Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1875 — The Eccentric Duke of Portland. [ARTICLE]

The Eccentric Duke of Portland.

Few, even of his nearest neighbors, have the slightest idea how he spends his time. He is never seen at court, and fashionable aristocratic circles know him not. So far "as society .is concerned, he is dead to the world, and even the few visitors to Walbeck Abliey seldom set eyes on their host. He surrounds himself with an atthe closest mystery, and no one, peer or commoner, is permitted to penetrate into the secrets of his life. Even his own solicitors, the firm to whom is intrusted the legal management of his enormous estates, are never allowed an interview with him, and in aristocratic circles it is habitually—but, as will be seen hereafter, erroneously—asserted that the only'person who is permitted to see him is'liis confidential valet. His liat is of an unusual height; a long, old-fashioned wig reaches down to his neck; wet or fine he never stirs out without an umbrella; hot or cold .a loose coat is always slung> over his arm’ v and whether the ground he dry or muddy his trousers are invariably tied up below the knee With a piece of common string, in gxactly the same fashion as is adopted by a navvy at liis work., His mind" is as active and his intellect as acute as those of almost any of liis brothers in the peerage. He is now just seventy-five years of " age, having been born on-the 17th of September, 1800. He is of course enormously wealthy. Four or five years ago his annual income was upward of £300,000, and since that time it has very considerably increased. -He is a very large owner of land round about Welbeck Abbey, where he usually resides, and he has besides enormously valuable property in London, chiefly in the district of Marylebone, besides very large estates in Northumberland, in Derbyshire, in Caithness and Ayrshire. His Grace has never beeq, married, nor, to the best of living belief, has lie at any time been smitten by a woman’s charms. His ruling passion is an inveterate love for building. At Welbeck Abbey alone, fox many years, there have been employed upward of 500 masons, and a like number of smiths and joiners, beside the staff necessary,for the ordinary work of the estate. His Grace is his own architect, and all his plans are laid out in tlie most methodical manner. Before he will allow a new building to be commenced lie makes tlie designs, amt causes to be constructed, often at a cost-of some hundreds ol pounds, a large model of the-work, to be put in hand. If the model does not please him lie destroys it, draws new pinna, and has a fresh model made. During the progress of the work lie superintends it in person. His Grace is, by' experience, very clever in building matters. He can detect the most minute fault, even such trifling defects as would escape the eye of tlie practiced and experienced workman. If a fault cannot be remedied by alteration lie causes it to be, without ceremony, razed to the ground, and the work commenced afresh until it is done to his satisfaction.

He has a deeply-rooted disiike to the observation of tiie outside world. He has even sought by various clever expedients to hide the old Abbey of Welbeck, where he constantly resides, from casual passersby, while the approaches to the abbey are entirely subterranean. There are upward of fifteen miles of tunneling round Weibeck Abbey, and no one can approach the house without traversing some of them. This most extraordinary arrangement has taken many years to accomplish, but it is now complete. Some of these subterranean passages are constructed upon the most admirable principles. They are all well ventilated from above, and are lighted by natural or artistic means by day and night. In order to take away the monotonous effect of these underground passages His Grace has built, in some cases parallel with, the passages, other open corridors covered with glass, While at distartces of every few yarns are J to be found statues and other works of art, placed in niches in the wall. He possesses an extensive stable. He has upward of fifty hunters bred from the best stock in the land, and this although he has not for many years followed the hounds himself. A gallery made of iron and glass, and a quarter of a mile in. length, lias been constructed in order that the horses may be exercised in damp weather; his riding-school is a magnificent affair, with a lofty glass dome, and he has besides carriage-houses, huntingstables and carriages of every, description.

His kitchen and culinary offices are construtted on an extensive scale, although there is only His Grace to.cook for, as, when lie (occasionally) gives dinner parties, the food is sent from elsewhere. Vet the Duke is almost simple in. bis diet. He lakes regularly but two meals a. day, and at each lie lias half a chicken, one being killed and prepared for him each morning. He passes much of his time among the workmen, but will seldom go. near a stranger. Many people write to him, but he seldom or never gives a -reply. He is a member of four Loudon clubs—Boodle’s, Brook’s, The Traveler’s and White’s—but he never goes near them. He gives large hunting and shooting parties to different members of the English aristocracy, but never sees or converses with, them.—London Figaro. The Troy (N. Y.) Whig says: “ A day or two since one of our townsmen was engaged in nainting the tin roof of his dwell-ing-house. A sixteen-foot ladder stood upagainst the house, the top of which urojected about a foot and a half above the eaves. While busily engaged at work he was startled by hearing a childish voice say: ‘ me up high.’ Looking up, to liis horror aud astonishment he saw lus little two-year-old boy standing on the eaves of the house, with one hand on a rung of the ladder. For & moment lie lies; lTatetTasto what lie should do, but TJfihHy"" he spoke quietly to the boy, telling him to stay there until papa would, come and get him. The boy obeyed, and the anxious father reached him, and taking him in his arms descended the ladder. He did not paint any more that morning. How the child managed to climb the ladder to the roof, aud then step off' on the eaves, and turn round and take hold of the ladder, all without falling, is a mystery.” Tiik Scranton (Pa.) J'imti says that it has the best authority for the following singular statement: “A lady of our city, having gathered a large quantity of autumn leaves, took the more rapid method of pressing with a hot flat-iron. Very soon after her hands and wrists broke out with an eruption of a scalding humor, such as is witnessed in those cases .--of erysipelas known as St.. Anthony’s fire, and she is likely to be laid up for some time, if no worse results ensue. The leaves were of the maple species, and the theory is that a volatile oil of a poisonous nature was evolved by the application of heat and obtained access to the circulation through some abrasion of the skin. It is safer though a slower process to .press leaves in a book or between flat boards under a weight.” •