The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you the knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
--Elizabeth Hardwick
A contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury was also known as Bess of Hardwick and was rumored to be the second richest in the country and second in power only to the queen. She was married 4 times, each time to accumulate great wealth, property and titles. She is also famous for building several great houses including Chatsworth, the county seat of the Dukes of Devonshire and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire which is the most significant Elizabethan county houses in England.
PS: I visited Hardwick Hall in June 2000, coincedentally just after I had read a book on her life and thoroughly enjoyed visiting her beautifully preserved house.
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