Smyrna times., 1872-09-11
" Bess Of Hardwiek. "

Elizabeth Hardwick was the sole heiress of
Derbyshire squire, Hardwick of IIardwck, and,
at the age of fourteen, with all her youth,
wealth and beauty-with everything but her
heart-was married to another Derbyshire
squire, named Barley, whose death, following |
speedily thereon, scarcely dimmed for mo-
ment the lustre of the brilliant young widow |
eyes, especially as Barley left her the whole of
his estate to be added to her own. To this ir- |
resstible widow there came wOoing widower,
rich III abbey and priOry lands, but poor in
having no sons by his first wife to keep them
with his name This man was Cavendish, the
sequestrator; and Bess Of IIardwck, loving him
heartily, married him willingly laid her lands
to his, bought ChatswOrth, added acre to acre,
and founded that material greatness which,
through her, the CavendiShcs still enjoy. In
1857 this beautiful arrogant aud rather unscru.
pulOus Bess, again found herself a widower,
with her second husband estates in her hands.
No qucendOwager was ever so well provided
Tor; and the suitors who came to her feet-suit-
Ors of every degree-were as numerous as those
OF Penelope. From among them she selected
Sir William st. Loe, GlOucesterShire baro-
net, whose wife she became, only under the
stipulation that if the union proved childless
the broad acres of st. Loe should pass from Sir
| Williams daughters by his first marriage, and
from his brothers, to her own children by Sir
William Cavendish. The Worcestershire swain
not only agreed to rob his family in order to
obtain the hand of Cavendish's widow, but
died early, and lett Barley and Cavendish's
widow the widow too Of st. Loe. This triple
dOwager now cast her magic about the poten
tial George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and by
her charms, her wit, her power and her vii
she effected triple marriage-Oi herself will
the great earl, OF her step-daughter Mary Ca
vendlsh with Gilbert the Earl of Shrewsbury
son, and of her own son, Henry Cavendish
with the earl S daughter Grace. One other o
her daughters, Elizabeth Cavendsh, she maj
ried to Charles Stuart, Earl Of Lennox, an
! younger brother of Darnley somewhile Kin
OF Scots. By this marriage of her daughtt
with the Stuart the Cavendishcs gained the
elevation to the peerage. For of this union WI
; born the Lady Arabella Stuart who, althOug
= never endowed with much influence, possesse
= enough, and so exercised it as to obtain,
Y | 1904 for her uncle William the baronetcy
Cavendish of IIardwick.
Bess of Hardwck survived oil her husband
Il Her long life may be said to have been pleasa1
. to her for the one great consummation-tl
: power and grandeur of the Cavendishes, Il
Z one absorbing object of her thoughts, acts, al
u inspirations She erected palaces had a ra
:, knowledge of the value and use of and, of VIII
le was beneath as we'll as what was upon it, Of he
,o money could be turned toaccount; and OF hol
lT lH ing all her husbands and their households
u submission and obedience. Lodge assigns
y. ~ all these qualities bad sense, for he descrt
~ this beautiful and imperious Bess as "a build
- buyer and seller of estates, q money-lend
y or farmer, and merchant of lead, Goals, and ii
IT, ber. When disengaged from these empl'
n ments," he adds, "she intrigued alternate
uI uI with Elizabeth and Mary, always to the pre-
Of J5oe Dc "uo 'oiioi oi h0l hu'0'nO