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.
[Illustration: _Part of Welbeck in 1658._]
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.
[Illustration: _Welbeck, from the South-east._]
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.
[Illustration: _Welbeck, the Riding School._]
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.