WILLIAM CAVENDISH,

DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE,

A PATRIOT among the men, a gallant among

the ladies.

His friendship with lord Russell,

his free spirit, his bravery, duels, honours, amours, are well known, and his epitaph will never be forgotten:

WILLIELMUS DUX DEVONIÆ,

BONORUM PRINCIPUM FIDELIS SUBDITUS, INIMICUS ET INVISUS TYRANNIS.

2 [Flecknoe describes this nobleman, whose family-motto is Cavendo tutus (Secure by caution), as

"That just man without all guile or fraud,

Who next to's first religion unto God,
Counts what he is to men, his second one,
And for a world would harm and injure none;
Who's wary and circumspect in all his ways,
And nothing rashly either does or says;
Nor any thing, in fine, that may offend
His prince, his country, conscience, or his friend.
If any now would know who this may be,
By his Cavendo tutus they may see:

It is a Cavendish, and that Devonshire's he."

Euterpe revived, 1675, p.36.

Of his composition we have,

"Two Speeches in 1680 and 1681."3 "A true Copy of a Paper delivered by the Lord Devonshire to the Mayor of Derby, where he quartered, Nov. 21, 1688."4

"An Allusion to the Bishop of Cambray's Supplement to Homer, a Poem,"

5

of which one or two extracts are to be found in the Peerage. The whole piece is published at length in some editions of the English Telemachus; and at the end of lord Rochester's poems.

Some Fragments in the Peerage.""

"An Ode on the death of Queen Mary."

[Of this patriotic nobleman a detailed account may be seen in the Peerage of Collins, and in the Bio

• Printed in Collins's Peerage, pp.325. 327.

4 State Tracts, vol. ii. p. 438.

5 Ubi supra, p.339. [And also in Jacob's Lives of the Poets. The entire poem, entitled, "The Charms of Liberty," was printed in 1709, 8vo. with Epigrams and Satires, by several hands.]

6 [Most of the writings of this duke were printed in an Appendix to the Memoirs of the Cavendishes, by Dr. Kennet.]

7 P.537, and in Rochester's Works: [In 1738 the Gentlemanfarrier was advertised for sale by Cogan and Nourse, booksellers, with "Horse-receipts by his late Grace of Devonshire, Earl of Orrery," &c.]

9 Vol.i. p. 311, edit. 4th. [This account of Collins is copied

graphia Britannica." He was the son of William, earl of Devonshire, and equally distinguished for his courage as a man 2, his independent spirit as a senator, and his intrepidity as a naval volunteer. James the second entertained a well-founded jealousy of his defection, for he was one of the first peers who voted for a public thanksgiving to commemorate the prince of Orange's deliverance of this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power3; for which and other services he was made a knight of the garter, lord high-steward of England, and at the same time created by king William, marquis of Hartington, and duke of De

vonshire.

Macky, his contemporary, says he was the finest

verbatim, without acknowledgment, from the Memoirs of Dr. Kennet, annexed to his funeral sermon on the duke, which was republished by Nichols, in 1747.]

9 Vol. iii. p. 344. edit. 2d.

2 One instance of this occurred at Paris, where he defended himself, with his sword, against three officers of the French king's guard and another, in his leading colonel Culpepper by the nose out of the presence-chamber at St. James's, and giving him a caning. For the latter he was prosecuted in the king's bench, and had a fine of 30,000l. imposed upon him: this judgment was afterwards declared illegal by the house of lords. In the works of lord Warrington, 1694, the case of the earl of Devonshire is recited at considerable length.

› Sunderland, says lord Orford, caused the revolution, while Devonshire stood aloof; the latter was the angel, the former the storm. Walpoliana, vol. i. p. 45.

4

and handsomest gentleman of his time, that he loved the ladies and plays, kept a noble house and equipage, was tall, well-made, and of a princely behaviour; a firm assertor of the liberties of his country and the Protestant religion; and of nice honour in every thing, but the payment of his tradesmen. He projected the present sumptuous pile at Chatsworth7; and died with Christian magnanimity, at Devonshire

6

Horace, lord Walpole, on calling one day at Devonshirehouse, which was just finished, and not finding the duke at home, left the following complimentary epigram on his table.

"Ut dominus, domus est: non extra fultæ columnis
Marmoris splendet; quod tenet, intus habet."

Coxe's Memoirs of Lord Walpole, p. 263.

According to a note of sir William Musgrave, the following character was drawn for this nobleman, in Moderation displayed,

1702:

"Urbano, though by all admir'd and lov'd,
Though his sweet temper and obliging port
Become his office, and adorn the court;
He seems by nature form'd mankind to please,
So free, so unconstrained in his address,
Improv'd by ev'ry virtue, ev'ry grace."

State Poems, vol. iv.
p. 101.

6 Characters of the Court of Great Britain, p. 18.

7 It was of this fine house that marshal Tallard (who was a more successful courtier than he was a general) is reported to have said a very fine thing, after being invited thither by the noble owner. His compliment at his departure was conceived in these terms: "My lord, when I come hereafter to compute the time of my captivity in England, I shall leave out the days of my enjoyment at Chatsworth." Kennet's Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, p. 143.