Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1004

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Bologna. Of these the most noted are his "Adoration of the Magi;" his "Holy Family;" "Last Supper;" "Four Doctors of the Church;" and the great work in the church of the Mendicanti di dentro, representing St. Alo and St. Petronio kneeling before the virgin and child, surrounded by angels. Bologna rightly esteems these; yet the old man that painted them begged for bread, and not getting it, died of hunger in the streets of the same Bologna.—W. T.

CAVEIRAC, Jean Novi de, a French ecclesiastic, born in 1713. He is the author of several works against tolerating the protestants, and of apologies for the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, and the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He wrote a treatise in defence of the jesuits entitled "Appel à la raison des écrits publiès entre les Jesuites de France," and was in consequence condemned to perpetual banishment. But he was permitted to return to France after the disgrace of the duke de Choiseul. Caveirac is the author of two pamphlets against Rousseau. He died in 1782.—J. T.

CAVENDISH, the name of a noble English family, two branches of which have attained dukedoms, and have figured conspicuously in the history of the country. They sprang from Sir John Cavendish, chief justice of the court of king's bench in 1366, 1373, and 1377, and chancellor of the university of Cambridge. His younger son is said to be the person who actually slew Wat Tyler, and the judge himself was put to death by a mob of insurgent peasants in the fifth year of Richard II. William, the fourth in descent from him, was gentleman-usher to Cardinal Wolsey, and one of the few who adhered to him in his disgrace. He wrote a life of his old master, which was published in a mutilated form in 1641, and was first correctly printed in Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography. After the death of the cardinal, Cavendish was taken into the service of the king, was made treasurer of his chamber, and a privy councillor, and laid the foundation of the vast possessions of the Cavendishes, by obtaining extensive grants of abbey lands at the dissolution of the monasteries. Sir William was the founder of Chatsworth. His third wife, the famous Bess of Hardwick, added largely to the estates and influence of the family. His grandson,

Cavendish, William, Earl, Marquis, and Duke of Newcastle, was a zealous supporter of the royal cause in the great civil war. He was born in 1592, and at an early age, by his remarkable abilities and attainments, he attracted the notice of James VI., who raised him to the peerage in 1620 as Baron Ogle and Viscount Mansfield. Charles I. advanced him to the higher dignity of earl of Newcastle, and subsequently intrusted to him the care of the prince of Wales. When hostilities broke out between Charles and the parliament, the earl contributed £10,000 to the royal treasury, and raised a troop of horse, consisting of two hundred gentlemen, who served at their own charge. In 1642 the king appointed him general of all the royalist forces in the northern and midland counties. In the course of a few mouths he drove the enemy nearly out of Yorkshire, and next year he recovered Scarborough, took Rotherham and Sheffield, and after some minor successes, inflicted a severe defeat upon Lord Fairfax at Atherton Moor, near Bradford, June 30, 1643. He then captured in succession the towns of Bradford, Gainsborough, Lincoln, and Beverley, but he was unsuccessful in an attempt to reduce Hull, the only place then held by the parliament north of the Humber. The king rewarded him for these achievements by raising him to the rank of marquis of Newcastle. When the Scotch army marched into England, the marquis kept them for some time at bay in Northumberland and Durham, but was ultimately obliged to retire southward for the purpose of preserving York, which was seriously endangered. After sustaining a siege of three months in that city, he was relieved by the arrival of Prince Rupert at the head of twenty thousand men. The parliamentary army withdrew at his approach to Marston Moor, about eight miles from the city. Not content with raising the siege, the prince insisted on attacking the enemy, in opposition to the earnest advice of the marquis. The royalists were defeated with great slaughter. Newcastle's regiment, composed of his old tenants and domestic retainers, refused to flee, and were slain almost to a man. Their chivalrous leader, weary of a strife always distasteful to him, and disgusted with the treatment he had received from the court, retired to the continent, and continued abroad till the Restoration. His extensive estates were confiscated by the parliament, and he was reduced to extreme poverty. He and his wife were at one time forced even to pawn their clothes. On the accession of Charles II. the marquis returned to England. He was loaded with honours, and in 1664 was created duke of Newcastle. He died in 1676 in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in Westminster abbey. During his exile he wrote a treatise on horsemanship, and several comedies, "The Country Captain;" "The Humorous Lover;" "The Triumphant Widow," &c.

Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, the second wife of the preceding, was born about the end of the reign of James VI., and was the daughter of Sir Charles Lucas of Colchester. She married the duke at Paris in 1645, and remained abroad with him till the Restoration. On her return to England she spent the remainder of her life in writing an immense number of plays, poems, overtures, and philosophical discourses, together with a life of her husband, amounting in all to thirteen folio volumes, ten of which are in print. This most voluminous of female writers died in 1673. "The high-souled" duchess, as she has been termed, was an especial favourite with Charles Lamb.

Cavendish, William, second son of Sir William, carried on the main line of the family, and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Cavendish in 1605, and created earl of Devonshire in 1618.

Cavendish, Charles, a younger son of the second earl of Devonshire, born in 1620, acquired great distinction by his valour and skill in the civil wars between Charles I. and the parliament, and attained the rank of lieutenant-general in the royal service. He captured Grantham, and defeated a body of the parliamentary forces at Donnington in 1643; but a few days after was defeated and slain in an encounter with Cromwell near Gainsborough. Cavendish was among the most lamented victims of the civil war. He was so much beloved, that when his body was brought to Newark, it was with great difficulty, and not till after the lapse of some days, that the people would allow it to be interred.—(See Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, vol. i. p. 122, and vol. iii. pp. 388, 391.)

Cavendish, William, fourth earl and first duke of Devonshire, was born in 1640. He was one of the most upright statesmen and distinguished patriots of his time. He spent the early part of his life abroad. On his return to England in 1661, he entered the house of commons as member for Derbyshire, and soon distinguished himself by his vigorous opposition to the corrupt measures of the court. In 1678 he was one of the committee appointed to draw up articles of impeachment against the treasurer, Danby. Next year he was chosen a member of the privy council as remodelled by Temple; but the perfidious conduct of the king and his advisers soon compelled him to withdraw. In 1680 he carried up to the house of lords the articles of impeachment against Chief-justice Scroggs, and took a prominent part in the desperate struggle of the whig party to exclude the duke of York from the succession to the throne. At great personal risk he supported his friend Lord William Russell on his memorable trial. After his condemnation, he offered to change clothes with him in the prison, and remain there while Lord William made his escape. He was one of the principal promoters of the Revolution, and upon the landing of the prince of Orange, was the first nobleman who appeared in arms to welcome him. He held several important offices at the court of William and Mary, and was created duke of Devonshire in 1694. His last public service was to act as a commissioner for concluding the union with Scotland. He died 18th August, 1707, and directed the following inscription to be inscribed on his monument:—

Wilhelmus Dux Devon.
Bonorum Principum Fidelis Subditus,
J. T.Inimicus et Invisus Tyrannis.

Cavendish, Henry, one of our most celebrated English physicists; born in 1733; died at the ripe age of 77. Cavendish was second son of the duke of Devonshire; possessed, therefore, of a competent, although moderate fortune. The elders of this noble family earnestly desired that, according to custom, Henry should raise himself by means of a profession, advancement in which would be secured to him by their influence in the state; but to their serious disappointment—a disappointment rising from disapproval to alienation—his tastes lay in the direction of the culture of science, and in the enjoyment of the simplicities of life. His career was a most successful one, and soon gained him a personal consideration more elevated and lasting than title or rank could have bestowed. A controversy has recently been carried to some degree of keenness among scientific men, as to whether the honour of the discovery of the composi-