Welbeck

Welbeck is the Duke of Newcastle’s residence in Nottinghamshire and the destination of a visit by the Empress’s soul and the Duchess’s soul. Set amid close, extensive woodland, the house brings the Empress into direct contact with the Duchess’s account of her husband’s losses during the civil war: it is a useful dwelling rather than a magnificent one, while the nearby Bolsover Castle stands empty of furnishings.## Setting and approach The souls travel through Nottinghamshire and pass through Sherwood Forest, which the Empress admires as dry, level, and pleasant in both winter and summer. The forest’s abundance of trees surprises her; she observes that the ships seem to contain more wood than the land. The Duchess explains that the civil war destroyed much of the kingdom’s best timber and principal palaces, framing the landscape not simply as a pleasing setting but as one marked by political destruction.

They arrive at Welbeck, surrounded by woodland so thick that the Empress remarks on how much forest occupies a small area. The Duchess identifies it as the house where the Duke resides. When the Empress asks whether he has no other house, the Duchess points to Bolsover Castle, about five miles away, but explains that it is bare and stripped of its furnishings.## The Duke’s losses Welbeck is described as an habitation more useful than magnificent. The contrast between the lived-in house and the nearby unfurnished castle gives material form to the Duke’s reduced circumstances. The Duchess says that the civil war cost him half his woods, as well as houses, land, and movable goods; his losses from his personal estate amounted to more than half a million pounds.

The Empress wishes that he might have some of the gold of the Blazing-World to repair the damage. The Duchess thanks her for the kind wish, but points out that wishes cannot restore what has been ruined. She emphasizes instead the patience with which her husband bears his losses and misfortunes. Welbeck therefore becomes the setting for an exchange between the Empress’s immense resources and the Duchess’s knowledge of what wealth, however abundant elsewhere, cannot simply undo.## The visit to the Duke At Welbeck, the Duke comes out into the courtyard to see his horses of manage. The Duchess’s soul is so delighted at seeing him that her aerial vehicle becomes bright; the Empress observes that the passions of souls or spirits can alter their bodily vehicles. Neither soul is visible to the Duke. The Empress watches the horsemanship and approves it as an exercise suited to noble and heroic persons.

After the Duke goes back into the house, the two souls follow him and see him practise swordsmanship. The Duchess becomes concerned that he is undertaking a strenuous exercise before eating and enters his body; the Empress follows, so that the Duke has three souls in one body. The visit at Welbeck thus opens into the book’s exploration of spiritual companionship and the boundaries between bodies and souls, while the house itself remains the concrete setting for the meeting between the Duchess’s private attachment and the Empress’s curiosity about her native world.