that he was a man of brilliant attainments, but he was the soul of
honour, and for this reputation and for his conciliatory disposition,
was chosen to head the Government, which relied for its precarious
existence on the reconciliation of the contending parties among the
Whigs and Tories. He married the only daughter of the Duke of Devonshire
and the male direct line continued in the succession of his eldest son.

The fourth Duke was William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, who married
Henrietta, eldest daughter of Major-General John Scott, a descendant of
Balliol and Bruce, the heroes of Scottish history. There were four sons
and six daughters of the marriage, the succession being continued by the
second son. The fourth was known as the "Farmer Duke," and with his love
of country presuits he lived to the ripe age of eighty-five, dying in
1854.

The most eccentric character in this ducal line was the fifth holder of
the title, William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, born in 1800. He was
M.P. for Lynn 1824-1826, and died in December, 1879. Of his
extraordinary predilections more will be related in succeeding chapters.

The sixth and present Duke is William John Arthur Charles James
Cavendish-Bentinck, who was born on December 28th, 1857, and succeeded
to the title in 1879. His elevation to the Dukedom is an example of the
fortune of birth; the old and eccentric Duke died unmarried, or so it
was assumed, and therefore his honours in the peerage passed to his
second cousin.

To trace the lineage of the present Duke we must go back to the third
Duke, who had a third son (Lord William Charles Augustus). This third
son, who was uncle of the eccentric Duke, had issue, Lieut.-General
Arthur Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, the father of the present Duke, his
mother being Elizabeth Sophia, daughter of Sir St. Vincent Hawkins
Whitshed, Bart. The name of Scott was not part of his cognomen; he
sprang from another branch in which there was no trace of the Scott
element, and the name having been borne by two Dukes for a lady's
fortune, there was no further obligation to continue it in connection
with the Cavendish-Bentincks.

The marriage of his Grace took place in 1889 to Winifred, only daughter
of Thomas Dallas-Yorke, Esq., of Walmsgate, Louth, and their children
are: William Arthur Henry, Marquis of Titchfield, born March 16th, 1893,
Lady Victoria Alexandrina Violet, born 1890, and Lord Francis Norwen
Dallas, born 1900.

The Duk