "May I ask you for the L200 I won from you?
+You have had time to get over your beating."
+
+"I'm surprised you should ask for the money," replied Lord George, "the
+affair was robbery; but can you count?"
+
+The Squire rejoined something to the effect that he could count when he
+was at Eton, and Lord George then counted out a number of banknotes into
+Osbaldeston's hand.
+
+"It will not end here, Lord George," said the Squire in high dudgeon.
+
+The conversation was at the entrance to the rooms of the Jockey Club,
+and shortly after it had taken place the Squire sent a second to demand
+an apology, or that Lord George would fight a duel. The challenge was
+declined, but the fiery Squire returned to the charge.
+
+"I will pull your nose the next time I see you," was the message he sent
+to his Lordship, who had no alternative but to meet in a duel or to be
+subjected to continuous annoyance from the doughty Osbaldeston.
+
+Colonel Anson was named as Lord George's second and the meeting-place
+was at Wormwood Scrubs at six a.m. The weapons were pistols and the
+antagonists stood twelve steps apart.
+
+The Squire was a real country sportsman, a fine horseman and a dead
+shot, his skill with the pistol was such that he could kill pigeons
+flying and rarely missed, whereas the elegant Lord George was more at
+home in the boudoir and was unaccustomed to pistol-practice. Osbaldeston
+had given it out that he would put a bullet through his opponent, which
+was a rumour not pleasant to reach Lord George's ears.
+
+It was through the finesse of Colonel Anson that the affair ended as it
+did. By agreement he was to count up to three and when he called the
+last number both men were to fire.
+
+"One" was uttered with great deliberation.
+
+"Two, three" the Colonel called out in rapid succession, so that the
+Squire was taken unawares and his shot went an inch or two above Lord
+George's hair, piercing his hat.
+
+As for Lord George he fired skywards and so the duel ended.
+
+Colonel Anson and Lord George were friends for life, and years
+afterwards the quarrel with the Squire was so far made up that Lord
+George invited him to see his horses in training at Danebury. For the
+greater part of the period between 1830 and 1846 he was regarded as the
+Dictator of the Turf.
+
+In 1841 he removed his stables from Danebury to Goodwood where his
+friend, the Duke of Richmond, allowed him every facility on his estate
+for training horses.
+
+To his honour, be it said, he exercised a powerful influence in
+endeavouring to rid horse-racing of some of its worst features, and
+incurred the hostility of the cheats and rogues which have at all times
+been associated with it.
+
+Finding that a check was being put upon their operations, the welshing
+fraternity assumed a virtuous attitude and actually put into operation
+an old statute passed in the reign of Queen Anne, which enabled any
+private informer to sue and recover treble the amount of a bet made over
+and above L10. Six writs were served upon Lord George and six upon his
+partner, Mr. Bowes, in the year 1843, but the plantiff failed to prove
+the making of the bets and it is obvious that the statute was
+unworkable. The attempt to put it into force merely shows the condition
+of racing at the time and the opposition which men who were honourable
+in their motives had to meet with in their efforts to guard it against
+reproach, as far as their sporting instincts allowed them.
+
+In 1844 Lord George had as many as thirty-eight horses running in races,
+and his estimated expenses in 1845 for sixty horses in training were
+about L40,000, while, the value of the stakes was about L18,000, so that
+to make racing pay he had to rely upon the success of his betting
+transactions.
+
+Disraeli called him the "Lord Paramount of the British Turf," which well
+described his ascendency at the time.
+
+Notwithstanding the magnitude of his bets, Lord George was always cool
+in temperament while other men who, though they might be quite able to
+stand a loss, were full of nervous excitement when only a small sum was
+risked.
+
+He kept on terms of affection with his mother and sisters and he could
+always rely upon the Duchess for help when his racing extravagances had
+led him too far.
+
+Lord George was over six feet in stature and his figure was handsome and
+distinguished. His style of dress was according to the best canons of
+fashion, elegant and fastidious. A long gold chain was looped upon the
+breast of his waistcoat and with it he wore costly jewels. He had a new
+satin scarf of cream colour every day, although the cost of each was
+about a sovereign.
+
+A frock coat and tall beaver hat completed his costume. His race-course
+attire consisted of a green coat, top boots and buckskin breeches.
+
+When in Nottinghamshire he used to hunt with the Bufford hounds and kept
+his hunters at Welbeck.
+
+He was a Freemason, though he does not appear to have had time from his
+devotion to politics and racing to take any high position in the Order.
+As to some of his personal habits it may be said that he was not a
+smoker; but he drank four glasses of wine at dinner-time.
+
+The figure of Lord George has been described by his friend Benjamin
+Disraeli, afterwards Earl of Beaconsfield, in a few striking sentences
+thus: "Nature had clothed this vehement spirit with a material form
+which was in perfect harmony with its noble and commanding character. He
+was tall and remarkable for his presence; his countenance almost a model
+of manly beauty; the face oval, the complexion clear and mantling; the
+forehead lofty and white; the nose aquiline and delicately moulded; the
+upper lip short. But it was in the dark brown eye that flashed with
+piercing scrutiny that all the character of the man came forth; a
+brilliant glance, not soft, but ardent, acute, imperious, incapable of
+deception or of being deceived."
+
+He was a dandy rivalling d'Orsay, his cravats made other young men of
+his time envious, and his suits were in the highest style of taste. They
+were indeed works of art worthy of the genius of Beau Brummell. As for
+the House of Commons, until he turned serious politician, he treated
+that old-fashioned assembly with haughty indifference, and when he was
+pressed to record his vote in party division he entered the House on
+more than one occasion at a late hour, "clad in a white great-coat,
+which softened, but did not conceal, the scarlet hunting coat beneath
+it."
+
+He was a breeder and backer of horses for twenty years, and the
+recklessness of his wagers staggered the gamblers of his time.
+
+The training of race-horses was brought to a fine art in his day. It had
+been the custom for owners to send their horses to and fro between
+Newmarket, Epsom and Doncaster along the high-ways, with the result
+that although the road hardened their muscles, it militated against
+their speed.
+
+Lord George raised a protest from some of the old-time patrons of the
+turf by introducing an innovation in the construction of a large van in
+which they could travel calmly, without fatigue, these long distances to
+various parts of England.
+
+It was the precursor of railway travelling then coming into vogue, for
+Lord George foresaw that the railways would revolutionize racing and
+enormously increase the votaries of the turf.
+
+After having sat in the House of Commons for 18 years, and taking little
+interest in the proceedings, Lord George, about 1844, suddenly attracted
+attention by his attacks on Sir Robert Peel and the Free Traders. He
+showed an aptitude for Parliamentary business that he had not been
+credited with in racing circles in which he had held such a leading
+position. His absorption in politics, which had newly aroused his
+interest, led him to dispose of his race-horses.
+
+"In the autumn of this year (1846) at Goodwood races," says Disraeli,
+"the sporting world was astonished by hearing that Lord George Bentinck
+had parted with his racing stud at an almost nominal price. Lord George
+was present, as was his custom, at this meeting held in the demesne of
+one who was among his dearest friends. Lord George was not only present,
+but apparently absorbed in the sport, and his horses were very
+successful. The world has hardly done justice to the great sacrifice
+which he made on this occasion to a high sense of duty. He not only
+parted with the finest racing stud in England, but he parted with it at
+a moment when its prospects were never so brilliant; and he knew this
+well.
+
+"He could scarcely have quitted the turf that day without a pang. He had
+become the Lord Paramount of that strange world, so difficult to sway,
+and which requires, for its government, both a stern resolve and a
+courtly breeding. He had them both; and though the black-leg might quail
+before the awful scrutiny of his piercing eye, there never was a man so
+scrupulously polite to his inferiors as Lord George Bentinck. The turf,
+too, was not merely the scene of the triumphs of his stud and his
+betting-book. He had purified its practice and had elevated its
+character, and he was prouder of this achievement than of any other
+connected with his sporting life. Notwithstanding his mighty stakes,
+and the keenness with which he backed his opinion, no one perhaps ever
+cared less for money. His habits were severely simple, and he was the
+most generous of men. He valued the acquisition of money on the turf,
+because there it was the test of success. He counted his thousands after
+a great race, as a victorious general counts his cannon and his
+prisoners."
+
+Up to the time that he developed a new interest in politics, his great
+ambition in life had been for one of his horses to win the Derby. And
+one of the horses that he had owned did win it; but to his chagrin it
+was no longer his property. That horse was Surplice, the winner in the
+year 1848; but Lord George had disposed of it with his stud in 1846.
+
+Under any circumstances and whatever the prospects of political success
+which opened up in Lord George's mind, his decision to dispose of his
+stud must have caused him a pang as it created a sensation among all who
+were attracted towards turf doings.
+
+There were two horses in Lord George's stables, which, if he could have
+laid claim to the powers of divination would have kept him still "Lord
+Paramount of the Turf." They were the yearlings Surplice and Loadstone,
+and both were destined to make historic names in the classic races.
+
+But the die was cast and the immense establishment which his friend the
+Duke of Richmond permitted him to keep on the Goodwood estate was sold.
+
+There were no fewer than 208 thoroughbreds, which all passed into the
+hands of the Hon. E. M.L. Mostyn, for the small sum of L10,000.
+
+This was in August, 1846, and the light-blue jacket and white cap of
+Lord George Bentinck were to be seen no more on a race-course.
+
+The stables had been on such an immense scale that the responsibility
+was too much for one man to undertake, so that the monetary interest was
+divided, and two or three turf celebrities of the day entered into
+partnership, which accounts for the fact that when Surplice ran in the
+Derby of 1848 he was entered in Lord Clifden's name.
+
+From that time to this the career of Surplice has always been of
+interest to racing men. His trainer was John Kent, who faithfully
+discharged his duty in guarding the horse from the machinations of
+unscrupulous loafers and touts.
+
+There was a dead set against the horse. He was naturally a lazy runner
+and took a great deal of skill to ride. All sorts of rumours were
+started about him; that he was not well, that he was lame and that he
+was not the equal of Loadstone, although from the same stable. Up and
+down went the betting respecting Surplice until the market was in such a
+state that it was to the interest of an unscrupulous gang to poison or
+lame him.
+
+Detectives, policemen, trainer and stablemen had to watch him night and
+day and the excitement waxed intense as the date of the Derby drew near.
+When the horse was taken from Goodwood to Epsom and from the stable to
+the course a crowd of horsemen and pedestrians dogged his steps.
+
+Fortunately, with all the precaution taken, Surplice was got into the
+paddock in fit condition. His jockey was Sim Templeman and after a
+severe contest Surplice won, there being a neck between him and Springy
+Jack, while Loadstone was well beaten, to the chagrin of those who had
+tried to set him off against the better horse Surplice.
+
+The result of the race was L11,000 to the credit of Lord George; but
+this was nothing compared with his regret that he had not continued the
+owner of his racing-stud, so that he might have had the honour of
+winning the Derby in his own name, instead of seeing a horse that he had
+bred win it in the name of another.
+
+Then came the St. Leger of 1848, and Surplice was again the winner, with
+further pangs for Lord George. Barely does the same horse win both the
+Derby and the St. Leger, and proud indeed is the owner who can carry off
+the blue ribbon of the turf and the St. Leger too. The stars in their
+courses seemed to be against Lord George at this time.
+
+This is how Disraeli relates the effect the Derby had upon his hero:--
+
+"A few days before, it was the day after the Derby, May 25th, 1848, the
+writer (Disraeli) met Lord George Bentinck in the Library of the House
+of Commons. He was standing before the book-shelves with a volume in his
+hand, and his countenance was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in
+favour of the colonial interest, after all his labours, had been
+negatived by the committee on the 22nd, and on the 24th, his horse,
+Surplice, which he had parted with among the rest of the stud, solely
+that he might pursue without distraction his labours on behalf of the
+great interests of the country, had won that paramount and Olympian
+stake, to gain which had been the object of his life. He had nothing to
+console him, and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that
+deserted him before a heart which he knew at least could yield him
+sympathy. He gave a sort of superb groan:
+
+"'All my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I
+sacrificed it?' he murmured.
+
+"It was in vain to offer solace.'
+
+"'You do not know what the Derby is,' he moaned out.
+
+"'Yes I do, it is the blue ribbon of the turf.'
+
+"'It is the blue ribbon of the turf,' he slowly repeated to himself, and
+sitting down at the table he buried himself in a folio of statistics."
+
+In a personal allusion to the arduous political labours of Lord George
+Bentinck, Disraeli says: "What was not his least remarkable trait, is
+that although he only breakfasted on dry toast, he took no sustenance
+all this time, dining at White's at half-past two o'clock in the
+morning. After his severe attack of influenza he broke through this
+habit a little during the last few months of his life, moved by the
+advice of his physician and the instance of his friends. The writer of
+these observations prevailed upon him a little the last year to fall
+into the easy habit of dining at Bellamy's, which saves much time and
+permits the transaction of business in conversation with a congenial
+friend. But he grudged it; he always thought that something would be
+said or done in his absence, which would not have occurred had he been
+there; some motion whisked through or some return altered. His principle
+was that a member should never be absent from his seat."
+
+Disraeli thus describes the last farewell he took of Lord George and his
+tragic death a few days afterwards:
+
+"He goes to his native county and his father's proud domain, to breathe
+the air of his boyhood and move amid the parks and meads of his youth.
+Every breeze will bear health, and the sight of every hallowed haunt
+will stimulate his pulse. He is scarcely older than Julius Caesar when he
+commenced his public career, he looks as high and brave, and he springs
+from a long-lived race.
+
+"He stood upon the perron of Harcourt House, the last of the great
+hotels of an age of stately manners, with its wings and courtyard, and
+carriage portal, and huge outward walls. He put forth his hand to bid
+farewell, and his last words are characteristic of the man, of his warm
+feelings, and of his ruling passion: 'God bless you; we must work, and
+the country will come round us.'"
+
+A few days after this interview Lord George returned to Welbeck.
+
+"Some there were who thought him worn by the exertion of the session,
+and that an unusual pallor had settled upon that mantling and animated
+countenance. He himself never felt in better health or was ever in
+higher spirits, and greatly enjoyed the change of life, and that change
+in a scene so dear to him.
+
+"On the 21st of September, 1848, after breakfasting with his family, he
+retired to his dressing-room, where he employed himself with some papers
+and then wrote three letters, one to Lord Enfield, another to the Duke
+of Richmond, and the third to the writer of these pages. That letter is
+now at hand; it is of considerable length, consisting of seven sheets of
+notepaper, full of interesting details of men and things, and written
+not only in a cheerful but even in a merry mood. Then, when his letters
+were sealed, about four o'clock he took his staff and went forth to
+walk to Thoresby, the seat of Lord Manvers, distant between five and six
+miles from Welbeck, and where Lord George was to make a visit of two
+days. In consequence of this his valet drove over to Thoresby at the
+same time to meet his master. But the master never came. At length the
+anxious servant returned to Welbeck, and called up the groom who had
+driven him over to Thoresby, and who was in bed, and enquired whether he
+had seen anything of Lord George on the way back, as his Lord had never
+reached Thoresby. The groom got up, and along with the valet and two
+others, took lanthorns and followed the footpath which they had seen
+Lord George pursuing as they themselves went to Thoresby.
+
+"About a mile from the Abbey, on the path which they had observed him
+following, lying close to the gate which separates a water meadow from
+the deer park, they found the body of Lord George Bentinck. He was lying
+on his face; his arms were under his body, and in one hand he grasped
+his walking-stick. His hat was a yard or two before him, having
+evidently been thrown off in falling. The body was cold and stiff. He
+had been long dead.
+
+"A woodman and some peasants passing near the spot, about two hundred
+yards from the gate in question, had observed Lord George, whom at the
+distance they had mistaken for his brother, the Marquis of Titchfield,
+leaning against this gate. It was then about half-past four o'clock, or
+it might be a quarter to five, so he could not have left his home much
+more than half-an-hour. The woodman and his companions thought 'the
+gentleman' was reading, as he held his head down. One of them lingered
+for a minute looking at the gentleman, who then turned round, and might
+have seen these passers-by, but he made no sign to them.
+
+"Thus it seems that the attack, which was supposed to be a spasm of the
+heart, was not instantaneous in its effects, but with proper remedies,
+might have been baffled. Terrible to think of him in his death-struggle
+without aid and so near a devoted hearth. For that hearth too, what an
+inpending future!
+
+"The terrible news reached Nottingham on the morning of the 22nd, at
+half-past nine o'clock, and immediately telegraphed to London, was
+announced by a second edition of the _Times_ to the country.
+Consternation and deep grief fell upon all men. One week later, the
+remains arrived from Welbeck at Harcourt House, to be entombed in the
+family vault of the Bentincks, that is to be found in a small building
+in a dingy street, now a chapel of ease, but in old days the Parish
+Church among the fields of the pretty village of Marylebone.
+
+"The day of the interment was dark and cold, and drizzling. Although the
+last offices were performed in the most scrupulously private manner, the
+feelings of the community could not be repressed. From nine till eleven
+o'clock that day all the British shipping in the docks and the river,
+from London Bridge to Gravesend, hoisted their flags half-mast high, and
+minute guns were fired from appointed stations along the Thames. The
+same mournful ceremony was observed in all the ports of England and
+Ireland; and not only in these, for the flag was half-mast high on every
+British ship at Antwerp, at Rotterdam, at Havre.
+
+"Ere the last minute gun sounded all was over. Followed to his tomb by
+those brothers who, if not consoled, might at this moment be sustained
+by the remembrance that to him they had ever been brothers, not only in
+name but in spirit, the vault at length closed on the mortal remains of
+George Bentinck."
+
+Such was the conventional view which Society took of the sad
+circumstances of Lord George's death.
+
+The old Duke was over eighty years of age and too infirm to attend the
+funeral, but the Marquis of Titchfield and Lord Henry Bentinck were
+present.
+
+As in most mysteries, there were other conjectures more or less
+improbable.
+
+Years afterwards it was put down to the account of Palmer the poisoner,
+who it was said had administered strychnine to Lord George as he did to
+some other members of the aristocracy.
+
+But what was Palmer's motive?
+
+Had Lord George and he any betting transactions together in which Palmer
+had lost, and finding himself unable to pay, destroyed his noble
+creditor with diabolical secrecy?
+
+Yet Palmer in 1848 was a young doctor, aged about twenty-three, just
+setting out on his professional career.
+
+It was not until a few years afterwards that Palmer commenced to turn
+his attention to turf transactions, therefore it is difficult to find a
+motive which should be some evidence against him as the perpetrator of
+this crime.
+
+The case of Palmer was an extraordinary one. He was a medical
+practitioner at Rugeley in Staffordshire, and having become infatuated
+with betting had no scruples about removing those to whom he had
+contracted debts of honour. It was not till the early months of 1856
+that light was shed upon some of his fiendish designs and after a long
+trial he was sentenced to be hanged at Stafford gaol.
+
+Palmer boasted of his racing transactions with the aristocracy, and if
+Lord George was one of his victims seven years before 1856, the
+miscreant had had plenty of time to harden his conscience in working his
+foul plots against others whom it was his sordid interest to destroy.
+
+Another wild theory was that there had been a quarrel between the
+Marquis of Titchfield and Lord George.
+
+One reason for the dispute was alleged to be that Lord George had been a
+heavy loser instead of a gainer by his gigantic gambling operations,
+that he was in want of money, either from his brother the Marquis, or
+his father, the Duke.
+
+To allege that he was in debt is not consistent with the belief that he
+had won large sums by backing horses of which he was so keen a judge.
+
+Again it was surmised that the reason for the quarrel--if there was
+one--was Miss A.M. Berkeley, with whom they were reputed to be both
+enamoured.
+
+The origin of this lady gives a glimpse of another romance. Her mother
+was an exceedingly beautiful lady, the daughter of a tradesman, and she
+became the wife of the Earl of Berkeley.
+
+Fanny Kemble writes of the Countess in terms of admiration; but alludes
+to the marriage with the addition of the phrase ("by courtesy") and how,
+on being presented at Court she was frowned at by Queen Charlotte,
+though George III. did not share the unfavourable sentiments entertained
+by his wife.
+
+The marriage with the Earl was the subject of a _cause celebre_ before
+the House of Lords, with the result that the ceremony was held to be
+illegal, which thus affected the position of Miss A.M. Berkeley.
+
+Mrs. Margaret Jane Louise Hamilton, a widow lady, the daughter of Mr.
+Robert Lennox Stuart, made a startling statement which was widely
+reported in the newspapers at the time that the Druce case assumed a
+new aspect in 1903. She said that she had been told the details of the
+death of Lord George Bentinck by her father, who was an eye-witness of
+the quarrel--if quarrel there was.
+
+Her father was a playmate of the Duke's when they were boys, and she
+herself was a god-daughter of the fourth Duke.
+
+Not only was Mr. Stuart an eye-witness, but she said Mr. Sergeant,
+another gentleman, was too.
+
+Lord George was violent in manner towards the Marquis (whom Mrs.
+Hamilton identified as Mr. Druce) using threatening language towards him
+and striking him repeatedly.
+
+At last the Marquis retaliated with one blow over the heart, and
+although it was not a heavy blow, the position where it struck was
+sufficient to cause death.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton added that she had heard Druce say to her father, "You
+know, Stuart, I never intended to kill him. I only struck in
+self-defence."
+
+Druce was remorseful after the tragedy and spoke of surrendering to the
+police, but Mr. Stuart and Mr. Sergeant persuaded him not to.
+
+Her father said that Druce was nervous and always afraid that the deed
+would come to light.
+
+Whether the Marquis was there or not to quarrel with his brother, the
+labourers who said they thought they recognised him, acknowledged that
+they might have been mistaken.
+
+A point which the evidence at the inquest did not clear up was the
+whereabouts of the Marquis at the time of the tragedy. The labourers
+said they thought they saw him.
+
+If it was not he, where was he?
+
+That is a question unanswered to this day.
+
+Lord George was never married, and it has been said of him that "he was
+notable for the purity of his life."
+
+It was believed that he entertained a deep regard for a highly-placed
+married lady, whose virtue was beyond suspicion, and hence he lived and
+died a bachelor.
+
+Three years after the death of Lord George it is said that the Marquis
+married Miss Annie May Berkeley in the name of Druce.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE ECCENTRIC DUKE AND HIS UNDERGROUND TUNNELS
+
+
+The story of the transformation of Welbeck enters upon a new stage with
+the succession, in 1854, of the Marquis of Titchfield (William John
+Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck) as fifth Duke, born in 1800. He it was who
+designed and had constructed the mysterious underground apartments and
+tunnels for which the Abbey and its environs are famous. There were
+miles of weird passages beneath the surface of the earth, one tunnel
+alone being nearly a mile and a half in length, stretching towards
+Worksop, while others ran in various directions.
+
+Welbeck is nearly 4 miles from Worksop, and a stranger on approaching
+the Abbey is likely to receive a mean impression of its vast extent. The
+architecture is a mixture of the Italian and classical styles, and its
+having been built at different periods, with so many of its adjuncts
+underground, makes it wanting in imposing features.
+
+In various parts of the estate about 50 lodges were erected for the
+occupancy of gardeners and keepers. They were of Steetley stone, all
+similarly planned and pleasing to the eye, what there was of them above
+ground; but the Duke had subterranean kitchens made at the side and
+lighted them with bulls'-eyes at the top.
+
+He spent about 100,000l. a year in the development of his plans, and
+employed as many as 1,500 workpeople in helping him to gratify his
+hobby. When it is remembered that his reign as Duke lasted a quarter of
+a century, from 1854 to 1879, it will be seen that artisans of all
+descriptions found Welbeck a veritable gold-mine. Even so late as
+November, 1878, a Nottingham newspaper correspondent, on visiting
+Welbeck, was impressed with its appearance as that of the premises of
+"some great contractor who had an order for the building of a big
+village." There was the buzz of machinery, large areas were covered with
+bricklayers', masons' and joiners' sheds, wherein any new mechanical
+contrivance was put to the test. For more than eighteen years the
+vicinity of the house resembled a builder's yard, in the centre of which
+the Duke lived and moved and had his being, enjoying, in his way, the
+piles of bricks and mortar surrounding him. After he had decided upon
+the erection of a new building he had a model of it made for his
+inspection, and if approved of, it was proceeded with.
+
+Any tramp or wayfarer who applied for work at Welbeck was put on the
+staff, and the market value of his labour paid. The Duke seemed to find
+grim pleasure in the society of the casuals who made their way to his
+stone-yards.
+
+The wing built by the Countess of Oxford in a former generation had a
+new storey put to it, with a magnificent suite of 14 new rooms furnished
+in Louis XIV. style, richly gilded, and with mantelpieces of white
+marble.
+
+An underground passage was made leading to the old riding school, built
+by the Duke of Newcastle in 1623, but since converted to other uses,
+such as a library and church, after the erection of the new riding
+school. Beneath it are great wine cellars with subterranean
+communications.
+
+The most wonderful of the underground apartments built by the Duke was
+the picture-gallery, or as it was intended to be, the ball-room. It is
+lighted from the roof by means of bulls'-eyes. An enormous sum was spent
+in labour, excavating the solid clay in order that this magnificent
+saloon might be constructed.
+
+Some choice examples of the great masters are contained in this palace
+of art, which is 158 feet long, 63 feet wide, and 22 feet high. Here are
+examples of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, de Mytens, Tintoretto,
+Teniers, Snyders, Bassano, Wyck, de Vos, Greffier, Francks, Berghem,
+Zucchero, Wootton, Breughel, Dirk Maas, Netscher, Gagnacci, Gerard
+Honthorst, Van der Meulen, Rigaud, Vandyke, Holbein, Kneller, Lely,
+Dahl, M. Shee, Knapton, West, Jansen, Verelst; in fact not only in the
+picture-gallery, but in all parts of the Abbey are scattered treasures
+of art and vertu. Among the interesting curiosities are the one-pearl
+drop-earrings seen in the portraits of Charles I., and worn by him on
+the morning of his execution; also the silver-gilt chalice from which he
+received the consecrated wine on that fateful morning at Whitehall. The
+chalice bears the following inscription; "King Charles the First
+received the communion in this Boule on Tuesday the 30th of January,
+1664, being the day in which he was murthered." In the library are
+autograph letters from the Stuarts, including one from Mary Queen of
+Scots, signed "Your very good friend."
+
+There is a portrait of Adelaide Kemble, with whom the Duke is said to
+have been in love in early manhood. The actress is in the pose of her
+histrionic profession, and in another part of the gallery is a bust of
+the Duke by H.R. Pinker (1880).
+
+The gigantic riding school is about 380 feet long, 112 feet wide, and 50
+feet high, and from it is a subterranean passage leading to the tan
+gallop, designed for the exercise of horses. The length of this gallop
+is 1270 feet, and it is all under a glass roof. He had about 100 horses,
+and his stables extended over an area almost as large as a village.
+
+Of all his extraordinary hobbies that of planning subterranean passages
+has excited the most wonder and satire. These tunnels, in which it was
+possible for three persons to walk abreast in some parts, were lighted
+with gas jets placed at intervals. One at least of the tunnels is large
+enough for a horse and cart to be driven through.
+
+The drive from Worksop is a delightful one, but all at once the stranger
+is surprised to find himself in a cavern, leading as might be supposed
+to the catacombs. It was no uncommon thing for the Duke to rise up out
+of a tunnel and appear in the midst of a gang of workmen when they were
+little expecting him, and when, perhaps, they were idling their time,
+or making uncomplimentary remarks about him.
+
+When the tunnels were in course of construction there might be seen a
+procession of men on donkeys going to and fro. It was all in a piece
+with his Grace's conduct that he should purchase donkeys for them to
+ride upon; but the animals, when let loose, would gnaw at the trees, so
+the services of the four-legged asses were dispensed with.
+
+His manner of dealing with a strike was a summary one. The wages of the
+excavators of the tunnels were fifteen shillings a week regularly,
+sunshine or rain; but the men thought their rich employer could afford
+them an increase, so they struck.
+
+"You can strike as long as you like," was the message sent by the Duke,
+"it does not matter to me if the work is never done."
+
+This cool attitude had its effect, the strike was at an end, and the
+tunnelling proceeded.
+
+One reason given for planning the tunnels was that when he first desired
+to withdraw himself from observation he tried to close the public rights
+of way over the estate. This brought him into collision with the powers
+that be, and he compromised matters to his own satisfaction by making
+the underground roadways. His cynicism was rich.
+
+"Here have I had provided for you at enormous expense a clean pathway
+underground, lighted with gas too, and you will persist in walking above
+ground," was his salute to some astounded visitors. The idea that they
+should prefer the sunshine, the delightful woodland scenery and
+sweet-smelling scents wafted over Welbeck in summer-time, to the gaseous
+tunnels, as if they were rabbits having natural affinities to the
+burrows of the earth, was one only worthy of a ducal misanthropist.
+
+He was "The Invisible Prince," he liked to take men unawares, he enjoyed
+a grim joke at their expense, though whether he ever showed signs of
+merriment, at least in after life, is not so much in the memories of
+those who knew him, as his eccentricities. He is more associated with
+the character of an ogre and a cynic who shunned his fellow-men, yet
+there are some of his employees still living who give him a good word as
+a kind and considerate master.
+
+There have been various reasons put forth to account for his withdrawal
+from the society of his peers. It was said that he was smitten with
+leprosy, that he had an incurable skin desease; then that his love
+affairs had gone awry when he was a young man, with the result that he
+became a woman-hater, then a hater of mankind generally.
+
+The Duke was moody and uncertain in his temper. Sometimes he would pass
+pedestrians in the park without noticing them; at other times strangers
+would be astonished to hear a shabby old ogre break out at them in
+profane language because of their intrusion upon his domains, and they
+would be still more astonished when making complaints about the conduct
+of this disreputable person, to find that it was the Duke himself.
+
+At that time the use of a traction-engine in agriculture was somewhat of
+a novelty, and because it was different from the appliances generally
+used by farmers, was a recommendation to the Duke.
+
+It was nine o'clock one night when he said to his haymakers: "Take the
+carts home and bring another load with the engine."
+
+"Excuse me, your Grace," said one, "If the engine is made of steel and
+iron I'm not. I'm tired out."
+
+"Well, perhaps you are, go home then," came the order, which is
+testimony to the consideration he had for his employees when he was
+addressed in a manly, straightforward way.
+
+There was a grotesque procession one day at a farm on the Welbeck
+estate. It was a rainy summer, and the farmers were at their wits'-ends
+to know how they were to secure their hay in anything like good
+condition.
+
+The Duke was not a man to be beaten by the weather; he defied it; he was
+determined to have his grass in the rickyard, wet or dry. So the order
+went forth that his traction-engine and waggons were to be ready for
+carrying it on a certain day.
+
+There was to be no shirking, for the Duke's intention was to be with his
+men to see that the work was done. So he went to the farm in his long
+brown cape and high silk hat and an umbrella which might have done duty
+for Hans William Bentinck in the swamps of Holland.
+
+The harvesters filled the waggons in a downpour of rain and the
+cavalcade started for the homestead. There were three or four waggons
+behind the engine, and in the last, lo and behold, sat his Grace, grim,
+silent and self-satisfied that the elements had no terrors for him.
+
+What a life his was to lead; he was a veritable prisoner, having himself
+for a warder.
+
+The special apartment used by him in the daytime was fitted with a
+trap-door in the floor, by which he could descend to the regions below,
+and thus roam about his underground tunnels without the servants knowing
+whether he was in the house or had left it. By means of this trap-door,
+after walking to some distant part of his estate and astonishing his
+workmen there, he could re-appear in the Abbey as mysteriously as he had
+left it.
+
+The apartment with the trap-door had another door opening into an
+ante-room, and here his servants received their orders.
+
+The "Prince of Silence" rarely spoke to his attendants; he wrote down on
+paper what he required and placed it in the letter-box of the door
+opening into the ante-room. Then he rang a bell, when a servant would
+come and read what he had written and carry out the order accordingly.
+
+The Duke's bedstead was an immense square erection, constructed in an
+extraordinary manner. There were large doors to it, so arranged that
+when folded it was impossible to know whether the bed was occupied by
+its owner.
+
+He was a lonely traveller, and even when he went to Paris would have no
+companion with him. His arrangements were made by an _avant courier_,
+and when it became known that he had arrived in the gay city, the
+English aristocracy paid formal visits to him.
+
+These attentions were too much for his habit of loneliness, and he
+vanished to St. Germains. A few weeks' stay here was enough for him, and
+he came back to Paris, not lingering more than a couple of days, and
+then proceeded by stages to Calais and on to London.
+
+One of the best authenticated stories of the fifth Duke relates to his
+habit of riding alone in a carriage specially constructed to secure
+privacy. As was natural the more it became known that he wanted to
+escape observation the more was curiosity aroused to see him, so that a
+considerable part of his life was spent in adopting stratagems to
+prevent sight-seers from catching a glimpse of the aristocratic enigma.
+
+The carriage was so made that when the doors were closed no one could
+see into it, though there were spy-holes arranged that the Duke could
+look out on all sides and not be observed.
+
+One day the Duke had sent his usual written order for his carriage to
+proceed by road to London.
+
+The postillions started quite oblivious that they had his Grace with
+them in his mysteriously-constructed vehicle.
+
+It was a long journey, and as they passed stage after stage, their
+delays for refreshments became longer and their stoppages more frequent.
+
+They had just pulled up at a country inn when they were horrified to
+hear a sepulchral voice from the hearse-like chariot shouting,
+
+"What the devil are you stopping for?"
+
+These few words were enough. They came from the voice of the Duke whom
+they saw not, but recognised by his tones from his tomb on wheels.
+
+The postillions sprang upon the horses and tarried not till they had
+arrived before the portico of Harcourt House where the great myth
+descended unseen to his room.
+
+Harcourt House, Cavendish-square, was a famous London mansion, for many
+years in the possession of the Dukes of Portland. The building of this
+stately town residence was commenced in 1722 for Earl Harcourt. It had
+a noble courtyard facing Cavendish-square, and an imposing _porte
+cochere_, with a large garden and wide-spreading trees, which were such
+extraordinary features to be found as adjuncts to the old London palaces
+of the nobility. Then there was a range of stabling enough to
+accommodate the stud of a monarch.
+
+This noble mansion was gambled away at a card-party when the stakes were
+high and the players were the third Duke, grandfather of the eccentric
+peer, and Earl Harcourt. Thus it came into possession of the Bentincks.
+
+During the occupancy of the fifth Duke, the curious freaks of building
+for which he was so famous at Welbeck were repeated at Harcourt House.
+He had the garden enclosed with a gigantic screen of ground-glass,
+extending for 200 feet on each side and 80 feet high. His object in
+having this screen constructed was that the residents of
+Henrietta-street and Wigmore-street might be prevented from seeing into
+the garden and possibly catching a glimpse of his Grace when taking a
+stroll.
+
+The gamble for Harcourt House was commuted into a leasehold tenancy by
+the intervention of the lawyers, who declared that the ownership of the
+mansion could not be separated from the rest of the estate.
+
+In more recent years the leasehold interest was purchased by the Earl of
+Breadalbane, and on its expiration, it eventually came to Sir William
+Harcourt, the statesman, and in August, 1904, was offered for sale. The
+site of the beautiful garden, with its screen and stables, was purchased
+by the Post-office authorities. _Sic gloria transit_ of one of the
+famous houses of London.
+
+Though he had such magnificent palaces, both in Sherwood Forest and in
+London, the Duke was not given to entertaining guests after the manner
+of a great noble. His father had sent the family plate to be kept by
+Messrs. Drummond, bankers, and it was the current belief that the son
+never had it from the vaults of the bank to grace his tables at Welbeck
+or Harcourt House.
+
+His sisters seldom visited him, although one of them, Lady Ossington,
+lived at Ossington Hall, about 15 miles away, in the same county as
+Welbeck.
+
+The gossips of his lifetime would have it that his pet aversions were
+tobacco, women, and anyone in the garb of a gentleman; but he had a
+taste for drinking stout and lived on a simple dietary.
+
+These stories involve a tissue of inconsistencies. His correspondence
+with Fanny Kemble when he was Marquis of Titchfield, already quoted,
+shows his kind consideration, not only for her, but for other ladies who
+moved in higher circles. There was his friendship with Lady Cork, who
+was often seen by the workmen on the estate driving Shetland ponies. She
+was a visitor at Cuckney Hall, which was part of the Welbeck domain.
+Again there are instances on record of his courtesy to those of the
+opposite sex whom he met in the park; besides which there were many
+female servants engaged at the Abbey.
+
+"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast"; but among the other
+idiosyncrasies laid to his charge, it was said that rather than soothe,
+it irritated him.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton's testimony is that Mr. Druce (assuming him to have been
+identical with the Duke) was extremely fond of music, and that she had
+played to him for hours at a time.
+
+"Sing me the old songs, Stuart" Druce would say to her father, who not
+only sang, but played the violin.
+
+Moreover the workmen at Welbeck were allowed to have a band which
+performed at the Abbey on Christmas-eve and the bandsmen were given
+refreshments.
+
+What a quaint figure the Duke's was. When away from home he wore a wig,
+but not indoors, his tall hat had a broad brim, he wore a white tie and
+high collar, his trousers tied round his legs, were of check, with a
+frock coat and dark waistcoat.
+
+His habits were fastidious, and he would not handle bronze or silver
+coins before they had been washed. Then he forbade persons to touch
+their hats to him if they met him.
+
+His manner of dispensing benefactions was characteristic. Sometimes he
+was lavish in his generosity, while on other occasions he replied in
+burning words to those who appealed to him.
+
+An instance of the latter is afforded in his reply to the members of a
+Friendly Society which was in straits for the want of 10l. He told
+them that if it was a Club established on sound lines, it would be worth
+their while to subscribe the money among themselves, and if not, he
+declined to maintain a bankrupt organisation.
+
+He was a devourer of the contents of newspapers, and took all the
+principal London and provincial daily issues, as well as many weekly
+journals, which were filed and bound. His bill for one year came to
+1,300l. He had four sets of the papers he thought worth preserving,
+one being at Welbeck, another at Fullarton House, a third at Bothal
+Castle, and a fourth at Harcourt House. This collection of current
+literature of the day is believed to be the largest private library
+outside the British Museum.
+
+In January, 1855, the Crimean War was in progress, and the Duke having
+given 500l. to the Patriotic Fund, further showed his bounty by
+ordering that several fat bullocks, 100 head of deer and 1,000 hares
+should be potted and sent out to the scene of action. Besides these
+eatables he gave a quantity of unbleached cotton and flannel to be made
+into shirts and other garments by the ladies of Worksop and district. In
+that same month Major-General Bentinck, who had been wounded in the
+right arm, arrived at Welbeck, intending to return to the war as soon as
+his wound would allow him.
+
+It was formerly the custom for everyone who paid a visit to the stately
+home in Sherwood Forest, whether on business or pleasure, not to come
+away without tasting the Worksop ale. Its quality was renowned, and the
+Duke sent 1,000 gallons of it to the Army fighting in the Crimea.
+
+The lake at Welbeck is three miles long, and its waters are supplied
+from an irrigation system at Clipstone, costing the fourth Duke
+80,000l. to carry out, draining a tract of marshy land and making it
+one of the most fertile districts in England. After supplying the lake
+at Welbeck the stream flows to that at Clumber.
+
+It was estimated that between two and three millions sterling were spent
+by the Duke in putting his ideas into execution, and the one beneficent
+effect of his expenditure was the employment of a large number of men in
+work that was not altogether of a useless nature, as witness his great
+improvements in agriculture, following up his father's ideas, adding to
+the national wealth by the crops this hitherto uncultivated area was
+made to produce.
+
+After his long and chequered career the Duke passed away in December,
+1879, having nearly reached eighty years of age. Peace be to his ashes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PRESENT DUKE AND DUCHESS.--A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT
+
+
+There must have been a thrilling sensation of delight at the good
+fortune that had overtaken him when the present Duke found himself in
+possession of the family honours and estates. There had been so many
+vicissitudes in the Dukedom that any chance survival might have stepped
+in to bar his claim. "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip"
+is an old saying, and many a relation of a great noble is near the
+succession of his honours, only to see them pass to some other branch
+where least expected.
+
+The present Duke, or to give him his full family name, William John
+Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, was a long way off the fifth
+Duke, in the table of consanguinity, he had no trace of the Scott blood
+in him, and was in fact only second cousin of his eccentric predecessor
+in the title.
+
+His father was Lieutenant-General A.C. Cavendish-Bentinck, whose
+descent was through the third Duke, so that the two branches had to go
+back nearly a hundred years to find a common ancestor. His birth took
+place on December 28th, 1857, and it must have seemed then a remote
+possibility that in less than five and twenty years he would succeed to
+one of the proudest Dukedoms in the land, with the opportunities of a
+royal alliance.
+
+Two of the Duke's half-brothers were engaged in the South African war;
+Lord Charles Bentinck was a Lieutenant in the 9th Lancers and was
+slightly wounded in the siege of Mafeking; for his services he won a
+medal and a brevet-majority. He was born in 1868 and was educated at
+Eton; he married in 1897 a daughter of Mr. Charles Seymour Grenfell of
+Taplow. In the East Midlands he has won considerable popularity as
+Master of the Blankney Hunt.
+
+Lord William Bentinck was a Captain in the 10th Hussars and showed his
+ardour in the war by endeavouring to form a body of Colonial Mounted
+Rifles.
+
+Among the eccentricities laid to the charge of the old Duke it was said
+that on his young heir going to visit him on one occasion at Welbeck,
+he ordered him to stand in a corner of the room.
+
+When in 1879 the old Duke passed away from his world of mysteries and
+escapades, the heir was a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards. He was
+not long in the Army, and when he came into the title there were too
+many other engagements for him to attend to without troubling himself as
+to the routine of military duty, though he kept up a connection with the
+forces by becoming Lieutenant-Colonel of the Honourable Artillery
+Company of London, Honorary Colonel of the 1st Lanarkshire Volunteer
+Artillery, and of the 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters Regiment.
+
+Welbeck soon began to assume a new aspect under his regime. Gradually it
+lost its appearance of a contractor's yard and looked like one of the
+stately homes of England.
+
+Looking back to the time when he first came into his noble heritage, the
+Duke made a touching reference at the Welbeck Tenants' Show, in 1906, to
+the death of his agent, Mr. F.J. Turner, who for 48 years was in the
+service of the fifth Duke and himself.
+
+"When I first came to Welbeck, now twenty-seven years ago," said the
+Duke, "I was a mere boy, very ignorant of the ways of the world, and
+more ignorant still, if it were possible, of business habits and of the
+management of a great estate. I shudder to think what might have been my
+fate, and the sad fate of those dependent upon me, if Mr. Turner and
+others, who guided my footsteps, had been different from what they
+proved themselves to be. It was in his power to make or mar the
+happiness and prosperity, not only of myself, but also of many of those
+who live in this district and who farm my land."
+
+The Duke followed the traditions of his family and commenced to form an
+expensive racing stud.
+
+In 1882 his attention was concentrated to a considerable degree upon
+this object. He bought the famous sire, St. Simon, at the sale of the
+late Prince Batthyany's horses. St. Simon could not compete in the
+classic races in consequence of the death of his owner, and all through
+his racing career he was not put to any severe test of speed, or most
+likely his name would have represented the double achievement of being a
+famous racer, and the sire of famous racers too. He was bought for
+1,600l., the purchase being effected on the recommendation of Mat
+Dawson, the trainer, and the horse was then a two-year-old. That he
+could go at a terrific pace is proved by an observation made one day by
+Fred Archer to the trainer. St. Simon was at exercise when Archer's spur
+touched him, unintentionally by the jockey. He bounded into a gallop--a
+state of action rarely seen before--and Archer subsequently said that he
+had never been whizzed through the air at such a terrific pace. In the
+very pink of condition, fresh and strong, the Duke had to congratulate
+himself on securing his bargain, for he was sent from the course to the
+stud, with the result that the magnificent total of 246,000l. was won
+by his progeny in stakes alone.
+
+At length, in 1888, the Duke reached the goal of his ambition in his
+career on the turf, for he was the winner of the Derby with Ayrshire,
+which also won the Two Thousand Guineas. Then he followed up his success
+next year by winning the Derby again with Donovan, a horse that also won
+the St. Leger.
+
+The names of the mares finding their habitation at Woodhouse Hall,
+about a mile and a quarter from Welbeck Abbey, are identified with some
+of the most remarkable successes of the turf. Here is a string of
+animals through the veins of which ran purest blood. Amoena, Atalanta,
+Battlewings, Danceaway, Golden Eye, Lady Mar, Larissa, Marquesa,
+Mowerina, Modwena, Miss Middlewick, Shaker, Semolina, Staffa, Wheel of
+Fortune, Tact, Ulster Queen, and many besides. The Goddess of Fortune
+beamed on his Grace's colours whenever they appeared in the great races.
+The long series of victories resulted in immense winnings. For instance,
+Modwena was credited with 5,884l.; Ayrshire, 35,915l.; Johnny
+Morgan, 4,067l.; Donovan, 55,154l.; Semolina, 12,686l.; Miss
+Butterwick, 8,179l.; Raeburn, 8,374l.; The Prize, 3,134l.; St.
+Serf, 5,809l.; Memoir, 17,300l.; Schoolbrook, 2,705l.; Amiable,
+10,582l.; Other celebrated stock also bred by the Duke included Anna,
+Charm, Catcher Clatterfeet, Elsie, Eisteddfod, Galston, Katherine II.,
+Little Go, Oyster, Rattleheels, St. Bridget, Simony II., The Task, The
+Owl, The Smew, Troon, Ulva, and many more. Major Loder's Spearmint was
+the winner of the Derby in 1906, and it was a bay colt by Carbine--Maid
+of the Mint, so that a horse owned by the Duke was again associated
+with the blue ribbon, Carbine having been imported from Australia by his
+Grace some years before. Carbine had another name, "Old Jack," given him
+because of his laziness, and a whip-stock, had to be used occasionally
+to keep him up to the mark. An Australian picture of the horse was
+painted by Mr. W. Scott, and after being in the possession of Mr.
+Herbert Garratt for some years was sent to his Grace with a request that
+he would accept it, which he did.
+
+All the time that the Duke was paying so much attention to horse-racing
+it was being asked in Nottinghamshire whether Welbeck was ever to see
+another Duchess of Portland. The palace of the magician in the heart of
+Sherwood Forest had not had a mistress for forty years, and the gossips
+were not diffident in expressing their opinion that it was time the
+splendour of its hospitality was graced by the presence of a Duchess.
+
+The Duke was thirty-two years of age in 1889, and his name had been
+coupled with that of a royal princess; but whatever foundation there may
+have been for the rumour that he was going to marry into the royal
+family, it was seen eventually that he was determined to wed for love
+and not for pride of place.
+
+Of the rich and well-born heiresses tracing their lineage through
+generation after generation of English chivalry, and who would have
+deemed it the prize of a lifetime to become Duchess of Portland, the
+Duke's choice fell upon a young lady whose name was unknown to the
+denizens of Nottinghamshire. She was Winifred, only daughter of Thomas
+Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and came of an old Lincolnshire
+family.
+
+She was a merry girl as she used to ride her pony in the Lincolnshire
+lanes, indeed, she was regarded as somewhat of a tomboy, but a year or
+two passed away, and she surprised those who had known her in girlhood,
+to see her the most fashionable beauty in the Row.
+
+She had a wondrous type of beauty too, that made all those who admired
+its style, fall beneath her spell, her complexion was delicate, yet with
+the glow of health upon it, her teeth were pearly, her eyes full of
+sweet reasonableness, her nose that of the classic heroines of Greece,
+and her willowy form such as Sir Joshua Reynolds would have delighted to
+paint in a portrait, that would have been one more justification of the
+poetical phrase, "Art is long and life is fleeting."
+
+Her lithe and graceful figure, nearly six feet in height, with a face
+pleasing and mobile, and a voice that charmed in its tone, made her
+distinguished in any society where she appeared.
+
+The story is that once when staying with some friends at Brighton she
+went to the Devil's Dyke, a romantic place visited by almost every
+tourist and resident in that neighbourhood. There she was prevailed upon
+to consult a gipsy as to her future, and the fortune-teller prophesied
+truth, for the oracular words came forth:--
+
+"You will carry off the greatest matrimonial prize in all England," the
+gipsy said, as she went through the palmistry study of Miss
+Dallas-Yorke's shapely hand; "but shortly after your marriage there's
+trouble of some sort, for the lines become cloudy. I know what it will
+be, young lady; a terrible illness must attack you, yet take courage and
+have no fear, my dear, for all will turn out well in the end."
+
+The sequel to the story is that after the happy event of the marriage
+the gipsy had a black gown and a purse of money presented to her by the
+Duchess as a compliment to her sagacity as a prophetess.
+
+The latter part of the prediction was fulfilled also, for soon after
+her marriage the Duchess was attacked by typhoid fever at Welbeck, and
+her life hung in the balance for a short time during her illness.
+Happily she recovered to take her place in Society, as graceful and
+winsome as ever.
+
+She had been out, in the Society sense of the term, several seasons
+before she became acquainted with the Duke. How the meeting came about
+is thus related:--
+
+She was on a visit during the autumn of 1888 to a country house In
+Scotland, and while waiting with her maid on the platform of Carlisle
+station, she was noticed by the Duke, who was also northward bound for
+sport on the moors.
+
+The Duke was waiting on the platform too, and was attracted by the
+perfection of her appearance, her lofty carriage and the expression of
+the true gentlewoman on her countenance.
+
+A few weeks afterwards an introduction took place at the house of a
+friend, when they spoke of their recollection of having seen each other
+on the platform of the railway station.
+
+Although the Duke must have known that he was the most coveted
+matrimonial prize in England at that time, yet it is said he was shy at
+proposing to this magnificent daughter of a Lincolnshire squire.
+
+He must have done, however, for in a few months the marriage was
+celebrated.
+
+Soon after the engagement the Duke bought a sable cloak of immense value
+for his fiancee; but Mrs. Dallas-Yorke protested against the gift and
+said that her daughter had not been accustomed to such costly attire.
+
+What was the Duke's observation upon this has not passed current;
+suffice it to say that the priceless cloak was received and worn by Miss
+Dallas-Yorke, who in Society was chaperoned by the Marchioness of
+Granby, now Duchess of Rutland.
+
+Such a fluttering among Society dove-cotes was seldom seen, and sound of
+wedding-bells rarely heard with such gleeful joy. It was a love-match,
+and, therefore, a popular event all over the land. Only a few weeks
+before, the Duke's horse had won the Derby, and the ovation given him by
+the racing fraternity was unprecedented to any one, peer or commoner,
+below royal rank.
+
+Then the bride was so full of smiles to all who had the privilege of
+offering her congratulations.
+
+The Duke had earned the reputation of being a "good fellow," a phrase
+carrying its own meaning in relation to a typical English nobleman. At
+the zenith of his popularity there is no wonder that crowds lined the
+streets on the wedding morning to catch a glimpse of the happy pair as
+they drove back from Church. The Prince and Princess of Wales honoured
+the ceremony with their presence, and such cheering there was as the
+faces of the bride and bridegroom were seen at the windows of the
+carriage. It was a smart equipage, and even the coachmen and footmen
+were decorated with horse-shoes of flowers on their coats.
+
+Then there were the rejoicings at Welbeck, where the new Duchess soon
+ingratiated herself with the tenantry. "The Good Duchess" was smiling
+and approachable, and quickly found her way to the heart of the most
+churlish country herdsman.
+
+It was apparent that the Duchess's mind was not solely occupied with
+plans for reigning in London Society and dictating the fashions for a
+select and fastidious circle. She knew her powers in that respect; she
+had already conquered and was content to please the Duke, and fulfil the
+duties of her station towards those who were her equals, and towards the
+Duke's retainers on his estates and their dependants.
+
+Not that she ceased to dazzle with the radiant splendour of her jewels,
+which adorned her natural gracefulness.
+
+Her coronet of diamonds contains in it a lustrous gem, called the
+Portland stone, worth 10,000l., and her jewels altogether are of
+fabulous value. Nothwithstanding the changing fashions of High Society,
+she retains her preference for a Medici collar of lace and a spray of
+Malmaison carnations.
+
+With the immense sums of money the Duke had won over the Derby victories
+he was desirous of adding new treasures to his wife's jewel-case; but
+she prevailed upon him to build some almshouses for poor old women at
+Welbeck; moreover she is credited with having influenced him to moderate
+his indulgence in racing.
+
+The almshouses, which were called "The Winnings," have upon them the
+following inscription: "These houses were erected by the sixth Duke of
+Portland at the request of his wife, for the benefit of the poor and to
+commemorate the the success of his race-horses." They were not built out
+of money made by betting, a habit not encouraged by the Duke.
+
+At a later period, addressing a meeting of young men, he said: "Turn a
+cold shoulder to the bookmaker and those who would advise you to throw
+your money into the lap of fickle Fortune If you want to be happy. You
+might just as well throw the money into a pond."
+
+The Duchess always has a happy way of opening a Bazaar for some
+philanthropic object, and her radiant and affable manner charm those
+with whom she is brought into contact, perhaps for the first time. She
+is a supporter of the Church Army Training Homes, Bryanston-street, and
+she has had the courage to preside over a temperance demonstration in
+Hyde Park. Swimming has become a fashionable accomplishment with Society
+ladies, and she has shown her interest in extending the cultivation of
+that exercise. This is only to mention but a few of the objects that
+claim her time and attention, and no lady of high position is more ready
+to aid a worthy charity where possible.
+
+The first child that came to the Duke and Duchess was Lady Victoria
+Alexandrina Violet, born in 1890. She was highly honoured at her
+christening, for Queen Victoria acted as sponsor person, and held the
+baby in her arms. There is at Welbeck an autograph letter from the
+Queen, congratulating the parents on their firstborn. The next was the
+heir to the Dukedom, William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born
+March 16th, 1893, and the third Lord Francis Norwen Dallas, born in
+1900.
+
+The Duke was Master of the Horse from 1886 to 1892, and from 1895 to
+1905; and the Duchess acted as Mistress of the Robes for a short time in
+1905, she was also one of the "Canopy Duchesses" at the Coronation.
+
+The Duke's estates in Scotland include Langwell Lodge, which the family
+has frequently visited for deer-stalking and grouse-shooting in the
+autumn. Then there is Cessnock Castle, near Galston, Ayrshire, where the
+Duke and Duchess had not stayed for many years till 1906. A considerable
+part of the fifth Duke's Ayrshire estates, including the Kilmarnock
+property, passed at his death to his sister, Lady Ossington, and at her
+death to another sister, Lady Howard de Walden, and thence to Lord
+Howard de Walden. The Duke has extensive shootings at Fullarton, near
+Troon, and Fullarton House was for some time the residence of Louis
+Philippe of France.
+
+The house of Langwell is situated on a beautiful grassy slope, with the
+sea in front, while in the background are the silver-clad Scarabines,
+rising with imposing grandeur. The Langdale and Berriedale rivers here
+join and flow into the sea, and there are picturesque gorges, with
+cave-dwellings and ancient ruins having historic associations. Frowning
+cliffs rise precipitously from the waves, and weird caves, only to be
+entered when the tide is low, add to the romantic character of the
+scenery.
+
+In the neighbourhood of this favourite shooting lodge are some steep and
+dangerous hills which presented great difficulties to the horses when
+taking his Grace's guests to and fro to enjoy their sport. But having
+become a votary of the motorcar, these stiff hills have been surmounted
+with ease by the four or five vehicles which the Duke has acquired for
+sporting purposes. Helmsdale is the nearest railway station to Langwell,
+and the road over the Ord of Caithness includes several hills with rough
+and loose surfaces, and gradients ranging from 1 in 2 to 1 in 16, so
+that the journey is not without its stress both for horses and
+motorcars. John o' Groat's is forty-five miles distant, but this, as
+well as other places of interest in the neighbourhood, is within
+visiting range by the cars, though such long distances were not
+attempted with the equine species.
+
+To capture the Master of the Horse as an automobilist was a great
+achievement for enthusiasts in the advocacy of the new mode of
+travelling. The Duke of Portland has been such a devotee to the horse,
+as were his ancestors centuries before him, that it was not to be
+expected all at once, that he would, give his countenance to any new
+invention likely to supplant the noble animal in its position as the
+servant and friend of man. Having been a cyclist, when that hobby seized
+the fancy of the fashionable world, it was not a long step to
+automobilism, and having proved the superiority of the motor vehicle,
+the Duke gave orders for some of the best types of cars to be supplied
+to him. One of the most luxurious is a Limousine de Deitrich, and his
+interest in the new art of locomotion is such that he has had a perfect
+track prepared at Clipstone, called "The flying kilometre."
+
+In 1907 the Duke became a member of the Royal Automobile Club and
+submitted all his drivers for examination for the certificate. The test
+took place at Welbeck, when there were shown several technical drawings
+executed by the candidates, who all passed with merit and received their
+certificates.
+
+The Duchess on one occasion made some observations in public on motors,
+and expressed a doubt as to whether any of her friends would forsake the
+horse in favour of mechanical locomotion. That time, however, came
+about, and now the Duchess is claimed as a patroness of the car, which
+if prosy, compared with the delights of horsemanship, is, nevertheless,
+useful for accomplishing distances which horses are not expected to
+cover.
+
+In a speech in the House of Lords, the Duke said he considered the
+advent of the motorcar could not but have a weakening influence on the
+horse-breeding industry, and before very long several of the functions
+which horses at present perform, both in the towns and country
+districts, would be carried out by mechanical means. His object in
+making these remarks was to call attention to what was impending in
+order that some steps might be taken to foster the horse-breeding
+industry.
+
+As far as a continuance of interest in race-horses is concerned, the
+Duke had at the commencement of the season 1906 twenty-one horses in
+training with W. Waugh at Kingsclere, including thirteen two-year-olds.
+
+Both King Edward and the Queen have been entertained at Welbeck since
+their accession to the throne, and in 1906 there was a visit from the
+Duke and Duchess of Sparta, the Crown Prince and Princess of Greece.
+
+The Duke's sentiments on "patriotism" may be gathered from some remarks
+he made when opening a miniature rifle range constructed at the
+Nottingham High School. He referred with approbation to the work of Mr.
+Robins, Premier of Manitoba, through whose policy the Union Jack was
+unfurled from the roof of every school in the province: "The man who
+objects to perpetuating the glories of the flag, who declines to have
+his children infused with British patriotism is undesirable." "These
+words," said the Duke, "apply to the anti-patriot, the pro-Zulu, the
+pro-Boer, the inciter to rebellion in Egypt, and to the stirrer-up of
+strife in India. I do not see why rifle-shooting should not become a
+popular national sport, equal in prestige to games like cricket and
+football."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE DUKE AND DUCHESS AT HOME.--THE DUCHESS AS PRINCESS BOUNTIFUL.--THE
+DUCHESS AT COURT
+
+Christmas is usually spent by the Duke and Duchess at Welbeck, and one
+of the events of the season is the Household Ball to celebrate the
+Duke's birthday, which falls on December 28th. It is held in the vast
+underground picture-gallery, with the subjects of the old painters
+looking down from their canvases upon the gay dancers.
+
+Choice exotics, stately palms and seasonable shrubs add to the variety
+of the decorations. The band is almost hidden in a bower of foliage in
+the centre of the great saloon, and there are 500 guests of all ranks of
+society from peers and peeresses to the humblest domestic servant.
+
+About ten o'olock the Duke and Duchess appear with their house party,
+and dancing commences with a Circassion Circle. The Duke has the
+housekeeper for partner and the Duchess the house-steward, while the
+aristocratic guests find partners among other chiefs of departments in
+the Welbeck household.
+
+With midnight comes supper, served in two adjacent underground rooms,
+that owe their excavation to the grim hobby of the old Duke. All the
+festive party sit down to supper at the same time, the Duke's French
+chef providing the menu. The house-steward presides and proposes the
+health of the ducal family. This is welcomed in the manner it deserves
+and then dancing is resumed in the picture-gallery.
+
+On another evening the children on the Welbeck estate are invited to a
+party when the head of a giant Christmas-tree is reared in the centre of
+the ball-room, laden with toys for distribution to them, and the
+pleasures of the entertainment are varied with the tricks of a conjurer
+and ventriloquist. Thus is afforded a glimpse of the happy relations
+existing between the Portland family and their retainers.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Cresswell, and the mining
+district between Mansfield and Worksop the Duchess is regarded as a
+Princess Bountiful in reality, rather than a creation of fairyland. Her
+visits to some of the homes of the miners are generally unexpected; for
+instance one Monday morning in the late autumn she rode up to the
+unpretending dwelling of a collier to enquire about "an old friend," as
+she called him, who had worked in Cresswell pits. A few years before he
+had met with an accident and injured his spine. The occurrence came to
+the ears of her Grace, who arranged for the patient to visit London to
+undergo an operation, which he did, with favourable results. A
+bath-chair was obtained for him and since then she had evinced
+sympathetic interest in his condition.
+
+As may well be imagined appeals to the Duchess's sympathies are made
+from all quarters. One day she is taking the chair at the annual meeting
+of the Children's Hospital at Nottingham. On another day the Nottingham
+Samaritan Hospital for Women is having her support in the opening of a
+bazaar in its aid.
+
+Not only suffering humanity, but suffering brute creation has found in
+her a sympathetic chord. The Bev. H. Russell, who is well known in the
+county for his efforts on behalf of the Royal Society for the Prevention
+of Cruelty to Animals, told two interesting stories of her Grace in her
+presence at the opening of the bazaar.
+
+A show of cab-horses and costermongers' donkeys was being held in
+Nottingham, when Mr. Russell called the attention of the Duchess to an
+old rag-and-bone dealer, who had won no prize, but who was known to
+treat his donkey humanely.
+
+"What shall I give him?" asked the Duchess.
+
+"Half a sovereign will be enough, I should think," replied the
+clergyman.
+
+She then handed the money to the man, but she had to borrow it though,
+"and," added Mr. Russell, "I do not know whether she ever paid it back
+but the result was the same."
+
+When in Scotland once she found that a man with a cart-load of herrings
+had been using a piece of barbed wire to flog his horse with.
+
+He was taxed with the barbarity, but denied it.
+
+The Duchess thereupon walked back and found the wire. She and the Duke
+then bought up the horse, cart, harness, and herrings, rejecting the
+only worthless part of the lot--the man.
+
+Sandy's greed and Sandy's conscience were most likely on a par in their
+flinty qualities, and the dour Scot would be glad to bargain with the
+Duchess again on similar terms, eliminating the factor of
+humanitarianism.
+
+On another occasion she is presiding at the annual meeting of the local
+branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at
+Grantham. "Such meetings as these," she told her audience, "are valuable
+because they call attention to the cruelty which exists in such forms
+as the decrepit horse traffic, of which the general public has little or
+no knowledge. To be ignorant may save trouble; but if it makes us
+indifferent and lethargic with regard to suffering, when we ought to be
+helpers in the cause of humanity, the sooner we increase our knowledge
+the better we shall be able to stop this great evil and rouse public
+opinion on the valuable work done by the officers of the Society."
+
+Again she is a visitor at Mansfield to distribute the prizes in
+connection with singing, needlework, and other competitions organized by
+the girls' clubs in the district. She spoke of these competitions as
+promoting a healthy spirit of rivalry, and promised to give a silver
+shield for proficiency in physical drill among girls.
+
+Her catholic spirit was evinced on her attendance one day early in
+February, 1907, at the Mikado Cafe, Nottingham, when the members of a
+Sunday afternoon Wesleyan Bible Class, numbering ninety men, assembled
+for dinner. She expressed her interest in the aims of the Bible Class
+and in all efforts for the encouragement of right living. A bouquet was
+presented to her from the members.
+
+The Duchess as a flower-seller was a delightful attraction at a Church
+bazaar at Sutton-in-Ashfield, a town where there is considerable ducal
+property. In a graceful little speech declaring the bazaar open she
+said: "I know you are all tired of bazaars and desirous of adopting some
+better method of collecting money, if such could be devised, but until
+some brilliant or practical mind finds such a way, you are forced to
+move in the old groove and repeat the same efforts."
+
+The story of borrowing half a sovereign is not the only
+well-authenticated instance of her Grace having to negotiate a loan in
+consequence of her liberal instincts having prompted her to outrun the
+resources of her pocket.
+
+After opening a bazaar for the Newark Hospital she passed round the
+stalls and made purchases freely, so that by the time she had made the
+round she had completely exhausted her purse. It was necessary that she
+should have enough to pay her railway fare to London, whither she wished
+to travel, and the honour of tending her the amount she wanted, fell to
+one of the stewards. The loan, I believe, was promptly repaid.
+
+A Court of exceptional, splendour was held by the King and Queen at
+Buckingham Palace in May, 1905, and as the then Mistress of the Robes,
+the Duchess of Buccleugh, was unable to attend through being in
+mourning, her place was taken by the Duchess of Portland, none eclipsing
+her in that brilliant throng of English nobility. She wore a gown of
+ivory velvet, brocaded round the skirt with bouquets of flowers and
+trimmed with Italian lace and cream chiffon; the train of superb
+Brussels lace belonged to Marie Antoinette. Her jewels were diamonds,
+pearls and emeralds.
+
+A brilliant Chapter of the Garter was held in November, 1906, and was
+followed by a banquet. The regal appearance of the Duchess may be
+gathered from a description of her dress of cloudy white, embroidered
+with mother-of-pearl, a high diamond tiara on her dark hair and a
+magnificent bouquet of flowers, surrounded with a wealth of glittering
+diamonds on her corsage.
+
+Miss May Cavendish-Bentinck was married to Mr. John Ford on November
+3rd, 1906, when Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck made her appearance for
+the first time as a bridesmaid. Mr. Ford was secretary of the British
+Legation at Copenhagen and the bride was one of the Duke's cousins. Lady
+Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck, the Duke's only daughter, will probably be
+presented at Court next season.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CLAIMS TO THE PORTLAND PEERAGE BY MRS. DRUCE AND MR. G.H. DRUCE.
+
+
+Full of romance as the Portland peerage was up to recent years, there is
+still another chapter to be added, in relating some of the statements
+made in connection with the claims put forward by Mrs. Druce and Mr.
+G.H. Druce to the honours and wealth of the Bentincks. It must be stated
+emphatically that there is no intention whatever to comment upon these
+claims or to prejudice their fair consideration, in the tribunals of the
+land. No literary sketch of the great House of Portland would be
+complete without it summarised the salient points in the Druce claims as
+they have appeared from time to time in newspaper reports and in the
+narratives of those who knew the fifth Duke in his lifetime. This
+compilation is intended to epitomise the history of the illustrious
+family of Bentinck in consecutive order of the events as they have
+occurred, in such a manner as is not found in any other publication; but
+in no way to influence opinion either on one side or the other. It was
+in 1898 that public attention was called to the case, when Mrs. Druce
+set up a claim to the Portland peerage on behalf of her son.
+
+The ground on which it was based was that her father-in-law, Mr. Thomas
+Charles Druce, and the fifth Duke of Portland were one and the same
+person; that in fact the Duke had a double existence.
+
+Mr. Druce was in a large way of business at the Baker-street Bazaar, an
+enterprise opened about 1834 or 1835, with a capital estimated at
+100,000l. At that time the Duke had not succeeded to his family
+estates, but was Marquis of Titchfield. It was known that he and his
+brothers had been successful in horse-racing and if, as Marquis, he
+could spare 100,000l. to open this London business, some indication is
+given of his winnings.
+
+In the construction of the Bazaar it was said that there was an
+underground passage leading from the back of the premises. By this means
+of ingress or egress Druce could appear in the midst of his shopmen when
+they least expected him and as suddenly vanish, possibly into an
+underground passage, which it was believed was no myth, leading from
+Baker-street to Harcourt House.
+
+While conducting this important business at Baker-street, Mr. Druce
+married in 1851 Annie May Berkeley, daughter of the Earl of Berkeley.
+The Earl's marriage with this lady's mother had been disputed, and was
+held by the House of Lords to be illegal.
+
+That, however, has no bearing on the Portland romance, the question that
+arose in 1898 was whether the Duke, under the alias of T.C. Druce,
+married Miss Berkeley. The strange part of the contention is that Mr.
+Druce died, or there was a mock burial of his body in Highgate Cemetery,
+in 1864, whereas the Duke lived on till 1879. The allegation is that
+there was no death of that particular person in 1864, and that the
+coffin at the sham funeral was filled with lead or stones.
+
+Mr. Druce had a residence at Holcolmbe House, Hendon, and it was here
+that he repaired to die.
+
+The funeral was on December 31st, 1864, and the vault was prepared in
+Highgate Cemetery. There was a stately hearse accompanied by six
+bearers. The coffin was noticed to be of enormous weight, and the
+strength of the men were taxed when their duties came to carrying and
+lowering it into the grave.
+
+From this circumstance arose a curious idea that it did not contain the
+body of Druce, who was not stout and heavy; but that it was filled with
+stones or lead. There were no burial certificates forthcoming, but the
+owners of the cemetery accepted the coffin for burial.
+
+When Mr. Druce died there were two sons left of the alliance with Miss
+Berkeley, one of whom continued the Baker-street establishment.
+
+But what was the astonishment of some of the frequenters of the purlieus
+of Baker-street to see the man who was supposed to have been buried
+visiting the same haunts where they had seen him before.
+
+To have witnessed or heard of the funeral of a man, and then to meet
+that same man in his customary sphere of business afterwards, is of the
+nature of a ghost-story. "What did the coffin in Highgate Cemetery
+contain?" was the riddle.
+
+Mrs. Druce's husband was a son of the late Mr. T.C. Druce, and it was on
+behalf of her son that proceedings were commenced. She made an
+application to the Consistory Court for a faculty granting her power to
+have the coffin in Highgate Cemetery opened in order to see whether it
+contained a body or only some heavy substance such as lead.
+
+It was asserted that T.C. Druce had been seen alive some years after it
+was supposed that he had been buried; that he was identified as the Duke
+of Portland, and that there were persons cognisant of the fact that the
+Duke and Druce were one and the same person before 1864. Dr. Tristram,
+the judge, granted the faculty, but notice of appeal was given to
+prevent the coffin being opened.
+
+The case then came before the Divisional Court, which ruled that the
+London Cemetery Company was right in resisting the order of Dr.
+Tristram, and that the grave could not be opened without the licence of
+the Home Secretary. The decision was in effect that Dr. Tristram had no
+jurisdiction to make such an order, except as conditional on the
+authority of the Home Secretary being obtained.
+
+At length the case reached the Court of Appeal in December, 1899, when
+Mrs. Druce made no appearance to support the faculty she had obtained,
+and the appeal was dismissed with costs against her.
+
+In the course of the proceedings the statements of two or three persons
+who knew Mr. Druce were published in the Press.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton's narrative was to the effect that from a girl she had
+known the same gentleman both as Mr. Druce and the Duke of Portland, her
+father, Mr. Robert Lennox Stuart, being a great friend of his from
+boyhood days, and, it was averred, distantly related. There were
+frequent visits both to Cavendish-square and to the Baker-street Bazaar,
+and on one occasion, about 1849, Mrs. Hamilton says she was taken by
+her father to Welbeck where they were met by Druce. Then, in 1851, her
+father attended the marriage of Druce and Annie May Berkeley. At length
+the time came when Druce determined to be dead to the outer world. "I
+must die," he said to Mr. Stuart.
+
+The arrangements for the death were duly carried out and there ensued a
+sham burial, at which Mrs. Hamilton says her father was present.
+
+Two years passed away and Mrs. Hamilton was greatly astonished one day
+to see Mr. Druce enter the house where she and her father were staying.
+
+"I thought you were dead," she said naively.
+
+Druce was not well pleased at the remark and continued the conversation
+with her father.
+
+On another occasion Druce took Mrs. Hamilton, then a girl, to Madame
+Tussaud's, at which her father was angry; he also gave her money for
+sweets and flowers.
+
+A great many transactions took place between her father and Druce
+relative to a lady whom they spoke of as "Emmy," and who was eventually
+sent to France, by Druce, who gave her 5,000l. This was in 1876, and
+Mr. Stuart went to Welbeck to arrange for the departure with her two
+children. She died not long afterwards. The last time that Mrs.
+Hamilton says she saw Druce was in 1876, when he called at her father's
+and complained of being unwell. He spoke of his visits to his old friend
+Stuart as being the happiest hours of his life. Some little time after
+the sham burial Mrs. Annie May Druce came to Mrs. Hamilton's father's
+house, and was introduced to Mrs. Hamilton as "Mrs. Druce." Another
+statement was made by Mrs. F. M. Wright, nee Robinson, nee Weatherell,
+who said that when she was 20 years of age she lived near the
+Baker-street Bazaar, owned by Mr. T.C. Druce, and frequently saw that
+gentleman. After the supposed death and burial of Mr. Druce she saw him
+often, and in her mind he was identical with the Duke of Portland. As to
+her knowledge of the Duke her father was in the service of his Grace
+when she was a young girl, and she was familiar with his features. Mr.
+Druce had a large bump on the left side of his forehead, which appeared
+to have been caused by a blow. The Duke also had a bump, and in her
+opinion this resemblance was evidence that the owner of the Baker-street
+Bazaar and the Duke were one and the same person. While these statements
+were causing some amount of public interest there was a new development
+in this extraordinary case. The legal proceedings commenced by Mrs.
+Druce were widely reported in the Press and accounts of them reached
+Australia, where they were read by a man pursuing the calling of a
+miner. His name is Mr. George Hollamby Druce, who put forward a prior
+claim to the Dukedom than that urged by Mrs. Druce on behalf of her son.
+
+His contention is that the Duke, as T.C. Druce, married in October,
+1816, Miss Elizabeth Crickmer, of Bury St. Edmunds, by whom he had a son
+named George. This youth took to a sea-faring life and eventually
+settled in Australia, where he had a son, namely Mr. George Hollamby
+Druce, whose claim to the title takes precedence of that set up by Mrs.
+Druce for the offspring of the second marriage with Annie May Berkeley.
+
+The question of the exhumation of the body appears to be involved in
+legal technicalities as to the ownership of the vault. At one time it
+was vested in the son of Mrs. Druce who commenced the litigation. Then
+there appeared this other claimant, Mr. George Hollamby Druce, and it is
+said that the present owner of the vault, Mr. Herbert Druce, is not in
+favour of complying with Mr. G.H. Druce's wish to open it, therefore the
+secret of the grave remains unrevealed.
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Anchor Press, Ltd., Tiptree Heath, Essex._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Portland Peerage Romance, by Charles J. Archard
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