< Previous | Contents | Next >
It is related by the Duchess of Newcastle that when Charles the First was "going into Scotland to be crowned, he took his way through Nottinghamshire, and lying at Worksop Manor, hardly two miles distant from Welbeck, where my Lorde then was, my Lorde invited his Majesty thither to a dinner, which he was graciously pleased to accept of. This entertainment cost my Lord between four and five thousand pounds; which his Majesty liked so well, that a year after his return out of Scotland, he was pleased to send my Lord word, that her Majesty the Queen was resolved to make a progress into the northern parts, desiring him to prepare the like entertainment for her, as he had formerly done for him. Which my Lord did, and endeavoured for it with all possible care and industry, sparing nothing that might add splendour to that feast, which both their Majesties were pleased to honour with their presence. Ben Jonson he employed in fitting such scenes and speeches as he could best devise ; and sent for all the gentry of the country, to come and wait upon their Majesties ; and in short, did all that ever he could imagine, to render it great, and worthy of their royal acceptance.
"This entertainment he made at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, some five miles distant from Welbeck, and resigned Welbeck for their Majesties' lodging; it cost him in all between fourteen and fifteen thousand pounds."
For these occasions Ben Jonson wrote two small dramatic pieces, which are included in his published works : Love's Welcome at Welbeck, and Loves Welcome at Bolsover.
Some idea of the splendour of Bolsover may be gathered when one reads of "the gold lace and embroidery of the purple velvet bed ' being' worth £300 at least"; of the tapestry of five rooms being " very choice "; of the chairs in the lower dining-room being covered with "cloth of silver"; and there can be little doubt that, as Newcastle says to his son, the pictures were most rare, for he was the friend and patron of Vandyke, and in a letter tells the great painter:—
"The favours of my friends you have so transmitted unto me as the longer I look on them the more I think them nature and not art. It is not my error alone. If it be a disease, it is epidemical, for such power hath your hand on the eyes of mankind. Next to the blessing of your company and sweetness of conversation, the greatest blessing were to be an Argus, or all over but one eye, so it, or they were ever fixed upon that which we must call yours. What wants in judgement I can supply with admiration, and scape the title of ignorante, since I have the luck to be astonished in the right place, and the happiness to be passionately your humble servant."1
In 1628 Cavendish received the title of Earl of Newcastle; and in 1629 the Barony of Ogle was revived in favour of his Countess; the title at her death descended to the Earl.
On the outbreak of the Scotch rebellion, Newcastle (who is spoken of by Clarendon as "one of the most valuable men in the kingdom, both in his fortune, in his dependences, and in his qualifications"), advanced to the King £10,000, and "at his own charge drew together a goodly troop of two hundred horse men ; which was composed of many of the best gentlemen of the north, who were either allied to the earl, or of immediate dependence upon him, and came together purely upon his account. It was named the Prince of Wales' troop, the Earl himself being captain. When the Earl of Holland marched with his army in to Scotland, Lord Newcastle and his troop accompanied him, and upon occasion of some orders, desired that the men under his command, since they composed the Prince's troop, might have some precedence, which Lord Holland, who was General of the horse, refused to grant him, and required the troop to march in the rank prescribed. Newcastle obeyed the order, but with resentment, and as soon as the army was disbanded sent a challenge to the Earl of Holland, which the General did not show alacrity to accept —and this delay caused the affront to come to the knowledge of the King, by whose authority the matter was composed."2
In the summer of 1642, when the King began to raise forces, Newcastle joined him at York, and was dispatched from there to secure Newcastle-upon-Tyne and to take command of the four northern counties. The influence he inherited from the family of Ogle enabled him rapidly to raise troops.
In November he defeated Hotham at Piercebridge, and succeeded in raising the blockade at York. In 1643, though obliged to abandon the siege of Leeds, he was successful at Wakefield, Rotherham, and Sheffield. During this year the Earl was raised to the rank of Marquis. In April, 1644, Newcastle was obliged to make a hasty retreat into York, where he was gradually closed in by the Scots and the Parliamentary army.
Before the battle of Marston Moor Prince Rupert was urged by Newcastle not, for the present, to attempt anything on the enemy, as he had intelligence of discontent in their army, and that they had resolved to divide themselves ; also that he was himself expecting to be reinforced by Lord Clavering out of the north. But the Prince saying that he had positive orders from his Majesty to fight, Newcastle replied, " He was willing to obey his Highness in all things as if the King was there in person," and inquired what service he had for him. The Prince, saying he should begin no action until the morning, then desired the Marquis to repose himself until that time—who, in consequence, retired into his own coach, then in the field, with the intention of remaining there all night. But he was soon disturbed. The low hum of the two armies was soon raised into a mighty roar, and then began the most sanguinary battle of the whole war. Though the armies were not completely drawn up until five o'clock, and the fighting was over about ten, it resulted in the burial of four thousand one hundred and fifty bodies. In this encounter Newcastle held no command, but fought at the head of his troop of gentlemen volunteers, and was as usual distinguished by his bravery, for he was a man of courage and of self-devotion.3
The next day, however, he desired Prince Rupert to acquaint the King with his intention to leave England. In the previous April when he expressed a desire to resign his commission—" If you leave my service," wrote his Majesty, "I am sure all the north is lost: remember, all courage is not in fighting, constancy in a good cause being the chief, and despising of slanderous tongues and pens being not the least ingredient." But the Marquis was firm in his resolution; he and his company embarked in two vessels at Scarborough, and landed at Hamburg on July 8, 1644, with his two sons and his brother, Sir Charles Cavendish. On setting sail Newcastle had only ninety pounds in his possession, and on this being reported, he, in apparent unconcern, said, "he must seek his fortune even with that."4 Newcastle remained at Hamburg until February, 1645, and then set out for Paris, where he arrived in the following April; and shortly afterwards he married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Lucas, of Colchester, his first wife having died in 1643.
Margaret Lucas was the youngest of a family of eight, consisting of three sons and five daughters. Her father died while she was an infant. She was, according to her own account, bred by her mother "in plenty, or rather superfluity," and received a training the influence of which is apparent in her life. From her mother, whom she describes as a woman of singular beauty, she inherited her good looks. The happy home-life of the family was interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil War. The brothers joined the standard of the King; two of them, and afterwards the eldest sister, died. Margaret Lucas had a strong desire to be maid of honour to the Queen—a wish that was encouraged by her mother, notwithstanding the opposition of her other relatives. At the time of her marriage she had passed two years in the service of Henrietta Maria, the Queen of Charles I., whom she accompanied in her exile in Paris.
< Previous | Contents | Next >
1 Historical Manuscripts
Commission, Welbeck Papers.
2 Clarendon's History of the Great Rebellion.
3 Dictionary of National Biography.
4 His hasty departure and transporting himself
out of the kingdom occasioned many censures, which are noticed by the
Earl of Clarendon, who says Newcastle "was
so utterly tired with a condition and employment so contrary to his humour,
nature and education, that he did not at all consider the means, or the
way that would let him out of it, and it was a greater wonder that he sustained
the vexation and fatigue of it so long, than that he broke from it with
so little circumspection. He was a very fine gentleman, active, and full
of courage."