The Duke of Devonshire
Collecting has elements of the excitement of the chase. Once you are on the trail there is no giving up, and unlike in hunting collecting has no climax. The hobby re- mains with you throughout your life. I chose minerals for a variety of reasons; two of my predecessors at Chatsworth had accrued collections — the famous Geor- giana, Duchess of Devonshire, and her son, the sixth Duke. While I find it surprising that collecting minerals should have been a hobby of Georgiana's — it seems out of character — with her son it was predictable, and I suspect he collected them for the same reason I do: that they are eminently suitable to be housed in Chatsworth. Apart from the scientific in- terest, specimens can be of outstanding beauty. I have in mind examples of Celes- tite, Fool's Gold and a wonderful Desert Rose that might have been sculpted by human hand rather than by sand and wind erosion. Finally, the immense antiquity of some minerals is a timely reminder of how short a span one spends on earth. When worried, I like to gaze at fish and fern fossils dating back millions of years. Seeing them reassures me that if I am about to take the wrong decision, in the centuries, indeed millenia, to come that decision will not be of any great consequence.
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