Elsewhere the Duchess is condescending enough to say that “his first wife was a very kind, loving and Virtuous Lady,” which, in most cases, might be taken to mean about the worst that one lady could politely say of another.
Collins states that Cavendish’s first wife, who, by the way, was the widow of the first Earl of Suffolk, “brought him a yearly inheritance of £2400, besides a jointure for life of £800 per ann. and between six and seven thousand pounds in money”. Something over £3000 a year in those days would be the equivalent of more than £10,000 in ours, and Cavendish seems to have inherited some of his celebrated grandmother’s talent for falling in love upon a sound financial basis. His Duchess writes:—
“After My Lord was married, he lived, for the most part, in the country, and pleased Himself and his neighbours with Hospitality, and such delights as the Country afforded; onely now and then he would go up to London for some short time to wait on the King”.
Possibly the frowns of Buckingham may have perceptibly increased Cavendish’s appreciation of “such delights as the Country afforded”.
CHAPTER II.
In the year 1620, Cavendish was raised to the peerage. The Duchess says:—
“About this time King James of blessed memory, having a purpose to confer some Honour upon My Lord, made him Viscount Mansfield, and Baron of Bolsover”.
But the event is less prettily described in a State Paper:—[7]