THE SERPENT AND THE STAG: The Story of the House of Cavendish and the Dukes of Devonshire

by John Pearson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1984

The idea of a book devoted to a Duke-by-Duke chronicle of a posh British clan seems like an awfully stuffy proposition--but Pearson (The Sitwells) is just wry and irreverent enough to make this genial bedside entertainment for diehard Anglophiles. The dynasty proper begins with the 1547 marriage of twice-widowed, self-made William Cavendish, a royal commissioner, to ambitious teenage widow Bess of Hardwick, from ""penurious Derbyshire gentry."" It was Bess who established the Cavendish power-base in land, fortune, and marital connections; widowed again, she shrewdly married up twice more; she acquired land rapaciously, including the dan's Chatsworth manse; being both a ""business genius"" and a woman (a crucial advantage, Pearson demonstrates), she was able to reconcile the serpent/stag inclinations of the family--cautious, bourgeois instincts vs. aristocratic tendencies toward ""reckless show"" and hedonism. Unfortunately, however, none of Bess' descendants is quite her equal in rags-to-riches pizazz. The early 1600s, after Bess' death, are a let-down--except for the appearance of none other than Thomas Hobbes as family tutor. Then, with the family weathering the Civil War quite nicely, comes the first official Duke William (16401707), who transformed Chatsworth into a ""great Whig palace"" while becoming ""something of a kingmaker"" in the William-and-Mary years. The second Duke continued the political focus, as Sir Robert Walpole's top ally at Court; the fourth Duke would indeed be ""Crown Prince of the Whigs,"" with a brief stint as PM that ended in political disaster, in Duke #5 (1748-1811), the ""family caution was transmuted into chronic lethargy, tolerance to icy unconcern, persistence to obtuseness, and learning to pedantry."" (His only claim to fame: an odd menage à trois.) Duke #6 was a pleasure-loving bachelor, who let the dreaded ""Devonshire Debt"" mount up; Duke #7 pursued the role of ""the foremost high-Victorian aristocratic industrial entrepreneur""; Duke #8 (1833-1908) was celebrity, politician, money-whiz, ""Trollope's Duke of Omnium incarnate."" And the 20th century brought more politicians, some domestic nightmares, some Edwardian/postEdwardian decadence. . .and the current Duke's transformation of Chatsworth from a ""great uninhabited house"" circa 1938 to a gem (if not always a- profitmaker) in the National Trust scheme. Lots of politics, lots of finance, a little history, a little gossip: lightweight but intelligent Duke-watching through the decades, for those inclined.

Pub Date: June 1, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION