i6o ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



VI 1 1., who was afterwards married to Charles Brandon, 

 Duke of Suffolk. The magnificence with which this 

 royal visit was carried out almost exceeds belief. A 

 great part of Stowe was newly furnished, and the state 

 bedroom was a marvel of expensive upholstery. All 

 the county assembled there ; the tenants were feted, the 

 tradesmen, their families and friends, of the borough of 

 Buckingham and Aylesbury were right royally enter- 

 tained ; balls, concerts, and yeomanry fetes were the 

 order of the day. These festivities continued for the 

 greater part of a week, and the London and local 

 papers utilized all their stock of adjectives in describing 

 the splendour of the entertainment. I have been told 

 that the young Marquis, even while the Queen and 

 Prince were being entertained, was taken into the 

 library and, in utter ignorance of their import, signed 

 papers which practically alienated the greater part 

 of the landed property, and left him comparatively 

 a beggar. In less than two years after this the sheriff 

 was in possession of Stowe, and the whole of the 

 magnificent furniture, gems of art, statuary, and pictures, 

 collected at enormous cost in Italy and elsewhere by the 

 first Duke, was brought to the hammer. The sale 

 lasted twenty-eight days. Never was such a complete 

 destruction of a great property before in England. 

 The Duke and Duchess, with their son the Marquis of 

 Chandos, were left absolutely without a furnished home. 

 I have given this sketch of a ruined house to 

 illustrate the difficulties the late Duke had to contend 

 with from the outset of his career. The Norwich 

 Union and some other great insurance offices had 



