Bess of Hardwick

the young gentleman promised obedience and going to his pillow with his head full of the familiar spirits that used to be worn in rings watches and sword-hilts he had the good fortune to possess himself of an available idea in a dream connecting this with what he himself chanced to know of the ring's real history his task was done clara pemberton invited a select few of her friends all holding the staunchest faith in edward's genius and therefore the most genial auditors if not altogether the fairest critics that a writer could possibly desire blessed be woman for her faculty of admiration and especially for her tendency to admire with her heart when man at most grants merely a cold approval with his mind Drawing his chair beneath the blaze of a solar lamp, Edward Carl untied a roll of glossy paper and began as follows.

THE LEGEND After the death warrant had been read to the Earl of Essex, and on the evening before his appointed execution, the Countess of Shrewsbury paid his lordship a visit, and found him, as it appeared, toying childishly with a ring.

The diamond that encircled it glittered like a little star, but with a singular tinge of red.

The gloomy prison chamber in the tower, with its deep and narrow windows piercing the walls of stone, was now all that the earl possessed of worldly prospect, so that there was the less wonder that he should look steadfastly into the gym and moralize upon earth's deceitful splendor, as men in darkness and ruin seldom fail to do.

"'This ring,' he resumed in another tone, "'alone remains.' Of all that my royal mistress's favour Lavished upon her servant.

My fortune once shone as brightly as the gym, And now such a darkness has fallen around me, Methinks it would be no marvel if its gleam, The sole light of my prison-house, Were to be forthwith extinguished, Inasmuch as my last earthly hope depends upon it.

How say you, my lord? asked the countess of shrewsbury the stone is bright but there should be strange magic in it if it can keep your hopes alive at this sad hour alas these iron bars and ramparts of the tower are unlike to yield to such a spell Essex raised his head involuntarily, for there was something in the Countess's tone that disturbed him, although he could not suspect that an enemy had intruded upon the sacred privacy of a prisoner's dungeon.

To exult over so dark a ruin of such once brilliant fortunes, He looked her in the face, but saw nothing to awaken his distrust.

Drawing his chair beneath the blaze of a solar lamp, Edward Carle untied a roll of glossy paper and began as follows.

The Legend After the death warrant had been read to the Earl of Essex, and on the evening before his appointed execution, the Countess of Shrewsbury paid his lordship a visit, and found him, as it appeared, toying childishly with a ring.

The diamond that encircled it glittered like a little star, but with a singular tinge of red.

The gloomy prison chamber in the tower, with its deep and narrow windows piercing the walls of stone, was now all that the Earl possessed of worldly prospect, so that there was the less wonder that he should look steadfastly into the gym, and moralize upon earth's deceitful splendor, as men in darkness and ruin seldom fail to do.

He now, for a brief space, was lost in thought, while the countess contemplated him with malignant satisfaction.

"This ring," he resumed in another tone, "alone remains of all that my royal mistress's favor lavished upon her servant.

My fortune once shone as brightly as the gem, and now such a darkness has fallen around me, methinks it would be no marvel if its gleam, the sole light of my prison house, were to be forthwith extinguished, inasmuch as my last earthly hope depends upon it." "How say you, my lord?" asked the Countess of Shrewsbury.

"The stone is bright, but there should be strange magic in it, if it can keep your hopes alive at this sad hour.

Mm-hmm.

You know, this is a way of showing Bess of Hardwick's got absolutely loads of cash, and she's gonna spend it, and she's gonna show you that she can afford the best stonemasons in Robert Smythson, who designed it.

She can afford to, to, to have it in the most up-to-date Renaissance manner, and you know, this, this is part of your status display.

And, and I would say that even in a modern context, light still equals status.

The principal of Magdalen Hall recommended him to William Cavendish, afterwards First Earl of Devonshire, and Hobbes formed a connection with the Cavendish family which was of vital importance to his whole career.

The first conspicuous Cavendish, the Sir William who was employed in the visitation of monasteries by Henry VIII and had certain pickings from their estates, married Elizabeth, a rich heiress in Derbyshire, generally known as Bess of Hardwick.

She was an imperious lady who induced her husband to settle in Derbyshire, where she built great houses at Hardwick and Chatsworth.

She had determined, it seems, not to die as long as she could build, and it was only a hard frost suspending her building operations which induced her to leave the world in 1608 at the age of ninety.

During the interval, Hobbes wrote a Latin poem giving an account of a short tour in the Peak, made in company with the second Earl.

It was, it appears, a New Year's gift to his friend, who rewarded him with a present of five pounds.

The De Mirabilibus Pecci Carmen begins with a description of the beauties of Chatsworth and the early landscape gardening of Bess of Hardwick, where art, dissimulating art, has produced sham rocks and streams and fountains.

Then he describes the ride in the course of which he and his companions see the seven wonders of the Peak, Chatsworth itself, the cave called the Devil, Montour, Eldon Hole, the Hot Spring, Poole's Cavern and Buxton Well.

I, I like your answer.

I went more toward the female drama aspect, and I would've chosen, I'll just say both of them, either Bess of Hardwick ...

No, I have three.

Bess of Hardwick-

Ooh

...

All of them.

Yeah.

She had heard of the gallantries of Monsieur Mornay and had set him down as a woman hunter and libertine, a type especially elected for her abomination.

His recent attentions to the Countess of Shrewsbury and the engaging Mrs. Middleton were already the common gossip of the court.

She herself had seen this man perfumed and frilled, flaunting himself in Hyde Park or the Mall with one or the other of his charmers.

But the assurance which made him successful elsewhere only filled her with disgust.

The principal of Magdalen Hall recommended him to William Cavendish, afterwards first Earl of Devonshire, and Hobbes formed a connection with the Cavendish family which was of vital importance to his whole career.

The first conspicuous Cavendish, the Sir William who was employed in the visitation of monasteries by Henry VIII and had certain pickings from their estates, married Elizabeth, a rich heiress in Derbyshire, generally known as Bess of Hardwick.

She was an imperious lady who induced her husband to settle in Derbyshire, where she built great houses at Hardwick and Chatsworth.

She had determined, it seems, not to die as long as she could build, and it was only a hard frost suspending her building operations which induced her to leave the world in 1608 at the age of ninety.

During the interval, Hobbes wrote a Latin poem giving an account of a short tour in the Peak made in company with the second earl.

It was, it appears, a New Year's gift to his friend, who rewarded him with a present of five pounds.

The De Mirabilibus Pecii Carmin begins with a description of the beauties of Chatsworth and the early landscape gardening of Bess of Hardwick, where art dissimulating art has produced sham rocks and streams and fountains.

Then he describes the ride in the course of which he and his companion see the seven wonders of the Peak, Chatsworth itself, the cave called the Devil, Mam Tor, Eldon Hole, the hot spring, Pool's Cavern, and Buxton Well.

So doing that is what their ancestors would have done, selling off those outlying, overvalued parcels and using it to invest in the up-and-coming economic world so one could have control over that the way one had control over the land.

Dynasty founders like Bess of Hardwick, the progenitor of the Cavendish dynasty, who's a fascinating character, bought land because it was a profitable and safe asset, not because they were sentimental about it.

Further, those who did this tended to do so quite well.

They bought diversified baskets of equities from promising and stable companies around the world, and their families survived as a result.

They were one of the most important characters dynasties in the 18th and 19th centuries in England, politically and financially, and they had remained with that stability ever since the Tudor period.

It was, of course, founded, the estate was really founded by the matriarch of the family, Bess of Hardwick, who started out from very, very humble origins in on the kind of fringes of the Elizabethan court.

And then she married her way up.

And so she eventually became Countess of Shrewsbury and then was the kind of founder of the Cavendish family.

One of her husbands was like the...

When Mary, Queen of Scots, was under house arrest, he was in charge of her incarceration.

And Bess of Hardwick did a lot of embroidery with Mary, Queen of Scots.

They created some famous embroideries together.