The most wonderful of the underground apartments built by the Duke was the picture-gallery, or as it was intended to be, the ball-room.  It is lighted from the roof by means of bulls’-eyes.  An enormous sum was spent in labour, excavating the solid clay in order that this magnificent saloon might be constructed.

Some choice examples of the great masters are contained in this palace of art, which is 158 feet long, 63 feet wide, and 22 feet high.  Here are examples of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, de Mytens, Tintoretto, Teniers, Snyders, Bassano, Wyck, de Vos, Greffier, Francks, Berghem, Zucchero, Wootton, Breughel, Dirk Maas, Netscher, Gagnacci, Gerard Honthorst, Van der Meulen, Rigaud, Vandyke, Holbein, Kneller, Lely, Dahl, M. Shee, Knapton, West, Jansen, Verelst; in fact not only in the picture-gallery, but in all parts of the Abbey are scattered treasures of art and vertu.  Among the interesting curiosities are the one-pearl drop-earrings seen in the portraits of Charles I., and worn by him on the morning of his execution; also the silver-gilt chalice from which he received the consecrated wine on that fateful morning at Whitehall.  The chalice bears the following inscription; “King Charles the First received the communion in this Boule on Tuesday the 30th of January, 1664, being the day in which he was murthered.”  In the library are autograph letters from the Stuarts, including one from Mary Queen of Scots, signed “Your very good friend.”

There is a portrait of Adelaide Kemble, with whom the Duke is said to have been in love in early manhood.  The actress is in the pose of her histrionic profession, and in another part of the gallery is a bust of the Duke by H.R.  Pinker (1880).

The gigantic riding school is about 380 feet long, 112 feet wide, and 50 feet high, and from it is a subterranean passage leading to the tan gallop, designed for the exercise of horses.  The length of this gallop is 1270 feet, and it is all under a glass roof.  He had about 100 horses, and his stables extended over an area almost as large as a village.

Of all his extraordinary hobbies that of planning subterranean passages has excited the most wonder and satire.  These tunnels, in which it was possible for three persons to walk abreast in some parts, were lighted with gas jets placed at intervals.  One at least of the tunnels is large enough for a horse and cart to be driven through.

The drive from Worksop is a delightful one, but all at once the stranger is surprised to find himself in a cavern, leading as might be supposed to the catacombs.  It was no uncommon thing for the Duke to rise up out of a tunnel and appear in the midst of a gang of workmen when they were little expecting him, and when, perhaps, they were idling their time, or making uncomplimentary remarks about him.

When the tunnels were in course of construction there might be seen a procession of men on donkeys going to and fro.  It was all in a piece with his Grace’s conduct that he should purchase donkeys for them to ride upon; but the animals, when let loose, would gnaw at the trees, so the services of the four-legged asses were dispensed with.