Funerall Sermon, by William Naylour, her chaplain, preached at Darby, Feb. 18, 1674. Lond. for Henry Broome. Texte, 2 Sam. iii. 38th verse.—page 16:
'He was the souldiers' mignion, and his majestie's darling, designed by him generall of the northern horse (and his commission was given him), a great marke of honour for one of about five and twenty: "thus shall it be donne to the man whom the king delights to honour."
'Col. Cavendish was a princely person, and all his actions were agreable to that character: he had in an eminent degree that which the Greekes call εἶδος ἄξιον τυραννίδος, the semblance and appearance of a man made to governe. Methinkes he gave cleare this indication, the king's cause lived with him, the king's cause died with him—when Cromwell heard that he was slaine, he cried upon it We have donne our businesse.
'And yet two things (I must confess) this commander knew not, pardon his ignorance,—he knew not to flie away—he knew not how to aske quarter—though an older did, I meane ... Henderson; for when this bold person entred Grantham on the one side, that wary gentleman, who should have attaqued it, fled away on the other. If Cato thought it usurpation in Caesar to give him his life, Cavendish thought it a greater for traytors and rebells of a common size to give him his. This brave hero might be opprest, (as he was at last by numbers) but he could not be conquered; the dying words of Epaminondas will fitt him, Satis vixi, invictus etiam morior.
[596]'What wonders might have been expected from a commander so vigilant, so loyall, so constant, had he not dropt downe in his blooming age? But though he fell in his green yeares, he[597] fell a prince, and a great one too, in this respect greater then Abner; for Abner, that son of Mars, deserved his father's epithite, ἀλλοπρόσαλλος, one of both sides, first he setts-up Isbosheth, and then deserts him. Whereas Cavendish merited such a statue as the Roman senate decreed L. Vitellius, and the same inscription, Pietatis immobilis erga Principem, one whose loyaltie to his great master nothing could shake.
'Secondly, consider the noble Charles Cavendish in his extraction, and so he is a branch of that family, of which some descended that are kings of Scotland: this the word Fuimus joyned to his maternall[XLI.] coate does plainly point at—not to urge at this time his descent by the father's side from one of the noblest families in England. An high extraction to some persons is like the dropsie, the greatnesse of the man is his disease, and renders him unweildie; but here is a person of great extract free from the swelling of greatness, as brisk and active as the lightest horseman that fought under him. In some parts of India, they tell us, that a nobleman accounts himselfe polluted if a plebeian touch him; but here is a person of that rank who used the same familiaritie[XLII.] and frankness amongst the meanest of his souldiers, the poorest miner, and amongst his equalls; and by stooping so low, he rose the higher in the common account, and was valued accordingly as a prince[598], and a great one; thus Abner and Cavendish run parallell in their titles and appellations.
[XLI.] His mother was daughter to the lord Bruce, whose ancestors had been kings of Scotland.
[XLII.] Sir Robert Harley (son), an ingeniose gent. and expert soldier, haz often sayd, that (generally) the commanders of the king's army would never be acquainted with their soldiers, which was an extraordinary prejudice to the kings cause. A captaine's good look, or good word (some times), does infinitely winne them, and oblige them; and he would say 'twas to admiration how souldiers will venture their lives for an obligeing officer.—quod N. B.
'Consider Abner in the manner of his fall, that was by a treacherous hand, and so fell Cavendish. II Sam. iii. 27, "and when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab tooke him aside in the gate to speake with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the bloud of Asahel[599] his brother." Thus fell Abner; and thus Cavendish,—the colonell's horse being mired in a bog at the fight before Gainsborough, 1643, the rebels surround him, and take him prisoner; and after he was so, a base raskall comes behind him, and runs him through. Thus fell two great men by treacherous handes.
'Thirdly and lastly, the place of his fall, that was in Israel.... Here Abner fell in his, and Cavendish fell in our Israel—the Church of England.... In this Church brave Cavendish fell, and what is more then that, in this Churches quarrel....