Following his death, he was the feature of a popular 17th-century pamphlet titled The way to be rich according to the practice of the Great Audley,[1] which compared his humble beginnings to his ultimate fortune.
Deeply in debt, the Earl sold it cheaply, but had a negative opinion of Audley himself, whom he described as "barbarous", with "looks [that] show his disposition", and one who bore himself "loftily respectless and peremptory".
[3] On another occasion, when he bought land in Buckenham, Norfolk, Audley withheld the payments promised and harassed the creditors with law suits.
Instead, he forced the draper to sign a contract ordering him to pay a penny, doubled every month, for twenty years, which gradually accumulated into more than the actual debt.
[8] According to the anonymous and posthumous pamphlet, Audley had "the clue of a resolved mind, which made plaine [sic] to him all the rough passages he met with".