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 DEVONIE,

BONORUM PRINCIPUM FIDELIS SUBDITUS, INIMICUS ET INVISUS TYRANNIS.

Of his composition we have,

"Two Speeches in 1680 and 16813."

[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.]

Printed in Collins's Peerage, p. 325, 327.

"A true Copy of a Paper delivered by the Lord Devonshire to the Mayor of Derby, where he quartered, Nov. 21, 16884."

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

of which one or two extracts are to be found in the Peerage 5. 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 Biographia Britannica 9. He was the son of William, earl of Devonshire, and equally distinguished for his

• State Tracts, vol. ii.

P.438.

s Ubi supra, p. 339. [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.

'P. 337, and in Rochester's Works. [In 1738 the Gentleman-farrier was advertised for sale by Cogan and Nourse, booksellers, with "Horse-receipts by his late Grace of Devonshire, Earl of Orrery," &c.]

Vol. i. p. 311, edit. 4th,
Vol. iii. p. 344, edit. 2d.

courage as a man, 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 power 3; 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 Devonshire.

Macky, his contemporary, says he was the finest 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 behaviour4;

• 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 £30,000 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.

• 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;