Chapter VII 

 THE BELVOIR CIRCLE 



SOMETHING has already been said of the influence of 

 Belvoir on society at Melton. It is necessary that we 

 should try to recall the brilliant circle which at the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century gathered at the Castle, or assembled 

 to meet the hounds at Croxton Park. 



The society at the Castle was a boon to the neighbourhood. 

 The Duke, like most of his race, and all the best of the great 

 English nobles, was in friendly relation with his tenants, who 

 looked up to their landlord as their leader in sport, their 

 guide in local affairs, and the natural representative of the 

 interests of the country side at the seat of government. 

 Thus, to say that you were hunting with the Duke's hounds 

 was a passport all over the district. The state and splendour 

 of the Castle seemed natural and proper to the neighbour- 

 hood, which felt that the lavish expenditure was a benefit by 

 causing the circulation of money. The Belvoir circle has 

 been sketched for us by the hand of a master ; and after 

 much study of the memoirs of the time, I have failed to find 

 a portrait of the Duke and Duchess in their home circle that 

 better represents them. The period of Coningsby belongs 

 indeed to a later time, yet the characters of the fifth Duke 

 and his Duchess did not so much alter as develop, and if 

 they gained something of seriousness as time went on, the 

 courtesy, the kindliness, and the stately grace of their home 

 life were the same in 1 800-1816 as in the later and more 

 agitated years of reform painted by Disraeli. 



" Beaumanoir was one of those palladian palaces, vast and 

 ornate, such as the genius of Kent and Campbell delighted 

 in at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Placed on a 

 noble elevation, yet screened from the northern blast, its 



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