EARLY LIFE OF LORD JOHN BENTINCK, AFTERWARDS FIFTH DUKE OF
PORTLAND.--THE ADELAIDE KEMBLE ROMANCE


Lord John Bentinck was born in September 1800, the second son of the
fourth Duke. His name in its extended form was William John
Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, and for many years, till the death of his
brother Henry, he had no prospect of succeeding to the Dukedom. At
nineteen he was a lieutenant in the army, and in 1824 was returned as
Member of Parliament for King's Lynn; but the duties of a legislator do
not seem to have been much to his taste and he resigned in 1826, his
brother, Lord George Bentinck, being elected to take his place.

The fourth Duke kept a large stud of race-horses and Lord John was
brought up in the atmosphere of the turf. When a young man he was a
horseman, fearless and even reckless in his equestrian exploits. There
used to be a gate six feet high at Serlby Hall, the seat of Viscount
Galway, which it was said he had jumped one day when hunting.

The three brothers, Henry, John and George, formed a racing partnership
under the name of "Mr. Bowes" and were for a time successful in their
enterprise, their transactions bringing in considerable sums of money.

The death of the eldest, Henry, in 1824 transformed Lord John into
Marquis of Titchfield, heir to the Dukedom and enormous estates of the
House of Portland.

With all his splendid advantages of birth and fortune he does not appear
to have sought for a wife among the aristocratic families of the land,
and it is said that he only made one offer of marriage in his life; at