Margaret Cavendish, The Life of the thrice Noble, High and Puissant Prince
William Cavendish, Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Newcastle (1667), pp.
139-40
Summary of the entertainments staged by the Earl of Newcastle for
Charles
and Henrietta
Maria, written by Newcastle’s second
wife.
[
[p. 139]
]
7. Of the Entertainments He made for King
CHARLES
the First.
Though my Lord hath always been free and noble in his Entertainments and
Feastings, yet he was pleased to shew his great Affection and Duty to his Gracious
King,
Charles
the First, and Her Majesty the
Queen
, in some particular Entertainments which he made of purpose for them before the
late Warrs.
When His Majesty was going
into
Scotland
to be Crowned, he took His way through
Nottinghamshire
; and lying at Worksop-Mannor, hardly two miles distant from
Welbeck
, where my Lord then was, my Lord invited His Majesty thither to a Dinner, which he
was graciously pleased to accept of:
This Entertainment cost my Lord between Four and Five thousand pounds; which His Majesty
liked to well, that a year after
His Return out of
Scotland
, He was pleased to send my Lord word, That Her Majesty the
Queen
was resolved to make a Progress into the Northern parts, desiring him to prepare
the like Entertainment for Her, as he had formerly done for Him: Which My Lord did,
and
endeavour’d for it with all possible Care and Industry, sparing nothing that might
add
splendour to that Feast, which both Their
Majesties were pleasd
[p. 140]
to honour with their
Presence: :
Ben Johnson
he employed in fitting such Scenes and Speeches as he could best devise; and
sent for all the Gentry of the Country to come and wait on their Majesties; and in
short, did all that ever he could imagine,
to render it Great, and worthy Their Royal Acceptance.
This Entertainment he made
at
Bolsover
-Castle in
Derbyshire
, some five miles distant from
Welbeck
, and resigned
Welbeck
for Their Majesties Lodging; it
cost him in all between Fourteen and Fifteen thousand pounds.
Bibliography
H&S,
10.703
Bentley (1941-68),
4.648, 653