DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 159 



of the country, as it imparted a strong Conservative 

 element to the new constitution, and enabled the Tory 

 party a few years afterwards, under Sir Robert Peel, 

 and his active, youthful right hand, the present Mr. 

 W. E. Gladstone, to resume the government. The ruling 

 passion of the Marquis of Chandos, when he succeeded 

 to the dukedom, was territorial aggrandisement and 

 power, and every estate that fell either under the 

 auctioneer's hammer, or was sold by private contract 

 in Bucks, was swallowed by his capacious maw : old 

 mansions were either razed to the ground or turned into 

 farmhouses — in many instances they were suffered to fall 

 into decay — that he might be really lord paramount, 

 and that so far as political power was concerned nothing 

 should "stand between the wind and his nobility." 

 Money was borrowed at 5 per cent, or more, to pay for 

 properties that would scarcely yield 2 per cent., as he 

 paid most exorbitant prices for land ; and, to pose as the 

 farmers' friend and to gain political power, he let his 

 farms at absurdly low rents. To this must be added 

 considerable sums spent in elections and expensive 

 establishments at Wotton and Stowe : it was only a 

 question of time, therefore, how long this would 

 continue. 



The whole matter culminated in a grand celebration 

 of the coming of age of his only son, the late Duke. 

 Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Albert graced 

 Stowe with their presence to do honour to the de- 

 scendant of the younger royal line of the Plantagenets, 

 the Duke being descended from Mary, the widow of 

 Louis, King of France, the younger sister of Henry 



