Table of Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Map xiii
Family Tree xiv
Introduction xvii
Prologue: Hardwick Hall, 1590 xxvii
1 Derbyshire Beginnings 1
2 Sir William Cavendish 14
3 Acquisition 26
4 'Every man almost is a builder' 39
5 'My honest swete Chatesworth' 51
6 'This devil's devices' 65
7 Countess of Shrewsbury 78
8 The Scots Queen 92
9 A Dubious Honour 105
10 'Close dealing' 117
11 'Great turmoil doth two houses breed' 129
12 'The old song' 144
13 'Send me Accres' 158
14 'Civil wars' 171
15 Mocking and Mowing 183
16 The Old Hall 196
17 Smythson's Platt 213
18 London, 1591 226
19 'More glass than wall' 237
20 'Houshold stuff' 250
21 'A scribbling melancholy' 265
22 'It doth stick sore in her teeth' 277
23 'Not over sumptuous' 288
Afterword: Hardwick Post Bess 300
Acknowledgements 303
Notes on Sources 305
Notes 307
Select Bibliography 329
Index 335