It is very true, in many respects he wanted those qualityes, which might have bene wished to be in a person to be trusted in the education of a greate and a hopefull Prince, and in the forminge his minde and manners in so tender an age: he was of an age not fitt for much activity and fatigue, and loved and was even wedded so much to his ease, that he loved his booke above all exercizes, and had even contracted such a lazinesse of minde, that he had no delight in an open and liberall conversation, and cared not to discource and argue in those points which he understoode very well, only for the trouble of contendinge, and could never impose upon himselfe the payne that was necessary to be undergone in such a perpetuall attendance. But then those lesser dutyes might be otherwise provided for, and he could well supporte the dignity of a Governour, and exacte that diligence from others, which he could not exercize himselfe, and his honour was so unblemished, that none durst murmure against the designation, and therfore his Majesty thought him very worthy of the high trust, against which ther was no other exception, but that he was not ambitious of it, nor in truth willinge to receave and undergo the charge, so contrary to his naturall constitution; but [in] his pure zeale and affection for the Crowne, and the conscience that in this conjuncture his submission might ad[v]ance the Kings service, and that the refusinge it might proove disadvantagious to his Majesty, he very cheerefully undertooke the Province, to the generall satisfaction and publique joy of the whole kingdome, and to the no little honour and creditt of the Courte, that so important and beloved a person would attacque himselfe to it, under such a relation, when so many who had scarce ever eaten any breade, but the Kings, detached themselves from ther dependance, that they might without him, and against him, præserve and improove those fortunes which they had procured and gotten under him, and by his bounty.
29.
THE MARQUIS OF NEWCASTLE.
William Cavendish, created Viscount Mansfield 1620, Earl of Newcastle 1628, Marquis 1643, and Duke 1665.
Born 1592. Died 1676.
By CLARENDON.
All that can be said for the Marquiss is, that he 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 free him for ever from having more to do with 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, and most accomplish'd in those Qualities of Horsemanship, Dancing, and Fencing, which accompany a good breeding; in which his delight was. Besides that he was amorous in Poetry, and Musick, to which he indulged the greatest part of his time; and nothing could have tempted him out of those paths of pleasure, which he enjoyed in a full and ample fortune, but honour and ambition to serve the King when he saw him in distress, and abandoned by most of those who were in the highest degree obliged to him, and by him. He loved Monarchy, as it was the foundation and support of his own greatness, and the Church, as it was well constituted for the splendour and security of the Crown, and Religion, as it cherished, and maintained that Order and Obedience that was necessary to both; without any other passion for the particular Opinions which were grown up in it, and distinguished it into Parties, than as he detested whatsoever was like to disturb the publick peace.
He had a particular Reverence for the Person of the King, and the more extraordinary Devotion for that of the Prince, as he had had the honour to be trusted with is Education as his Governour; for which office, as he excelled in some, so he wanted other Qualifications. Though he had retired from his great Trust, and from the Court, to decline the insupportable Envie which the powerfull Faction had contracted against him, yet the King was no sooner necessitated to possess himself of some place of strength, and to raise some force for his defence, but the Earl of Newcastle (he was made Marquiss afterwards) obeyed his first call, and, with great expedition and dexterity, seised upon that Town; when till then there was not one port town in England, that avowed their obedience to the King: and he then presently raised such Regiments of Horse and Foot, as were necessary for the present state of Affairs; all which was done purely by his own Interest, and the concurrence of his numerous Allies in those Northern parts; who with all alacrity obeyed his Commands, without any charge to the King, which he was not able to supply.
And after the Battle of Edge Hill, when the Rebells grew so strong in Yorkshire, by the influence their Garrison of Hull had upon both the East and West riding there, that it behoved the King presently to make a General, who might unite all those Northern Counties in his Service, he could not choose any Man so fit for it as the Earl of Newcastle, who was not only possessed of a present force, and of that important Town, but had a greater Reputation and Interest in Yorkshire itself, than at that present any other Man had: the Earl of Cumberland being at that time, though of entire affection to the King, much decayed in the vigour of his Body, and his mind, and unfit for that Activity which the Season required. And it cannot be denied, that the Earl of Newcastle, by his quick march with his Troops, as soon as he had received his Commission to be General, and in the depth of Winter, redeemed, or rescued the City of York from the Rebells, when they looked upon it as their own, and had it even within their grasp: and as soon as he was Master of it, he raised Men apace, and drew an Army together, with which he fought many Battles, in which he had always (this last only excepted) Success and Victory.
He liked the Pomp, and absolute Authority of a General well, and preserved the dignity of it to the full; and for the discharge of the outward State, and Circumstances of it, in acts of Courtesy, Affability, Bounty, and Generosity, he abounded; which in the infancie of a war became him, and made him, for some time, very acceptable to Men of all conditions. But the substantial part, and fatigue of a General, he did not in any degree understand (being utterly unacquainted with War) nor could submit to; but referred all matters of that Nature to the discretion of his Lieutenant General King, who, no doubt, was an officer of great experience and ability, yet being a Scotch Man was, in that conjuncture, upon more disadvantage than he would have been, if the General himself had been more intent upon his Command. In all Actions of the feild he was still present, and never absent in any Battle; in all which he gave Instances of an invincible courage and fearlessness in danger; in which the exposing himself notoriously did sometimes change the fortune of the day, when his Troops begun to give ground. Such Articles of action were no sooner over, than he retired to his delightfull Company, Musick, or his softer pleasures, to all which he was so indulgent, and to his ease, that he would not be interrupted upon what occasion soever; insomuch as he sometimes denied Admission to the Chiefest Officers of the Army, even to General King himself, for two days together; from whence many Inconveniencies fell out.