e was formerly a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, then after
succeeding to the title, he became Lieut-Colonel of the Honourable
Artillery Company of London; he is also Hon. Colonel of the 1st
Lanarkshire Volunteer Artillery, and 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters
Derbyshire Regiment. He is Lord Lieutenant of Notts. and Caithness, and
was Master of the Horse from 1886-1892 and 1895-1905. He is a family
trustee of the British Museum, and is the patron of thirteen livings.
The Portland estates comprise 180,000 acres, and his income is estimated
at 160,000l. a year from them alone.

Besides Welbeck Abbey, he has country seats at Fullarton House, Troon,
Ayrshire; Langwell, Berriedale, Caithness; Bothal Castle,
Northumberland, and a London residence at 3, Grovesnor Square.

There are still descendants of the Hon. William Bentinck, eldest son, by
the second marriage of the first Earl of Portland. The Hon. William was
born in 1704 and created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1732.

The vast fortune of the House of Portland has been built up in a
remarkably short space of time, a little over 200 years, and no other
great family has received so many honours and acquired such wealth in
the same period. In the last century one of the Dukes held fourteen
different public offices at the same time, while a younger son was Clerk
of the Pipe, and a brother-in-law and nephew had 7,000l. per annum in
official salaries; a daughter too was the recipient of a State pension
for pin-money.

One of the characteristic traits of the Bentincks has been that in
founding the fortunes of the family in the past their scions were
successful in capturing great heiresses. These brief genealogical
details will help to explain future developments in the history of this
noble family.

CHAPTER II

HOW THE BENTINCKS BECAME POSSESSED OF WELBECK,--A FEMININE INTRIGUE

_Cherchez la femme_ is a French saying, which has somewhat of a cynical
ring about it. The female hand has to be discovered in the family
alliances of the Cavendishes and the Bentincks from which a tangle of
intrigue may be unravelled. There was in the first instance that
accomplished matchmaker, Bess Hardwick, a country squire's daughter, who
was married four times, and from her sprang children and grandchildren
with whom were intertwined the families of no less than five Dukes.

To the north of the county of Nottingham, in the heart of England, is a
rich and fertile tract o