Part 59

By her second husband, Sir William Cavendish, she alone had issue. These were, as already detailed, Sir Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, who married the Lady Grace Talbot; Sir William Cavendish, created Earl of Devonshire, from whom the Dukes of Devonshire and other lines of peers are lineally descended; Sir Charles Cavendish, the founder of the noble House of Newcastle; Frances, married to Sir Henry Pierrepoint, ancestor of the Dukes of Kingston; Elizabeth, married to Charles Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and mother of Lady Arabella Stuart; and Mary, married to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury. It is with the third of these, Sir Charles Cavendish, that we have now to do.

Sir Charles Cavendish married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, and Baroness Ogle in her own right. He left issue by his first wife, Margaret Kitson, three sons—Charles, who died an infant; William, created Duke of Newcastle; and Sir Charles, of Bolsover. Dying in 1617, the estates passed to the eldest surviving son, William Cavendish, who became one of the greatest men of the age.

Sir William was successively created Baron Cavendish, of Bolsover, in the county of Derby, Baron Ogle, Viscount Mansfield, Earl of Newcastle, Earl of Ogle, Marquis of Newcastle, and Duke of Newcastle, was a Knight of the Garter, and held many very important appointments. He was a staunch Royalist, and suffered many losses and privations through his wise adherence to the royal cause. He fortified the town of Newcastle, the Castle of Bolsover, and other places, and did good service in overcoming the Parliamentarian forces at Gainsborough, Chesterfield, Bradford, and many other places. His grace built the greater part of Welbeck, including the famous riding-house, yet standing, and the stables. He was the most accomplished horseman of the time, and his name will ever remain known as the author of the finest, most learned, and most extensive work on horsemanship ever written. The original MS. of this marvellous treatise is carefully preserved at Welbeck Abbey, and copies of the work, especially the first French edition, with all the original plates, are of great rarity. He also wrote some volumes of poetry. The “Horsemanship” is particularly interesting to an historian of Welbeck, from the many plates in which views of the mansion as it then existed are given: to these we may again refer.

The Duke was married twice. First, to Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of William Bassett, of Blore and Langley, Derbyshire, and widow of the Hon. Henry Howard, third son of the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire; and, secondly, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Charles Lucas, and maid of honour to Queen Henrietta. By his first wife the Duke had issue ten children, six sons and four daughters, of whom five died young.

The surviving sons were Charles, who died during his father’s lifetime without issue, and Henry, who succeeded to the titles and estates; and the three surviving daughters were—Mary, married to Charles Cheney, of Chesham-Boys; Elizabeth, married to the Earl of Bridgewater; and Frances, married to Lord Bolingbroke. By his second wife, Margaret Lucas, the Duke had no issue; but to this lady, who was of rare accomplishments and virtues—“a very learned lady and a philosopher”—the world is indebted for many valuable writings. Foremost among these is the admirable and interesting “Life” of her husband, the Duke of Newcastle, to which too much justice for its truthfulness, its precision of details, and its purity of affection cannot be done. It is a “book for all time,” and to it we refer our readers who may desire to peruse a worthy memoir of a worthy man. The Duchess died in 1673, and the Duke three years afterwards: they are buried under a magnificent monument in Westminster Abbey, where the following is one of the inscriptions:—“Here lyes the Loyall Duke of Newcastle and his Dutchess his second wife, by whom he had no issue: Her name was Margarett Lucas, youngest sister to the Lord Lucas, of Colchester; a noble familie, for all the brothers were valiant, and all the sisters virtuous. This Dutchess was a wise, wittie, and learned lady, which her many books do well testifie; she was a most virtuous and a loveing and carefull wife, and was with her Lord all the time of his banishment and miseries, and when he came home never parted from him in his solitary retirements.”

Henry, second Duke, Marquis, and Earl of Newcastle, Earl and Baron of Ogle, Viscount Mansfield, Baron Cavendish of Bolsover, and Baron Bothal and Hepple, and a Knight of the Garter, succeeded his father, the first duke. He married Frances Pierrepoint, of Thoresby, granddaughter of the Earl of Kingston, by whom he had issue three sons (only one of whom lived) and five daughters. The son, Henry Cavendish, Viscount Mansfield, married a daughter of Percy, Duke of Northumberland, whose name he assumed, but died during his father’s lifetime without surviving issue. The daughters were—Elizabeth, married, first, to the Earl of Albemarle, and, secondly, to the Duke of Montague; Frances, married to the Earl of Bredalbane; Catherine, married to the Earl of Thanet; Arabella, married to the Earl of Sunderland; and Margaret, married to John Holles, Earl of Clare, afterwards Duke of Newcastle. The second duke died in 1671, and the titles, in default of male issue, then became extinct.

By the marriage of the Lady Margaret Cavendish with John Holles, fourth Earl of Clare, Welbeck and other estates of the Duke of Newcastle passed into his hands. In 1694 the Earl of Clare was created Duke of Newcastle. His grace died at Welbeck, through a fall from his horse, in 1711, and the title thus again became extinct. He left issue an only daughter, the Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, who married Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and thus conveyed the Welbeck and Bolsover estates to that nobleman. The issue of this marriage was an only daughter and heiress, the Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, who married William Bentinck, Duke of Portland. and thus carried the Cavendish estates into that illustrious family. She died in 1785.

William Bentinck, the first Earl of Portland, was a member of the illustrious family of Bentinck, of Holland, and came over on his first visit to England as page of honour to William, Prince of Orange (afterwards King William III.), and was ambassador to this country to arrange the marriage of that prince with our Princess Mary. On the accession of William III. William Bentinck was created Baron of Cirencester, Viscount Woodstock, and Earl of Portland, and had many important appointments conferred upon him. He married, first, Anne, daughter to Sir Edward Villiers and sister of the Earl of Jersey, by whom he had issue three sons (one of whom only survived and succeeded him) and five daughters—viz. the Lady Mary, married to the Earl of Essex, and afterwards to the Hon. Conyers D’Arcy; the Lady Anne Margaretta, married to M. Duyvenvorde, one of the principal nobles of Holland; the Lady Frances Wilhelmina, married to Lord Byron; the Lady Eleanora, who died unmarried; and the Lady Isabella, married to the Duke of Kingston. His lordship married, secondly, Jane, daughter of Sir John Temple, sister of Lord Palmerston, and widow of John, Lord Berkeley of Stratton, and by her had issue two sons and four daughters—viz. the Hon. William, who married the Countess of Aldenburgh; the Hon. Charles John, who married the daughter and heiress of the Earl of Cadogan; the Lady Sophia, married to Henry de Grey, Duke of Kent; the Lady Elizabeth, married to the Bishop of Hereford, brother to the second Duke of Bridgewater; the Lady Harriette, married to Viscount Limerick; and the Lady Barbara, married to Godolphin, Dean of St. Paul’s. The Earl died in 1735, and was succeeded by his son—

Henry, second Earl of Portland, who married the Lady Elizabeth Noel, eldest daughter of the Earl of Gainsborough, by whom he received, with other accessions, the lordship of Tichfield and its manor-house. His lordship, who was advanced to the dignities of Marquis of Tichfield and Duke of Portland, and held many important appointments, had issue three sons and seven daughters, whereof two sons and three daughters survived him. These were—William second Duke of Portland; Lord George Bentinck, aide-de-camp to King George II.; the Lady Anne, married to Lieutenant-colonel Paul; the Lady Anne Isabella, married to Henry Monk, Esq.; and the Lady Emilia Catherine, married to Jacob Arrant Van Wassenar, a noble of Holland.

William, second Duke of Portland, was born in 1709, and married, in 1734, the Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, daughter and sole heiress of the Earl of Oxford by his countess, daughter and sole heiress of John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, who thus brought the estates of Welbeck, &c., to the Bentinck family. By this union his grace had issue three sons and three daughters. These were—the Lady Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck, married to the Marquis of Thomond; Lady Henrietta Cavendish Bentinck, married to the Earl of Stamford; William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Marquis of Tichfield (his successor), of whom presently; Lady Margaret Cavendish Bentinck and Lady Frances Cavendish Bentinck, who died young; and Lord Edward Charles Cavendish Bentinck, who married Elizabeth Cumberland, and had numerous issue. The Duke died in 1762, and was succeeded in his titles and estates by his eldest son—

William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, as third Duke of Portland. This nobleman, who was born in 1738, married, in 1766, the Lady Dorothy Cavendish, only daughter of William, fourth Duke of Devonshire, and by her had issue four sons and two daughters. These were—William Henry, Marquis of Tichfield (his successor); General Lord William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Governor-General of India, who married a daughter of the Earl of Gosford; Lady Charlotte Bentinck, married to Charles Greville, Esq.; Lady Mary Bentinck; Lord William Charles Augustus Cavendish Bentinck, who married, first, Miss G. A. F. Seymour, and, secondly, Anne, daughter of the Marquis Wellesley, and divorced wife of Sir William Addy; and Major-General Lord Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, who married the Lady Mary Lowther, daughter of William, first Earl of Lonsdale of the second creation, and by her, with other issue, became father of the present Right Hon. George Augustus Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, M.P. for Whitehaven, and a member of the Administration. The noble Duke died in 1809, and was succeeded by his eldest son—

William Henry, fourth Duke of Portland, who was born in 1768, married in 1795 Henrietta, eldest daughter and co-heiress of General John Scott, of Balconnie, county Fife, by whom he received a large accession of property. His grace, by royal sign manual, assumed the additional surname and arms of Scott, thus altering the family name to Scott-Bentinck. By this marriage his grace had issue four sons and four daughters. These were—William Henry Cavendish Scott-Bentinck, Marquis of Tichfield, who died unmarried during his father’s lifetime; the Lady Henrietta; William John, Marquis of Tichfield, who succeeded to the dukedom and estates; Major Lord William George Frederick Cavendish Scott-Bentinck (known as Lord George Bentinck), the eminent statesman and patriot, who died in 1848, to whom a fine Gothic memorial, somewhat after the manner of the “Martyrs’ Memorial,” has been erected by public subscription at Mansfield, from the design of Mr. T. C. Hine. It bears the following inscription:—

“To the memory of Lord George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, second surviving son of William Henry Cavendish-Scott, fourth Duke of Portland. He died the 21st day of September, An. Dom. MDCCCXLVIII., in the forty-seventh year of his age. His ardent patriotism and uncompromising honesty were only equalled by the persevering zeal and extraordinary talents which called forth the grateful homage of those who, in erecting this memorial, pay a heartfelt tribute to exertions which prematurely brought to the grave one who might long have lived the pride of this his native county.”

Lord Henry William Cavendish Scott-Bentinck; the Lady Charlotte, married to John Evelyn Denison, M.P.; the Lady Lucy, married to Lord Howard de Walden; and the Lady Mary. His grace, who was a fellow of the Royal Society, a trustee of the British Museum, and a man of high scientific attainments, died in 1854, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, the present noble head of this illustrious house.

William John Cavendish Scott-Bentinck, the present peer, fifth Duke of Portland, Marquis of Tichfield, Earl of Portland, Viscount Woodstock, Baron of Cirencester, and a co-heir to the barony of Ogle, was born on the 17th of September, 1800, and represented the borough of Lynn in Parliament. In 1854 he succeeded his father in the titles and estates. The Duke, who is unmarried, is a trustee of the British Museum, and a deputy-lieutenant of the county of Nottingham. His grace, who is a man of the most refined taste in all matters of Art, an accomplished scholar, and of high attainments, is patron of thirteen livings—viz. Hendon, in Middlesex; Hucknall-Torkard, Sutton-cum-Lound, Cotham, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Gotham, and Sibthorpe, in Nottinghamshire; Bredon, in Worcestershire; Elsworth, in Cambridgeshire; Whitwell, Elmton, and Bolsover, in Derbyshire; and Bothal, in Northumberland.

The arms of the Duke of Portland are—quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters, quarterly 1 and 4, _azure_, a cross moline, _argent_ (for Bentinck) 2 and 3, _sable_, three stags’ heads caboshed, _argent_, a crescent for difference (for Cavendish), 2nd and 3rd grand quarters, _or_, on a bend, _azure_, a mullet of six points between two crescents, _or_, within a bordure engrailed, _gules_ (for Scott). Crests—1st, out of a marquis’s coronet, _proper_, two arms counter embowed, vested, _gules_, on the hands gloves, _or_, each holding an ostrich feather, _or_ (for Bentinck); 2nd, a snake nowed, _proper_ (for Cavendish). Supporters—two lions, double queued, the dexter one _or_, the sinister one _sable_. Motto—“Craignez honte.”

The Duke of Portland’s seats are—Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire; Fullarton House, Troon, Ayrshire; Langwell, Goldspie, Caithness; Bothal Castle, Northumberland; Harcourt House, Cavendish Square; and Hyde Park Gardens.

The heir-presumptive to the titles and estates of the Duke of Portland is his grace’s cousin, Major-general Arthur Cavendish Bentinck, youngest son of the late Lord William Charles Augustus Cavendish Bentinck, brother of the fourth duke. He was born in 1819, and married, first, in 1857, a daughter of Sir Vincent Whitshed, Bart., who died in 1858 (by whom he has a son, William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish Bentinck); and, secondly, in 1862, Augusta Mary Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. and Very Rev. Henry Montague Browne, Dean of Lismore, by whom he has also issue.

The earliest views of the mansion of Welbeck are those which occur on the magnificent folio plates which accompany the Duke (at that time Marquis) of Newcastle’s splendid and matchless work on “Horsemanship”[55] in 1658. The plates are all splendidly engraved from Diepenbeck’s drawings, and are among the most valuable illustrations of the period left to us. One of these plates gives a general view of Welbeck (“La Maison de Welbeck appartenant à Monseigneur le Marquis de Newcastle, le quel est dans la Province de Nottingham”), showing an extensive building four stories in height, and partly enclosed with battlemented and other walls; the end having three gables, with a central doorway, and the side of three distinct lengths. The main building, that with the three gables, is four stories in height, with mullioned and transomed windows, hipped windows in the roof, and ornamental clustered chimney-shafts; the next portion three stories high, and three windows in width, with rustic arched doorway, windows of three semicircular-headed lights, and hipped windows in the roof; and the third portion two stories in height, with a noble portico approached by steps, and an outer gateway. Of this we give a carefully reduced engraving.

Another plate shows a different part of the mansion—a façade twelve windows in length, and two stories in height; the windows transomed and mullioned, and the whole surmounted by a bold balustrade. Above the building in one part rises a square tower, and in another part a larger and more ornamental tower, with a circular domed flag-turret and tall chimney-shafts. It has simply the name “Welbeck.” A third plate, which is extremely interesting, shows the exterior of the Riding-house (still standing, but now converted to other uses), “Le Manege couert voute de bois large de 40 pieds, longe de 120 pieds,” and “La boutique du Marechall,” or the house of the officer in charge of the horses. Adjoining the Riding-house is a noble sculptured Entrance Gateway. The fourth engraving is the most elaborate, and certainly most interesting of the whole. Over the main portion of the piles of buildings—that to the left, with a central and two side doors, pilastered front, series of windows, domed circular towers, and ornamental cornice—is the inscription, “L’Ecurie voutèe de pierre, les piliers de pierre, la mangeoire de pierre à l’Italienne, et une fontaine qui coule le long de la mangeoire, et se rend dans une voute au dessous ou coule un petit ruisseau. Contre la teste de Chague Cheval il y a une petite cheminèe pour l’haleine du Cheval, la quelle, s’ouvre se ferme, selon a chaleur, ou froideur; Elle est parè de pierre de taille.” Over the next portion, which is four stories high, pilastered, and seven windows in length, is the name “Le Grenier de l’Ecurie.” Next comes the gateway with the noble residence above it, and then the other buildings, bearing above them the inscription, “Il y a d’autres Ecuries pour quatre-vint chevaux.”

Another plate is a fine view of the Park at Welbeck, with a noble avenue of trees in the centre, and abundance of deer, with hunting, shooting, &c. It is entitled “Le Parc de Welbeck appartenant à Monseigneur le Marquis de Newcastle. Le Parc est dans la Province de Nottingham.” A spirited equestrian figure of the Marquis is introduced in the foreground.

The old Riding-house of the Duke of Newcastle still stands, as we have said, but has been denuded of its internal arrangements, and converted to a nobler purpose. The old “bell-boxes” for horses, and the coach-houses, which formerly occupied a considerable part of the interior (leaving the Riding-house “longe de 120 pieds,” as named on the engraving), have been entirely taken away, and the whole building is now one grand room, 177 feet in length by 40 feet in width, and of great and exquisitely proportionable height. It would form one of the finest banqueting halls in existence. It has a massive open-work timber roof of high pitch, and of admirable design. The timber-work has, during the course of the decorations, been all painted white, the roof itself being, with much taste, painted like a natural sky. The walls are to some height wainscoted, and the folding doors at the ends of the apartments, as well as the walls, are, with a marvellous effect, covered with “looking-glass,” glass of the same character adorning the side-walls. By this means a strikingly beautiful vista-like effect is produced, and the whole room is rendered charmingly delightful. From the roof are suspended a series of magnificent crystal-glass chandeliers, and side-lights of the same kind are arranged along the walls. Externally the roof is covered with copper, with admirable effect, while two clock-towers add much to the general contour of the building. These towers contain clocks that are marvels of constructive skill. They are thus spoken of by their maker, Mr. Benson, in his “Time and Time Tellers:”—“In a set of clock-calendars which I some time since provided for his Grace the Duke of Portland, the clock showed the time on four dials five feet-nine inches in diameter, chiming quarters, hours, &c. (the well-known Cambridge chimes), on bells of 12 cwt., repeating the hour after the first, second, and third quarters. The two sides of an adjoining tower show a calendar which indicates on special circles of a large dial, by means of three separate hands, the month of the year, the day of the month, and the day of the week” (needing no correction for the long and short months, nor even for the month of February, with its occasional twenty-nine days). It has also a wind dial, lettered with the four cardinal points and the twelve intermediates; there is also an extra circle on the dial to mark the age of the moon and the equation of time, so that each dial has four circles, besides the circle of the moon, shifted simultaneously at twelve o’clock every night by the complicated and wonderful mechanism of its interior.

Adjoining this noble room is a pile of building of exactly the same size and character, devoted to kitchen and other domestic purposes, with apartments over. The Kitchen is lofty, spacious, and well arranged, and fitted with every possible convenience; the Servants’ Hall, an admirable stone groined apartment, is near; and in the larders and other offices fountains of clear water keep the air admirably cool. From the Kitchen an underground railway with an hydraulic lift is constructed for conveying the comestibles for serving in the dining-rooms.

It is not our intention to follow any regular order in briefly speaking of the different rooms of this noble and unique mansion, but simply to allude to some of them, and then to speak of the Stables, Gardens, and outside arrangements.

The Gothic Hall, a part of the old building, and altered and restored by the Countess of Oxford in 1751, is a noble apartment in the centre of the west front. The ceiling is of pendent fan-tracery of the most elaborate design, and the whole of the decorations are of Gothic character, in keeping with the ceiling. Over the fire-place rises an elaborate Gothic canopy, in three arches, over the arms, with crest, supporters, &c., of the Countess, and the letters

HC HOM 1751.