Cavendish was wholly devoted to Wolsey's interests, and also he saw in this appointment an opportunity to gratify his master-passion, a craving "to see and be acquainted with strangers, in especial with men in honour and authority."
"[3] He was not allowed to suffer in pocket by his fidelity to his master, but retired, as it would seem, a wealthy man to his estate of Glemsford, in West Suffolk, in 1530,[3] having refused the offer of a position as gentleman usher from Henry VIII.
[1] He was only thirty years of age, but his appetite for being acquainted with strange acts and persons was apparently sated, for we do not hear of his engaging in any more adventures.
Until the 19th century it was believed that the book was the composition of George Cavendish's younger brother William, the owner of Chatsworth House, who also was attached to Wolsey.
[3] The intrinsic value of Cavendish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey has long been perceived, for it is the sole authentic record of a multitude of events highly important in a particularly interesting section of the history of England.
[3] George Cavendish appears as a minor character in Dame Hilary Mantel's novel Wolf Hall, a fictional biography of Thomas Cromwell.
Cavendish is portrayed (by Robert Wilfort in the TV adaptation) as a devoted servant who genuinely admires Wolsey; in the novel, Cromwell describes him as "a sensitive sort of man".