is a relic
of the monastic buildings, and three other rooms adjacent are in the
same style. There is a small doorway with Norman features of
architecture, and some roomy vaults and parts of inner walls on which
are the effigies of departed monks, indicating the original purpose of
the great house as an ecclesiastical establishment.

Bess of Hardwick had a hand in building part of the present mansion,
when the domain came into the hands of her third son, Sir Charles
Cavendish. Her design, bearing the date 1604, was on the foundations of
the old abbey, and still another noble lady added her quota to its
architecture. There is the Oxford wing built by the Countess of Oxford,
whose daughter Margaret had Welbeck as her dower when she married into
the Bentinck family. The Countess had the date 1734 affixed to the wing
erected under her auspices. There is the Gothic Hall which was part of
her design, and by some is regarded as a gem of its particular style of
architecture, with an elegantly-adorned ceiling and fan tracery of
stucco on basket-work. The carving is rich and over the fireplace are
the Countess of Oxford's armorial bearings.

A tradition exists that Bess acted under the spell of a fortune-teller
who predicted that death would be relegated to the distant future so
long as she kept on her building operations. It was in 1607 that her end
came when her masons could not continue their labours owing to a severe
frost, although the urgency of the task was such that they tried to mix
their mortar with hot ale. It was a fight with the spectre of death and
the spectre won the contest.

She was immensely rich; but could not number a real friend in the world.
Chatsworth, Hardwick, Oldcotes, Bolsover and Worksop Manor were either
built or partly built under her auspices. Lodge says: "She was a woman
of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish, and
unfeeling, a builder, a buyer and seller of estates, a money-lender, a
farmer, and a merchant of lead and coals."

CHAPTER III

THE FARMER DUKE--WEDS THE RICH MISS SCOTT--HIS HIGH-SPIRITED SONS AND
DAUGHTERS

The fourth Duke was known as the "Farmer Duke," from his love of
agriculture and rural pursuits, though he was a D.C.L. and F.R.S. and
possessed the feudal dignity of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex. His father
had been Prime Minister; but the son made no effort to shine in politics
and contented himself with developing the resources of his estates a