“The view of the Park and the Row from the balconies of this picture gallery is very beautiful; probably it is the best view of the Park available at any point. The room under the gallery facing the Park at the south-west corner is still guarded by wooden shutters, and with good reason, for there are contained the priceless treasures given to the great Duke by governments and Sovereigns,—presentation swords and caskets encrusted with gems, the great silver-gilt table service given by the Portuguese nation, the famous Sèvres dinner service presented by the French, the services given by the Spanish and Prussian nations, the Waterloo shield, the insignia in brilliants of a score of Orders, including the Golden Fleece, which is almost invariably returned, but in this case, as a special honour, was granted permanently. Probably no room in London except the Jewel House in the Tower contains so rare a collection of priceless historic objects as this; and certainly no private gallery in London can boast of such a collection of historic pictures as the long gallery facing the Park, and the other rooms of the mansion. “The great Duke slept in a very small humble-looking room on the ground-floor at the back, and overlooking the garden and the Park. In the garden, which has some pretty shady trees, he used to take exercise by working a garden watering-pump in the summer; and every morning regularly, until within a few weeks of his death, he would ride out, dressed in white or buff trousers strapped under the boots, a blue coat buttoned up to the chin, brass buttons and a white stock. He always left a little before nine, followed by a groom, and rode up Constitution Hill and round to the Horse Guards. “When the mob during the Reform Bill agitation stoned the house, the windows of the gallery on the first floor fronting the Park were broken, and some of those facing Piccadilly. The Duke thereupon caused outside shutter blinds of steel to be fixed to the windows (similar blinds still protect the picture gallery windows, but I think these are now wood). Those in front were certainly removed by the second Duke. When the first Duke was asked to remove them he is reported to have said: ‘No! They shall remain where they are as long as I live, as a sign of the gullibility of the mob, and the worthlessness of the popularity for which they who give it can assign no reason.’