[Illustration: QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN.
ENGRAVED BY E. SCRIVEN, AFTER
THE ORIGINAL PICTURE BY HOLBEIN.
_London, Published Jan. 1, 1825, by Harding, Triphook & Lepard._]
THE
LIFE
OF
CARDINAL WOLSEY.
BY
GEORGE CAVENDISH,
HIS GENTLEMAN USHER.
FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT.
WITH
NOTES AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS,
BY
SAMUEL WELLER SINGER, F.S.A.
[Illustration]
_SECOND EDITION._
LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON,
FOR HARDING AND LEPARD, PALL MALL EAST.
MDCCCXXVII.
[Illustration]
TO HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE,
THIS REVIVAL OF A MOST INTERESTING
SPECIMEN OF COTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY,
BY HIS COLLATERAL ANCESTOR
GEORGE CAVENDISH,
IS WITH PERMISSION DEDICATED
BY HIS GRACE'S OBLIGED AND
OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT,
S. W. SINGER.
PREFACE.
Perhaps few periods of English history are more remarkable than that
which comprised the fortunes of Wolsey; a period which had to boast
the most illustrious potentates who have ever filled the thrones of
Europe. The age of Henry was also that of Leo, of Charles, and of
Francis:--a period big with political events of singular interest:--the
captivity of the French monarch and of the Roman Pontiff,--the
sacking of Rome,--the divorce of Queen Katherine,--and the train of
circumstances which led the way to the Reformation,--Events in which
Wolsey's hand may be often traced, and in some of which he was a
principal actor. The record of his life and its vicissitudes,--his
humble origin--his towering fortunes, and his sudden fall,--could not
well fail of interesting even in ordinary hands:--But he has been
extremely fortunate in his biographer. The narrative contained in the
following pages, of course, only affords a glance at these events; it
is not the work of a professed historiographer, but the production
of a simple-hearted and honest eyewitness of what he relates. George
Cavendish was the faithful attendant of this princely prelate in his
triumphant as well as in his declining fortunes:--One who failed him
not in his adversity, but shed over his fallen master the tears of
affection, performed for him the last sad offices of humanity, and then
in his retirement sat down with honest indignation to vindicate him
from slander, and to transmit to future ages a faithful picture of his
life, with a sacred regard to truth.
It is this circumstance which renders his work so much more interesting
than any thing of a similar kind with which I am acquainted. We are
here occasionally introduced to the secret recesses of the private
life of one of the most distinguished statesmen the world ever saw; of
one who not only divided the sway of empire with his monarch, but who
governed or influenced the conduct alternately of France and Spain;
whose power for a time was almost unlimited, and whose magnificence has
never been exceeded.
There is a sincere and impartial adherence to truth, a reality in
Cavendish's narrative, which bespeaks the confidence of his reader, and
very much increases his pleasure. It is a work without pretension, but
full of natural eloquence, devoid of the formality of a set rhetorical
composition, unspoiled by the affectation of that _classical manner_
in which all biography and history of old time was prescribed to be
written, and which often divests such records of the attraction to be
found in the conversational style of Cavendish. There is an unspeakable
charm in the naïveté of his language--his occasional appeals to his
reader--and the dramatic form of his narration, in which he gives the
very words of the interlocutors, and a lively picture of their actions,
making us as it were spectators of the scenes he describes. Indeed
our great poet has literally followed him in several passages of his
King Henry VIII. merely putting his language into verse. Add to this
the historical importance of the work, as the only sure and authentic
source of information upon many of the most interesting events of
that reign; from which all historians have largely drawn, (through
the secondary medium of Holinshed and Stowe, who adopted Cavendish's
narrative,) and its intrinsic value need not be more fully expressed.
Upon the death of the Cardinal his master, Cavendish relates that the
king gave him the same appointment, of Gentleman Usher, in his service,
which he had filled in the household of Wolsey: yet at the close of
his work he tells us that he returned to his own home in the country.
Whether his retirement was only temporary, or whether he then took his
final leave of the court, we have no exact means of ascertaining. In
his poems he does not mention having served the king, yet dwells upon
his faithful services to the Cardinal; but the information he displays
upon the principal subsequent events of the reign of Henry, and that
of Edward VI. seems to lead to the conclusion that he was a spectator
of them. In retirement he would have hardly been able to obtain
the acquaintance with public affairs which his poems show that he
possessed. The circumstance of his sitting down to write in the reign
of Philip and Mary[1], "to eschewe all ociosite," would seem to point
to that as the period of his retirement, or otherwise his conscience
had long slumbered before it accused him that his "tyme he spent in
idelnes."
The fate of this Life of Wolsey has been indeed singularly unfortunate;
after remaining in manuscript nearly a century, it was first printed in
1641, for party purposes, but in such a garbled form as to be hardly
recognized for the same work, abridgment and interpolation having
been used with an unsparing hand. Its author too had been robbed of
his literary honours, which were bestowed upon his younger and more
fortunate brother Sir William Cavendish, until the year 1814, when
his cause was ably advocated in a Dissertation by the Rev. Joseph
Hunter, F.A.S. author of the History of Hallamshire. I am indebted
to the kind intervention of my friend J. H. Markland, Esq. for the
privilege of reprinting that Dissertation, which the reader will find
at the commencement of the volume, and will, I doubt not, be gratified
in the perusal. It affords the best example of clear argumentative
solution of a literary paradox from circumstantial evidence with which
I am acquainted, at the same time it is so skilfully interwoven with
curious matter bearing upon the question, as not only to divest it of
the sterile character with which disquisitions of the same kind from
less able hands have been marked, but to render it very interesting. I
owe Mr. Hunter my best acknowledgements for the ready manner in which
the favour was conferred, and I look to have the thanks of those, who
are yet unacquainted with it, for uniting this tract with the work of
George Cavendish, from which it should never again be disjoined. For
all that relates to the Life of Wolsey and its author, therefore, I
shall beg leave to refer to this source of information; and it will
only remain for me to give an account of the present edition.
Having purchased two valuable ancient manuscript copies of the work,
one of them from among the duplicates of the late Duke of Norfolk's
library[2], I conceived that the text might be very much improved
by collation of these and the several manuscripts in private and
public libraries. Upon naming the design to my friend Mr. Douce, he
mentioned to me a very curious copy in the possession of Mr. Lloyd,
which contained some verses apparently by the same author, and which
from this circumstance might have some claim to be considered the
author's original autograph. Upon application to that gentleman, he,
with a liberality which calls for my warmest thanks, immediately
placed the manuscript in my hands. I at once saw that its pretensions
were undoubted, and that it contained not only a more valuable text
of the Life, but a series of poems, evidently in the hand writing of
the author, with occasional corrections and interlineations, and thus
attested:--"_per le Auctor_ G. C." in numerous places. On the first
blank leaf is written in the same hand with the body of the manuscript,
"_Vincit qui patitur_ q^d G. C. _Maxima vindicta paciencia_;" and then
"Cavendysh de Cavendysh in Com. Suff. gent." and beneath, "I began
this booke the 4. day of Novemb^r." On the reverse of the same leaf is
another Latin sentence and the motto of Cavendish, _Cavendo tutus_.
On a succeeding blank leaf is the name of a former possessor, C.
Rossington[3], under which is written in another hand, "i. e. Clement
Rossington of Dronfield, Gent. whose son Mr. James Rossington gave
me this MS." It is remarkable that it should have passed into the
possession of a person in Derbyshire. Those who have made Sir William
Cavendish the author would have seized upon this circumstance with
avidity as lending colour to their assertion, and would probably have
argued that the initials G. C. by which _George_ Cavendish has attested
it as his production in so many places, were intended to designate
_Gulielmus_ Cavendish. Mr. Hunter has, however, settled the question
beyond the possibility of dispute; it is sufficient to remark here that
Sir William Cavendish died in 1557, and that this manuscript affords
unequivocal evidence that the writer survived Queen Mary, who died at
the close of 1558. Unfortunately the first leaf of the text of the Life
is wanting. At the end of the Author's Address to his Book, with which
the poems conclude, is the date of the completion of the manuscript,
which will be found on the plate of fac-similes:
_Finie et compilé le xxiiij jour de Junij._
_A^o. Regnor. Philippi Rex & Regine Marie iiij^{to}. & v^{to}._
_Per le Auctor G. C._
Novus Rex, nova lex, Nova sola Regina, probz. pene ruina.
This invaluable acquisition made me at once change my plan, and
proceed earnestly to the work of transcription; feeling convinced
that all other manuscripts were, in comparison, of little authority,
I determined to follow this, as most entitled to confidence. Upon
comparing it with my own manuscript copies and the text of Dr.
Wordsworth, I found that it supplied the chasm which, for some unknown
reason, is found in all the manuscripts that have come under my notice.
The suppressed passages contain the description of a boar hunt, and
an account of the libels written against Wolsey by the French[4]; the
imperfection is generally indicated by a blank space being left, which
in Mr. Douce's MS. is accompanied by a note saying, "in this vacante
place there wanteth copy." It was at first my intention to give various
readings, but upon closer comparison I found this would have
been impracticable, because the text, as it appears in Dr. Wordsworth's
edition and in the common manuscript copies, has been almost entirely
rewritten; changes in the structure of the phrase and verbal
discrepancies occur in almost every line. Under such circumstances
I was obliged to content myself with indicating the most important
variations, I mean such as in any way affected the meaning of the text.
I have however availed myself of my own manuscript copies, or of Dr.
Wordsworth's edition, to supply an occasional word or phrase which
seemed necessary to the sense of a passage, but have always carefully
distinguished these additions, by enclosing them in brackets.
It is not easy to account for the extraordinary difference in the
language of the original autograph copy and the later manuscripts, by
any other means than a supposition that the copyist thought he could
improve the style of Cavendish, which is indeed sometimes involved and
obscure, but many of the discrepancies have clearly arisen from the
difficulty of reading his hand-writing, and the substitutions most
frequently occur where the original manuscript is the most illegible.
It is scarcely probable that Cavendish wrote another copy, for he was
already, as he himself says, old, and probably did not survive the date
of the completion of this MS. above a year. There are no additions of
the least importance in the more recent copies; the few which occur
have been carefully noted.
Of the Poems, to which I have given the title of METRICAL VISIONS, no
other copy is known to exist. They have little or no merit as verses,
being deficient in all the essential points of invention, expression
and rhythm, and it is to be regretted that Cavendish, who knew so well
how to interest us by his artless narration of facts in prose, should
have invoked the muse in vain. He seems to have been sensible of his
deficiency, and says very truly
"I must write plain, colours I have none to paint."
In the former limited impression these Metrical Visions were printed,
but as they have little in them to interest the general reader, it has
been deemed advisable to give only a specimen in the Appendix to the
present edition; the omission enabling the publishers to compress the
work into one volume, and thereby to make it more generally accessible.
I have ventured to take the spelling and pointing into my own hands;
but in no instance have I presumed to alter the disposition of the
text. I have reason to think that the judicious reader will not be
displeased at what is done in this respect; it is no more than what
has been effected for Shakspeare and other of our ancient classics.
The orthography of Cavendish, as the specimen given from his poems
will evince, was exceedingly uncouth and unsettled; retaining it could
have answered no good end; those who wish to have recourse to the work
for philological purposes would most assuredly prefer the authority of
manuscripts; and the disguise of old spelling might have deterred many
from reading this interesting narrative, to whom it will now afford
pleasure.
The remaining portion of the volume comprises a very curious Memoir
of Queen Anne Boleyn by George Wyatt, grandson of Sir Thomas Wyatt,
the poet, containing some particulars relating to that unfortunate
lady not elsewhere noted. It must be considered a valuable supplement
to the notice of her contained in the Life of Wolsey. In the Appendix
is also given a Parallel between Wolsey and Laud, written at the time
when Cavendish's work first issued from the press; though its purpose
was to excite prejudice against Laud, it is not deficient in interest,
and is conducted with tolerable temper. The original being of extreme
rarity, and of sufficient brevity, I have thought that it would be an
agreeable addition to this work. The few letters and papers which are
added were necessary illustrations of passages in the text and notes,
and though some of them are to be found in books readily accessible,
they are not placed in connexion with the work to which they relate
without sufficient reasons, which the reader will find stated in the
preliminary notices; it is therefore unnecessary to repeat them in
this place. A few notes on the Life of Wolsey which have been adopted
from Dr. Wordsworth's edition are distinguished by the letter W.
It is not generally known that a very curious edition of this Life was
printed by the zealous biographer of Wolsey, Mr. Grove of Richmond,
as long since as the year 1761. He had first adopted the old spurious
copy, which he printed in the form of notes to his own work in 1742-4;
but afterwards meeting with a manuscript, he was so indignant upon
finding by comparison the forgeries and scandalous interpolations of
the old editions, that he printed off a small impression with a preface
and notes; but it is one of the rarest of English books. For the loan
of this curious volume[5] I am indebted to the kindness of Richard
Heber, Esq. M.P. for the University of Oxford, whose liberality,
in imparting the inexhaustible treasures of the richest and most
comprehensive library ever formed by one individual, it has been my
good fortune frequently to experience.
My excellent and highly valued friend Francis Douce, Esq. with his
accustomed kindness, threw open to me his valuable library, and placed
in my hands a very curious manuscript[6] of this Life, embellished with
spirited drawings in outline of some of the principal occurrences,
from which three prints have been accurately copied as appropriate
embellishments of the book. With these advantages, I have reason to
hope that this edition will be found in all respects worthy of the
singular merit of the work, and of the auspices under which it goes
forth to the world.
BOX HILL,
_June_ 1, 1825.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See the Life of Wolsey, page 102, where he speaks of King Philip
_now_ our sovereign lord.
[2] The Norfolk MS. is defective at the beginning, one leaf being lost,
which contained a portion of the prologue; there is consequently no
title to the work. It has a blank leaf at the place where the _lacunæ_
usually occur in the manuscript copies. The hand-writing is of the
reign of Elizabeth, and the text corresponds very nearly with that of
Dr. Wordsworth: the orthography is not the same. This MS. is in its
original binding, and has the name of its ancient possessor, _Henrie
Farleigh_, stamped on each cover. The other manuscript copy in my
possession is carefully written, but apparently of more recent date; it
has the following title in German text hand prefixed:
The Life of Master
Thomas Wolsey
Archbishoppe of Yorke
and Cardinall
written by
George Cavendish
his Gentleman Usher.
The same chasm is marked in this MS. as in the former, two pages and
a half being left blank, but the imperfect passages at the conclusion
of the hunt, and at the commencement of the relation concerning the
libels on Wolsey, are completed by a few words as they now stand in
Dr. Wordsworth's text. The variations between these copies are chiefly
literal; the orthography is in many respects different.
[3] Mr Hunter informs me that Clement Rossington the elder, who must
be here alluded to, died in 1737. He acquired the manor of Dronfield
by his marriage with Sarah Burton, sister and co-heir of Ralph Burton,
of Dronfield, Esq. who died in 1714. The father of Ralph and Sarah
Burton was Francis Burton, also of Dronfield, who was aged twenty-five
at the visitation of Derbyshire, 1662, and the mother, Helen, daughter
and heir of Cassibelan Burton, son of William Burton the distinguished
antiquary and historian of Leicestershire. There is good reason to
believe that the Rossingtons were not likely to _purchase_ a book of
this curiosity, and it is therefore more than probable that it once
formed part of the library of William Burton, other books which had
been his having descended to them.
[4] Vide pp. 181, 182, 183, and for another addition pp. 166, 167, 168;
in the present edition the passages are included in brackets.
[5] Bound up in the same volume with the Life of Wolsey, in Mr. Heber's
copy, are the following tracts bearing upon the subject; of which a
very limited impression appears to have been made, as they are all
equally rare.
Two Dialogues in the Elysian Fields between Cardinal Wolsey and
Cardinal Ximenes, by Mr. Grove of Richmond. London, Printed for the
Author by D. Leach, 1761.
A Short Historical Account of Sir William Cavendish, Gentleman Usher
to Cardinal Wolsey, and of his Lady Elizabeth (afterwards Countess
of Shrewsbury) and their descendants. This has no title page. The
Observations and Appendix to the Life of Wolsey appear to have been
annexed, as the paging is continued.
Six Appendices to a Short History of King Henry VIII. which he had
previously published. These have no general title, and are separately
paged.
A Short Examination into some Reflections cast on the Memory of
Cardinal Wolsey, by the Author of the Life of Sir Thomas More, in the
Biographia Britannica. 1761.
The Life of Robert Wolsey, of Ipswich, Gentleman, Father of the famous
Cardinal. 1761.
Grove has divided his edition into sections for the purpose of
reference. His text has now nothing to recommend it, though it was then
a laudable undertaking: he occasionally shows that he could not very
well decipher his MS.; he puts _hinnocrisse_ for _hippocrass_ at p. 71,
and at p. 76 _peeres_ for _speres_, with many other palpable mistakes.
Grove's ingenuity, though not his ingenuousness, may be admired; for
finding in his manuscript the work attributed to _George_ Cavendish, he
converts it to _Gu._ Cavendish, Gent. not to disturb his own historical
account of Sir William Cavendish, in which he gives a circumstantial
relation of the intimacy between Wolsey and Thomas Cavendish of the
Exchequer, the father of Sir William, who, he says, placed him in the
service of Wolsey, and of the growth of his fortunes in consequence,
with a confidence and detail which is truly amusing.
[6] This manuscript is carefully written in a volume with other curious
transcripts, and has marginal notes by the transcriber, who appears to
have been a puritan, from his exclamations against pomp and ceremony.
At the end he writes, "Copied forth by S. B. anno 1578, the first day
of September."
CONTENTS.
Page
THE EDITOR'S PREFACE vii
WHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY? A
Dissertation. By THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTER,
F. S. A. 1
THE LIFE OF WOLSEY BY GEORGE CAVENDISH 16
APPENDIX.
EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF ANNE BOLEIGNE, BY
GEORGE WYATT, ESQ. SON OF SIR THOMAS
WYATT THE YOUNGER 417
SIX LETTERS, supplementary to the above Memoir;
containing Particulars of the Arrest of Queen Anne
Boleyn, and her Behaviour while in the Tower.
LETTER I.
_Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell._--Upon
Queen Anne's Committal to the Tower 451
LETTER II.
_Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell._--On
Queen Anne's Behaviour in Prison 453
LETTER III.
_Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell._--Further
Particulars 456
LETTER IV.
_Edward Baynton to the Lord Treasurer._--Declaring
that only Mark will confess any Thing against
Queen Anne 458
LETTER V.
_Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell, May 16,
1536._--Upon the Preparations for the Execution
of Lord Rochford and Queen Anne 459
LETTER VI.
_Sir William Kingston to the same._--Upon the same
Subject 460
ORIGINAL LETTERS,
ILLUSTRATIVE OF PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF WOLSEY.
LETTER VII.
_Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, to his Bedfellow
and Cosyn Thomas Arundel._--Complains of Injuries
received at the Hands of Cardinal Wolsey.
Humble Solicitations for his Favour in certain
Matters 462
LETTER VIII.
_The same to Secretary Cromwell._--Denying a Contract,
or Promise of Marriage, having ever existed between
Anne Boleyn and himself 464
LETTER IX.
_Queen Catherine of Arragon and King Henry VIII. to
Cardinal Wolsey._--A joint Letter, about the coming
of the Legate, and Expressions of Kindness 465
LETTER X.
_Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey._--Thanking him for
his diligent Pains in the Affair of the Divorce 467
LETTER XI.
_The same to the same._--The same Subject; and the
coming of the Legate 468
LETTER XII.
_Cardinal Wolsey, in his Distress, to Thomas Cromwell_ 469
LETTER XIII.
_Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener_ 471
LETTER XIV.
_The same to the same._--The miserable Condition he is
in, his Decay of Health, and Poverty, and desiring
some Relief at the King's Hands. A melancholy
Picture 474
LETTER XV.
_The same to the same._--Desiring Gardener to write and
give him an Account of the King's Intentions in
regard to him 476
LETTER XVI.
_The same to the same._--Requesting Gardener to expedite
the Making out his Pardon in large and ample
Form as granted by the King 477
LETTER XVII.
_The same to the same._--In favour of the Provost of
Beverley, and desiring Gardener to intercede with
the King for his Colleges 479
LETTER XVIII.
_The same to the same._--Desiring his Favour in a Suit
against him for a Debt of £700. by one Strangwish 481
LETTER XIX.
_Lettre de M. de Bellay Evesque de Bayonne à M. le
Grant Maistre, 17 Oct. 1529._--Containing an interesting
Picture of the Cardinal in his Troubles,
and desiring the Intercession of the King of France,
&c. in his Favour 482
LETTER XX.
_Thomas Alvard to Thomas Cromwell._--Containing a
genuine Picture of one of the last Interviews with
which Wolsey was favoured by Henry VIII. 487
A PARALLEL BETWEEN CARDINAL WOLSEY AND
ARCHBISHOP LAUD, first printed in 1641 490
ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS.
Page
The Will of Thomas Wolsey, Father to the Cardinal 502
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Notice of his Book against
the Divorce of Henry and Catherine of Arragon 504
The Schedule appended to the King's Gift to the Cardinal
after his Forfeiture by the Premunire 507
A Memoryall of such Communication as my Lorde
Legatts Grace had with the Queenes Almoner.--Containing
a circumstantial Account of Queen
Katherine's Objections to have her Cause finally
judged by the Legates, &c. 509
Itinerary of Cardinal Wolsey's last Journey to the
North 516
The Comming and Reseyvyng of the Lord Cardinall into
Powles for the Escaping of Pope Clement VII.
A. D. 1527. A^o Regni Henrici VIII. xix^o 519
The Ceremonial of receiving the Cardinal's Hat, sent
by the Pope to Wolsey 522
Specimen of the Poems of GEORGE CAVENDISH 526
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
Fac Simile of the Original Autograph MS. _to face this page._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
No. 1. Part of the Text of the commencement of the
Life, with the attestation _finis quod_ G. C.
No. 2. Last Stanza of the Author's Address to his Book,
with the subjoined inscription of the date of the
completion of the MS. _See Preface, p._ xvi.
Portrait of Anne Boleyn _to face the Title_
Portrait of Wolsey _p._ 61
Portrait of King Henry VIII. 79
Cardinal Wolsey in progress 149
Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk receive the great seal from
Wolsey 246
Cromwell. Earl of Essex 258
Tokens sent to Wolsey by the King and Anne Boleyn 288
Portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt 424
[Illustration: _Fac simile of the Original Autograph M.S. of
Cavendish's Life of Wolsey._
_N^o. 1._
_N^o. 2._
_N^o. 3._
_Engraved by J. Swaine._]
WHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY?
FIRST PRINTED IN MDCCCXIV.
When a writer undertakes to give _cuique suum_ in a question of
literary property, if he would avoid the ridicule which they deservedly
incur who raise a controversy only that they may have the honour of
settling it, he must show that there are more claimants than one on the
property he means to assign.
This then will be our first object.
[Sidenote: To whom the Biographia attributes it.]
Let the reader turn to the 'Biographia Britannica,' and look out the
article 'Sir William Cavendish.' He will find in either of the editions
what follows in the words of Dr. Campbell, the original projector of
that work, or rather of his friend Mr. Morant, the historian of Essex,
for it does not appear that the later editors have either reconsidered
the article, or added to it any thing material. Sir William Cavendish,
we are told, "had a liberal education given him by his father, who
settled upon him also certain lands in the county of Suffolk; but
made a much better provision for him by procuring him to be admitted
into the family of the great Cardinal Wolsey, upon whom he waited in
quality of gentleman usher of his chamber."----"As Mr. Cavendish was
the Cardinal's countryman, and the Cardinal had a great kindness for
his father, he took him early into his confidence, and showed him
upon all occasions very particular marks of kindness and respect[7]."
Several extracts from the Life of Wolsey are then produced to show
the honourable nature of this employment. Mr. Cavendish's faithful
adherence to Wolsey in his fall receives due encomium: and we are then
favoured with a detail of Mr. Cavendish's public services after the
Cardinal's death, his rich rewards, his knighthood, marriages, and
issue, in which the writer of the article has followed Sir William
Dugdale, and the Peerages. Towards the conclusion Cavendish is spoken
of in his character of an author, a character which alone could entitle
him to admission into that temple of British worthies. We are told that
"he appears from his _writings_ to have been a man of great honour and
integrity, a good subject to his prince, a true lover of his country,
and one who preserved to the last a very high reverence and esteem
for his old master and first patron Cardinal Wolsey, _whose life he
wrote in the latter part of his own_, and there gives him a very high
character."----"This work of his remained long in manuscript, and the
_original_ some years ago was in the hands of the Duke of Kingston,
supposed to be given by the author to his daughter, who married into
that family. It had been seen and consulted by the Lord Herbert when he
wrote his history of the Reign of King Henry VIII., but _he was either
unacquainted with our author's Christian name, or mistook him for his
elder brother George Cavendish of Glemsford in the county of Suffolk,
Esq._ for by that name his lordship calls him: but it appears plainly
from what he says that the history he made use of was our author's." p.
324.
[Sidenote: To whom, Lord Herbert.]
[Sidenote: To whom the Peerages.]
Such is the reputation in which the Biographia Britannica is held in
the world, and indeed not undeservedly, that most writers of English
biography have recourse to it for information: and with its authority
those among them are usually well satisfied, who neither value, nor
are willing to undertake, the toilsome researches of the genealogist
and the antiquary. Another such work, for an illustrious class of
English worthies, is 'The Peerage of England,' begun by the respectable
and ill rewarded Arthur Collins, and continued by successive editors
with as much exactness as could reasonably have been expected. The
several editions of this work, from that of 1712, in one volume,
to that of 1812, in nine, contain the same account of Sir William
Cavendish's attendance upon Wolsey, of his tried attachment to him, and
of his lasting gratitude to the memory of his old master, displayed
in writing apologetical memoirs of his life. At the very opening of
the pages devoted to the Devonshire family, in the recent edition of
this work, we are told that "the potent and illustrious family of
Cavendish, of which, in the last century, two branches arrived at
dukedoms, laid the foundation of their future greatness, first, on the
share of abbey lands obtained at the dissolution of monasteries by Sir
William Cavendish, who had been gentleman usher to Cardinal Wolsey,
who died in 1557, and afterwards by the abilities, the rapacity, and
the good fortune of Elizabeth his widow, who remarried George Earl of
Shrewsbury, and died in 1607[8]." And afterwards, in the account of
the said Sir William Cavendish, we are told nearly in the words used
by Morant, that "to give a more lasting testimony of his gratitude to
the Cardinal, he drew up a fair account of his life and death, which
he wrote in the reign of Queen Mary: whereof the oldest copy is in
the hands of the noble family of Pierrepoint, into which the author's
daughter was married. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in the Life and Reign
of King Henry VIII., quotes the manuscript in many places, _but
mentions George Cavendish to be the author of it; which, from divers
circumstances, we may conclude to be a mistake_. In the year 1641 it
was printed, and again in 1667[9]." A full account is then given of the
public employments and honourable rewards of Sir William Cavendish;
and the descent of the two ducal families of Devonshire and Newcastle
from this most fortunate subject is set forth with all due regard to
genealogical accuracy.
[Sidenote: Sir William Cavendish generally understood to be the author;]
[Sidenote: but erroneously.]
From these two great public reservoirs of English biography this
account of Sir William Cavendish, both as an author and a man, has
been drawn off into innumerable other works. Writers of high authority
in affairs of this nature have adopted it; and even historians of the
life of Wolsey, upon whom it appeared to be incumbent to make accurate
inquiry into this subject, have retailed as unquestioned truth what
the Biographia and the Peerages have told us concerning an author
to whose most faithful and interesting narrative they have been so
largely indebted. Sir William Cavendish may therefore be regarded as
the tenant in possession of this property: nor, as far as I know, hath
his right ever been formally controverted. Before the reader has got to
the last page of this little treatise he will probably have seen reason
to conclude that this account is _all fable_: for that Sir William
Cavendish could not possibly have been the Cardinal's biographer, nor,
of course, the faithful attendant upon him; that circumstance of his
history proceeding entirely upon the supposition that he was the writer
of the work in question[10].
[Sidenote: A third claimant.]
While we have thus brought before the public the person who may be
considered as the _presumed proprietor_ of this work, we have also made
good our promise to show that there are more claimants than one upon
this piece of literary property. Lord Herbert, we have seen, quotes the
manuscript as the production of a _George_ Cavendish. Other writers of
no mean authority, as will be seen in the course of this disquisition,
have attributed it to another member of the house of Cavendish whose
name was _Thomas_.
The editors of the Biographia and the Peerages have made very light
of my Lord Herbert's testimony. What those _divers circumstances_ were
which led the latter to reject it, as they have not informed us, so we
must be content to remain in ignorance. The noble historian of the life
and reign of Henry VIII. is not accustomed to quote his authorities at
random. If he sometimes endeavour too much to palliate enormities which
can neither be excused nor softened down, he is nevertheless generally
correct as to the open fact, as he is always ingenious and interesting.
Supported by so respectable an authority, the pretensions of this
George Cavendish of Glemsford to have been the faithful attendant upon
Wolsey, and the lively historian of his rise and fall, ought to have
received a more patient examination. Descended of the same parents
with Sir William, and by birth the elder, in fortune he was far behind
him. At a period of great uncertainty the two brothers took opposite
courses. William was for reform, George for existing circumstances.
Contrary to the ordinary course of events, the first was led to wealth
and honours, the latter left in mediocrity and obscurity. The former
yet lives in a posterity not less distinguished by personal merit than
by the splendour cast upon them by the highest rank in the British
peerage, the just reward of meritorious services performed by a race
of patriots their ancestors. Of the progeny from the other, history has
no splendid deeds to relate; and, after the third generation, they are
unknown to the herald and the antiquary. But this is to anticipate.
I contend that the wreath which he has justly deserved, who produces
one of the most beautiful specimens of unaffected faithful biography
that any language contains, has been torn from this _poor_ man's brow,
to decorate the temples of his more fortunate brother. To replace it
is the object of the present publication. It will, I trust, be shown,
to the satisfaction of the reader, that this George Cavendish was the
author of the work in question, and the disinterested attendant upon
the fallen favourite. The illustrious house of Devonshire needs no
borrowed merit to command the respect and admiration of the world.
[Sidenote: George Cavendish the real author.]
[Sidenote: Writers who have advanced his claim.]
[Sidenote: Wanley.]
[Sidenote: Grove.]
[Sidenote: Douce.]
[Sidenote: Wordsworth.]
Let it not however be supposed that the writer is meaning to arrogate
to himself the credit of being the first to dispute the right of Sir
William Cavendish, and to advance the claim of the real owner. The
possession which Sir William has had has not been an undisturbed one:
so that were there any statute of limitations applicable to literary
property, that statute would avail him nothing. The manuscript of this
work, which now forms a part of the Harleian library, is described by
the accurate Wanley as being from the pen of a _George_ Cavendish[11].
In 1742 and the two following years, 'A History of the Life and Times
of Cardinal Wolsey' was published in four volumes octavo by Mr. Joseph
Grove, who subjoined, in the form of notes, the whole of what was then
known to the public of these Memoirs; describing them in a running
title, 'The Secret History of the Cardinal, by _George_ Cavendish,
Esq.:' but, as if to show that no one who touched this subject should
escape defilement from the errors of the Biographia and the Peerages,
he confounds together the two brothers in the account he gives of the
author at the 98th page of his third volume. During the remainder of
the last century it does not appear that Sir William Cavendish suffered
any material molestation in his possession of this property: but in the
present century Mr. Francis Douce, in his most curious 'Illustrations
of Shakspeare,' restores to _George_ Cavendish the honour of having
produced this work, and marks by significative _Italics_ that it was
an honour which another had usurped[12]. Dr. Wordsworth may also be
ranked amongst those writers who have ventured to put a spade into
Sir William's estate. To this gentleman belongs the merit of having
first presented to the public an impression of this work, which conveys
any just idea of the original[13]. In an advertisement he expresses
himself thus cautiously as to the name of the author: "The following
life was written by the Cardinal's gentleman-usher, Cavendish, whose
Christian name in the superscription to some of the manuscript copies
is _George_, but by Bishop Kennet, in his Memoirs of the family of
Cavendish, by Collins in his Peerage, and by Dr. Birch (No. 4233,
Ayscough's Catalogue Brit. Museum) he is called _William_[14]." Had the
learned editor pursued the question thus started, it is probable he
would have been led to the conclusion which will here be brought out,
and have thus rendered wholly unnecessary the disquisition now tendered
to the notice of the public. But here he has suffered the matter to
rest.
[Sidenote: Doubts of Sir William Cavendish's right to this work gained
not much credit in the world.]
And indeed, to say the truth, though there may possibly have been two
or three other writers who have intimated a doubt as to the right of
Sir William Cavendish to the work in question, these doubts seem never
to have gained hold on the public attention. It would be an invidious
task to collect together the many modern supporters of his claim: there
are, amongst them, names who have deservedly attained a high degree
of celebrity in the walks of biography, history, antiquities, and
topography. All the writer wishes is, that he may stand excused with
the public in offering what he has collected upon this point: and if
the concession is made that the suspicions of Sir William Cavendish's
right to this piece of biography have never gained much hold on the
public mind, and that it is a prevailing opinion in the world that
the greatness in which we now behold the house of Devonshire owes
its origin to a train of fortunate circumstances resulting out of
an attendance on Cardinal Wolsey, he must consider himself as amply
excused.
Let us now hear the evidence.
[Sidenote: Authorities in his favour,]
[Sidenote: all modern.]
The learned editor of the 'Ecclesiastical Biography' has mentioned
several _names_ as supporters of Sir William's claim. And indeed, if
_names_ might carry the day, Kennet and Collins, Birch and Morant,
are in themselves a host. But who is there accustomed to close and
minute investigation, that has not discovered for himself, of how
little moment is _simple authority_ in any question? It is, especially,
of little weight in historical and antiquarian discussion. The
most laborious may sometimes overlook evidence which is afterwards
accidentally discovered to another of far inferior pretensions: the
most accurate may mistake: the most faithful may be bribed into
inattention by supposititious facts, which give a roundness and
compactness to what, without them, forms but an imperfect narration.
The case before us may possibly come under the latter head. Take away
the attendance upon Wolsey, and we have several years unaccounted for
in the life of Sir William Cavendish; and lose what the mind perceives
to be a step by which a private gentleman, as he was, might advance
himself into the councils of princes, and the possession of important
offices of state. There is in this what might lay a general biographer,
who was a very Argus, asleep. But these authorities, it must also be
observed, are all _moderns_: they lived a century and a half after
both the Cavendishes had been gathered to their fathers; and earlier
biographers, who have made mention of this founder of two ducal houses,
have said nothing of any attendance upon the Cardinal, never ascribed
the flourishing state of his fortunes to any recommendation of him to
the king from his old master, nor taken any notice of what is so much
to his honour, that he adhered faithfully to Wolsey in his fall, and
produced this beautiful tribute to his memory. Negative evidence of
this kind, it may be said, is of no great weight. It will be allowed,
however, to be of some, when it is recollected who they are that have
omitted these _leading particulars_ in Sir William Cavendish's history.
They are no other than the author of 'The Baronage of England,' and
Margaret Duchess of Newcastle, who has given a laboured genealogy
of the ancestors and kindred of her lord, a grandson of Sir William
Cavendish, annexed to the very entertaining memoirs which she left of
his life. The _omissions_ of two such writers, living at the time when
this work was first made public, and whose duty as well as inclination
it would have been to have mentioned the fact, had it been so, will at
least serve to weigh against the positive but unsupported testimonies
of the abovementioned respectable writers, all of whom lived much
too late to be supposed to have received any information by private
tradition.
[Sidenote: Dugdale and the Duchess of Newcastle do not ascribe it to
him.]
[Sidenote: The original MS. said to be in the hands of the Pierrepoint
family.]
[Sidenote: Manuscripts;]
[Sidenote: reason for their multiplication.]
But the _original_ manuscript was in the hands of the Pierrepoint
family, and into that family Sir William Cavendish's daughter was
married. Possibly; but were it even so, it is obvious that this lays
but a very insufficient foundation for believing that Sir William was
the author. Why might it not have been given to Frances Cavendish by
George Cavendish her uncle? But Doctor Kennet, upon whose authority
this statement has been made, has not informed us by what criterion he
was guided in assigning that priority to the Pierrepoint manuscript
which this statement assumes. There are so many manuscripts of this
work abroad, that it must, I presume, be exceedingly difficult to
decide which has the best claim to be the author's autograph, if
indeed that autograph be in existence[15]. Scarcely any work of this
magnitude, composed after the invention of printing, has been so
often transcribed. There is a copy in the cathedral library at York
which once belonged to Archbishop Matthew; another very valuable one
in the library of the College of Arms, presented to that learned
society by Henry Duke of Norfolk; another in Mr. Douce's collection;
another in the public library at Cambridge; another in the Bodleian.
There are two in Mr. Heber's library; two at Lambeth; two in the
British Museum[16]. The reason of this multiplication of copies by
the laborious process of transcription seems to have been this: the
work was composed in the days of Queen Mary by a zealous catholic,
but not committed to the press during her short reign. It contained a
very favourable representation of the conduct of a man who was held
in but little esteem in the days of her successor, and whom it was
then almost treason to praise. The conduct of several persons was
reflected on who were flourishing themselves, or in their immediate
posterity, in the court of Queen Elizabeth: and it contained also the
freest censures of the Reformation, and very strong remarks upon the
conduct and character of Anne Boleyn, the Cardinal's great enemy. It
is probable that no printer could be found who had so little fear of
the Star-Chamber before his eyes as to venture the publication of a
work so obnoxious: while such was the gratification which all persons
of taste and reading would find in it, from its fidelity, its curious
minuteness, its lively details, and above all, from that unaffected air
of sweet natural eloquence in which it is composed, that many among
them must have been desirous of possessing it. Can we wonder then that
so many copies should have been taken between the time when it was
written and the year 1641, when it was first sent to the press: or that
one of these copies should have found its way into the library of Henry
Pierrepoint, Marquis of Dorchester, who was an author, and a man of
some taste and learning[17]? It cannot surely be difficult to divine
how it came into his possession, without supposing that it was brought
into his family by Sir William's daughter, his grandmother, Frances
Cavendish.
[Sidenote: No evidence in his favour from the MSS.]
Trifling as it appears, we have now had nearly all that has ever
been alleged as rendering it probable that Sir William Cavendish was
the author of this work. We have no evidence in his favour from any
early catalogue of writers in English history: nor any testimony in
inscription or title upon any of the manuscripts, except a modern one
by Dr. Birch, upon one of the Museum copies. But in appropriating
any literary composition to its author, that evidence is the most
conclusive which is derived from the work itself. This is the kind
of proof to which it is proposed to bring the claims of the two
competitors. It is contended that there are passages in the work, and
self-notices, which are absolutely inconsistent with the supposition
that it was the production of the person to whom it has usually been
ascribed. Let us attend to these.
[Sidenote: Time when the work was written.]
It will be of some importance to us to have clearly ascertained the
period at which this work was composed. We have information sufficient
for this purpose. At page 350[18] of Dr. Wordsworth's impression, we
read that the Cardinal "was sent twice on an embassage unto the Emperor
Charles the Fifth that now reigneth, and father unto King Philip,
now our soveraign lord." Mary queen of England was married to Philip
of Spain on the 25th of July, 1554. Again, at page 401, we hear of
"Mr. Ratcliffe, who was sonne and heire to the Lord Fitzwalter, and
nowe[19] Earle of Sussex." The Earl of Sussex of Queen Mary's reign,
who had been son and heir to a Lord Fitzwalter in the days of King
Henry VIII., could be no other than Henry Radcliffe, the second earl
of that name, who died on the 17th of February, 1557[20]. Without
incurring any risk by following older authorities, when so much
misconception is abroad, we may set down as fairly proved that the Life
of Wolsey was composed about the middle of the reign of Queen Mary[21].
[Sidenote: The author a neglected man.]