WELBECK, which we have chosen as the subject of our present chapter, has a history, a character, an appearance, and an interest that are entirely and peculiarly its own. In its external character it differs very materially in many points from any other mansion yet built; while its internal arrangements and means of access from one part to another are so original, and so entirely distinct from what has anywhere else been adopted, as at once to prove its noble owner, his Grace the Duke of Portland, by whom it has been planned, and is being carried out, to be a man of enlarged mind, of princely ideas, of noble conceptions, of high engineering skill, and of great constructive ability. It is a place, as we have said, entirely to itself, by itself, and of itself; it is a place many of whose features, both in general plan and in minute detail, might with advantage be taken as examples for others to follow. Vying in extent with some of the largest mansions of the kingdom, Welbeck cannot, like them, be all seen on the surface, for many of its noblest and grandest features, and much of the finest and most complicated parts of its constructive skill, are hidden away from the general observer, and only flash upon him as brilliant creations of genius when he is permitted to approach them by descending into the “bowels of the earth;” then, and then only, does the magnificence of the design of the noble owner become apparent, and then only does the vastness of the work become manifest. But of these features we shall speak presently; first let us say a few words upon its past history and the changes it has undergone.

Welbeck, with its broad domain, is situated in Nottinghamshire, about four miles from Worksop, and close to the borders of the county of Derby. Its parks are one grand succession of fine old forest trees, and its herds of deer—for it has its herd of white deer, its herd of fallow deer, and its separate herds of red and other deer—are of great extent and of fine and noble quality. Before the Conquest Welbeck was held by the Saxon Sweyn, but afterwards it passed to the Flemangs as part of the manor of Cuckney. By Thomas de Cuckney (grandson of Joceus de Flemang) the Abbey was founded, and here, in the reign of Henry II., he planted a settlement of PrÆemonstratensian or White Canons from Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, the first house in which they were established in England. The Abbey was dedicated to St. James, and endowed with grants of lands. These were from time to time considerably augmented, and “in 1329 the Bishop of Ely bought the whole of the manor of Cuckney, and settled it upon the Abbey on condition of their finding eight canons who should enjoy the good things and pray for Edward the Third and his queen, their children and ancestors, &c.; also for the bishop’s father and mother, brother, &c.; ‘but especially for the health of the said lord bishop whilst he lived, and after his death for his soul, and for all theirs that had faithfully served him or done him any good;’ to which was added this extraordinary injunction, that they should observe his anniversary, and on their days of commemorating the dead ‘should absolve his soul by name;’ a process whose frequent repetition might naturally be considered as needless, unless the pious bishop supposed that he might perhaps commit a few additional sins whilst in purgatory.”

In 1512, it is stated, the Abbey at Welbeck was made the head of the order. At the dissolution it was granted to Richard Whalley, and later on, after other changes, passed to Sir Charles Cavendish, of whom we shall speak presently. By him the Abbey was converted into a noble mansion, but little of the original religious house being left standing, and these parts only used as cellars, or here and there a wall, for the new building. The present mansion is said to have been commenced in 1604, and was afterwards much altered and enlarged, the riding-house being built in 1623, and the stables two years afterwards, from the designs of John Smithson. By the late Duke of Portland many alterations in the mansion were effected, and the grounds were also much improved.

We have just alluded to Sir Charles Cavendish, and this leads us on to the consideration of the descent of the estates from his time down to that of the present noble owner, and enables us to give, as is our wont, a genealogical account of the great and important families to whom Welbeck has belonged. The family of Cavendish, as already more fully detailed in our account of Chatsworth, traces back to the Conquest, when Robert de Gernon, who came over with the Conqueror, so distinguished himself in arms that he was rewarded with grants of land in Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, &c. His descendants held considerable lands in Derbyshire, and Sir William Gernon obtained a grant of a fair at Bakewell, in that county. He had two sons—Sir Ralph de Gernon, Lord of Bakewell, and Geoffrey de Gernon, of Moor Hall, near Bakewell. From the second of these, Geoffrey de Gernon, the Cavendishes descend. His son, Roger de Gernon (who died in 1334), married the heiress of John Potton, or Potkins, lord of the manor of Cavendish, in Suffolk, and by her had issue four sons, who all assumed the name of Cavendish from their mother’s manor. These were—Sir John Cavendish, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in the time of Edward III., and Chancellor of Cambridge, 4th of Richard II., who was beheaded by the insurgents of Suffolk in that reign; Roger Cavendish, from whom descended the celebrated navigator, Sir Thomas Cavendish; Stephen Cavendish, Lord Mayor, member of Parliament, and Sheriff of London; and Richard Cavendish. Sir John married Alice, daughter of Sir John Odyngseles, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, who brought to her husband the manor of Cavendish-Overhall, and by her, who died before him, had issue two sons—Andrew and John—and a daughter, Alice, married to William Nell. Sir Andrew Cavendish, the eldest son, was Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. By his wife, Rose, he left issue one son, William, from whom the estate passed to his cousin. Sir Andrew was succeeded by his brother, Sir John Cavendish, Esquire of the Body to Richard II. and Henry V., who, for his gallant conduct in killing Wat Tyler, in his conflict with Sir William Walworth, was knighted by Richard II. in Smithfield, and an annuity of £40 per annum granted to him and his sons for ever. He was also made Broiderer of the Wardrobe to the King. He married Joan, daughter of Sir William Clopton, of Clopton, in Suffolk, and by her had issue three sons—William, his successor; Robert, serjeant-at-law; and Walter. William Cavendish, who was a citizen and mercer of London, and of Cavendish-Overhall, married Joan Staventon, by whom he had two sons—Thomas and William. This Thomas Cavendish, who was of Cavendish and Pollingford, in Suffolk, married Katharine Scudamore, and left by her, as son and heir, Sir Thomas Cavendish, who, having studied the law, was employed by Thomas, Earl of Surrey, Treasurer of the King’s Exchequer. He was also Clerk of the Pipe in the Exchequer to Henry VIII. He married twice, and left, by his first wife, Alice, daughter and co-heiress of John Smith, of Podbroke Hall, besides other issue, three sons—George Cavendish, Sir William Cavendish, and Sir Thomas Cavendish.

George Cavendish, the eldest of these three sons, was of Glemsford and Cavendish-Overhall, and is said to have been the author of “Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey,” although the authorship of that work has also been attributed to his brother, Sir William Cavendish. He received a liberal education, and was endowed by his father with considerable landed property in Suffolk. His character and learning seem to have recommended him to the special notice of Cardinal Wolsey, who “took him to be about his own person, as gentleman usher of his chamber, and placed a special confidence in him.” George Cavendish was succeeded by his son William, and ultimately the manor of Cavendish-Overhall passed to William Downes. Sir Thomas Cavendish was one of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and died unmarried.

Sir William Cavendish, the second son of the first Sir Thomas, became the founder of the ducal House of Devonshire and of several other noble families. He was married three times: first, to a daughter of Edward Bostock, of Whatcross, in Cheshire; secondly, to a daughter of Sir Thomas Conyngsby, and widow of William Paris; and, thirdly, to Elizabeth, daughter of John Hardwick, of Hardwick, and widow of Robert Barley, of Barley, all in the county of Derby. He was “a man of learning and business,” and was much employed in important affairs by his sovereigns, filling the posts of Treasurer of the Chamber and Privy Councillor to Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary. At the suppression of the religious houses under Henry VIII. he was “appointed one of the commissioners for visiting them, and afterwards was made one of the auditors of the Court of Augmentation,” which was instituted for the purpose of augmenting the revenues by the suppression of the monasteries. For his services he received three valuable manors in Hertfordshire, which, later on, he exchanged for lands in Derbyshire and other counties. He was also knighted by Henry VIII. By his first wife he had issue one son and two daughters who died young, and two other daughters, one of whom, Catherine, married Sir Thomas Brooke, son of Lord Cobham, and the other, Anne, married Sir Henry Baynton. By his second wife he had three daughters, who all died young, and she herself died in child-birth. By his third marriage with “Bess of Hardwick” he had a numerous family—viz. Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, member of Parliament for Derbyshire, who married Grace, daughter of George, Earl of Shrewsbury, but died without lawful issue; Sir William Cavendish, created Earl of Devonshire, and direct ancestor of the Dukes of Devonshire; Sir Charles Cavendish, of Bolsover Castle and of Welbeck Abbey, ancestor of the Dukes of Newcastle, Portland, &c. (of whom presently); Frances, married to Sir Henry Pierrepoint, ancestor to the Dukes of Kingston; Elizabeth, married to Charles Stuart, Duke of Lennox (younger brother of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and father of King James I.), the issue of which marriage was the sadly unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart; and Mary, married to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury.

Of the Countess of Shrewsbury, “Bess of Hardwick,” mother of the founder of this house, it will now be well to say a few words. The family to which she belonged, and of which she eventually became heiress, that of Hardwick, of Hardwick was one of considerable antiquity in the county of Derby. One of the family, William Hardwick, married the heiress of Goushill, of Barlborough, and by her had two sons, the eldest of whom, Roger Hardwick, married the daughter of Robert Barley, of Barley, and had issue by her, John, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Bakewell, of Bakewell. Their son, John Hardwick, married Elizabeth Pinchbeck, of Pinchbeck, and was succeeded by his son, John Hardwick, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Leake, of Hasland, of the same family as the Leakes, Earls of Scarsdale. By this marriage John Hardwick, who died in 1527, had issue one son—John Hardwick—and four daughters—Mary, Elizabeth, Alice, and Jane. The son, John, who was only three years old at his father’s death, married Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Draycott, of Paynsley, but died without issue, leaving his four sisters his co-heiresses. Of these Elizabeth, afterwards Countess of Shrewsbury, inherited Hardwick and other estates. When very young—indeed, it is said when scarcely fourteen years of age—she married Robert Barley, of Barley (son of Arthur Barley, of Barley-by-Dronfield, in Derbyshire, by his wife, Elizabeth Chaworth), who died a few months after marriage, leaving his possessions to her and her heirs. By this short-lived marriage she had no issue, and, after remaining a widow for some twelve years or so, she married, as his third wife, Sir William Cavendish, by whom she had a numerous issue, as will be presently shown. To Sir William Cavendish this remarkable lady brought not only Hardwick and the other possessions of her own family, but also those of the Barleys, which she had acquired by her first marriage. Sir William died in 1557, and a few years later his widow married, as her third husband, Sir William St. Loe, or Santloe, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, who settled the whole of his estates upon her and her heirs, and thus greatly added to her already immense possessions. By this marriage there was no issue, and, on the death of Sir William St. Loe, she was a third time left a widow. Soon afterwards she married, as his second wife (he being, of course, her fourth husband), George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, stipulating, however, that the Earl’s eldest daughter, the Lady Grace Talbot, should marry her eldest son, Sir Henry Cavendish, and that his second son, Gilbert Talbot (eventually Earl of Shrewsbury), should marry her youngest daughter, Mary Cavendish. These family nuptials were solemnised at Sheffield on the 9th of February, 1567-8, the younger of the two couples being at the time only about fifteen and twelve years of age respectively.

The events of the Countess of Shrewsbury’s life are so thoroughly mixed up with those of the stirring times of the kingdom at large, more especially during the period when the truly unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, was in the custody of the Earl and his countess, that it is unnecessary here to enter into them. By the Earl of Shrewsbury the Countess had no issue, and he dying in 1590, she, “Bess of Hardwick,” became, for the fourth time, a widow. “A change of conditions,” says Bishop Kennet, “that perhaps never fell to the lot of one woman, to be four times a creditable and happy wife; to rise by every husband into greater wealth and higher honours; to have a numerous issue by one husband only; to have all those children live, and all by her advice be creditably disposed of in her lifetime; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in absolute power and plenty.” The Countess, as we have before written, “besides being one of the most beautiful, accomplished, and captivating women of her day, was, without exception, the most energetic, business-like, and able of her sex. In architecture her conceptions were grand, while in all matters pertaining to the arts, and to the comforts and elegancies of life, she was unsurpassed. To the old hall of her fathers, where she was born and resided, she made vast additions, and she entirely planned and built three of the most gorgeous edifices of the time—Hardwick Hall, Chatsworth, and Oldcotes—the first two of which were transmitted entire to the first Duke of Devonshire. The latter part of her long and busy life she occupied almost entirely in building, and it is marvellous what an amount of real work—hard figures and dry details—she got through; for it is a fact, abundantly evidenced by the original accounts remaining to this day, that not a penny was expended on her buildings, and not a detail added or taken away, without her special attention and personal supervision. Building was a passion with her, and she indulged it wisely and well, sparing neither time, nor trouble, nor outlay to secure everything being done in the most admirable manner. It is said, and it is so recorded by Walpole, that the Countess had once been told by a gipsy fortune-teller that she would never die so long as she continued building, and she so implicitly believed this that she never ceased planning and contriving and adding to her erections; and it is said that at last she died in a hard frost, which totally prevented the workmen from continuing their labours, and so caused an unavoidable suspension of her works. Surely the fortune-teller here was a “wise woman” in more senses than one, for it was wise and cunning in her to instil such a belief into the Countess’s mind, and thus insure a continuance of the works by which so many workmen and their families gained a livelihood, and by which later generations would also benefit. Besides Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, and other places, the Countess founded and built the Devonshire Almshouses at Derby, and did many other good and noble works. She died, full of years and full of honours and riches, on the 23rd of February, 1607, and was buried in All Saints’ Church, Derby, under a stately tomb which she had erected during her lifetime, and on which a long Latin inscription is to be seen.”

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.

Over the doorways, beneath cusped Gothic arches, are also the arms of Cavendish, with crescent for difference. This room, like every other portion of the edifice, has been greatly improved by the taste of its noble owner, and the mechanical skill of those employed by him: this is evidenced in a remarkably ingenious and original contrivance for the raising and lowering of the sashes of the windows, and in other ways. The suite of rooms in this pile of building consists, among others, of the Dining-room, admirably furnished, and hung with a fine collection of paintings; the Small Drawing-room, an exquisite Doric apartment, in which, among other Art treasures, are some of the finest existing samples of Snyders, Rembrandt’s masterly portrait of himself, and the grand picture of St. Cecilia, as well as some sumptuous inlaid ivory furniture; the Drawing-room, filled with the choicest of pictures and the most superb of furniture; the Saloon, &c. From the windows of these apartments, looking to the east, lovely views are obtained of the Lawns and Italian Gardens, planted with shrubs and laid out in exquisite taste, with beds of gorgeously coloured flowers; the Lake, with its broad expanse of water, some three miles or more in length, and with a contour well broken by headings; the extent of Deer Park beyond (the central object being the grand old lime-tree shown in a portrait of the old duke); and the belt of gigantic forest trees beyond. Altogether it is a charming scene, and one that shows well the noble character of the scenery by which Welbeck is surrounded.

The “Oxford,” or “Lady Oxford’s” wing, to which another story, as well as new towers and additional rooms in length, has been added by the present duke, forms the south angle of the mansion. The apartments in this wing are chastely beautiful, alike in their decorations, their furnishing, and their appointments. The walls in most cases are in distemper, of a warm roseate tint, and the carved panelling and other decorations are of dead and burnished gold; while the furnishing, whether with furniture of Louis XVI. style, or of gold and figured silk damask, or what not, is, while of costly and sumptuous character, all arranged with the most faultless purity of taste. The chimney-pieces, too, are in good taste; they are mostly of white marble, artistically carved in medallion heads, foliage, &c., by workmen employed at Welbeck. One fine old chimney-piece in the late duchess’s room is a grand example of Wedgwood’s sage-green plaques inlaid in the marble. In this Oxford wing an hydraulic lift, and every other possible appliance and convenience for the comfort of the guests, have been added; indeed, in the whole mansion nothing is left to be desired.

The Libraries are a suite of five superb apartments opening by wide central doorways one into another, thus forming one great whole. It is not usual with us to give dimensions of rooms, but, as this suite has some striking peculiarities connected with it, we in this instance give them. They are, in round numbers, 43 by 38 feet, 59 by 43 feet, 59 by 31 feet, 59 by 31 feet, and 58 by 31 feet. At the side of these runs, on one side, a charming glass-roofed corridor of considerable width, and, on the other, an arched covered corridor of great length. The ceilings of this suite of rooms are geometrically panelled and highly enriched, and the whole is lighted from the top.

Adjoining these is a spacious room 158 feet 10 inches in length by 63 feet 6 inches in width, the ceiling of which is one mass of chaste and beautiful ornamentation. Its ceiling, flat and of geometrical design, is supported on a series of eight wrought-iron girders, each weighing no less than twenty-two tons, and the whole of the light is from the ceiling.

The peculiarity of the construction of these rooms—the library suite and the one last named, some stables, gardening and potting sheds, lodges, &c., as well as others in progress—is that they are entirely underground, and are approached from, and connected with, the rest of the mansion by underground corridors and passages. The ground has been excavated to an enormous depth, and at a princely cost, and these lofty rooms are erected below the surface—a novelty in construction unattained elsewhere, and one that possesses many decided advantages. The light is equal to any to be attained in buildings on the surface, and it has an additional softness that is peculiarly graceful; the drainage is thorough and complete, the ventilation admirable, and the annoyances of wind and of draughts entirely avoided. Verily the fairies, who in their day had their underground palaces, and

“Held their courtly revels
Down, down below,”

must have been clever and far-seeing architects, for they thus kept themselves clear from the elements, and could enjoy the summer sun in coolness, and the winter’s wrath in warmth. This feature of Welbeck is, indeed, like fairyland in its novelty and in its inward comforts, and its adoption was a grand conception on the part of its noble owner. And now a few words on other portions of the arrangements at Welbeck.

The Riding School—the finest in existence—is a noble room, measuring in its interior no less than 379 feet in length, by 106 feet in width, and above 50 feet in height. It is covered by a semicircular and highly ornate iron and glass roof, rising from iron columns, which form the side of a charming corridor running round it. This corridor has an open carved timber-work roof, of elegant but massive design. The general idea of the design of this roof has been taken from that of the old Riding-house, but altered in its details, and rendered more elaborate and elegant: the cornice round the main building is chastely decorated with wreaths of foliage, birds, and other objects, arranged with great taste. The room is at night lighted by nearly eight thousand gas jets, and has a strikingly beautiful effect. Near it are the Hunting Stables, unequalled for amplitude of accommodation and for excellence of arrangement, with their accompanying saddle-rooms, offices, and grooms’ barracks. These stables form a quadrangle, the yard being nearly 180 feet square, and contain some six-and-thirty spacious loose boxes and a number of stalls, the planning and arrangement of the whole being perfection itself. Not far from these are the coach-houses and coach-house stabling, and the covered “gallop” and lunging-rooms. These form another marked feature of Welbeck. The gallop is, in its entire interior length, 1,072 feet, and its general central width 33 feet; while the lunging-rooms at either end are about 70 feet in width, and 191 and 293 feet in length respectively. The whole of this immense space is covered with glass, and laid down in tan, &c.; it is believed to be the finest covered gallop in existence. Besides this are outdoor tan gallops, roughing and brood boxes, &c. The Kennels are also very extensive.

The Cowyards, Cowhouses, Sheds, and Dairy are of great extent, and are arranged with every modern appliance. The Dairy, in the centre of which is a crystal sparkling fountain rising from a marble bowl, is unsurpassed anywhere; the floor is of Minton’s encaustic tiles, and the fittings and wall-tiles of chastely beautiful patterns. Near it are the steward’s and other offices, the visitors’ stables, the telegraph office, and many other buildings.

The Gardens of Welbeck are one of its great glories, so extensive, so well arranged, so liberally provided, and so productive are they. Among the special features—arrangements nowhere else on the same principle adopted—are the peach wall, nearly one thousand feet in length, with lean-to glass on Rendle’s patent, but so arranged, with a series of strawberry beds on the other side of the path, that they can be lifted down and run, as on a tramway, to cover the strawberries; thus each division of the lean-to forms a frame to cover a strawberry bed of its exact size. The fruit walls are built with recesses in their backs, in which braziers of fire can be placed, so as to hasten and help the ripening of the fruit. The range of pine-houses is about the same length, as are also the magnificent vineries. A pretty and novel feature, too, is a fruit arcade. This arcade is nearly one thousand feet in length, and is formed of a series of ornamental iron arches, and over the whole of this are trained a number of apple-trees up one side, and pear-trees up the other, and bearing profusely for the whole of this immense length. Then there are the orchard-houses, in which hundreds of standard peach and other trees grow in pots; the potting-houses, the pine-pits, the conservatories, the forcing-houses, the giant mulberry-tree, and a host of other gardening attractions.

Another important part of Welbeck is the series of Workshops and Yards. Here are immense carpenters’ yards and workshops, fitted with every possible kind of machinery and every mechanical appliance—fit for the most extensive contractor; there the extensive stoneyards and masons’ workshops; in another place the painters’ sheds and the forging-sheds; in another the smiths’ and engineers’ shops; and in yet another the powerful steam-engines for driving the various kinds of machinery. Here, too, are extensive gas-works, consisting of no less than four huge gasometers; the fire-engine house, fitted with engines in constant readiness and with gear of every kind; the immensely ponderous traction engines, for which his grace is so justly famous, and of which some six or seven are constantly at work; and many other matters to which we need not allude.

The works now for many years carried on by the Duke of Portland have been, and yet are, of the most stupendous character, and must have been accomplished at a lavish and princely outlay. His grace has, however, done all things “wisely and well,” and if his outlay has been princely, it has been expended in a princely manner, and to the benefit of thousands of his fellow-creatures. It is not for us, in a work like ours, to moralise, but it strikes us that to enter upon and carry out large and important works in a liberal, energetic, and spirited manner is a far better, far higher, and far nobler way of filling a mission on earth than getting rid of capital in some objectionable pursuits. The Duke of Portland is a great benefactor to his race, and by finding employment, as he does, to some two thousand persons or more, the good he does is incalculable.

The collection of pictures at Welbeck is very fine and very extensive, and embraces many paintings, family portraits, and others of note and of matchless value. Among these portraits are several of the celebrated Duke of Newcastle, of his countesses, and of his horses, with views of Welbeck, &c.; a remarkably fine original portrait of the Countess of Shrewsbury, “Bess of Hardwick,” bearing the inscription, “Eliz: Hardwick, Daughter and Coheir of John Hardwick, of Hardwick in the County of Derby, Esq^re. Married to her second husband, Sir Wm. Cavendishe of Chatsworth, in the same County. She settled her 3rd son Charles Cavendishe at Welbeck in the County of Nottingham;” a remarkably fine original portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots; an equally fine one of the Lady Arabella Stuart, by Zucchero; portraits of most of the members of the Bentinck family and their alliances, and of the Cavendish, Harley, and Holles families, besides a large number of general subjects. Among them may be named as a few of the more interesting:—Elizabeth Basset, of Blore, first wife of William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, by Mytens, signed “Ætatis suÆ 25 anno 1624. D. Mytens fct.;” Sir Charles Cavendish, father of the first Duke of Newcastle, and his wife, Lady Ogle of Ogle, daughter of Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, by Mytens; Sir Charles Cavendish; William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, by Vandyke; Margaret Lucas, Duchess of Newcastle, the gifted authoress, second wife of the first Duke of Newcastle, by Lely; Henry Cavendish, second Duke of Newcastle, by Lely; Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Albemarle and Montague, by Lely; the second Duke of Albemarle, by Lely; Elizabeth Cavendish and her husband, the Earl of Bridgewater, by Lely; Henry Bentinck, Earl of Portland, and Henrietta Cavendish Holles, wife of the second Earl of Oxford, by Kneller; Henrietta Cavendish Harley, Duchess of Portland, by Hudson; Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford, by Dahl; Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, by Kneller; Duke of Portland, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; Napoleon, by Paul de la Roche; “Angel Contemplation,” by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and bequeathed by him to the then Duke of Portland; Margaret Cavendish Harley, by Michael Dahl; and another of the same, by Charles Jervas; Lucy Harrington, Countess of Bedford; Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, by Vansomer; Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and his countess, Elizabeth Vernon, by Holbein; Henry, Prince of Wales, by Zucchero; George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, by Jansen; Margaret Wooton, wife of Sir Thomas Grey, and grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, by Holbein; King Edward VI., by Holbein; the bloody-shouldered Arabian horse, sent over from Aleppo by Mr. Nathaniel Harley, with figures of the Turk and his dog, by John Wootton, 1724; Sir Francis Vere, and Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, by Mark Garrard; Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury; Ben Jonson; Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, by Vandyke; Sir Hugh Myddelton, by Jansen; William Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, by Vandyke; Gervase Holles, son of Freschevelle Holles; Gerard Thomas Fairfax; John Holles, second Earl of Clare; Sir Edward Harley; Denzil Holles, Lord Holles, by Holbein; King Charles II.; James Butler, second Duke of Ormond, by Lely; William III. in his coronation robes, and Queen Mary II., by Kneller; Lord Cornbury and lady, by Lely; Lady Ogle, Duchess of Somerset, by Kneller; William III. when Prince of Orange, given by him to the Earl of Portland; Lady Frances Villiers, by Lely; Catherine Harley, Duchess of Buckingham, by old Zeeman; Matthew Prior, the poet, by Jonathan Richardson, and another, by Rigaud; Charlotte Davis, Viscountess Sundon; and Queen Elizabeth, by Lucas de Heere. These, however, are not a tithe of the rare and excellent pictures contained in this splendid collection, which our limits alone prevent us from enumerating. As an assemblage of historical and family portraits, as well as of rare examples of the best masters, the Welbeck collection takes high rank among the choicest private galleries of the kingdom. The collection also includes some good ivories and a large number of valuable miniatures. Among the treasures here preserved, too, are the original MS. of the Duke of Newcastle’s grand book on “Horsemanship,” already alluded to; a large number of letters from royal, noble, and celebrated personages; several patents of creation; a MS. account of the regalia, jewels, plate, &c., of Henry VIII., signed in several places by that monarch; some curious MS. inventories; and many other matters of historical value.

Welbeck formerly had its share of royal visits, and of these some curious accounts are given in the Duchess of Newcastle’s “Life” of her husband. Thus—“When his Majesty (Charles I.) was going into Scotland to be crowned, he took his way through Nottinghamshire; and lying at Worksopp-Mannor, hardly two miles distant from Welbeck, where my Lord then was, my Lord invited His Majesty thither to a Dinner, which he was graciously pleased to accept of: this entertainment cost my Lord between Four and Five thousand pounds; which His Majesty liked so well, that a year after His Return out of Scotland, He was pleased to send my Lord word, that Her Majesty the Queen was resolved to make a Progress into the Northern parts, desiring him to prepare the like Entertainment for Her, as he had formerly done for Him: Which my Lord did, and endeavour’d for it with all possible Care and Industry, sparing nothing that might add splendor to that Feast, which both Their Majesties were pleased to honour with their Presence. Ben Jonson he employed in fitting such Scenes and Speeches as he could best devise; and sent for all the Gentry of the Country to come and wait on their Majesties; and in short, did all that ever he could imagine, to render it Great and worthy Their Royal Acceptance. This Entertainment he made at Bolsover Castle, in Derbyshire, some five miles distant from Welbeck, and resigned Welbeck for Their Majesties Lodging; it cost him in all between Fourteen and Fifteen thousand pounds. Besides these two, there was another small Entertainment which my Lord prepared for His late Majesty, in his own Park at Welbeck, when his Majesty came down, with his two Nephews, the now Prince Elector Palatine, and His Brother Prince Rupert, into the Forrest at Sherwood, which cost him Fifteen hundred pounds. And this I mention not out of a vain-glory, but to declare the great love and Duty my Lord had for His Gracious King and Queen, and to correct the mistakes committed by some Historians, who not being rightly informed of those Entertainments, make the World believe Falsehood for Truth.” The first of Ben Jonson’s masques here alluded to was entitled “Love’s Welcome. The King’s entertainment at Welbeck, in Nottinghamshire, a house of the Right Honourable William, Earl of Newcastle, Viscount Mansfield, Baron of Bothal, Bolsover, &c., at his going into Scotland, 1633.” It was one of the best of Jonson’s masques, and the quintain was introduced and performed by gentlemen of the county in the garb of rustics.

And now it only remains to say a word or two as to the surroundings of Welbeck.

Welbeck Park, and the closely adjoining forest of Sherwood, have ever been noted for their fine venerable trees—oaks that have stood for ages, and bid fair to stand for ages yet to come. Many of the then fine old trees were cut down “by the rebels” when Welbeck became for a time their prey during the civil wars, but many still remained; and those then in their prime have now become more venerable with age. A few of the more noted may just be named. The “Duke’s Walking-stick,” so called from its long straight stem, when described in 1813, and earlier by Major Rooke, who considered it to be unmatched in the kingdom, measured 111 feet 6 inches in height, was estimated to weigh about 11 tons, and contained about 440 solid cubic feet of timber. It no longer exists, but another tree, a “young walking-stick,” we are informed, of nearly a century and a half’s growth, is about 100 feet in height. The “Two Porters,” standing a little distance apart, and named “the Porters” from a gate and fence having formerly stood between them, are described as being about 98 and 88 feet in height, and 38 and 34 feet in circumference; they stand nearly at the north extremity of the park, not far from the south lodge of Worksop Manor, and are marvels of growth and girth.

The “Seven Sisters,” situated about half a mile from the “Two Porters,” is one of the most remarkable trees anywhere in existence. It consisted originally of seven stems springing from one general root, and rising perpendicularly to a great height—no less than 88 feet, the circumference of the common trunk close to the ground being over 30 feet. Some of the sister stems have from time to time been blown down, but the tree is still a noble and interesting one. Near it “a hollow tree, in circumference 20 feet 9 inches, supposed to be three hundred years old, was used as a place of concealment from whence the keeper could aim at the deer.”

The “Ruysdael Oak,” so called because of being in form and condition one of those peculiar trees which that painter delighted to introduce into his pictures, stands on a commanding eminence in the park, not far from the “Seven Sisters,” and forms a striking object from whichever side it is seen. Venerable in its age, lovely in its decay, this “grand old oak” stretches out its weird-like naked branches in every direction, and forms a landmark that cannot be mistaken. From it, and, indeed, from many points on this side of the park, some strikingly beautiful views of the mansion, the lake, and the grounds are obtained.

In the part of the grounds known as “The Wilderness;” in the various drives that intersect the forest; in the remains of “Merrie Sherwood,” which form a part of the estate; and, indeed, in every direction, noble oaks many centuries old, limes of marvellous beauty, and chestnuts of enormous growth are abundant, and give an air of unsurpassed grandeur to the domain. There is also, in another part of the grounds, a fine avenue of aged oaks.

The “Greendale Oak” is, however, of all trees, the most curious, venerable, and interesting. It lies some half a mile south of the Abbey, and is computed to be one of the oldest trees in existence in this country. Throsby, in his “Thoroton,” supposed it to be, when he wrote, “upwards of 1,500 years old,” and Major Rooke, a few years previously, that it was “thought to be above seven hundred years old;” thus opinions of contemporary people varied some eight hundred years in their computations. “In Evelyn’s time it was 33 feet in circumference at the bottom; the breadth of the boughs was 88 feet, covering a space equal to 676 square yards.” In 1724, the opening, from decay, in the stem of the tree was enlarged sufficiently to allow of the passage of an ordinary carriage, or three horsemen abreast. Through this opening one of the noble owners is said, with his bride, to have been driven in a carriage drawn by six horses, on the occasion of his marriage. The tree has been repeatedly engraved, one old plate representing the carriage being driven through the opening, and another representing a horseman passing through it. In 1727 the Countess of Oxford, the then owner of Welbeck, had a cabinet made from a portion of the wood taken out of the opening. It is inlaid with representations of the carriage and six horses passing through the tree, and other designs, and bears the following quotation from Ovid:—

“SÆpe sub hac Dryades festas duxure choreas
SÆpe etiam manibus nexis ex ordine trunci,
Curcuiere modum mensuraque roboris ulnas.
Quinque ter implebat. Nec non et cÆtera lentum
Silva sub hac omnis, quantum fuit herba sub omni;”

and Chaucer’s lines—

“Lo the Oke! that hath so long a norishing
Fro the time that it ginneth first to spring,
And hath so long a life, as we may see,
Yet, at the last, wasted is the tree.”

The Greendale Oak, the “Methuselah of trees,” still stands, and is preserved with religious care. Long may this “brave old oak” remain one of the landmarks of past ages at lordly Welbeck!

Long, too, may the “Parliament Oak,” where Edward I. summoned his Parliament to meet him; the “Shamble Oak,” where Robin Hood and his “merry, merry men, all under the greenwood tree,” hung their deer, but which has lately been nearly destroyed by fire; the “Major Oak,” the “Simon Forester Oak,” and their brethren, be spared to us, and remain as landmarks of history and of tradition!

The neighbourhood of Welbeck is rich in historical associations, in objects of interest, and in places of note. Sherwood Forest, with its hero-lore of Robin Hood; Clipstone, with its grand old Park; Clumber, with its noble mansion; Worksop, with its Manor House, its Abbey Church, its grand old gateway, and its other attractive features; Thoresby, with its palatial Hall; Bolsover, with its grand old Castle; and Steetley, with its Saxon Church: these are but a few, a very few, of the places that lie around and invite a visit; but these we must pass over, and, for a time, bid adieu to Welbeck and its charms.

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