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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd4917e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #54288 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54288) diff --git a/old/54288-0.txt b/old/54288-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d75e630..0000000 --- a/old/54288-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8622 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The life and times of George Villiers, duke -of Buckingham, Volume 3 (of 3), by Katherine Thomson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The life and times of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, Volume 3 (of 3) - From original and authentic sources - -Author: Katherine Thomson - -Release Date: March 6, 2017 [EBook #54288] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS, VOL 3 *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, MWS, Bryan Ness and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. -Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as ‘_italic_’. -Superscripted characters are prefixed with ‘^’, or ‘^{abbrv}’. - -There are both numbered footnotes and notes using the traditional -asterisk, dagger, etc. The latter have been The footnotes have been -moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. - - THE LIFE AND TIMES - OF - GEORGE VILLIERS, - DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. - - - FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES. - - - BY MRS. THOMSON, - - - AUTHOR OF - “MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,” - “LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH,” - “MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH,” - &c., &c. - - - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - - VOL. III. - - LONDON: - HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, - SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, - 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. - - 1860. - - _The right of Translation is reserved._ - - - - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY R. BORN, GLOUCESTER STREET, - REGENT’S PARK. - - - - - CONTENTS OF VOL. III. - - ---------- - - CHAPTER I. - - Death of the Earl of Suffolk--His Address to the Heads of - Houses--The Opportunity seized upon by the King to make - Buckingham Chancellor--Indignation of the House of - Commons--Injudicious Conduct of the King--Vehement - Debates--Sir Dudley Digges and Elliot sent to - Prison--Buckingham’s Motives for Engaging in a War with - France--He endeavours to send away the Queen’s - Servants--His Fear of losing his Influence--Arrival of - Soubise and Rohan--The Duke goes to Dover--To - Portsmouth--Letters from the Duchess--From his Mother--He - sets sail for Rochelle--His First Operations - Successful--Care taken by him of his Troops--1626-1627 1 - - CHAPTER II. - - The Delay in Sending Provisions--The Impossibility of - reducing the Citadel by Famine--The Duke’s own means were - embarked in the Cause--Sir John Burgh--His Death--Letter - of Sir Edward Conway to his Father--Buckingham’s Sanguine - Nature--Efforts of Sir Edward Nicholas 41 - - CHAPTER III. - - Felton--His Character--Uncertainty of his - Motives--Circumstances under which he was brought into - Contact with Buckingham--Motives of his Crime - discussed--The Remonstrance--The Fate of La - Rochelle--Buckingham’s Unpopularity--Returns to - Rhé--Misgivings of his Friends--Interview with Laud--with - Charles I.--His Farewell--He enters - Portsmouth--Felton--The Assassination--Original Letters - from Sir D. Carlton and Sir Charles Morgan--The King’s - Grief 89 - - CHAPTER IV. - - Character of the Duke of Buckingham--His Patronage of - Art--His Collection--The Spanish Court - Described--Collection by Charles I.--Fate of these - Pictures 137 - - CHAPTER V. - - Patronage of the Drama by Charles and the Duke of - Buckingham--Massinger--Ben Jonson--Their Connection with - the Court, and with the Duke 183 - - CHAPTER VI. - - Beaumont and Fletcher--Their Origin--Their Joint - Productions--Character of Bishop Fletcher--Anecdotes about - the Use of Tobacco--Ford, the Dramatist--Howell--Sir Henry - Wotton--The Character of the Duke of Buckingham Considered 267 - - APPENDIX 321 - - - - - CHAPTER I. - -DEATH OF THE EARL OF SUFFOLK--HIS ADDRESS TO THE HEADS OF HOUSES--THE - OPPORTUNITY SEIZED UPON BY THE KING TO MAKE BUCKINGHAM - CHANCELLOR--INDIGNATION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS--INJUDICIOUS CONDUCT - OF THE KING, VEHEMENT DEBATES--SIR DUDLEY DIGGES AND ELIOT SENT TO - PRISON--BUCKINGHAM’S MOTIVES FOR ENGAGING IN A WAR WITH FRANCE--HE - ENDEAVOURS TO SEND AWAY THE QUEEN’S SERVANTS--HIS FEAR OF LOSING HIS - INFLUENCE--ARRIVAL OF SOUBISE AND ROHAN--THE DUKE GOES TO DOVER--TO - PORTSMOUTH--LETTERS FROM THE DUCHESS--FROM HIS MOTHER--HE SETS SAIL - FOR ROCHELLE--HIS FIRST OPERATIONS SUCCESSFUL--CARE TAKEN BY HIM OF - HIS TROOPS--1626-1627. - - LIFE AND TIMES OF - - GEORGE VILLIERS. - - ---------- - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - -Whilst these matters were in agitation, the death of the Earl of -Suffolk, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, afforded the King an -opportunity of evincing his unbounded favour to the Duke of Buckingham, -even whilst he lay under the very shadow of a parliamentary impeachment. - -A few years previously, the unpopularity of the Duke at Cambridge had -been manifested by a play, in which his measures were satirized, and -which had been acted by the scholars of Ben’et College. - -The ancient discipline of the University appears, indeed, to have so -greatly relaxed, that in 1625-6--in compliance with a letter from the -King--Lord Suffolk had found it expedient to address the Heads of -Houses, whom he styled “Gentlemen, and my loving friends,” exhorting -them to restore order and “consequent prosperity to their University.” - -The last sentence had an ominous sound, for there were few cases in -which the King thought it necessary to interfere, in which Buckingham -did not prompt the royal mind to active measures. - -Notwithstanding the unpopularity of his minister, disregarding the -public notion that, as the patron and personal friend of Laud, -Buckingham was the patron of Roman Catholics, and in direct defiance of -the impeachment, all the influence of the Crown was employed to procure -the Duke’s election to the office of Chancellor. - -That dignity was considered then, as it now is, one of the highest -tributes to personal character, as well as to political eminence, that -the nation could offer. It happened that Doctor Mew, the Master of -Trinity College, was the King’s Chaplain. No fewer than forty-three -votes were obtained by his means; nevertheless, there was a powerful -opponent in Lord Thomas Howard, son of the late Chancellor; a hundred -and three votes against the Duke were secured by him, and with more -exertion, it is supposed, that he might have defeated the Duke’s -partisans.[1] - -Footnote 1: - - Brodie, vol. ii., p. 117. - -Buckingham therefore was elected: thus did Charles, to use the words of -Sir Henry Wotton, “add to the facings or fringings of the Duke’s -greatness the embroiderings or listing of one favour upon another.” But -the King, in point of fact, was doing his favourite the greatest injury, -by thus marking him out as an object for the justly-aroused indignation -of the public. - -His doom was, however, at hand. Whatsoever he may have intended to do -for Cambridge was cut short by the hands of destiny. There remains, -however, a very characteristic memorial of Buckingham in that -University. The silver maces still in use, carried by the Esquire -Bedells, were a present from the ill-fated Duke,[2] whose presiding -office was of so short continuance. - -Footnote 2: - - Masters, 137.--Nichols’ “Leicestershire,” iii., p. 200. - -It was to be expected that the House of Commons would receive with great -anger this fresh proof of the King’s contempt for their body. Regarding -this election as a reflection upon them, a resolution was passed to send -to the University a remonstrance against their choice. Charles, however, -considering--and with some justice--that this remonstrance would be an -invasion of the privileges of the University, despatched a message to -the House, by Sir Richard Weston, desiring them not to interfere; -inditing, at the same time, a letter to the University, expressing his -approbation of their election of the Duke.[3] - -Footnote 3: - - Brodie, from Rushworth. - -The Duke’s answer to the impeachment was put in on the tenth of June: on -the fourteenth the Commons presented a petition, praying for liberty to -proceed in the discharge of their duty--and entreating that Buckingham -might, during the impeachment, be removed from the royal presence. - -Had the King yielded to a prayer so reasonable and equitable, the fury -of the public might have been appeased. But he viewed the most important -question of this early period of his reign, as between man and man, not -as between a monarch and his subject. Buckingham’s great fault, he -considered, was being his favourite. No criminality could be proved in -any department of his conduct as minister.[4] Nor could Charles, who had -hung over the death-bed of his father, treat with anything but contempt -the accusation of poison. The King believed that all the other articles -of the impeachment were prompted by a resolution, after attacking his -minister, to assail his own prerogative. He had been reared in the -greatest jealousy on that one point, and with the strongest and most -conservative value for the sovereign authority. Charles, accomplished as -a man, was profoundly ignorant and prejudiced as a king: his views were -narrow, and his knowledge of the constitution of his country limited. -His notions had been warped by a residence at the courts of France and -Spain. The immediate effects of a despotic rule are to a superficial -observer imposing. It is only to those who look into the interior -circumstances of a people, and who well consider the tendencies of an -arbitrary government to blight honest ambition, to cramp and weaken the -national character, that its real misery and degradation are apparent. - -Footnote 4: - - Hume. - -In Spain, with Buckingham ever at his side; in a court full of -picturesque splendour; in youth, with hope and love before him, Charles -had probably forgotten the aching hearts in the prisons of the -Inquisition. In France, the irresistible fascinations of Richelieu had -not, it is reasonable to suppose, been wanting to bias the mind of one -likely to be so nearly allied to the royal family of France. Most of all -those influences that betrayed Charles to his ruin must, however, be -ascribed to the dogmatic fallacies of his father. James had educated -according to his own contracted opinions not only his son, but the -favourite who was hereafter, as it is expressed by Sir Henry Wotton, to -be “the chief concomitant” of the future sovereign of England.[5] - -Footnote 5: - - Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, p. 212. - -Of late years, before the quarrel with the Commons, the popularity of -Buckingham had increased. The whole scene of affairs had been changed -from Spain to France; the alteration was satisfactory to many, and was -ascribed to the Duke--and he had not only become suddenly a favourite -with the public, but had been extolled in Parliament.[6] This was, -indeed, says Wotton, “but a mere bubble or blast, and like an ephemeral -fit of applause, as eftsoon will appear in the sequel and train of his -life.” The contrast, therefore, between a success so recent and the -present odium into which he had fallen, was no doubt the cause of much -chagrin to the harassed favourite, who seems, like most men of sensitive -natures, to have valued popularity, and to have been fully aware that -his political life depended upon it. He knew that no man could long -resist the force of public opinion in this country. Even in those days, -suppressed as it was by a fettered press, and by the gaunt spectre of -injustice in Star-chambers, it had exploded into one burst of forcible -indignation in the House of Commons. Somewhere the dauntless spirit of -an Englishman must speak out, and it then began to make itself heard in -that great assembly which had hitherto been almost as subservient to -Court influence as the French Chamber of the present day. - -Footnote 6: - - Ibid. - -The answer of the Duke to the Impeachment was drawn out with much skill -by Sir Nicholas Hyde,[7] the uncle of Edward Hyde, afterwards Lord -Clarendon. Sir Nicholas was considered to be a sound lawyer, and a man -of honourable character. He was a “staunch stickler,” says Lord -Campbell, “for prerogative; but this was supposed to arise rather from -the sincere opinion he formed of what the English constitution was or -ought to be, than from a desire to recommend himself for promotion.”[8] -He succeeded Sir Randolf Crewe, who was suddenly removed from his seat -to make room for one who had no objection to the arbitrary acts by which -Charles endeavoured to support Buckingham, and who was ready to conduct -the war with France without the aid of parliament. - -Footnote 7: - - He was the son of Lawrence Hyde, of Gussage St. Michael, in the county - of Dorset, and of a west country branch of the ancient family of "Hyde - of that Ilk."--_See Lord Campbell._ - -Footnote 8: - - Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. iv., p. 381. - -The debates which were now carried on with vehemence seemed to produce -little impression on the counsels which incited Charles and Buckingham -to acts of insanity. The chief orators on the side of the parliament -were Selden, Noy, and Thomas Wentworth, member for Oxford, and, before -their commitment, Sir Dudley Digges, and Sir John Eliot. To this list -several others must be added; amongst the most notable were those of -Burton and Prynne. Burton had been one of the clerks of the closet to -King Charles when Prince of Wales, and had been offended by not -accompanying his royal master to Spain, but grew still more indignant at -the preferment of Laud; and by being himself regarded as an “underling.” -He was afterwards dismissed the court for various acts of insolence, and -became, as a matter of course, the bitterest enemy of his late -patron.[9] - -Footnote 9: - - Heylyn, 149. - -There were now, to use the language of Sir Edward Coke, “two leaks in -the ship,” or State. “Two leaks,” he declared, “would drown any -ship;”[10] yet Lord Campbell, as well as other historians, is of opinion -that had it not been for the attempt to force episcopacy on Scotland, -Charles, and even his descendants, might have continued to rule by -absolute power, until, in the course of centuries, the public voice -might have forced a revolution upon the country. - -Footnote 10: - - Lord Campbell, vol. vi., 322, _passim_. - -Whilst the levying of a loan, by which Charles hoped to supply the place -of a grant from Parliament, was going on, Buckingham was using every -effort to return to that country where, either as a lover or as a -conqueror, he hoped to see Anne of Austria once more. According to -Clarendon, he had sworn that he would see the Queen in spite of all the -power of France, and that determination had originated the war which was -now on the eve of commencing. - -In order to challenge reprisals, since there was no pretence to warrant -a proclamation of war with France, Buckingham encouraged the capture of -French vessels by English ships and privateers, taking the vanquished -vessels as prizes. He began, also, to make his great influence available -by his efforts to lower the French nation in the eyes of the King, -fearing lest the young and beautiful queen should oppose the war. He -endeavoured, it is alleged, to alienate the affections of the King from -the bride of his choice, and to shew her personally every species of -insolence and rudeness. Once, when she did not call upon his mother, as -she had promised to do by appointment, Buckingham entered her Majesty’s -room in a rage; the Queen answered him harshly: upon which he told her -that there had been Queens in England who had lost their heads.[11] - -Footnote 11: - - Brodie, after Clarendon. - -Buckingham appears to have been in a fever of jealousy; hitherto he had -exercised a sole influence over his royal master. Henceforth, the less -public but more sure sway of an idolized wife would for ever interfere -with his counsels. Infuriated against the French, yet madly in love with -their Queen, Buckingham had only been deterred from returning to France -as a private individual by a dread of assassination on the part of -Richelieu, who had, it appears, entertained that design. Having -persuaded Charles to send back, contrary to treaties, the Queen’s French -attendants, he now drove the inexperienced and irritated Henrietta Maria -to despair; and finding herself in a foreign country, where all around -her were inimical to her religion, and to herself, she passionately -entreated to be allowed to return to France. Buckingham, rejoicing at -the success of his schemes, besought Charles to allow him to conduct the -Queen home. But that proposal, when transmitted to Paris, was -indignantly rejected by the French Court, and the Duke was confirmed in -his resolution to commence a war with a nation which had the courage to -decline his friendship. - -His scheme for sending back the Queen’s French servants had been, -however, agreeable in the extreme to Charles--and it may even have been -suggested by the King, who, in answer to a letter from the Duke, writes -to him thus:--“Steenie, I have received your letters by Dic Graeme. This -is my answer: I command you to send all the French away to-morrow out of -town; if you can, by fair means, but stick not long in dispatching, -otherwise force them away like so many wyld beasts, until ye have -shipped them, and so the devil go with them. Let me hear no more answer, -but of the performance of my command; so trust your faithful and -constant friend, CHARLES R. Dated Oaking, 7 Aug. 1626.”[12] - -Footnote 12: - - Brodie, vol. ii., note, from Ayscough’s MSS. Brit. Mus., 4161, vol. - ii. - -His former loan of ships to the French implies a more friendly footing -with that nation than these later passages of the Duke’s life may seem -to indicate.[13] It was in fact his dread of any influence stronger than -his own that caused Buckingham to induce Charles to break off the treaty -with Spain; and had instigated his animosity to France. Haunted by the -dread of being superseded in Charles’s favour, there were moments when -his overburdened mind was opened to some humble friends, and the -apprehensions of the King’s regard being alienated were imparted in -agony to a confidant. - -Footnote 13: - - Ibid. - -Buckingham was also aware of that intriguing and uncertain disposition -in Henrietta Maria, which, in spite of a certain heroism of character -which she possessed, shewed itself in mournful colours in later periods -of her chequered life. The patronage which she wished to divide among -her French followers was also a source of jealousy to the Duke, who had -hitherto disposed of all Court offices to people who would support him -in his state of power, or aid him if he fell. Henrietta was attended on -her arrival in this country by many younger sons of good families in -France, who looked to England as the field where golden honours were -plentifully to be reaped. “They devoured so much,” we are told, “that -all the thrift of Bishop Juxom, who had amassed much, was gulped down by -these insatiable sharks.”[14] Patronage and influence being withdrawn, -the Duke’s ruin must, he knew, be complete. He had nothing to expect -from his country, for he had never considered the interests of his -native land as identified with his own. There were in his mind some -motives of a higher class and a more general nature, although we must -not look for lofty principles of action in those days. - -Footnote 14: - - Brodie, from Hacket’s Life of Williams, part ii., p. 96. - -The intrigues of Richelieu, who was now Buckingham’s rival and foe, -worked in England through the Queen. The Duke had been overreached by -the Cardinal, and thirsted for open revenge. By denying the troops of -Count Mansfeldt a passage through France, the army of that celebrated -general had perished. There was no doubt of Richelieu’s determination to -extirpate the Protestants, and all promises of befriending them had long -since proved faithless; the Duke, therefore, saw that he had been -compromised, and he resented that superiority in trickery, which it is -difficult for a mind like his to bear. Whilst he had thus been deceived -by France, Buckingham was suffering by the popular cry against -recusants; and the Romish priests, adding to that cry, were enjoining on -Henrietta Maria, as a penance, that she should walk bare-footed to -Tyburn, as a tribute to the memory of the Jesuits, who had been executed -at that spot of sad remembrances. Thus, the cause of the suffering -Protestants in France had become the cause of the people, and Buckingham -hoped to regain his popularity by espousing it--whilst, at the same -time, by sending away the French attendants of the Queen, he should -banish the emissaries of Richelieu. Much of his conduct has been -attributed to the influence of a French Abbot, who was related to the -Duke of Orleans, who was also a violent enemy to the Cardinal.[15] - -Footnote 15: - - Brodie, from Rushworth, vol. i., p. 424. - -Fortunately for Buckingham’s endeavours to regain popularity, the Duc de -Soubise, who, together with the Duc de Rohan, his brother, were the -great leaders of the Protestant party in France, arrived during the -summer, after the dissolution of Parliament in England. The Abbot, it -seems, who had incited Buckingham against Richelieu, had at the same -time acquainted the Duc de Soubise with the state of affairs in England. -The alliance of these two great noblemen was eagerly accepted by -Buckingham. The Duc de Rohan engaged to supply 4000 foot and 200 horse, -to assist the English on landing in France; which was an enterprize -eagerly coveted by Buckingham.[16] - -Footnote 16: - - Letter from Admiral Pennington to Buckingham, State Paper Office, - inedited. - -M. de Soubise had at his command a fleet of twenty-three sail, which was -to proceed at once to La Rochelle, then closely besieged by Richelieu, -and to throw provisions into the town. The English Government engaged to -fit these ships up, to victual them, and to store them with provisions -for La Rochelle. Private information disclosed, however, that these -“ships were miserable rotten things, of little or no force.” Their crews -amounted to 1,261 wretched French sailors, who had neither bread nor -drink till the Duke’s vice-admiral went down to Plymouth.[17] Soubise -had, afterwards, a supply of beef and pork allowed for two days a week; -of fish, for the other four; some small store of butter and cheese, and -some eighteen or twenty tons of cider. This seems to have been all the -provisions for all the ships; and Admiral Pennington, writing to the -Duke, said:--“I wish the Frenchmen had all the rest, for our people will -never eat it, only the best of it.” So like the English now were the -English then. A hundred tons of beer were to be supplied out of the -town.[18] - -Footnote 17: - - Letter from Admiral Pennington to Buckingham. - -Footnote 18: - - Ibid. - -But other unforeseen difficulties occurred, and the greatest was the -want of men. The miserable provisions, or, perhaps, the lingering -presence of the plague, now produced sickness and death among the -seamen; “so that few of the captains,” writes Pennington, “have -sufficient men to bring their ships about.” He begs to have a _strict_ -command for the “press” sent him;[19] but even that was of no avail, as -the strongest men fled up the country and hid themselves in the woods. - -Footnote 19: - - A request which was quickly complied with, as we find in the State - Paper Office: “Orders given to impress men for the fleet,” addressed - to Admiral Pennington. - -Then certain merchants, to whom the Lord-Admiral looked for a supply of -ships in war, were unwilling to lend their vessels. They even disabled -their vessels to prevent their being used; and it became necessary for -Pennington, as he stated, to send his carpenters to repair them--and -after all he was obliged to wait for a reinforcement from Ireland.[20] -The poor Vice-Admiral wrote anxious letters, praying that the useless -merchant-ships might be sent away; whilst the others, French and all, -might be well provisioned at once. He entreated that a ship-load of -cordage, cables, anchors, and sails for the furnishing of other ships, -might come forthwith. This was a miserable beginning of an aggressive -war, and Charles must now have seen his folly in having quarrelled with -Parliament. Eventually, Pennington informed the Duke that he was obliged -to discharge all the merchant ships, except a few from Ireland, which -were in good condition.[21] - -Footnote 20: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 21: - - Ibid. - -The situation of the Duke seems, at this moment, to have been truly -pitiable. It has been already stated that he received and answered all -letters himself; and the applications made to him, in his capacity of -High Admiral, seem to have been of the most minute character. Sometimes -among his correspondence we find a letter from Admiral Burgh, wanting to -know what he was to do with some Newfoundland fish which had come into -his possession as Vice-Admiral.[22] Then follow numerous complaints of -the dilapidated state of the forts and castles which ought to have -guarded the coasts. In 1625, however, they were reported to be in a -perfect state for defence. - -Footnote 22: - - Ibid. - -Often was the Duke addressed as “the most noble Prince George;” whilst -in numerous epistles a tribute is paid to his justice and -circumspection, which would surprise those who take the ordinary view of -his character. His powers and his province were alike important. A Lord -High Admiral was, to use the words of an eminent writer, “one to whom is -committed the government of all things done upon or beyond the sea in -any part of the world--all things done upon the sea-coast in all ports -and harbours, and upon all rivers below the first bridge next towards -the sea.” So far for his powers; the following were among the list of -his privileges:-- - -“To the Lord High Admiral belong all penalties of all transgressions at -sea or on the shore, the goods of pirates and felons, all stray goods, -wrecks at sea and headlands, a share of all lawful prizes not granted to -lords of manors adjoining the sea; all great fishes, as sea-dogs, and -other great fishes, called royal fishes, except whales and -sturgeon.”[23] - -Footnote 23: - - Chamberlayne’s State of Great Britain in the seventeenth century. - -Questions arising out of these privileges, and disputes between Lord -Zouch and the captains of vessels, on the subject of wrecks, occur -incessantly among the documents in the State-paper Office, which almost -supply a history of the period. - -In the beginning of the year 1626, Buckingham had commenced his naval -operations by sending to impress twenty of the best merchant-ships in -the Thames or elsewhere; “such,” were his instructions, “as shall be -most ready to go to sea, and most able to do his Majesty’s service in -his present employments.”[24] - -Footnote 24: - - State Papers, edited, 1626. - -The impressment of these vessels does not seem to have been successful -in this instance; and although the captains to command them were -appointed by Government, they found great difficulty, as has been before -stated, in manning their ships. - -Great, meantime, were Buckingham’s endeavours to clear the seas of -pirates, as well as to recover that dominion over the narrow seas upon -which encroachments had been made. The Duke now began to be assisted by -Sir Edward Nicholas, whose name appears at this period as the writer of -the Duke’s answers to suitors, and who was evidently regarded with much -confidence by Buckingham.[25] - -Footnote 25: - - State Papers, edited, 1626. - -Although a fleet of twenty sail, of the king’s ships, and others had -been prepared so early as the 6th of January, 1625-6, for a service of -six months,[26] yet it was not until June that the Duke suddenly left -the court, and, with all the haste of his impetuous nature, went on -board the fleet at Dover so unexpectedly that his secretary Nicholas -could not join him before he set out, but was a few hours too late. -Neither had due preparations been made; shoes, shirts, and stockings -were wanting for three thousand men; the surgeons’ chests were not -supplied with medicines; many of the soldiers’ arms were wanting; the -colonels and captains begged to have new colours; the soldiers to have -hammocks; and it was represented to the Duke that their food ought not -to be so inferior as it then was to that of the sailors.[27] - -Footnote 26: - - Brodie (vol. ii., p. 147) says that only ten sail of the hundred ships - that formed Buckingham’s fleet were the king’s ships; but it seems - from these letters that the number was much greater. - -Footnote 27: - - State Papers, vol. lxvi., No. 19. - -The Duke, according to Sir Henry Wotton’s statement, was personally -employed on either element; both “Admiral and General,” there seems to -have been a deficiency of discipline; several murders were committed by -the soldiery, and an enforcement of martial law was recommended. - -His haste and secrecy had, perhaps, another object. It precluded those -farewells which are the most touching to those who encounter the chances -of war. In Buckingham’s case, the parting with his wife, whom he might -never see again, must have been mingled with self-reproach as well as -sorrow. He evaded it therefore by flight, notwithstanding a promise that -he should see her again, nay even by an assurance that he should not go -with the expedition to Rhé.[28] This conduct wounded the poor Duchess to -the heart, and it was perhaps these traits of conduct that alienated her -affections, and made her less reluctant to a second marriage than might -have been expected from one of her gentle nature. Buckingham’s apparent -neglect would have been inexplicable were it not remembered how -completely an unhallowed passion for another severs and rends all -domestic ties; and that, long before the links are broken, they are -loosened by the first deviation from duty, even in thought. The -following letters were probably found among the Duke’s papers at the -time of his death, and so conveyed to the State-Paper Office, where they -have remained buried--the words of reproach and sorrow, unheeded and -unknown. They are evidently strictly confidential; but they explain and -excuse, if anything can excuse, the after-conduct of the Duchess. Much -that followed the Duke’s decease is accounted for in this epistle:-- - -"MY LORD,--Now as I do to plainly se you have deceved me, and if I judge -you according to y^r one[29] words I must condemn you not only in this -hut in your accation[30] you so much forswore. I confese I deed ever -fere you wood be catched, for there was no other likelyhoode after all -that showe but you must needs go--for my part, but I have bine a very -miserable woman hitherto that never could have you keepe at home, but -now I will ever looke to be so till some blessed ocasion comes to draw -you quite from the Cort, for ther is non more miserable than I am, and -till you leve this life of a cortyer w^{ch} you have bine ever since I -knewe you, I shall ever thynke myself unhappye. I am the unfortunate of -all outher, that ever when I am w^{th} child I must have so much cause -of sorrow as to have you go from me, but I never had so great a cause of -greeve as now. I hope God of his mercie give me patience, and if I were -sure my soule wood be well I could wish myself to be out of this -miserable world, for till then I shall not be happye: now I will no more -right to hope you do not goe, but must betake myself to my prayers for -your safe and prosperous jorney w^{ch} I will not fayle to do, and for -your quicke returne: but never, whilst I live, will I trust you agane, -nor never will put you to your oathe for any thinge agane. I wonder why -you sent me word by _crowe_[31] that you wood se me shortly, to put me -in hopes: I pray God never woman may love a man as I have done you that -non may fele that w^{ch} I have done for you: sence ther is no remedy -but that you must go, I pray God to send you gon quickly, that you may -be quickly at home again, and whosoever that wisht you to this jorney by -side yourselfe, that they may be punished for it, because of a greete -dele of greeve to me; but that is no mater now ther is no remedy but -patience w^{ch} God send me. I pray God to send me wise, and not to hurt -myself w^{th} greeving now. I am very well, I thanke God, and so is Mall -and so I bid farewell.--Your poor greeved and obedient wife, - - "K. BUCKINGHAM. - -"I pray give order before you goe for the jewells w^{ch} I owe for ... -burn this: for God’s sake, go not to lande: and pity me, for I feel -(most miserable) at this time: be not angry with me for righting, for my -hart is so full I cannot chuse, because I deed not looke for it. - -"I would to Jesus that there were in any way in the world to fetch you -out of the jorney with y^r honor, if any prayers or any suffering of -mine could do it I were a most happy woman, but you have send y^rself -and made me miserable: God for give you for it. - -"You have forgoten poore Dicke Turpin for all y^r promis to me.[32] - - “26th June, 1627. To the Duke of Buckingham.”[33] - -Footnote 28: - - Ibid., Domestic, vol. lxviii., No. 3; see also Preface to Calendar, by - Mr. Bruce, p. 11. - -Footnote 29: - - Own. - -Footnote 30: - - Action. - -Footnote 31: - - Sir Sackville Crowe, who had been keeper of the Duke’s privy purse, - and was now treasurer of the Navy. - -Footnote 32: - - The spelling of this original letter is preserved here: the - punctuation alone is altered. - -And again, on the sixteenth of June, was sent another epistle, full of -affection:-- - -"MY DERE LORD,--I was very much joy’d at the receiving y^r leter last -night, and I will assure you I do not only right cheerfully, but am so -in my hart, and outwardly every on may see it, and so they do, for they -tell me they ar glad to see me so cheerfull, and I hop sences. I will -assure you I will not fayle to keep my promis w^{th} you; I hope you -will not deseve me in breaking yours, for I protest if you should, it -woold half kill me: and I give you humble thanks for saying you will -likewise keepe your word with me in the outher mane bisnes,[34] as you -call it. I am very glad you cam so well to y^r jorneys end, but sorey it -was so latt, for Mr. Murey told me it was nine a clocke before you gott -thether. I pray lett me here as often from you as you can, and send me -word when I shall be so hapye as to se you, for I shall think it very -longe, my lord: I thanke God I am very well, so farwelle, my dere Lord, -your true loving, and obedient wife, - - "K. BUCKINGHAM.[35] - -"My Lord, for God sake lett some of that money w^{ch} you in tended to -have at Portsmouth to be left w^{th} Dick Oliver, if it be but five -hundred pound to pay Mr. Ward for a ringe and for a cross w^h you gave -to my Lady Exeter: for Jesus sake do this, for I am so hanted with them -for it, that I do not know what to do; if you will but send me 400_l._ I -will dispatch them myself, for I cannot ster for them.[36] - -"I beseech you remember my cusin Turpine. - -“To the Duke of Buckingham, my dere husband.”[37] - -Footnote 33: - - State Papers, vol. lxv., No. 3. - -Footnote 34: - - Main business. - -Footnote 35: - - Vol. xvii. No. 28. - -Footnote 36: - - For the Duke’s creditors. - -Footnote 37: - - State Papers, 2, vol. lxvii., date uncertain, No. 60. - -This epistle was soon followed by another letter, expressive of great -affection--the poor Duchess begging of the Duke not to deceive her, and -to love no one but herself. “It was impossible,” she writes, “for woman -to love a man more than she did him.” Again she writes:--“beginning to -fear” that some hints in which he had encouraged a hope of their meeting -again before he sailed were but deceptions, and that she should not see -him again, “she was grieved,” she added, “that he had not told her the -truth.”[38] - -Footnote 38: - - No. 96, Ibid. - -The Duke’s example and presence, however, after all these delays, had so -great an effect both on officers and men, that, on the second of June, -Sir Fulke Greville had to write word from Cowes Castle, that he could, -with a “perspective,” see a part of the fleet in Stokes Bay.[39] The -Duke, meantime, was harassed with difficulties; affairs were far from -being in a satisfactory condition; there was continual difficulty in -getting seamen, and supplies of money were wanting to leave the coast -guarded, to repair the navy, to furnish stores, and to pay the sailors -on their return from Rhé.[40] - -Footnote 39: - - S. P., vol. lxvi., No. 14. - -Footnote 40: - - State Papers, vol. lxvi., No. 33. - -Meantime the town of Portsmouth was gladdened by the presence of the -King, who walked round the fortifications; and, judging for himself of -the ruinous state of the bulwarks, promised that they should be -repaired. It was Buckingham’s intention at this time to build a new dock -at Portsmouth, in order to supersede that at Chatham, and thus to -benefit the naval service incredibly.[41] Charles entered into this -admirable plan. Accompanied by Monsieur de Soubise, the Earls of Rutland -and Denbigh, Lord Carlisle and the Lord Chamberlain, he went aboard -several of the ships, and dined at last in the “Triumph.” At table his -conversation ran all day on the armament, and he asked Sir John Watts, -in his own language, whether “she” (the “Triumph”) “could yar or not?” -The repast went off with great hilarity: the Duke’s musicians playing -merrily, and Archie the fool, and Sir Robert Deale, adding to the -general jollity. Well might the Duchess, nevertheless, mourn at the -departure of her husband. The plague was raging in the fort of La -Rochelle with as much fury as in England. - -Footnote 41: - - Ibid., No. 35 and 67. - -At length, on the 27th of June, the Duke sailed from Portsmouth. If we -could accept as sincere the good wishes which attended his departure, no -man ever left England with greater assurances of devotion. “Secretary -Conway was ready,” he declared, “to carry his hand all the world cries -for the Duke’s service.” “The Duke’s good works,” he said, “came forth -with a better grace than he ever observed in the acts of any other man. -Besides his own duty, affection, and humble endeavour and thorough -hope,” he “joyed” to consign to the Duke the duty, thankfulness, faith, -and affection of his posterity.[42] - -Footnote 42: - - State Papers, No. 71. - -Secretary Cope sent a message of good wishes in these terms: “God direct -his ways and his ends, and make them acceptable to himself and all good -men.”[43] Even the Queen, between whom and the Duke there had been so -great a coolness, sent him a letter, with best wishes. Sir George -Goring, writing to his “ever and above all most honoured Lord,” the Duke -of Buckingham, engaged to “keep the Duke safe with the Queen.” The -Duchess could not, however, he said, reconcile herself to his departure, -without one word of farewell; and the Duke’s mother thought a “word or -two in” excuse would revive her much.[44] - -Footnote 43: - - Ibid., No. 76. - -Footnote 44: - - Vol. 68, No. 18. - -It was not therefore, it seems, the departure alone of her husband, but -his neglect, that pained her. Fond, indeed, and true were the hearts -that mourned for his absence in peril. His sister, the Countess of -Denbigh, shed many a tear when she missed the Duke at chapel on the -morning of his departure with the King. - -His mother’s blessing was given in these few, but very expressive -words:-- - -“MY DEARE AND MOST BELOVED SONNE,--Your departure lies grevous at my -hart, being oprest with many motherly feres, and were it not for the -great joy I beheld in your face that presages some good fortunes, I had -bene much worse, but since it must be as it is, I will omit all (with -you) to God’s pleasure, assuring my selfe he that hath done so much for -you, will make you a happy instrument of his further glory, and your -eternall comfort; to which end I will addres all my prayers to our sweet -Saviour Jesus,--being your ever most assured loving Mother, - - M. BUCKINGHAM.[45] - -“To the Duke of Buckingham.” - -Footnote 45: - - Ibid., 105. - -The first letter, written according to the Duke’s orders, by Sir James -Bagg, who accompanied him, to Secretary Nicholas, shewed how unabated -was the impetuous and arbitrary spirit of the favourite. “The Duke,” -Bagg wrote, “is very desirous to have the refusers of the loan sent for -to the council, which will make the western people sensible that Eliot -and Coryten do not only lie by the heels for my Lord’s sake.”[46] - -Footnote 46: - - State Papers, vol. lxviii., No. 25. - -He set out, however, in high spirits, excited by the change of scene, -and full of confidence in his projected movements. It is agreeable to -find a concern for the comfort and health of the troops, which amounted -in all to between six and seven thousand, under his command. On the -twelfth of July, the “Triumph,” with nineteen great ships of the fleet, -was seen near St. Martin’s, at Rochelle; King Charles’s colours, the -white flag, and the St. Andrew’s cross, in the main tops, being visible -to the dismayed French over in the port; and firing from our ships was -instantly commenced. Whilst these operations were going on, we find -Buckingham writing to Secretary Nicholas, desiring that victuals may be -sent after them with all possible speed; and, above all, to take care -that the fleet be furnished out of hand with London beer; “the beer from -Portsmouth,” adds the Lord-Admiral, “proves naught, and the soldier is -better satisfied with his beer, if it is good, than with his -victuals.”[47] At first the Duke’s expedition was attended with success; -a landing at St. Martin’s point, opposite to Rochelle roads, was -effected, and the French, who attacked the invaders, were driven back -with considerable slaughter. On the 14th of July the troops advanced -inland, and took the small fort of St. Marie, and the town of La Flotte; -on the eighteenth they gained possession of the town of St. Martin’s. -Great praises of the Duke’s valour were transmitted to England, by a -writer who penned his epistle on a drum’s head, near St. Martin’s. The -forces then beleaguered the fort, erecting a battery of twenty-one -pieces of “ordnance.” “The Lord-General,” wrote Sir Allen Apsley, “is -the most industrious, and in all business one of the first in person in -dangers. Last night the enemy’s ordnance played upon his lodging, and -one shot lighted upon his bed, but did him no harm.”[48] “Unluckily,” -adds the same writer, “there was no bread and beer thought of for the -soldiers--wheat instead of bread, and wine instead of beer.” - -Footnote 47: - - State Papers, vol. lxxi., No. 43. - -Footnote 48: - - Ibid., No. 36. - -There appeared every prospect of a long siege, unless reinforcements -from England should arrive to strengthen the Duke’s efficiency. Whilst -the fort held out, the citizens of La Rochelle knew not which side to -take. The Duke, every writer from St. Martin’s agreed, behaved in the -most admirable manner, shewing qualities which no one suspected him of -possessing. “His care is infinite, his courage undauntable, his patience -and continual labours beyond what could have been expected.” Such was -the language of one of Secretary Conway’s correspondents. “Himself,” -continues this writer, “views the grounds, goes to the trenches, visits -the batteries, observes where the shell doth light, and what effects it -works.”[49] The greatest vigilance was indeed necessary, owing to the -carelessness of some of the officers; there was no one of any great -capacity except the Duke and Sir John Burgh--a brave but rough soldier, -whose plain speaking was often offensive to Buckingham. His chief -adviser in military affairs was Monsieur Dulbier, a man of great -experience, but devoid of any striking talents.[50] - -Footnote 49: - - State Papers, vol. lxxii., No 18. - -Footnote 50: - - Ibid. - -Meantime the poverty of the Treasury at home impeded the speedy supplies -for which Buckingham incessantly wrote. It was his urgent necessity that -stimulated the unjust and extortionate collection of the loan--in -default of contributions to which imprisonment was the instant -punishment. Several Frenchmen, also, were about this time committed for -trying to allure Sir Sackville Crowe’s workmen into France to cast -ordnance.[51] - -Footnote 51: - - State Papers, vol. lxxii., No. 28. - -Disheartened by the delay of the supplies, Buckingham wrote word that he -was making trenches, but, owing to the stony nature of the ground, they -went on slowly, whilst the Fleet was dispersed round the Island of Rhé; -so that unless some speedy succour came, the expedition could scarcely -be benefited by anything that might be sent. The citadel, he considered, -would be impregnable, if once the fortifications were perfected; in its -present unfurnished state, the only way would be to take it by famine. -Already thirty musketeers who had been sent out to get water had been -captured. Toiras, the Governor, was likely “to make the place his -death-bed.” The enemy were strong, and the siege would doubtless be a -long one, but he was confident that the King would not let him want aid. -By the advice of the Duc de Soubise, he had issued a proclamation, -setting forth that the King’s intention was only to assist the -Protestants.[52] - -Footnote 52: - - Ibid., No. 29. - -But the Protestants in La Rochelle unhappily refused the aid[53] of the -ever-hated English. Louis XII. was ill; the court was divided into -factions: and favourable terms were even offered the Huguenots, provided -that they did not admit the English into the city.[54] - -Footnote 53: - - This letter is dated July 28, which contradicts Hume’s assertion that - the Duke had given the Governor five days respite.--See Hume, Life of - Charles I., 1627. - -Footnote 54: - - Brodie, vol. ii., p. 151. - -The Duke, during all this time of deep anxiety, attended religious -service daily, and was, it is possible, the more inclined to have -recourse to the One Source of help and safety, an attempt to assassinate -him having been made whilst he was beleaguering Fort St. Martin. No -impression was made upon the enemy, who were three thousand strong in -garrison. Mines were resorted to; two water-pipes were cut off, and the -besieged were driven out of their outworks; but Buckingham wrote word -from the camp that his army, without a supply, would soon not only be -disabled from continuing the siege, but would lose what they had -gained.[55] His anxiety on this point was expressed in every letter, and -in the most earnest terms, and it was fully responded to by Charles I., -but still a reinforcement of two thousand men which had been promised -did not arrive. Money could not be raised, and the King was obliged to -wait the issue of “three bargains” offered to him before he could send -out either provisions or men. - -Footnote 55: - - State Papers, lxxii., No. 87 and 90. - -Nothing could be more vexatious than the position of the Duke. He was -within a distance of what was then three or four days’ sail from -England--his credit, his honour, perhaps his life, were staked on the -relief of the Huguenot citizens of La Rochelle. Forty days, -nevertheless, elapsed without even a message by fisher-boat reaching the -famishing troops, “who were well supplied with wheat, but had neither -means to grind, or ovens to bake it.”[56] - -Footnote 56: - - Letter from Sir Allen Apsley to Secretary Nicholas. - -It was not until the twenty-seventh of August, two calendar months since -the expedition had sailed from Portsmouth,that arms, ammunition, and -victuals were sent off by Nicholas--“honest Nicholas,” as the Duke used -to call him; but no money came. Of that which was intended for the Duke, -some was raised by his own stewards, but was detained on account of -pressing claims in his own affairs. The want of money was almost -distracting. Nothing could be extracted from the Lord Treasurer -Middlesex; even at home the young Queen Henrietta Maria declared herself -to be terribly incommoded for want of it. - -“Send us men,” was the burden of every letter from the camp; and a small -contribution from a quarter little suspected of patriotism was the -answer to this appeal--Lady Hatton furnishing six stalwart volunteers -from Purbeck, clothed and armed from head to foot.[57] - -Footnote 57: - - State Papers, vol. lxxv., No. 20. - -The Duke’s mother, too, after the manner of mothers, remitted him some -money, and, at the same time sent him, as mothers do on such occasions, -a reproving letter. But, unhappily, she who had implanted the lessons of -worldly wisdom, and those alone, and whose whole life had been a -commentary on those precepts, could not hope to influence her son for -good. She indeed reaped as she had sown. One cannot, however, avoid -pitying the alarm which was soon to be so fearfully realized by the -events which succeeded the fatal enterprize. - -"MY DEERLY BELOVED SONNE--I am very sorrie you have entered into so -great busines, and so little care to supply your wants as you see by the -little hast that is mad to you. I hop your eys wil be oppened to se what -a greate goulfe of businesses you have put your selfe into, and so -little regarded at home, wher all is mery and well plesed, though the -shepes be not vitiled as yet, nor mariners to go with them: as for -monyis the kingdom will not supply your expences, and every man grones -under the burden of the tymes. At your departuer from me, you tould me -you went to make pece, but it was not from your hart: this is not the -way for you to imbroule the hole christian world in warrs, and then to -declare it for religion, and make God a partie to this wofull affare so -far from God as light and darknes; and the high way to make all -christian Princes to bend ther forces against us, that other ways in -policie would have taken our parts. You knew the worthy King your -master[58] never liked that way, and as far as I can perseve ther is non -that crise not out of it. You that acknowleg the infinite mercy and -providence of all mightie god in preserving your life amongest so many -that false doune ded on every side you, and spares you for more honor to -himself, if you would not be wilfully blind and overthro your selfe, -body and soule, for he hath not I hope made y^u so great and gevin you -so many exsellent parts as to suffer you to die in a dich,--let me that -is your mother intreat you to spend some of your ouers in prayers, and -meditating what is fitting and plesing in His sight that has done so -much for you, and that honor you so much strive for: bend it for his -honor and glorie, and you will sone find a chang so great that you would -not for all the kinddomes in world for goe, if you might have them at -your disposing: and do not think it out of fere and timberousnes of a -woman I perswad you to this;--no, no, it is that I scorne. I would have -you leve this bluddy way in which you are exept into, I am sure contray -to your natuer and disposition. God hath blessed you with a vartuis wife -and swet daughter, with an other sonne, I hope, if you do not distroy it -by this way you take: she can not beleve a word you speke, you have so -much deseved herselfe: she works carefully for you in sending monies -with the supply that is now in coming, though slowly: it would have bene -worse but for her. But now let me come to my selfe. If I had a world you -should command it, and whatsoever I have ore shall have it: it is all -yours by right, but, alas, I have layd out that mony I had, and mor by a -thousand ponds, by your consent in bying of Gouldsmise Grang which I am -very sory for now. I never dremed you should have neded any of my helpe, -for if I had ther should have wanted all and my selfe before you. I hop -this servant will bring us better newes of your resolutions then yett we -here of; which I pray hartily for and give almass for you that it will -pleas Allmighty God to deret your hart the best way to his honor and -glorie. I am ever - - “your most loving affectionat sad Mother, - “M. BUCKINGHAM. - -“To the Duke of Buckingham.”[59] - -Footnote 58: - - King James. - -Footnote 59: - - Vol. lxxv., No. 22, State Paper Office, Conway Papers. - -Very different was the style in which the affectionate-hearted Duchess -thus addressed him. The characters of these two women are singularly -contrasted in these letters:-- - -"MY DERE LORD--Already do I begine to thinke what a longe time I shall -live without seeing you: truly there can be no greater affliction to me -in the world than your absences, and I confese you have layd a very -harde comand upon me in biding me be merey now in y absences, but I will -assure yo nothing can be harde to me when I know I pleas you in the -doing of it, thoughe outherways it would be:--remember your promis to -me, but do not deseve me, for now I believe any thinge you saye, and -love me only still, for it is impossible for woman to love mane more -than I do you, and you have left me very well satisfied w^{th} you. _My_ -Lord, I have sent you a letter which I beseech you give to the -Commissioner about my sister Wasington’s deat, because without that my -Lord Savage can do nothing, and the touther is a warrant to Oliver for -the allowances you give her, w^{ch} he refuses to paye w^{th} out -one:--good my Lord, dispatch Dicke Turpin, and I shall thinke myself -infinitely obliged to you for it. I am very well, I thanke God: you -shall be sure to heare often, and do not forget to right often to me and -remember your promis, thus wishing you all happynes, I rest, your trewe -loving and obedent wife, - - "K. BUCKINGHAM. - -"Pray remember my duty to my Father. - -“To the Duke of Buckingham.”[60] - -Footnote 60: - - Vol. lxvii., No. 60, Conway Papers. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - -THE DELAY IN SENDING PROVISIONS--THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF REDUCING THE - CITADEL BY FAMINE--THE DUKE’S OWN MEANS WERE EMBARKED IN THE - CAUSE--SIR JOHN BURGH--HIS DEATH--LETTER OF SIR EDWARD CONWAY TO HIS - FATHER--BUCKINGHAM’S SANGUINE NATURE--EFFORTS OF SIR EDWARD - NICHOLAS. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - -In spite of incessant appeals to the authorities at home, the end of -August arrived, and no provisions were received at the camp. The Duke -then addressed Sir William Becher, enclosing a letter to be shewn to the -King, stating that, if provisions did not arrive within twenty days, it -would be impossible to detain the mariners at Rhé. Provisions, the Duke -said, were getting low; and the cannon did little harm to the citadel, -which would only be subdued by famine.[61] All seemed of no avail. -“Everything,” as Sir William Becher complained to Nicholas, “seemed to -go backwards.” Even the Duke’s own money, which he had wished to advance -to the victuallers, was still kept back by his stewards; and six hundred -quarters of wheat belonging to him, which he had left at Portsmouth as a -supply, were still in that seaport. One cannot help echoing the -exclamation of Sir Edward Conway, in writing to his father, General -Conway--“If we lose this island it shall be your faults in England!” -Every letter, meantime, spoke of the carelessness of life shown by the -Duke, of the sanguine nature that encouraged others, and of his great -affection to the King, and to the cause he had undertaken.[62] The -difficulties which were encountered in getting provisions together are -almost inconceivable at the present day: the merchants refused to supply -anything that would not yield them fifteen per cent; but at last, Sir -Edward Nicholas prevailed with some Bristol speculators, his friends, to -send provisions, on condition that their men should not be pressed into -the service, and that the vessels should be laden with salt.[63] This -aid was, indeed, timely, for the troops were beginning to consider -themselves neglected and forgotten by their country.[64] And a great -loss contributed to the general dejection. Sir John Burgh, the brave -though uncourtly officer who had quarrelled with the Duke, was shot -through the body in the trenches, and killed. Sir Edward Conway, writing -to his father, thus simply, and as a true soldier, remarks, that “the -sorrow of the Duke, and the honours he doth in his burial, are -sufficient encouragements to dying.” “There was some difference” he -adds, “between Burgh and the Duke, through some inconsiderate words, on -the part of former, which were by the Duke so freely forgiven,” and -through these Conway thought “an honest man and the Duke could not be -enemies.” By Buckingham’s orders the old general’s remains were sent -home, to be interred in Westminster Abbey. “The army,” the same writer -relates, “grows daily weaker--purses are empty, ammunition consumes, -winter grows, their enemies increase in number and power, and they hear -nothing from England.”[65] At length, on the twenty-first of September a -letter[66] came from one of Buckingham’s friends, Sir Robert Pye, who, -whilst declaring that the reinforcements were in great forwardness, -begged of the Duke to “consider the end,” and to reflect on the -exhausted state of the revenue, which was forestalled, he states, for -three years; much land had been sold, all credit lost, and Government -was at the utmost shift with the commonwealth. “Would that I did not -know so much as I do,” added the courtier. Deputy-Lieutenants were -supine, and Justices of the Peace of the better sort willing to be put -out of the commission:--every man “doubting and providing for the -worst,” so that all were in a sort of panic. All these discomforts were -ascribed to the loan, and the loan was the consequence of the projected -war with France and Spain. Too late did Charles, who had hitherto left -everything to the Duke, “knit his soul unto business,” and endeavour to -provide for the fruitless contest. - -Footnote 61: - - State Papers, vol. lxxv., No. 53 and 57. - -Footnote 62: - - State Papers, 26. - -Footnote 63: - - Ibid., 34. - -Footnote 64: - - Ibid., lviiii., 65. - -Footnote 65: - - State Papers, vol. lxxviii., No. 71. - -Footnote 66: - - Edward Conway was the eldest son of the first Baron Conway of Rugby, - in the County of Warwick, and succeeded his father, an eminent and - popular Minister under James I. and Charles I.--_Burke’s Extinct - Peerage._ - -The month of October proved even more disastrous to the English than -September. Hopes were entertained of a surrender. Two gentlemen from the -citadel came to treat of surrendering; and, after trying to make -conditions, asked leave till the next day to consider them. The night -was dark and stormy; notice was given of the approach of an enemy; the -Duke put out to sea himself, but the barques took a wrong direction, and -the enemy’s fleet of thirty-five barques broke through that of the -English, and the Admiral of the Fleet was taken prisoner. Fourteen or -fifteen of the enemy’s barques, however, furnished with a month’s -provisions, got through to the citadel, which was thus relieved. On -account of the sickness produced by the immoderate eating of grapes, and -also considering the uncertainty of supplies from England, there were -many of the Colonels who now recommended retiring from before Rhé; and -so discouraged was the Duke at this failure, that he was on the point of -going back to England, when an offer from the citizens of La Rochelle to -take a thousand sick into their town, and to send to the camp five -hundred men with provisions, encouraged him to wait for reinforcements. - -On this incident the fortune of the whole siege seemed to hinge, and it -must have been extremely tantalizing, when the citadel was on the very -eve of surrendering, to find that relief had been poured into it by the -enemy. No one could imagine how it had been managed. There was a nightly -watch of six hundred boats; the Duke was generally among the men in -these boats, or in the trenches, till near midnight; even the common -sailors pitied his exertions, and felt for his anxieties. Then there was -a battery of seven cannon, that fired upon the very landing-place, -beneath the Fort, besides sunken collies that played on the same spot. -The wind was then fair for Rhé, and the merchant ships that had been -hired were making for the Island; but the others were detained, since no -supplies from England had arrived to enable them to act. In the midst of -all his uncertainties the following letter from the Duchess was -despatched to the Duke:-- - -"MY LORD--I ded the last night here very good nwse that you had taken -the ships w^{ch} cam to releve the fort, which I hope will so much -discurage them as now they will be out of all hope, and quickly yeelde -it upe, and then I hope you will remember your promise in making hast -home, for I will assure you both for the publicke, and our private good -here in cort, ther is great neede of you, for your great Lady,[67] that -you believe is so much your frend, uses your frends something worse then -when you were here, and your favour has made her so great as now shee -cares for nobody: and poore Gordon is the basist used that ever any -creature was, for now you ar not here to take his part they do flie most -fercly uppon him, but when you com I hope all things will be mended. I -pray say nothing of this, and be sure to burne this leter when you have -rede it. I thanke God I am very well. Mall is very well, I thanke God. I -thanke you for the orange water you sent me, but yett I dare not us it -coming from the Governor,[68] thus praying for your health, in hast, I -rest - - “your trewe loving and obedent wife, - “K. BUCKINGHAM. - -“10th Octr.” - -1627(?)--(_on the back of the original letter in pencil._) - -Footnote 67: - - Probably Lady Hatton. - -Footnote 68: - - The Governor of La Rochelle, whom the Duchess seems to have - mistrusted. - -Whilst money was thus called for in vain, to carry on the war, the -defences at home were daily becoming more and more ruinous. The castles -in the Downs were in danger of being swallowed by the sea: and water got -into the moat of Deal Castle; the Lanthorn of that fort was wholly -destroyed, the loss of which, being a sea-mark, was a source of bitter -complaint; Walmer Castle was in ruins.[69] Friends there were who wrote -to Buckingham to urge strongly on his attention all that was threatening -the country, and to suggest his return; amongst these the Viscount -Wilmot[70] was one whose expressions were modified by great kindness, -and evident partiality for the Duke; whilst advice came less graciously -from Viscount Wimbledon, whose recent failure must have rendered his -comments on the affair far from palatable. - -Footnote 69: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxv., No. 7. - -Footnote 70: - - Viscount Wilmot of Athlone, here referred to, was the grandfather of - John Wilmot, the dissolute, yet penitent, Earl of Rochester, whose - death has been described by Bishop Burnet. - -Before his letter of suggestion and advice could have arrived, -Buckingham had, however, consented to a retreat. The state of despair -into which his troops had been thrown by the reinforcement of the -citadel, and their discovery of the false representations of the amount -of provisions on which the besieged could count, induced him to take -this fatal step. Presently, however, better information was obtained; -and though the sick had been sent into La Rochelle, and the ordnance -embarked, the vacillating Duke again determined to “stay and bide it -out.” - -In the midst of this perplexity, on the fifteenth of October, a valuable -auxiliary was sent in the person of Charles, Viscount Wilmot.[71] Lord -Holland also set sail, but the Duke now found it difficult to persuade -the men to await the long promised assistance. “Pity our misery!” was -their cry. The people were “looking themselves and their perspectives” -(as telescopes were then styled) “blind in watching for Lord Holland -from the tops of houses;” yet that nobleman lingered at Portsmouth, -pretending to believe that Buckingham, who, he said, he knew “would stay -till the last _bite_,” might be supplied with victuals from the west. -Then he feared also, as he stated, that the Duke might have sailed -towards home; that he was ill supplied with provisions; and that he -might be obliged to put back into France or Spain. The King, meantime, -was wondering and asking why Holland lingered first at Portsmouth and -then in the Downs? Charles’s impatience was expressed with a force -unusual to his gentle character. Until the eighteenth of October, no one -in England, it appears, knew of the great distress into which Buckingham -and the forces were plunged by the failure of the supplies.[72] - -Footnote 71: - - Letter from Viscount Wilmot to Secretary Conway, State Papers, vol. - lxxx. No. 55. - -Footnote 72: - - State Papers, lxxxii., vol. 18. - -Whilst the wind was against the Duke’s return, no one could suppose that -he would throw up the whole end of the expedition, and sail homewards; -yet reports of his preparing to do so continually got abroad, as may be -seen from the following letters from the Countess of Denbigh, -Buckingham’s only sister, by whom he was much beloved:-- - -“MOUST DEERE BROTHER--I hope these nue supplys will give you such -advantage to you, that your busines will be ended to your honer and -contentment. I pray be not be to hasty to ingage your selfe in any other -afares till you see howe you shall be supplyed. I would you could but -see our afares here: wee ar sometymes for Ware, some tymes a showe of -Peace: poor I must be patiend: I have much to speeke to lett you knowe -of all particulars, but I am a bad relater of thinges. I will promis you -to play my part in patience, and when you com you well not be lede away -with them that doth not love you, and be false to you and all yours. I -pray God to bles you: forgit not to rede of the booke I gave you, and if -you will take phisick this fall of the leafe you shall do very well, so -I take my leave. - - “your loving sister, - “20th Octr. 1627. SU. DENBIGH.” [73] - -“To the Duke of Buckingham.” - -Footnote 73: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxii. 39. - -“MOUST DEERE BROTHER--I hope you will be sure of supplyes before you -undertake to go to Rocchell, for ether ther hath beene some grate -mistake or neglicte: that you [should have beene] in any distrecs, -it doth grefe my very hart and sole. I heare you have beene in great -wantes, but I hope before this you are released. I pray be not to -venterus, and I hope you well not forgit the booke I gave you, to -looke over it often, at the leaste morning and evening, so with my -best love, I take my leave. - - “your loveing sister, - “26th Octr. 1627. SU. DENBIGH.” - -“To the Duke of Buckingham, my deere Brother.”[74] - -Footnote 74: - - Vol. lxxxiii, No. 3. - -It must have been peculiarly aggravating, amidst the anxieties of -the Duchess and Lady Denbigh, to find that all the Duke’s -perplexities, privations, and sufferings had not in the slightest -degree mitigated his unpopularity at home. It must have been still -more irritating to know that, whilst the troops before St. Martin’s -Fort were in a state of starvation, there was the greatest disorder -and carelessness in sending the supplies. “There is,” Lord Wilmot -wrote to Conway, “neither commissary of victuals, nor any one to -give account of arms. They find one thousand muskets, but no pikes -nor armour.” Meantime the Duke’s army were in want of clothes, and -mostly went barefoot.[75] Then Lord Holland, when at last on board -the fleet, complained that there was no one officer or creature who -could tell what there was aboard the provision ships, five of which -were Dutch, and might steal away at any moment. There seems to have -been neither patriotism at home, in regard to this expedition, nor -honour in allies, nor even common honesty in the commanders of hired -vessels. - -Footnote 75: - - Letter from Lord Wilmot to Secretary Conway, State Papers, No. 45. - -For several days the wind continued contrary to Lord Holland’s -departure from Plymouth. The twenty-sixth of October had arrived, -and the Duke, as it appeared from private letters, had "stayed it -out till the last bit of bread:"--such is the expression of John -Ashburnham, a devoted partisan of Buckingham’s: fears were even -entertained that the fleet and army were lost; then “such a rotten, -miserable fleet set out to sea as no man ever saw;” “our enemies,” -Ashburnham adds, “seeing it, may scoff at our nation.” Lord Holland, -who had been expected by the Duke on the fifteenth, was still -waiting for a fair wind at Plymouth on the twenty-seventh,[76] -employing himself there in trying to expedite recruits, and to send -out a Scottish regiment. “In his responsibility” (as he wrote to the -King) "he had provided two or three hundred live sheep, to go out -for the sick men, who die for want of fresh meat;"--“three thousand -pairs of stockings for the men in the trenches; physic also, and an -apothecary.” Despair, however, possessed all minds; and a report now -began to disquiet even the sanguine, stating that the French were -landing an army on the Island of Rhé. The report was true; one fatal -mistake had been made by Buckingham--he had left the fort of St. Pré -unmolested. - -Footnote 76: - - State Papers, No. 3 and 8. - -This castle, seated, as its name bespeaks, in a meadow, had appeared -too paltry a conquest to the sanguine and impetuous Buckingham, when -he had first landed at Rhé. He had passed it untouched, but it was -now well garrisoned with French troops from the mainland; still its -importance was not fully comprehended until the fatal moment came -for a retreat from before Fort St. Martin. It is evident that the -Duke had overlooked that which should have been a preliminary step -in his march; and that his attention had been distracted by an -undertaking too arduous for a man whose life had been passed in a -very different battle-field from that on which he now ventured his -fortunes. Hitherto, he had been a mere civilian, knowing nothing of -war, but in the Tourney--nothing of nautical matters, but in -gala-vessels, or some favourite ship; and little of the sea, but on -maps. Well might his mother caution him not to engage in too “great -business;” it was not, in his case, an idle warning, but desperation -had impelled him to make the fatal experiment of being at once -General and Admiral in a contest with warriors so perfect as the -French. Had he been reinforced in good time,--had the measures at -home been directed by energy, or even by good faith merely---the -events which so overclouded his later actions with a shade of shame -might not have happened. From the moment when the French occupied -the Fort St. Pré, the game was, however, virtually lost. - -Meantime, Charles I., it is manifest from his letters to Lord -Holland, was beginning to be seriously displeased with the -negligence of the Commissariat Department. He was also desirous of -impressing Lord Holland, not only with the great importance of the -result of the expedition, but likewise of his anxiety for the safety -of the Duke, “to whom,” the King writes, “whosoever does the best -service is the most happy, be it for life or death.”[77] - -Footnote 77: - - State Papers,--Letter of Secretary Conway to the Earl of Holland, - vol. lxxxiii., No. 12. - -So late as the latter end of October, Buckingham was resolved either -to stay in the island if supplies came,--or, if they did not arrive, -to put himself and the army into La Rochelle, and “run their -fortune.”[78] This was his last resolution. At one time he had fully -determined on leaving, for some of his soldiers were barefooted: -others were sick of the siege, and had neither bread, meat, nor -beer; but the Duc de Soubise had re-assured him, and, promising -eight hundred men from La Rochelle, had encouraged Buckingham to -decide on scaling the Fort St. Martin.[79] Meantime, Lord Holland -did not appear: he was still at Plymouth. Contrary to the advice of -the mariners, he had forced the whole fleet out of the Catwaters -into Plymouth Sound; but it was driven back by the “cruellest -storms” of twenty hours’ duration that had ever been known. Great -damage was done: it was now necessary to stay to repair the crazy -ships--the wind, as Lord Wilmot expressed it, “did so overblow.” The -violence of the elements, and the knavery or indifference of man, -seemed combined to keep back aid from the hungry soldiers in the -Island of Rhé, and to ruin their general. - -Footnote 78: - - Ibid., No. 17. - -Footnote 79: - - Ibid., No. 27. - -Perhaps the best, or, as many persons think, the only excuse for -Buckingham in the step he eventually took, is contained in a -touching letter from Sir Allen Apsley to “Honest Nicholas.” Apsley, -described in one of the letters from the camp as “very sick and -melancholy,” dates his letter “from his sick and lately senseless -bed on board the Nonsuch.”[80] “No man,” he begins by saying, “has -he more cause more faithfully and more affectionately to love than -Nicholas.” “His soul melts with tears to think that a State should -send so many men, and no provision at all for them. But for -Nicholas’s provision, through merchants, they had been miserably -starved long since.” He then goes on to relate that “there were -about five thousand seamen and four thousand landsmen in great -distress for meat and drink. The army had already lost four thousand -men, and all their commanders.” - -Footnote 80: - - State Papers. The letter is dated Nov. 1, 1627. Vol. lxxxiv., No. - 1. - -A sort of responsive testimony to the Duke’s sufferings, and to the -cruel neglect of the authorities at home, is conveyed in a letter -from William, Earl of Exeter, to Buckingham. “What cannot be -obtained by your courage,” writes the descendant of the great -Burleigh, “must in the end be submitted to your patience.” If the -Duke “sowed onions, he would be sure of onions; if he sowed men, -they are in danger, for the most part, to come up ingrates.” “The -indolence,” he adds, “which his highness has cause to resent, is as -great infidelity as is that of commission.” Then he cites examples -of great generals, who, without loss of honour, abandoned -enterprizes which could not be accomplished; what the Duke had -already done was, he said, “miraculous.”[81] - -Footnote 81: - - State Papers, Ibid., Nov. 16. Dated London, Nov. 3. - -Neither did the Duke receive any encouragement to remain, even from -one of his best friends, Sir George Goring, the faithful adherent in -the great rebellion of Charles I.[82] Goring had, in a former -letter, represented to the Duke how futile would be any dependence -on supplies; for the “City,” he wrote, “whence all present money -must now be raised, is so infected by the malignant part of this -kingdom, that no man will lend any money upon any security, if they -think it will go the way of the Court, which is now made diverse -from the State--such is the present distemper.” The King, it was -said, might choose to break all his bonds, “and then, when should -they be paid?” Under these circumstances, Goring strongly advised -the Duke to return home, and “to curb the insolence of the French -some other way.”[83] - -Footnote 82: - - He was afterwards successively Baron Goring and Earl of Norwich; - his son, General Goring, whose character is so ably drawn by - Clarendon, pre-deceased his father by two years; both titles - became extinct in 1672.--_Burke’s Extinct Peerage._ - -Footnote 83: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxiv., No. 20. - -On the very day on which this letter was written, a newsletter, -dated on board the Triumph, in the Road of Rhé, announced that the -embarkation of the troops had already taken place. La Rochelle had -by that time been completely blockaded by the French--too late it -had declared for the English. For the safety of that city it was -essential that Buckingham should remain; but, although he has been -almost universally condemned for retiring, it is evident that the -want of provisions, and the delay of reinforcements from England, -extenuate, if they do not wholly justify, that step. He had now been -expecting Lord Holland’s arrival for nearly a fortnight, and Lord -Holland was still at Teignmouth--having been again driven back by -contrary winds.[84] - -Footnote 84: - - Nov. 6. - -During all this time, no words could describe all the distress of -mind suffered by Buckingham better than those of his biographer and -attached adherent, Sir Henry Wotton. “In his countenance, which is -the part that all eyes interpret, no open alteration,” even after -his reverses, could be detected, but the suppressed feelings were -the more poignant for that disguise. - -“For certain it is,” adds Sir Henry, “that to his often-mentioned -secretary, Dr. Mason, whom he had in pallet near him, for natural -ventilation of all his thoughts, he broke out into passionate -expressions of anguish, declaring, in the absence of all other ears -and eyes, ‘that never his dispatches to divers princes, nor the -great business of a fleet, of an army, of a siege, of a treaty, of -war, of peace, both on foot together, and all of them in his head at -a time, did not so much trouble his repose as a conceit that some at -home, under His Majesty, of whom he had well deserved, were now -content to forget him.’”[85] - -Footnote 85: - - Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, p. 227. - -Wotton partly ascribes the Duke’s failure to one cause--an -improvident confidence, brought with him from a Court where fortune -had never deceived him. Besides, he adds, “We must consider him yet -but rude in the profession of arms, though greatly of honour, and -zealous in the cause.” - -By others he is considered to have committed an error in not having -first attacked the Isle of Oléron, which was not only weakly -garrisoned, but well supplied with wine and oil, and other -provisions. But his great mistakes arose from his impulsive -nature--a disposition often the concomitant of energy. Without -waiting for the advice of Soubise, he had invested St. Martin’s; in -marching to St. Martin’s, he had overlooked the Meadow Castle, as -St. Pré was called by his soldiers; and that fort was now the chief -impediment to his retreat. - -Having been urged in vain by Soubise to remain, Buckingham aimed one -last blow. He attempted to storm Fort St. Martin. He was perhaps -incited to this rash and fruitless act by the taunting conduct of -the besieged, who, knowing that he intended to starve them into -submission, hung provisions on the walls. No breach was made, and -the assault had no other result than the loss of soldiers. A retreat -was then decided on. The forces could not now return by St. Pré, and -a new route was to be taken. A causeway amid deep salt-marches was -their only choice; and this causeway, or mound, was terminated by a -bridge that joined to Rhé the second island of Vié. Here no fort to -protect the bridge had been erected, and there was therefore no -passage over to Vié. The French had all this time been close in -pursuit. Buckingham was in the rear, and, as a contemporary -observed, “had like to have been snapped,”[86] if he had not ridden -through the troops on the narrow causeway, where more than eight or -ten could not ride abreast. It was not until the English had reached -the Island of Vié that the French chose to attack them; then the -delay of forming a bridge gave the pursuers time to make their onset -with an advantage they could not have had on the causeway, where a -handful of men might have set at defiance a host. The French drove -the English horse on Sir Charles Birch’s regiment of foot, and both -he and Sir John Radcliffe were killed. A hot skirmish ensued. “Our -men,” says a newsletter, “spoiled one another, and more were drowned -than slain. The Duke was the last man in the rear, and carried -himself beyond expression bravely.”[87] Ultimately the bridge was -made good, and on the following day the embarkation of the -crest-fallen English was safely effected. Buckingham was of course -blamed by one faction, and excused by the other, for this failure. -Denzil, afterwards Lord Holles, the great leader of the Presbyterian -party, a man who, during his whole life, never changed sides, -censured him in forcible terms, quoting the words of one whom he -styles “a prophet of their own sides,” in saying that the enterprize -was “ill begun, badly carried on, and the result accordingly most -lamentable.” “It was a thousand to one,” Holles adds, “that all our -ships had not been lost.” Ten days’ provision alone remained; when -that was exhausted the Duke must have submitted to the enemy.[88] No -one disputed Buckingham’s courage; he brought back, as Hume -expresses it, “the vulgar praise of courage and personal bravery.” -He was justly, nevertheless, condemned for the risk he ran in the -retreat; for, it was said, had the General been lost, what would -have become of the troops, who had retreated in disorder? - -Footnote 86: - - Letter of Denzil Holles to Sir Thomas Wentworth. Strafford - Letters, vol. i., p. 42. - -Footnote 87: - - News Letter, State Papers, Ibid., No. 24. - -Footnote 88: - - Strafford Letters. - -The letters in the State-Paper Office, to which reference has been -made, though they do not refute the charge that the enterprize was -“ill begun,” exonerate Buckingham, nevertheless, from much blame: he -had every reason to expect reinforcements, for which he was -continually begging; no Commander-in-Chief was ever left in a -predicament more cruel; and he was justified in retiring by the -certainty that provisions must soon fail, and the uncertainty of any -fresh supply from the tardy and corrupt authorities at home. - -The confusion in the retreat was stated to be such that “no man,” -Denzil Holles wrote, “can tell what was done, nor no account can be -given how any man was lost--not the lieutenant-colonel how his -colonel, nor lieutenant how his captain, which was a sign that -things were ill carried.” “This every man alone knows--that since -England was England, it received not so dishonourable a blow.” - -The loss was indeed severe; thirty standards had been taken, but -more lost; four colonels killed, and about two thousand of our men -perished during the retreat. - -On the tenth of November the fleet left Rhé, and on the twelfth it -was seen in Portsmouth Roads, Buckingham’s ship, the Triumph, being -distinguished. The Duke, however, who was returning home under such -painful circumstances, was not in that vessel. As the fleet neared -Plymouth, he quitted his ship, and, getting into a ketch, went into -the port, in order to gather some account why the succours so long -expected at St. Martin’s had never arrived. He had also another step -to take--that of sending off an immediate despatch to the King, in -order that His Majesty might be apprized by himself alone of the -great loss and failure incurred in the attempt on Rhé. The messenger -was sworn, on forfeiture of his head, to secrecy.[89] - -Footnote 89: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxv., No. 56 and 57. - -“Charles received the news,” Conway wrote, in reply, “with the -wisdom, courage, and constancy of a great king, and has declared so -much kingly justice and goodness, with affection, to the Duke, as -renders his grace, in the king’s judgment, and in the opinion of all -those who heard him, clear from all imputation, and honoured by his -actions: all guiltiness remaining upon this State for whatsoever -fault or misconduct is come to that army.” Considering the delay in -sending succour, the event was thought to have been better than -could have been expected.[90] - -Footnote 90: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxv., No. 67. - -A letter soon followed from Sir Edward Nicholas, informing the Duke -that, six weeks ago, the state of provisions at Rhé was mentioned to -the King and the Lords, “but was not credited.” He recommended his -patron to do nothing until after his arrival in London: all things -were at a stand, he says, until the Duke should give them “life and -direction.” Secretary Conway, in a letter to his son, even “joyed” -to find so few had been killed, and so little, “in point of honour,” -lost, taking the greatest loss to be in the quality of some half -dozen persons.[91] - -Footnote 91: - - Ibid., No. 74. - -Three days after the Duke had landed at Plymouth, the Duchess wrote -to him:-- - -"MY LORD--Sence I hurd the newse of thy landing I have bine still -every hower looking for you, that I cannot now till I see you sleepe -in the nights, for every minite, if I do here any noyes, I think it -is on from you, to tell me the happy newes what day I shall see you, -for I confese I longe for it w^{th} much imptience. I was in great -hope that the bisnes you had to do at Portsmouth wood a bine don in -a day, and then I should a seene you here to-morrow, but now I -cannot tell when to expect you. My Lord, there has bine such ill -reports made of the great lose you have had by the man that came -furst, as your frends desiers you wood com to clere all w^{th} all -speede: you may leve some of the Lords there to se what you give -order for don, and you need not stay yourself any longer:--this, -beseeching you to com hether on Sunday or Munday w^{th}out all -fayle. I rest yours, - - “true loving and obedent wife, - “K. BUCKINGHAM. - -"Mr. Maule desires you to com to the King, though you stay but on -night, for they were never so busie as now. - -“To the Duke of Buckingham.”[92] - -Footnote 92: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxvi., No. 80. - -Many were the welcomes offered to the Duke on his return. Henry, -Earl of Manchester, “hoped that God had preserved him to add to his -honour;” and begged him not to be discouraged, for no captain nor -general could play his part better; Sir James Bagge declared that -the Duke was “dearer to him than children, wife, or life;” and Mr. -Mohun and Sir Bernard Granville “will put down their lives and -fortunes,” they wrote, “at the Duke’s feet.”[93] - -Footnote 93: - - State Papers, vol. lxxxvi., No. 93. - -It seems, however,from the following letter--half reproachful, yet -ever affectionate--that some time passed before the Duke saw his -wife, and that even then he had thoughts of returning to Rhé:-- - -"MY DERE LORD--I was in great hope by on of your leters that I -should a hade the happynes to a sene you this weeke, but sences I -have not had it confirmed by any more, and in this I received by my -lady’s mane I was in hope wood a tould me sartanly when I should a -had the happnes to a sene you, but your leter not saying on worde -makes me begine now to fere that you have but deceived me all this -whill in giving me assurances that you deed not, and now I begine to -be much greeved that you wood not a tould me the truth; but yet I -cannot absolutly dispare, because I hope you will yett be as good as -your word, for I confese, if you should go, I should not have a -stout hart. My Lord, these too cusens of yours desires you to accept -of there servis, and lett them go w^{th} you, for thay had rather -venter ther lives w^{th} you than stay behind, but I hope you will -put them in some way for ther advancement, for thay deserve very -well, and I hope will till the last. I am very well, I thanke God, -and ever - - “your trewe loving and obedent wife, - “K. BUCKINGHAM.[94] - -“To the Duke of Buckingham.” - -Footnote 94: - - State Papers, vol. lxvii., No. 96--Conway Papers. - -It is a terrible state when esteem and affection are opposed; for, -in a woman’s heart the latter is sure to gain the ascendancy. -Allowance must, however, be made for the Duke’s almost overwhelming -occupations at this time, and for the harassed state of his mind, -which prevented him writing to his wife. - -Upon arriving in Plymouth, Buckingham, however, experienced a -greater act of friendship than any mere welcome in words. The -warmest and most estimable of his friends was Sir George Goring, one -of those true-hearted Cavaliers of whom Englishmen of every party -may be truly proud. To Goring the Duke left, in some measure, the -care of his mother, when he sailed for La Rochelle. Goring’s -blessings had followed the Duke on his voyage. “My dearest Lord,” -are the terms in which Goring addressed him; and he showed that he -was, as he himself wrote, faithful in every point to him for whom he -professed friendship. - -The incident which now occurred rests on the authority of Sir Henry -Wotton, the long-trusted servant of James I., and the devoted -adherent of Buckingham, by whose influence he had been made Provost -of Eton. - -Scarcely had Buckingham set off from Plymouth, on his way to London, -than a messenger, sent in haste from Goring, warned him not to take -the usual road, for that his friend had authentic information that a -design upon his life would be attempted on his journey. The Duke -received the letter when on horseback, and, crushing it into his -pocket, without the slightest sign of apprehension, rode on. He was -attended by seven or eight gentlemen only; and they were merely -provided with the swords they usually wore, and had no other means -of defence. There was one among them, however, who was personally -bound to the Duke by ties of kindness and affection; this was his -nephew, the young Lord Fielding, the son of that sister who had wept -when she saw that the Duke was not at chapel with the King. The most -cordial union, indeed, existed between all the members of the -Villiers’ family; and they were bound by gratitude as well as by -affection to the Duke. - -The party rode on, when, about three miles from the town, they were -stopped by an aged woman, who came out of a house on the road, and -asked “whether the Duke were in the company?” Buckingham was pointed -out to her; and she then, coming close up to his saddle, told him -that in the very next town through which he was to pass she had -heard some desperate men “vow his death;” she therefore advised him -to take another road, which she offered to show him. - -This circumstance, added to the warning letter sent by Goring, -greatly impressed those around the Duke; and they entreated him to -take the old woman’s advice. But whether from his usual recklessness -of consequences, or from an idea that his showing fear would provoke -taunts from his enemies, does not appear; the Duke obstinately -refused to comply. And yet this “strange accident,” as Wotton calls -it, was the more remarkable, as it was a sort of prelude to his -fate, and in itself was of importance to a man whose unpopularity -before he left England was now, at his return, tenfold more general -than it had ever been during his career. - -As they were disputing, the Duke still resolute, his young nephew, -Fielding, went up to him, and entreated him to honour him by giving -him his coat and the blue ribbon of the Garter, that he might wear -them through the town; and he urged his request by pleading that the -Duke’s life, in which the welfare of the whole family was concerned, -was the most “precious thing under Heaven.” He declared that he -could so muffle himself up in the Duke’s hood, in the way his uncle -was accustomed to do in cold weather, that no one could fail to be -deceived--so that, attention being withdrawn, the Duke would be able -to defend himself. - -The Duke caught the noble-spirited youth in his arms, and kissed -him. “Yet,” he said, “he would not accept that offer from a nephew -whose life he valued as he did his own;” then rewarding the poor -woman for her good-will to him, he gave orders to his retinue how to -act in case of attack, and rode calmly onwards. - -Scarcely had he entered the town, when a half-drunken soldier caught -hold of his bridle, as if he wanted to beg; instantly a gentleman of -the Duke’s train, though at some distance, rode up, and, with a -violent thrust, severed the man from the Duke, who, with the others, -galloped quickly through the streets. Either from his usual -indifference to danger, or fearing, as Sir Henry Wotton says, to -“resent discontentments too deep” to be allayed, no notice was taken -of this incident of Buckingham’s journey to London,[95] nor any -inquiries made as to the projected assassination. - -Footnote 95: - - Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, p. 230. - -On his return to Court, the king received him graciously; no change -appeared in the outward demeanour of those who met him; but his -horse regiment had been composed of the sons of the noblest families -in the land, and smothered regrets for the loss of “such gallant -gentlemen” were as prevalent amid the higher classes, as deep -resentment was in the indignant and vehement lower orders of -society. - -“The effects of this overthrow,” Lord Clarendon observes, “did not -at first appear in whispers, murmurs, and invectives, as the retreat -from Cadiz had done; but produced such a general consternation over -the face of the whole nation, as if all the armies of France and -Spain were united together, and had covered the land.”[96] - -Footnote 96: - - Clarendon, vol. i. p. 40-1. - -Charles was, however, resolved to see no fault in his favourite, to -acknowledge no disgrace; with a confidence in the Duke that would -have done honour to a private friendship, he wrote to him, saying, -that with “whatever ill success he came, he should ever be -welcome--one of his greatest griefs being that he was not with him -in that time of trial, as they might have much eased each other’s -griefs.” Adding, that the Duke “had gained, in his mind, as much -reputation as if he had performed all his desires.”[97] The terms on -which they stood towards each other were those of one young man -towards another--his companion in pleasures and pursuits, his -fellow-traveller, his confidant--not those existing between a -sovereign and a trusted subject, amenable to public opinion. - -Footnote 97: - - State Papers, vol lxxxv., No. 10 and 11. - -The step which Buckingham took, on his arrival in London, was to ask -immediately for a public audience with the King and Lords in -Council. Then he plunged at once into the subject about which the -country was in a ferment. He “delivered a clear account of the -passages, descending even to the good and bold actions of private -soldiers.” He extolled the patience of the army, and “the fair -opportunity offered of turning their sufferings into glory, if their -virtue had been seconded with the power and succours designed for -it.” He named every officer in terms of great praise; and if both -officers and men were sensible of “the honours and obligations done -them by the Duke, they would,” Conway wrote, “live with their -swords, or die with them in their hand, to pay him that duty.” The -King, also, put the “right interpretation on the Duke’s actions.” -This open way of forestalling criticism, and, perhaps, impeachment, -was certainly as sagacious as it was fearless. - -The Duke, before leaving the coast, had provided carefully for the -soldiers who were sick and wounded, and amongst whom a fearful -infectious disease prevailed, so that those in whose houses men were -billeted died of the same malady. A storm soon damaged fifteen or -sixteen of those fated ships which had returned from Rhé: and such -was the poverty of the State, that, so late as the fifth of January, -1620, we find the sailors, who had deserved so much from their -country, ill from want of clothes.[98] There was no money for their -pay, which was in arrears; there arose, of course, a mutinous spirit -among them. The sailors were so destitute of clothing, that they -would not do their duty in their ships, and many fell dead into the -harbours. Still money could not be raised, although every possible -expedient to obtain it was employed by the King. Among others who -supplied him was Sir Francis Crane, Garter King-at-Arms, to whom -Charles gave certain royal manors for security, to the extent of -seven thousand five hundred pounds. - -Footnote 98: - - State Papers, vol. xc., No. 5. - -The Court was now both dull and partially deserted; the beautiful -masques of Ben Jonson were no longer called into requisition: they -had been discontinued since 1626, and were not resumed until two -years after Buckingham had ceased to exist; and the only diversion -specified for the Christmas festivity of this, his last Christmas, -was “a running masque,” to be performed on a Sunday, hastily got up, -and of no particular note.[99] - -Footnote 99: - - State Papers, vol. xc., No. 10. - -Throughout the whole of the winter, the condition of the navy was -the incessant theme of Buckingham’s various official correspondents. -“Many of the men,” writes Sir Henry Mervyn, “for want of clothes, -are so exposed to the weather, that their toes and feet miserably -rot away piecemeal.” Yet a fresh expedition was, so early as the -twelfth of January, in contemplation; and, hearing this, the French -prisoners, to whom an allowance of eightpence a-day was given, -refused to go back, as they said there would soon be a fleet fitted -out for La Rochelle. Meanwhile news arrived of great naval -preparations in France, and the sailing from Bordeaux of ships which -were to be sunk in the Channel before La Rochelle. - -During all these troubles, and whilst a storm hovered over him, an -heir was granted to the parents, who were anxious for the boon--and -George, the second Duke of Buckingham, of the house of Villiers, was -born. Owing to the death of his elder brother, Charles, when an -infant, his birth was a source of great delight to the Duke and -Duchess.[100] And great need was there for all that could solace the -days that were now numbered. All that had been brilliant in the -career of Buckingham had faded into gloom; the country was justly -irritated by the measures which he had recommended--the war, the -impressment of seamen, the scheme for granting to the King the -tonnage and poundage for the Customs during Charles’s life--were -subjects which kept all classes--some from anger, some from fear--in -continual agitation. The impressment of seamen had formerly been -applied only to the lower classes; but they had been taught by the -higher orders, who had felt the burden of oppression themselves, to -understand their condition and their rights, and a determined spirit -of resistance ensued; yet it must, in justice, before we draw our -conclusions, be remembered, that the Government was only indirectly -responsible for the present shattered condition of the navy, and for -the depth of misery into which the brave sailors had sunk. -Generally, the great business of setting out ships had been charged -on the port towns and neighbouring shires, but it was now too heavy -a burden on them to bear. The Privy Council, therefore, cast up the -whole charge of the fleet, which was prepared in February, 1628, and -divided it among all the counties.[101] - -Footnote 100: - - This event took place on or before the 2nd of February, 1628 (when - Sir John Hippisley wished “the Duke joy of his young son”), and - not on the 30th of January, as is usually stated. - -Footnote 101: - - See State Papers, vol. xcii., No 88. The county of Anglesea was to - be charged 111_l._; the money, as the King’s letter intimated, was - to be paid before the 1st of March. - -Neither does it appear that there was in the expenses of the navy, -even during the time of war, any extravagance. The error was in the -original neglect of the maritime forces, and injustice to a noble -profession; the ruin incident to total indifference to its -maintenance during the reign of James I. Had not Buckingham, in a -few brief years, done much towards its renovation, the naval power -would have been almost extinct. - -Whilst at Rochelle, he had placed the affairs of the navy in the -hands of commissioners. On the 28th of February (1681) the Council -called for these commissioners, and gave them “the King’s thanks -for past services, letting them know that it was his pleasure in -these stirring times to use again the ancient offices of the -Admiralty.”[102] The commissioners, on retiring, gave in their -certificates, signed by the Duke as Lord Admiral, of the expenses -of the navy, both ordinary and extraordinary, in harbours, and the -ordinary at sea, containing six ships and four pinnaces, for the -year 1628. It amounted to forty thousand, eight hundred, and -seventy-six pounds, fourteen shillings and fourpence[103]--the -rest of the fleet being supplied by merchants, and paid by local -contributions. But the country was little disposed to view any -point with leniency. Their grievances were, indeed, almost daily -increasing; and whilst the landholders were impoverished, the loss -of all commerce between England and France completely alienated -the mercantile community from the Court. - -Footnote 102: - - State Papers, xciv., No. 57. - -Footnote 103: - - Ibid., 108. - -A Parliament was summoned. During the preceding year the Duchess of -Buckingham had apprehended great danger to the Duke in allowing the -commission of inquiry into the affairs of the navy to drop; and had -expressed her fears that the abuses brought to light, and -unremedied, might hereafter be laid on the Duke.[104] There had been -no time then, in the hurry of the ill-starred expedition to -Rochelle, to complete that inquiry; but the Duchess’s fears were -indeed realized, when, after the Petition of Right had been passed -by both Houses, the King went to the House of Lords, sent for the -Commons, and then, in his chair of state, and when the Petition had -been read to him, instead of giving his consent to the bill in the -concise form in which the monarch, in Norman French, declares that -“Le Roy le veult,” delivered an evasive answer, promising much, but -signifying nothing. - -Footnote 104: - - State Papers, vol. lxii., No. 7. Dated May 7, 1627. - -The indignation of the House of Commons first descended on the head -of Mainwaring, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, who had preached, by -the King’s order, a sermon containing doctrines subversive of -liberty. Mainwaring, although he had acted under royal authority, -had been fined a thousand pounds, imprisoned, and suspended during -three years.[105] After he had been sentenced, the House proceeded -to pass “strong condemnation on Buckingham,” whose name had hitherto -not been mentioned. It must have been a singular scene, when, on the -fifth of June, the House being assembled, a message was delivered to -them from the King, announcing that, as he meant to prorogue -Parliament in six days, he desired that no new business, which might -consume time, nor lay any aspersion on His Majesty’s ministers, -should be commenced. A deep dejection was observed on all faces; but -when Sir John Eliot, the most impassioned speaker of that period of -earnest and eloquent men, rose, and was about to denounce Buckingham -as the author of all the national misfortunes, he was stopped by Sir -John Finch, the speaker, who, rising from his chair, his eyes full -of tears, told the House that he had been commanded to interrupt -every member who laid aspersions on any minister of state. A -profound and melancholy silence succeeded; then, after several -members had broken it, by resuming the debate, it was strange again -to hear that voice which had never deceived his fellow-subjects, and -to behold Sir Edward Coke rise, and remind them of former -parliamentary impeachments, and tell them that it was their province -to regulate prerogative and correct abuses; and he added, “If they -flattered man, God would never prosper them.” Then the name fell -from his lips that none since the King’s message had dared to utter: -he denounced Buckingham; he called him the grievance of grievances; -and, setting at nought the royal mandate, declared, that till the -King were informed of that truth, the Commons could neither continue -together, “nor depart with honour.” - -Footnote 105: - - At the end of the session, Charles not only pardoned Mainwaring, - but gave him a valuable living. - -Thus the fears of the poor Duchess of Buckingham were finally and -fully realized. One member imputed to the Duke the ruin of the -shipping, in the restoration of which he had so incessantly -laboured. The faults of others were thus laid on him. Another stated -that there were Papists in every branch of the public service. The -intolerant fierceness of Puritanical opinions, on this occasion, -blazed out. Selden proposed a declaration of grievances, and -suggested that, though a mantle had been thrown over the charge -against the Duke in the last Parliament, it ought to be resumed, and -judgment demanded. Whilst the question was being put, on this -motion, whether the Duke should be named as the primary cause of -grievances, the Speaker begged leave to retire for a few minutes, -and soon returned with a message from the King to adjourn. - -The consternation at the Court must have been extreme; for Charles -now retraced his former steps; again went to the House, and, giving -his consent to the Petition of Right, in the usual form since the -Norman Conquest, “_Soit droit fait comme il est desiré_,” was -received with loud acclamations. His popularity did not, however, -last very long. He took this opportunity to commit an act which was -both dangerous to himself and to his friend. When, by the -dissolution of a former parliament, the impeachment of the Duke had -been stopped, Charles, to save appearances, ordered an information -against him to be filed in the Star Chamber. He now ordered this -information to be taken off the file; thus insulting the Commons, -who had named Buckingham as the “grievance of grievances.”[106] - -It may easily be imagined how deeply chagrined Buckingham must have -been during these proceedings. Among the common people his name was -held in still greater detestation than even by his parliamentary -opponents. - -It was during this session that Sir Thomas Wentworth, recently -created Viscount Strafford, distinguished himself by his eloquence, -which he exerted in support of Buckingham, thus abandoning his -former show of patriotism, in the fervour of which he had denounced -the Council of State. - -“They have taken from us,” he exclaimed--“what shall I say?--indeed, -what have they left us? They have taken from us all means of -supplying the King, and ingratiating ourselves with them, by tearing -up the roots of all property.”[107] - -Footnote 106: - - Brodie, p. 202. Hume’s “Charles I.” - -Footnote 107: - - Brodie, p. 170. - -In the midst of this declaration the Presidentship of the County of -York was deemed likely to be vacated, owing to the illness of Lord -Scrope, who then held it; and Wentworth had not scrupled to solicit -the promise of it in the following terms of abject flattery to -Buckingham. The letter is addressed to Lord Conway:-- - - “Wentworth, this 20th of January, 1625. - -“MY MUCH HONORED LORD,--The duties of the place I now hold not -admitting my absence out of these parts, I shall be bold to trouble -your lordship with a few lines, whereas otherwise I would have -attended you in person. There is a strong and general beleaf with us -here that my Lord Scrope purposeth to leave the Presidentshippe of -York; whereupon many of my friends have earnestly moved me to use -some means to procure it, and I have at last yielded to take it a -little into consideration, more to comply with them than out of any -violent inordinate desire thereunto in myself. Yett, as on the one -side I have never thought of it unless it might be effected, w^{th} -the good liking of my Lord Scrope, soe will I never move further in -it till I know also how this may please my Lord of Buckingham, -seeing, indeed, such a seale of his gracious good opinion would -comfort me much, make the place more acceptable; and that I am fully -resolved not to ascende one steppe in this kind except I may take -along with me by the way a special obligation to my Lord Duke, from -whose bountye and goodness I doe not only acknowledge much allready, -but, justified in the truth of my own hartte, doe still repose and -rest under the shadow and protection of his favour. I beseach y’r -Lorp., therefore, be pleased to take some good opportunity fully to -acquaint his Grace hearunto, and then to vouchsafe, with y’r -accustomed freedom and nobleness, to give me your counsel and -direction, wh. I am prepared strictly to observe, as one albeit -chearfully embracing better means to doe his Majesty humble and -faithful service in the parttes whear I live, yet can w^{th} as well -contented a mind, rest wher I am, if by reason of my manie -imperfections I shall not be judged capable of neuer appointment or -trust. There is nothing more to add for the present save that I must -rest much bounden unto y’r Lorp. for the light I shall borrow from -y’r judgement and affection hearin and soe borrow it too, as may -better enable me more effectually to express myself hereafter.--Y’r -Lorp. most humble and affec^{ate} kinsman to be commanded, - - T. WENTWORTH. - -To the Right Honble. my much honored Lord the Lorde Conway, - Principall Secretary to his Majestie.”[108] - -Footnote 108: - - State Papers, Domestic, 1625. - -This favour being granted, and Sir Thomas having been created a -Viscount, he appeared in the upper house as an advocate for the -ministers whom he had, only a few months previously, denounced; but -the adherence of Strafford was of little benefit to Buckingham, as -his new ally was the most unpopular of men. One unhappy result, -however, this unprincipled alliance produced. The new partisan -ingratiated himself with Charles during his late and brief support -of Buckingham; and the seeds were laid of that influence which so -tended to undermine the future stability of the Crown, and pioneered -the way to Charles’s fall. - -The most unjust aspersions were now circulated throughout all -society. It was Buckingham’s custom to cast away, as unworthy of -consideration, all reports that were brought to him. On one -occasion, hearing that two Colonels, when before St. Martin’s Fort, -had said to a third that they observed the Duke often go in his -barge to the fleet, and that they believed he would steal away to -England some day; and that if he did, they swore they would hand out -the white flag, and deliver up the town and island to Tonar, the -Governor; the Duke called a council of war, the accused being -absent, and charged these gentlemen with their words. They flatly -denied them on their swords. The Duke, without further inquiry, -believed them, and dismissed the court. Nor did he ever pay any -attention to things said about him, either in the Commons or in the -camp. - -In the same way he appears to have treated James Howell, who, -presuming on having been in his service, and on the affabilities of -the Duke, and a facility of character which had its advantages as -well as disadvantages, wrote an impertinent letter, saying, that in -his “shallow apprehension” it might be well for the Duke to part -with some of his places, and so to avoid opprobrium. “Your Grace,” -he remarked, “might stand more firm without an anchor.” Then he next -threw out some suggestions as to the better regulation of the Duke’s -family and private affairs; and ended by saying that he knew the -Duke did not, nor need not, affect popularity. “The people’s love,” -he added, “is the strongest citadel of a sovereign prince, but wrath -often proved fatal to a subject, for he who pulleth off his hat to -the people giveth his head to the prince.” And he ends by referring -to “a late unfortunate Earl,” who, a little before Queen Elizabeth’s -death, had drawn the axe across his own neck; he had become so -unpopular, that he was considered dangerous to the State. This very -unpleasant reference was taken, at all events, amicably by -Buckingham. The fate of Essex was often supposed to shadow forth his -own; and the rapid rise, the more rapid fall, the generous, careless -nature, the very early doom of both, to have suggested that parallel -between the Earl of Essex and Buckingham, in which Lord Clarendon -has placed the characters of both before the reader in delicate -touches. - -In one respect they were very different. Essex, when attacked, even -before going to Ireland, wrote an apology, which he dispersed with -his own hands. Buckingham left his fame to his contemporaries, and -to posterity, just as they choose to view it. On an offer once being -made to him to write a justification of his actions, he refused it, -says Lord Clarendon, “with a pretty kind of thankful scorn, saying -that he would trust to his own good intentions, which God knew, and -trust to Him for the pardon of his errors;” that he saw no “fruit of -apologies but the multiplying of discourse, which, surely,” even -Lord Clarendon observes, “was a well-settled matter.”[109] - -Footnote 109: - - Parallel between Essex and Buckingham--“Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.” - -But there were dangers lurking in his path which no defence could -avert. Personal danger did not appal him. Slander did not affect -him. Yet a forgotten, morbid, disappointed man was the instrument of -destiny; and even in this crisis Buckingham seems never to have -shrunk from the assassins, even in imagination: he knew that he had -already escaped great perils--and that consciousness gave him -security. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - -FELTON--HIS CHARACTER--UNCERTAINTY OF HIS MOTIVES--CIRCUMSTANCES - UNDER WHICH HE WAS BROUGHT INTO CONTACT WITH BUCKINGHAM--MOTIVES - OF HIS CRIME DISCUSSED--THE REMONSTRANCE--THE FATE OF - LA ROCHELLE--BUCKINGHAM’S UNPOPULARITY--RETURNS TO - RHE--MISGIVINGS OF HIS FRIENDS--INTERVIEW WITH LAUD--WITH - CHARLES I.--HIS FAREWELL--HE ENTERS PORTSMOUTH--FELTON--THE - ASSASSINATION--ORIGINAL LETTERS FROM SIR D. CARLETON AND SIR - CHARLES MORGAN--THE KING’S GRIEF. - - CHAPTER III. - - -Whilst all these events were pending, dark designs were being formed -and cherished in the distempered mind of one far from the Court, and -probably wholly forgotten by him to whose destiny he gave the final -stroke. - -Hitherto Buckingham had escaped all bodily harm. He had rallied -speedily from illness, and was in the full vigour of his life; he -had returned unhurt from the perilous service at Rhé; he had -repeatedly crossed the Channel, and tracked even the great ocean -when the science of navigation, as well as of ship-building, was -imperfect, and when a thousand dangers encompassed his course: he -had escaped the pestilence by which the army lost many of its best -men. And yet his days were numbered. - -In the remote county of Suffolk the unhappy John Felton was born. He -was the youngest son of an ancient family, and in somewhat narrow -circumstances, and had been a lieutenant in a regiment of foot, -under the command of Sir John Ramsey, in the expedition against Rhé. -He was a man of great reserve, which, though he had long led a -soldier’s life, in the course of which he appears to have risen from -the ranks, was still silent and gloomy. In person he was diminutive, -with a meagre form, and a face rendered almost ghastly from the -expression of that deep, habitual, and apparently causeless -melancholy to which we give the term morbid; and thus singularly did -these outlines of his character correspond with the circumstances of -his daily life. So strange was it to discover in the young soldier -the characteristics attributable to a cloister rather than to a -camp, that one turns to the mournful plea of insanity for -explanation. But no defence of that nature, or on that ground, was -ever attempted for Felton; unhappily, so much has lunacy increased -in modern times, that it forms now one point in almost every case of -unaccountable crime. In the days of our ancestors it was different. -Such an excuse was rare, and only applied to imbecility, or to -mania, when too apparent to be disputed. - -To this day, indeed, there has been found no adequate motive for the -deed, which Felton long contemplated in the depths of a soul that -never gave utterance to its joys or sorrows, and exchanged no -sympathies with others. Whatever “may have been the immediate or -greatest motive of that felonious conception,” Sir Henry Wotton -declares, “is even yet in the clouds.”[110] The origin of that dark -design has, nevertheless, been referred to a disappointment in -Felton’s military career. This he subsequently denied, by saying -that the Duke had always shown him respect. Whilst at Rhé, Felton’s -captain having died in England, he naturally applied to Buckingham -for promotion. The Duke, however, consulted the colonel of the -regiment, and, by his suggestion, gave the company to an officer -named Powell, who happened to be lieutenant of the colonel’s -company, and a man of great bravery; and Felton himself acknowledged -the justice and expediency of this preference of Powell to himself. -So that, to follow the same authority, the idea of any rancour being -harboured, owing to this arrangement, can have no foundation.[111] -But the notion has been taken up by historians adverse to -Buckingham--and such are in the majority--rather to heighten the -impression that he suffered for an act of injustice, for which his -death was, more or less, a retribution, than from any certain -conviction on the point. - -Footnote 110: - - Wottonianæ Reliquiæ, p. 233. - -Footnote 111: - - Ibid. - -There was also another cause assigned for the crime which Felton -meditated. In his native county there was a certain knight whom the -Duke had latterly favoured; and between this individual and Felton -there “had been ancient quarrels not yet healed,” which might be -festering within his breast, and worked up by his own grievance into -frenzy. But this explanation is also rejected by Sir Henry Wotton, -whose evidence is the best that can be given, as proceeding from a -man of principle, and a contemporary and friend of Buckingham’s. - -Three hours before his execution, however, Felton, either as a -palliation to others, or to excuse the deed to himself, alleged that -the book written by Dr. Egglisham, King James’s Scottish physician, -in which the Duke was portrayed as one of the foulest monsters upon -earth, unfit to live in a Christian court, or even within the pale -of humanity, had a great effect upon his mind, in inciting him to -what he deemed an act of heroic virtue. The fact, indeed, it is -plain, was, that his religious convictions had an all-powerful -influence upon his judgment, which was warped by the gloomy bigotry -which casts a shadow over the noblest and most encouraging hopes of -the Christian. The tenor of this unhappy man’s life had been marked -by seriousness and religious observances; but it was the religion -which condemned all who differed--the religion, not of love, but -self-righteousness and hatred. - -During the leisure of peace--if peace that can be called in which -all the elements of civil war were being engendered--the Petition of -Right--that great measure, which even Clarendon allows, "was of no -prejudice to the Crown"--received the King’s assent. Not contented -with what they found might prove a bare declaration of the law, the -Commons drew up a Remonstrance, addressed to the King, in order that -the too great power of Buckingham might be diminished. The promotion -of Papists, the protection of Arminians, under the patronage of Neal -and Laud, were the chief subjects, and were calculated to arouse and -inflame the passions of a fanatic, like Felton, and to have -suggested the reasoning that was soon warped, by prejudice and -hatred, into the form and conception of guilt. There were other -subjects of complaint in that celebrated Remonstrance, which touched -him also--the standing commission of general continued to Buckingham -in time of peace, the dismissal of faithful officers from various -places of trust, the failures at Cadiz and at Rhé--these were but a -small part of that important document, but they were the portion -most likely to excite such a mind as that of Felton. He stated, -indeed, that the idea of assassination, which he had repelled by -stern efforts of conscience--for he was a man misled and mistaken, -but not devoid of certain principles, and he dared to make use of -that solemn and misguiding word, conscience--was revived, with -irresistible force, by the Remonstrance. Never, hitherto, had the -members most distinguished for oratory in parliament reasoned with -so much force, and so much research, and so great a depth of legal -argument, as on the Petition of Right, and its successor, the -Remonstrance. It was the era of good taste and profound argument in -that great assembly.[112] All tended to strengthen Felton in the -conviction that the Duke was a traitor and oppressor, whom any -patriot would do well to assassinate. - -Footnote 112: - - Brodie. - -Then he read works which maintained the lawfulness of ridding a -nation of an oppressor; and the voice of conscience was heard no -more--a false heroism was thenceforth the spectre that lured him -onwards. Never was there a more striking instance of the influence -of one mind over another than that which the books of the day had -over the mind of Felton; never was there a more prominent -exemplification of the responsibilities of a writer, even if his -words chance to have only an ephemeral reputation, than this man’s -crime. - -The resolution was then formed--Buckingham’s life was to be -sacrificed for the public good. Sir Henry Wotton seems to think that -every plea adopted by Felton in explanation of this design was to be -distrusted. “Whatever were the true motives, which, I think, none -can determine but the Prince of Darkness itself, he did thus -prosecute the effort.” - -He bought for tenpence, in a cutler’s shop on Tower Hill, a -knife--that instrument, the blow of which paralyzed England--and -sewed the sheath into the lining of his pocket, so that he could at -any time draw out the knife with one hand--his other being maimed -and powerless. - -Being thus provided, he watched in gloom and privacy (for he was -very poor) the opportunity over which he brooded. - -Meantime, Buckingham was mingling, in the full confidence of his -fearless nature, in the affairs of that world which he was so soon -to quit for ever. His unpopularity was at its acmé, and if he feared -not for himself, there were friends who trembled for his safety. Sir -Clement Throgmorton, a man of great consideration and judgment, one -day asked a private conference, and advised the Duke to wear a coat -of mail underneath his his outer garment. The Duke received the -suggestion very kindly, but gave this reply, “Against popular fury a -coat of mail would be but a weak defence, and with regard to an -attack from any single man, he conceived there was no danger.” "So -dark," says Wotton, “is destiny.” - -This consciousness of being the object of universal hatred probably -increased the keen desire which now possessed the Duke’s mind of -retrieving the discredit into which his failure had plunged him. -During the whole of the spring, preparations for a fresh descent on -La Rochelle had been in contemplation. As good a squadron as that -which Admiral Pennington had previously commanded was ready at -Plymouth by the end of February, ten ships having been pressed into -the service. Several new vessels were built, notwithstanding that -the workmen of the navy at Chatham complained that they had not -received any pay for seven months. Buckingham was, at one time, on -the point of visiting Plymouth, but went to Newmarket instead.[113] -During the session of Parliament his brother-in-law, the Earl of -Denbigh, was dispatched with a fleet to the relief of La Rochelle, -which was blockaded by the French, but he returned without even -attempting to effect anything; and the unfortunate town was left to -its fate. Richelieu, besieging it by circumvallations, constructed a -mole across the mouth of the harbour, leaving room only for the ebb -and flow of the sea; and destruction seemed inevitable. It was, -therefore, a very probable means of recovering his credit at home, -for the Duke again to attempt the relief of those who, as -Protestants, represented a cause dear to English hearts. -Independently of this, it is not unlikely that old rivalship with -the sagacious Cardinal may have influenced Buckingham to undertake a -second expedition to La Rochelle.[114] It is, perhaps, not to be -wondered at that Buckingham’s name should be covered with so much -opprobrium after his death, when the fate of the heroes who defended -La Rochelle is remembered. In the October of the year in which the -Duke perished, La Rochelle, long refusing to yield, was forced to -submit. The inhabitants surrendered at discretion--even with an -English fleet, commanded by Lord Sidney, in sight. Of fifteen -thousand men who had been enclosed in the town, only four thousand -survived famine and fatigue, to lay down their arms before the -generals sent by Richelieu. - -Footnote 113: - - Calendar, vol. xciv., No. 96. - -Footnote 114: - - Brodie--Hume. - -To make a last effort for these valiant sufferers was, therefore, -the wisest determination that Buckingham could form. The fleet which -Lord Denbigh had commanded was in good condition, and all at home -had learned experience through failure. He had taken that severe -lesson to his own heart. Had Buckingham been spared to relieve La -Rochelle, and to recover for England the honour of her sullied -reputation, his errors would doubtless have been forgiven. - -Before leaving London, the Duke went to take leave of Laud, then -Bishop of London. Laud had now, both in civil and ecclesiastical -matters, a great influence over the King: of this Buckingham was -fully sensible. - -Sir Henry Wotton, who had made some inquiries whether the Duke had -had any presentiment of his death, relates a touching scene between -the Duke and Laud. - -“My Lord,” Buckingham said, “you have, I know, very free access to -the King, our sovereign; let me pray you to remind his Majesty to be -good to my poor wife and children.” - -At these words, or perhaps rather on looking at the expression of -countenance with which they were uttered, the Bishop, with some -uneasiness, asked the Duke whether he had any forebodings in his -mind which he did not like to betray? - -“No,” replied the Duke; “but I think some adventure may kill me as -much as any other man,” - -The day before he was assassinated, the Duke being ill, Charles the -First visited him whilst he was in bed. After a long and serious -conversation in private, they separated, Buckingham embracing the -King “in a very unusual and passionate manner;” and he also showed -great emotion on taking leave of Lord Holland, “as if his soul had -divined he should see them no more.” - -The twentieth of August was his birthday. He had completed his -thirty-sixth year--that period which has been marked by a great -writer as the departure of youth[115]--it might have been, perhaps, -in Buckingham’s case, the beginning of wisdom extracted from -experience. - -Footnote 115: - - Student. - -It was the age of omens and other superstitious weaknesses; and -supernatural warnings were not wanting to heighten the effect of the -tragedy that was soon to be acted. Neither did they who foreboded -evil to the Duke wait until after the event to bring forth their -ghostly revelations. One day, some little time before the Duke’s -death, he was playing at bowls with the King in Spring Gardens. -Buckingham, as he usually did,even in Charles’s presence, kept his -hat on, a piece of presumption which irritated a Scotsman named -Wilson, who, in his wrath, tossed off the Duke’s hat, and declared -he would punish impertinence wherever he met it in the same way. On -looking round for this man, he had vanished, and was nowhere to be -found. The courtiers marvelled at the incident, and regarded it as -ominous of the Duke’s fate; but he laughed at them for their folly, -and showed no fear.[116] - -Footnote 116: - - Balfour’s Annals, MSS., Advocate’s Library, quoted from Brodie, - vol. ii., p. 209. - -His indifference was regarded as infatuation; in fact, it proves -that the Duke was, in some respects, superior to those whom he most -respected. There was no lone spinster in the country more given to -believe in dreams and omens than Laud; and his diary contains -perpetual references to his dreams. Every slight incident had its -peculiar meaning, foreshadowing some great event. Nor does Lord -Clarendon rise above the tone of the times, in his relation of that -famous ghost story which forms one of the most prominent incidents -of Buckingham’s latest days. - -Old Sir George Villiers had now been dead eighteen years, and -perhaps few of his family, and certainly not his wife, who had been -twice married, ever wished to see him again. There was a certain Mr. -Nicholas Towse, however, living in Bishopsgate Without, London, to -whom the aged knight appeared in the spirit, during the year 1627, -making choice of that individual as the depositary of secrets beyond -the grave, because he had known him whilst he was a boy at school in -Leicestershire, near Brookesby. As a mark of friendship, therefore, -the apparition of Sir George favoured Mr. Towse with his -revelations, and stood one night at the foot of his bed, dressed in -the costume of the time of Elizabeth. There was a candle in the -room, and Mr. Towse was perfectly wakeful. On beholding Sir George, -he uttered, according to his own account, the natural inquiry, “What -he was, and whether he was a man?” To which the apparition answered, -“No.” Then Towse, in considerable emotion, asked, “Was he a devil?” -To which the apparition still answered, “No.” Then Mr. Towse, with -increasing agitation, said, “In the name of God, tell me what you -are?” - -"I am," replied the spectre, in doublet and hose, “the spectre of -Sir George Villiers, the father of the Duke of Buckingham;” adding, -that because he believed Mr. Towse loved him, and was sensible of -the former kindness that he had shown him, he had selected him as -the bearer of a message to the Duke of Buckingham, warning him in -such a manner as to prevent much mischief and present ruin to the -Duke. - -Whilst the apparition was speaking, Towse became more and more -convinced of his identity, and more fully conscious that the long -defunct master of a noble house stood before him; nevertheless, he -refused to do Sir George’s bidding, saying that it would bring -ridicule on him to carry to the Duke such a message. But the ghost -earnestly entreated him to comply, assuring him, after the manner of -ghosts, that there were certain passages in the Duke’s life known -only to himself and his son, and that the revelation of these would -plainly show the Duke it was no “distempered fancy, but a reality, -that he wished to disclose.” - -That night was one of irresolution, if not of incredulity; but, on -the next, the unhappy Towse, thus picked out for so ghostly a -service, promised to go to the Duke. He went, indeed, and found out -Sir Thomas Freeman and Sir Ralph Bladden, the Duke’s chamberlains, -by whom he was presented to the Duke. Then followed some private and -agitated interviews between Buckingham and Towse, and the cautions -of the ghost were fully and forcibly communicated: they related -chiefly to Buckingham’s patronage of Laud, and suggested some -popular acts which the Duke was to perform in Parliament--and, in -short, contained advice that any reasonable man might have offered. -But nothing that was said by Mr. Towse made the slightest impression -on the Duke, except, when certain passages of his life were referred -to, with which the ghost had primed Mr. Towse, he owned he had -believed “that no living creature knew of them but himself, and that -it must be either God or the devil that had revealed them.” The Duke -then offered to get Mr. Towse knighted, and to have him made a -burgess in the forthcoming Parliament. But Mr. Towse, finding that -the obstinate favourite was deaf to his advice, left him, -prognosticating that the Duke’s death would happen at a certain -time--which prognostic was fulfilled. - -Mr. Towse then returned to Bishopsgate Without; and, there is much -reason to believe, laboured under mental malady; for the visits of -the apparition were now so frequent that he grew familiar with -him, “as if it had been a friend or acquaintance that had come to -visit him.” And from this very unpleasant guest Towse learned to -see in perspective many events that had not then dawned on -England; more especially the troubles of Prynne, who was Towse’s -father-in-law--which was contrary to all rule, as a ghost should -keep to one subject. On the day of Buckingham’s death, also, Mr. -Towse and his wife being at Windsor Castle, where Towse had an -office, they were sitting in company, when he started up, -exclaiming, “The Duke of Buckingham is slain!” At the very moment -that these words were uttered the blow had been given. Towse dying -soon after, also foretold his own death. - -This narrative, thought worthy of insertion by Clarendon, and -therefore not to be completely disregarded in any biography of -Buckingham, is taken, however, from a letter penned at Boulogne, by -one Edmund Wyndham, in 1672, twenty years after the event.[117][118] -According to Lord Clarendon, Buckingham, after hearing Towse’s -revelation, was observed ever afterwards to be very melancholy. That -he had misgivings as to his return, we have seen; but there are few -men so insensible, at such a moment, as to be quite free from -presentiment of evil--more especially one on whom the eyes of the -country were directed in resentment, and regarding whom the Commons -was then preparing a Remonstrance.[119] - -Footnote 117: - - The letter from Edmund Wyndham, of Kattisford, county Somerset, - was addressed to Dr. Robert Plot, who wished to have the story - correctly stated, in order to correct the false representations of - William Lilly. - -Footnote 118: - - “Biographia Britannica,” Art. “Villiers,” _Note_. - -Footnote 119: - - See Appendix A. - -Felton, meantime, was intent on pursuing his scheme. The frank and -kindly manner of the Duke towards his officers and soldiers at -Rhé, his personal courage, and his participation in the hardships -all had undergone in that expedition, had failed to propitiate the -assassin, who was, in fact, stimulated by the fiercest of all -incentives--political hatred, justified by the plea of religion. -He set off, therefore, to Portsmouth, and, partly on horseback, -and partly on foot, accomplished that journey; and perhaps the -desperate state of his fortunes added to his gloomy views and -reckless designs, into which one thought of self-preservation -never entered. At a few miles from Portsmouth he was seen -sharpening the fatal knife on a stone; he arrived at that city -with the determination that, should his scheme of assassination -fail for want of opportunity, he would enlist as a volunteer, in -order to accomplish it eventually. - -There was, of course, considerable bustle in the town; and on -entering it, when the ghastly murderer stood unobserved amongst the -crowd, there was too numerous a train about the Duke for Felton to -reach him. Fearful of observation, he kept himself indoors one -morning after his arrival; but, on the ensuing day, repaired to the -house where Buckingham was staying. The Duke was at that time at -breakfast, and little attention was paid by a number of suitors and -applicants who were waiting for him in the antechamber, to the -diminutive being who was watching, with his dark purpose, among the -unconscious crowd. As there were several military men, amongst whom -was the Duc de Soubise, with Buckingham, as well as Sir Thomas -Fryer, much animation pervaded the conversation, in consequence of a -report having reached Portsmouth that La Rochelle had been relieved. -Soubise and his followers believed that this report was set on foot -by some agents of the French, in order to induce the English to -relax in their preparations, until the mole, which it was -Richelieu’s plan to form at the mouth of the harbour, should be -completed. He and the other foreigners spoke with vehemence, and in -tones which the English, who were listening, deemed to be those of -anger. The Duke, it appeared, was inclined to believe the report, -and the eagerness of Soubise was not, therefore, to be matter of -surprise, since his interests, and those of his adherents, were -irrevocably engaged in the approaching expedition. At length, -however, the conference ended; Soubise took his leave, and -Buckingham rose to quit the chamber where he had breakfasted. - -It was, probably, with a pre-occupied mind that he thus prepared to -go out; and it is very possible that he scarcely observed a small -figure, which he may not even have recognized, which was lifting up, -as he passed on, the hangings between the room and the antechamber. -This was Felton. Buckingham, on his way, stopped an instant to speak -to Sir Thomas Fryer, one of his Colonels, who was a short man--so -that, in order to hear his reply, the Duke bent down his head -somewhat. Fryer then drew back, and, at that moment, Felton, -striking across the Colonel’s arm, stabbed Buckingham a little above -the heart. The knife was left in the body; the Duke, with a sudden -effort, drew it out, and exclaiming, “The villain has killed me,” -pursued the assassin out of the parlour into the hall or -antechamber, where he sank down, and, falling under a table, drew a -deep breath, and expired. - -Then the utmost confusion ensued. The English, misled by what had -passed at breakfast, accused Soubise and his followers of the -murder; and they would have been instantly sacrificed to the fury of -the populace, had not some persons of cooler feelings interposed in -their behalf. No one had seen the murderer; he had come in -unnoticed, and had withdrawn in like manner. At this moment, a hat, -into which a paper was sewn, was found near the door; it was eagerly -examined, and some writing on the paper read with avidity, and these -words were deciphered:-- - -“That man is cowardly, base, and deserves neither the name of a -gentleman nor soldier, who will not sacrifice his life for the -honour of God, and safety of his prince and country. Let no man -commend me for doing it, but rather discommend themselves; for if -God had not taken away our hearts for our sins, he could not have -gone so long unpunished. - - ”JNO. FELTON."[120] - -Footnote 120: - - The original letter was in possession of the late Mr. Upcott, by - whom the author of this Memoir was presented with a fac-simile. It - is, however, given in all the histories of this period. - -Whilst the bystanders were reading these words, the body of the Duke -had been conveyed to the inner apartment, from which he had issued, -having been first laid on the table of the antechamber, or hall; and -in this inner chamber it was left, without a single person, even a -domestic, to watch over his remains, or to give him that tribute of -sorrowing respect which is due to the poorest. And this singular -neglect has been regarded as a proof of indifference in those who, -but a few minutes previously, were crowding round the powerful -Minister and General. But it was, in fact, one of those accidents -which often bear a very different construction, when they are -considered relatively to the circumstances of the hour, to that -placed on them. Sir Henry Wotton, to whom the fact was mentioned by -one of the Duke’s friends, speaks of it as “beyond all wonder;” but -accounts for it by the horror which the murder had excited, added to -the astonishment at the sudden disappearance of the murderer, who -had glided from the terrible scene like an actor who has done his -part, and makes his exit. For a time, however, whilst high words -were heard between the Frenchmen and their accusers, whilst murmurs -from the street below, of the eager and infuriated crowd, were -changed into yells of vengeance, that cold corpse lay unheeded; -“thus, upon the withdrawing of the sun, does the shadow depart from -the painted dial.”[121] All were, indeed, in the house, occupied in -asking again and again the question, Where could the owner of the -hat be?--for he, doubtless, was the assassin. Whilst they were thus -talking, a man without a hat was seen walking with perfect composure -up and down before the door. “Here,” cried one of the crowd, “is the -man who killed the Duke,” upon which Felton calmly said, “I am he, -let no person suffer that is innocent.” Then the populace rushed -upon him with drawn swords, to which Felton offered no defence, -preferring rather to die at once, than to abide the issue of -justice. He was, however, rescued by others less violent--a -circumstance which was thought very fortunate for the popular party, -on whom a stigma might have rested had the murderer been killed; and -Felton being secured, was conveyed to a small sentry-box; he was -instantly loaded with heavy irons, which prevented his either -standing upright or lying down in that narrow prison, where he -remained sometime, whilst the mob were raging without in the -streets.[122] - -Footnote 121: - - Sir Philip Warwick’s Memoirs, p. 35. - -Footnote 122: - - See Brodie--Wotton--Hume. - -The Duchess of Buckingham was in an upper room of that house in -which the husband whom she had “loved,” to use her own words, “as -never woman loved man,” was murdered. She had not, when it happened, -risen from her bed.[123] - -Footnote 123: - - Reliq. Wotton., p. 234. - -The following very graphic account, written by a very devoted friend -of Buckingham, Sir Dudley Carleton, presents, in several details, a -somewhat different delineation of this scene of murder, to that -which has been related, collected from various sources, although, in -various instances, it is confirmatory of the statements usually -received.[124] - -Footnote 124: - - It shows in what manner the Duchess was informed of her husband’s - death. - -"S^R--If y^e ill newes we have heard (doe not as their use is) out -flye these lres,[125] they will bring you y^e worst of y^e strangest -I think you ever received: sure I am, whatever passed my pen. Our -noble Duke in y^e midst of his army he had ready at Portsmouth as -well shipping as land forces, in y^e height of his favour with our -Gracious Master, who was herd by at this place and in the greatest -joy and alacrity I ever saw him in my life at y^e newes he had -received about of y^e clock in y^e morning on Saturday last of y^e -relief of Rochell, in that fort, that y^e place might well attend -his coming, wherewith he was hastening to y^e King, who that morning -had sent for him by me upon other occasions;--at his going out of a -lower parlour where he usually sat, and had then broken his fast in -presence of many standers by (Frenchmen with Monsieur de Soubise, -officers of his army and those of his own Trayns) was stabbed unto -y^e heart a little above y^e breast with a knife by one Felton, an -Englishman, being a Reformed Lieutenant, who hastening out of y^e -doore and y^e duke having pulled out y^e knife which was left in y^e -wound and following him out of y^e parlour into y^e hall, with his -hand putt to his sword, there fell down dead with much effusion of -bloud at his mouth and nostrils. The Lady Anglesea,[126] then -looking down into y^e hall out of an open Gallery, which crossed y^e -end of it, and being spectator of this tragical fight, went -immediately with a cry into y^e Duchesses Chamber, who was in bed, -and then fell down on y^e floor, so surprized y^e poor Duchesse with -this sad ... matin....[127] The murderer in y^e midst of y^e noise -and tumult, every man drawing his sword and no man knowing whom to -strike, nor from whom to defend himself, slipt out into y^e kitchen -and there stood with some others unespyed, when a voyce being -currant in the court to w^{ch} y^e window and doore of y^e kitchen -answered (a Frenchman, a Frenchman), and his guilty conscience -making him believe it was “Felton, Felton” (who being otherwise -unknown and undiscovered might well have escaped) he came out of y^e -kitchen with his sword drawn, and presenting himselfe, said, I am -the man: some offering to assayle him and one running at him with a -spit, he flung down his sword and rendered himselfe to y^e company, -who being ready to handle him as he deserved by tearing him in -pieces I took him from them, and having committed him to y^e custody -of some officers, when I had taken y^e best order I could for other -affairs in so great confusion, jointly with Secretary Cooke I -examined y^e man and found he had no particular offence against y^e -Duke, more than all others for want of some small entertayments were -owing him: but he grounded his practise upon y^e Parliament’s -Remonstrance as to make himselfe a Martyr for his Country, which he -confessed to have resolved to execute y^e Monday before, he being -then at London, and came from thence expressly by the Wednesday -morning, arriving at Portsmouth y^e very morning, not above half an -hour before he committed it. We could not then discover any -complices, neither did we take more than his free and willing -confession: but now His Majestie hath ordayned by Commission y^e -Lord Treassurer, Lord Steward, Earl of Dorset, Secretary Cooke and -myselfe to proceed with him as y^e nature of y^e fact requires, and -wee shall begin this afternoon: meane while I would not but give you -this relation to y^e end you may know y^e truth of this bloudy act, -which will flye about the world diversly reported to you, and you -should not find it strange such a blowe to be struck in y^e midst of -y^e Duke’s friends and followers: you must know y^e murderer took -his time and place at y^e presse near y^e issue of y^e room, and -many of us were stept out to our horses, as I my selfe was to go to -Court with the Duke. The murderer gloryed in his acte y^e first day; -but when I told him he was y^e first assassin of an Englishman, a -gentleman, a soldier, and a protestant, he shrunk at it, and is now -grown penitent. It seems this man and Ravillac were of no other -Religion (though he professeth other) than _assassanisme_; they have -the same maxims as you will see by two writings were found sowed in -his hat, wc^h goe herewith. - -“From Lord Viscount Dorchester to” [not addressed.][128] - -Footnote 125: - - Letters. - -Footnote 126: - - Lady Anglesea, the sister-in-law of Buckingham’s mother, being the - wife of his brother, Christopher, Earl of Anglesea. - -Footnote 127: - - There is an hiatus here in the MS. - -Footnote 128: - - Domestic State Papers, August 27, 1628. No. 21. - -In another letter, addressed to the King of Bohemia by Sir Charles -Morgan, it was also shown in what sanguine spirits the Duke was, and -how he was forming good resolutions, when he received the fatal blow -which cut him off from all hope of retrieving the errors he so -candidly confessed, or of completing the work of reformation, in -various departments, which he hoped to accomplish. Although we may -feel assured that the blow was suffered to fall for some purpose of -mercy, yet never did any sudden death seem more untimely. - -The King was only about six miles from Portsmouth, whence he -intended doubtless to witness the departure of a friend whom he -never ceased to lament. He was at prayers when Sir John Hippesley -came suddenly into the Presence Chamber, where service was that day -performed, and whispered the news into his Majesty’s ear. Charles -did not permit a single feature of his face to express either -astonishment or distress; and, when a deep pause ensued, the -appalled chaplain thinking to spare his Majesty the distress of -remaining during the service, he calmly ordered him to proceed with -the prayers--and, until those were concluded, preserved the same -undisturbed demeanour. Some there were who argued, from this perfect -mastery over his feelings, that the King did not regret the death of -one who had rendered him so unpopular, and from whom he could not -unloose the bonds which early habit and youthful friendship had -drawn so closely as to convert them into shackles. But the deep -sorrow which Charles felt was shown in his affectionate care of -those whom his favourite loved; nor was it, as some supposed, -without a stern effort that he controlled his emotions whilst he -remained amid those assembled in prayer. No sooner was the service -over, than he suddenly departed to his chamber, and, throwing -himself on his bed, gave full vent to a passion of grief, and, -weeping long and bitterly, paid to the poor Duke the tribute of his -anguish,--lamenting not only the loss of an excellent friend and -servant, but “the terrible manner of the Duke’s death.” And he -continued for many days in the deepest melancholy.[129] - -Footnote 129: - - Clarendon. - -Of course, in those days, this fearful event was said to have been -foretold, not only by a ghost, but in dreams, and by presentiments. -Sir James Bagg, one of the Duke’s most trusted servants, has left -the following proof of his belief in dreams:-- - -"RIGHT HONORABLE--Hand in hand came to my unfortunate hand yo -Expps.[130] and my noble friend Mr. Secretarie Cooke’s, and yo^r -Honors leynes could not be but welcome although they brought vnto -mee the sadd and heavy newes of that damnable act of that accursed -ffelton, wc^h hath so seated itself in my heart as it will hould -memorie there, of the untymilie losse of my deere and gracious Lord -to my unpacified sorrow untill my Death; for as I partook wt^h him -of his comforts living, I will have a share of his sorrowes after -him. Oh my Lord! his end was upon Satterdau morning. The daie of his -dissolving tould mee by a dreame, discribed in all. It wanted but -the damned name of Felton. But that fiende unworthy of it was -entituled by the name of Souldier. This Dreame tould my Wife and -dearest friends, did not a little trouble mee, but now the trueth -thereof torments me. - -"Yo leynes my only comforte brought wt^h them his Mat[131] commands. -In all I doe obey them," &c., &c. - -Footnote 130: - - Expresses. - -Footnote 131: - - Majesty’s. - -The letter is addressed thus from Sir James Bagg--“For his -Lordship,” and dated, “Augt. 28th, 1628.”[132] - -Footnote 132: - - Domestic State Papers, Aug. 1628, No. 26. - -Amongst the Duke’s relations the Countess of Denbigh was most -beloved by him, and his affection was warmly returned. On the very -day of his death he wrote to her. Whilst she was penning her answer, -her paper was moistened with her tears, in a passion of grief so -poignant and so despairing, that she could only account for it by -believing those transports of sorrow to have been prophetic. She -wrote to him these words:-- - -“I will pray for your happy return, which I look to with a great -cloud over my head, too heavy for my poor heart to bear without -torment. But I hope the great God of Heaven will bless you.”[133] - -Footnote 133: - - Biog. Brit. - -On the day after the Duke’s death, the Bishop of Ely, who was the -devoted friend of Lady Denbigh, being considered the fittest person -to break the intelligence to her, went to visit her, but hearing -that she was asleep, waited until she awoke, which she did in all -the perturbation produced by a terrible dream. Her brother, she -said, had seemed to pass with her through a field, when, hearing a -sudden shout from the people, she had asked what it meant, and was -told that it was for joy that the Duke of Buckingham was ill. She -was relating this dream to one of her gentlewomen when the Bishop -entered her chamber. The scene that followed may be easily -conceived. Whatever were the ill-starred Duke’s failings, he died -beloved by those most dear to him. - -His sister’s apprehensions were, indeed, perfectly justifiable, and -they might well intrude into those hours of silence in which -thoughts of the absent or unhappy most frequently trouble our minds. -Had the Duke again been saved from the chances of war, what might -have been his fate at home in case of his return unsuccessful? -Already had he hardly escaped from the indignation of the people: -even then, in the remote county of Carmarthen, they were raising -reports that the King had been poisoned by the Duke--reports that -had been believed by the simple inhabitants of Wales. The fury of -party had much to answer for in the excitement of bad passions, the -end and mischief of which can never be foreseen. - -The greatest obscurity hung over the motives which prompted the act, -unless it be explained by the practical aberration of a mind which, -still bearing the outward semblance of reason, has evil thoughts, -fostered by strong passions. The connections of Felton were not only -poor--his mother appears to have been illiterate. To them, probably, -his designs were never imparted, although they lived in the -metropolis; yet it is evident, from several circumstances, that they -knew of his animosity to the Duke, and were, to a certain -extent--without any complicity--prepared to hear of some fearful act -on the part of their unhappy relative. - -Whilst the Duke’s family were overwhelmed with anguish, another -humble mourner almost sank under the blow. This was Elianore Felton, -the mother of the assassin. She was a native of Durham, of which -city her father had once been mayor, but she was then residing in -London. On the 24th of August, in the church in St. Dunstan’s, in -the Strand, an aged woman and her daughter attended afternoon -service. These poor women were Elianore Felton and Elizabeth Hone, -the mother and sister of Felton. - -During the singing of the psalms, whilst the congregation were -standing up, some disturbance took place in the church. Elianore -Felton, turning to a gentleman near her, inquired what was the -cause? She was told that the Duke of Buckingham was killed; upon -which, although the name of the assassin was not then mentioned to -her, the unhappy woman fainted. - -It is probable that, knowing her son’s sentiments towards the Duke, -and being aware of Felton’s fanatical opinions and moody temper, a -panic, causing that sudden fainting, seized her. Her daughter, also, -as the poor mother confessed in her subsequent examination, swooned -also. These facts are very remarkable, and seem to show that she and -her mother were aware of Felton’s intentions. No further information -was gathered from these gentlewomen by those around them, until, in -about half-an-hour, upon the church becoming fuller, there ran -another whisper through it, purporting that a certain Lieutenant -Felton, or Fenton, had killed the Duke. Then, as Elizabeth Hone -confessed, she did much weep and lament, supposing that it was her -brother that had done the deed. She had, however, the presence of -mind to conduct her mother home, before she told her that it was her -son who had committed murder, and plunged the nation into -consternation, and his family into ruin. - -No proof whatsoever of any conspiracy was to be elucidated from the -unfortunate relations of the culprit. Debt and disappointment had, -according to their evidence, driven Felton to desperation. How many -of the evil accidents of life issue, as far as one can see, humanly -speaking, from pecuniary mismanagement. Felton, on the Wednesday -before the Duke was killed, had gone to his mother’s lodging, and -told her of his intention to get the money due to him for pay from -the Duke; adding, that “he was too deeply in debt to stay longer in -town.” Eighty pounds, it appeared, was then owing to him. This, and -the loss of his Captaincy, were all that he had alleged to his own -family against the Duke; he owned to no other grievance. The mother -and sister, and brothers, were, however, committed to prison, -although Edmund Felton, the brother of the delinquent, affirmed that -he had not seen him for ten weeks previously to the murder; that -John Felton had been estranged from him, and did not let him know -where he lodged. There was no attempt in the examination, which took -place before Thomas Richardson and Henry Finch, to screen the -culprit by a plea of insanity; all his brother said was, that his -disposition was “melancholie, sad, and heavy, and of few -words.”[134] Alone had he conceived, planned, and put into execution -the deed of guilt; yet such was the hard disposition of the times, -that it was proposed to extract a confession from John Felton by -torture; but Charles interposed, and forbade the application of that -horrible test,[135] and it was never again attempted in this -country. - -Footnote 134: - - Domestic State Papers, August, 1628, No. 31. - -Footnote 135: - - Brodie. - -The nation was paralyzed by the death of the Minister, Admiral, and -General. “During Buckingham’s presence at Court,” as Mr. Bruce, in -the preface to the “Calendar of State Papers,” remarks, “he reigned -there as the King’s absolute and single Minister. Every act of the -Government passed by or through his will. The King was little seen -or heard of on State affairs. He seldom ever attended a sitting of -the Privy Council, except to carry out some object of his -favourite.” The void, the loss, may easily be conceived, after the -death of the Duke. Charles, however, not only entered warmly into -public affairs, but into the care and concerns of those children -whom his friend had solemnly bequeathed to his charge. - -His first office, however, was to honour the remains of one so -suddenly cut off, whilst in the prime of life. The process of -embalming was then deemed indispensable; the Duke’s body, therefore, -was submitted to that, happily, now disused operation; his bowels -were interred at Portsmouth, where Lady Denbigh erected over them a -memorial. Thus the place of his death was marked. - -The corpse was then conveyed to York House, where all that could be -viewed of that once noble form was exhibited underneath a hearse. -Eventually it was entombed under a splendid monument in Westminster -Abbey, on the north side of Henry VII.’s Chapel; and his Duchess, -notwithstanding her second marriage, and his two sons, were buried -in the vault beneath the tomb with their father. - -The Duchess of Buckingham was near her confinement when this tragedy -occurred. When Charles first visited the young widow, he promised -her that he would be a “husband to her, and a father to her -children.” One son alone was living at the time of the Duke’s -decease. This was George, the second Duke of Buckingham of the house -of Villiers. The character of this young nobleman, to whom Horace -Walpole imputed “the figure and genius of Alcibiades,” has been -“drawn by four masterly hands. Burnet has hewn it out with his rough -chisel. Count Hamilton touched it with slight delicacy, that -finishes while it seems to sketch. Dryden catched the living -likeness. Pope completed the historical resemblance.” Lastly, Sir -Walter Scott, in our time, has depicted this singular being with -admirable skill, if not with perfect fidelity. He was scarcely a -year and seven months old at his father’s death. - -One daughter, Lady Mary Villiers, survived the Duke. In the third -year of the reign of Charles I., Buckingham having then no male -heir, caused a patent to be made, limiting to her the title of -Duchess of Buckingham, in default of male issue, his infant eldest -son, Charles, having died in 1626, and George not being then born. - -Lady Mary’s life, so happy, seemingly, in her infancy, when, as -“little Moll,” she was King James’s plaything, was not, in one -respect, felicitous. Her first marriage, to Charles Lord Herbert, -son and heir of Philip, Earl of Pembroke, was hastened, and -performed privately in the chapel at Whitehall, because the young -bride had formed an attachment to Philip Herbert, a younger son, who -“did more apply himself to her,” as she stated, than the elder -suitor. - -But her mother chided her out of this fancy, and the wedding took -place--the bridegroom dying of small-pox a few weeks afterwards. -Lady Mary married, secondly, James, Duke of Richmond and Lennox, by -whom she had a son, Esme Stuart, who died in infancy; and thirdly, -Thomas Howard, brother of the Earl of Carlisle. She left no -children, so that her father’s desire to perpetuate in her his title -was not realized. If we may believe the praise of an epitaph which -was undisguisedly paid for, we must suppose Lady Mary to have been -endowed with all the virtues.[136] - -Footnote 136: - - EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS. - - “The Lady Mary Villiers lies - Under this stone: with weeping eyes - The parents that first gave her breath - And their sad friends laid her in earth. - If any of them, reader, were - Known unto thee, shed a tear; - Or if thyself possess a gem, - As dear to thee as this to them, - Though a stranger to this place, - Bewail in theirs thine own hard case: - For thou perhaps at thy return - May’st find thy darling in an urn.” - - ANOTHER. - - “The purest soul that e’er was sent - Into a clayey tenement - Informed this dust; but the weak mould - Could the great guest no longer hold: - The substance was too pure--the flame - Too glorious that thither came: - Ten thousand Cupids brought along - A grace on each wing that did throng - For place there--till they all opprest - The seat on which they sought to rest. - So the fair model broke for want - Of room to lodge th’ inhabitant. - When in the brazen leaves of Fame - The life, the death of Buckingham - Shall be recorded, if truth’s hand - Incise the story o’er our land, - Posterity shall see a fair - Structure by the studious care - Of two kings raised, that no less - Their wisdom than their power express; - By blinded zeal (whose doubtful light - Made murder’s scarlet robe seem white-- - Whose vain deluding phantoms charmed - A clouded sullen soul, and arm’d - A desperate hand, thirsty of blood) - Torn from the fair earth where it stood! - So the majestic fabric fell. - His actions let our annals tell; - We write no chronicle; this pile - Wears only sorrow’s face and style; - Which e’en the envy that did wait - Upon his flourishing estate, - Turned to soft pity of his death, - Now pays his hearse; but that cheap breath - Shall not blow here, nor th’ impure brine - Puddle the streams that bathe this shrine. - These are the pious obsequies - Dropped from his chaste wife’s pregnant eyes, - In frequent showers, and were alone - By her congealing sighs made stone, - On which the carver did bestow - These forms and characters of woe: - So he the fashion only lent, - Whilst she wept all this monument.” - -Some months after the Duke’s death, his widow gave birth to a son, -named Francis after his grandfather, who provided for him in a -fortune of 1,000_l._ a-year. When he grew up, however, Francis -shared with his brother the misfortune that overshadowed the family, -from the unexpected second marriage of their mother to Randolph -Macdonald, first Earl and afterwards Marquis of Antrim. It is -painful to find the widowed Duchess separated from her children, -having become a Roman Catholic; and having incurred in this, and on -account of the conduct of her husband in Ireland, under Sir Thomas -Wentworth, the King’s displeasure. Charles so greatly disapproved of -her marriage, that he refused, for several years, to see her, and, -when reconciled, took away her children lest they should be imbued -with her religious opinions. The young Duke and his brother Francis -were educated, unhappily for themselves, with the Princes, Charles -II. and his brothers; and Lady Mary was received in the house of the -Earl of Pembroke, her father-in-law. Such are the changes and -chances of life, that in 1639 we find Katharine, (still signing -herself “Katharine Buckingham”) interceding with Strafford for her -husband, Lord Antrim. “Any misfortune,” she writes, “to my lord must -be mine.”[137] - -Footnote 137: - - "My Lord,--I was in hope, till very lately, that all your - displeasure taken against my lord had been past; but, in letters - sent me out of England, I was assuredly informed your lordship was - much disgusted still with him, which news hath very much troubled - me. I cannot be satisfied without sending these expressly to you. - And I beseech you that, whatever you do conceive, you will deal - clearly with me, and let me know it, and withal direct me how I - may remove it. I must necessarily be included in your lordship’s - anger to him, for any misfortune to my lord must be mine, and it - will prove a great misfortune to me to live under your frowns. Out - of your goodness you will not, I hope, make me a sufferer, who - have never deserved from you but as - - “Your Lordship’s - “KATHARINE BUCKINGHAM. - - “Dunbere, this 2nd of September, 1639.”[138] - -Footnote 138: - - Strafford Letters, vol. ii., p. 386. - -For him she had sacrificed indeed the favour of the King, and the -guardianship of her children. - -In 1648, Lord Francis, who, with his brother, had taken the field -against the Parliament, was killed, at about two miles distance from -Kingston-on-Thames: standing with his back planted against an -oak-tree on the road-side; and, scorning to ask quarter, he met his -death gallantly, having nine wounds on his face and body. He is said -to have been a most beautiful youth, and was only nineteen when he -thus fell. His body was brought by water to York House, then sad and -desolate, and was taken thence to be deposited in his father’s -vault, with a Latin inscription on the coffin, preserved by Brian -Fairfax, a faithful adherent, who thought it a pity that the epitaph -should be buried with him; and who has therefore given it in his -life of George, the second Duke of Buckingham. The elder brother of -Lord Francis, after a life of extraordinary adventure, vicissitude, -study, and dissipation, died, in 1688, quietly in his bed--“the fate -of few of his predecessors of the title of Buckingham.” His body -also lies entombed near his father. “The life of pleasure and the -soul of whim,” as Pope describes him, his career furnishes a wide -field for reflection and investigation, to those who may dare to -dive into a biography so characterized by all the worst parts of the -age in which he existed, as that of this profligate man. - -Mary, Countess of Buckingham, survived the Duke, her son, four -years--when, with her life, her dignity expired. - -John Villiers, Lord Purbeck, died in 1657, when the titles which -he bore became extinct. He lived, however, to recover his powers -of mind, and to act as a friend and guardian to his nephews. Lady -Purbeck, his first wife, took the name of Wright, and her son, by -Lord Howard, bore that surname. The once flattered heiress, whose -follies and misconduct were forgiven, as we have seen, by her -father, died in 1645, in the King’s Garrison, at Oxford, and she -is buried in the Church of St. Mary’s, in that city.[139] -Notwithstanding the misery of his first union, Lord Purbeck -married again; but had no issue by his second wife, who was a -daughter of Sir William Thugsby, of Kippen, in Yorkshire. - -Footnote 139: - - Burke’s Extinct Peerage. - -Robert Wright, the illegitimate son of Lady Purbeck, took his wife’s -name of Danvers, in order to abandon that of Villiers, so -distasteful to the Commonwealth, with which he sided. - -His descendants, nevertheless, laid claim to the honours of the -first Lord Purbeck--and, although their claim was refused by -Parliament, assumed them, until, in 1774, the death of the last -pretender to the title, George Villiers, died without issue. - -Christopher Villiers, the youngest brother of the Duke, pre-deceased -him, dying in 1624. His title became extinct in 1659. - -Sir William Villiers, the eldest half-brother of the Duke, had never -emerged from his original obscurity; but Sir Edward, his other -half-brother, whom Buckingham constituted President of Munster, was -highly esteemed for his justice and hospitality, and lamented by the -whole province.[140] From him, through his son, who had succeeded -his maternal uncle in the title of Viscount Grandison, was descended -the famous (or infamous) Barbara Villiers, afterwards Duchess of -Cleveland, the mistress of Charles II. Her beauty appears to have -been one of the few traits of the Villiers family that she -possessed. - -Footnote 140: - - "In the Earl of Cork’s chapel at Youghal, where he was buried, - there still remains the following hexastich to his memory:-- - - “Munster may curse the time that Villiers came - To make us worse, by leaving such a name - Of noble parts as none can imitate, - But those whose hearts are married to the State; - But if they press to imitate his fame, - Munster may bless the time that Villiers came.” - _Biographia Britannica_, vol. vi. - -It is remarkable that not one of the titles conferred on the family -of Villiers by James I. remains to distinguish the descendants of -old Sir George of Brookesby. The Earldoms of Clarendon and of Jersey -are subsequent creations.[141] - -Footnote 141: - - Burke’s Extinct Peerage. - -The Duchess of Buckingham, as she still styled herself, appears to -have lived occasionally at Newhall, for after her daughter’s -marriage she was very desirous of having her with her--but the King -would not hear of it; and the soundness of his judgment was proved -by the conduct of the Duchess. Her life was henceforth occupied in -bringing over converts to the faith she professed; amongst others -she succeeded in making a proselyte of the Countess of Newburgh. -After the death of her father, in 1632, she inherited the title of -Baroness de Ros. It is remarkable that even in her person the -honours her first husband had procured for his family did not abide. -She, indeed, by courtesy, bore still his title, but was actually -Marchioness of Antrim and Baroness de Ros. So extraordinary an -acquisition of honours, and so rapid an extinction, are not known in -any other family of England, but are peculiar to the House of -Villiers. - -Few things disappoint the reader more than the unaccountable change -in the character of Katharine, Duchess of Buckingham, after she -ceased, except by courtesy, to bear that name. She seems to have -hastened, not only to plunge into a second marriage, but to have at -last avowed, what she had during the whole of her life denied, the -tenets of the Church of Rome. Henceforth she was opposed to the -monarch by whom her husband, the Duke, had been overwhelmed with -benefits. This painful alteration in one so gentle, so forgiving, so -affectionate in her earlier life, is one of those anomalies in life -that one cannot cease to regret, without being able to explain. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - -CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM--HIS PATRONAGE OF ART--HIS - COLLECTION--THE SPANISH COURT DESCRIBED--COLLECTION BY CHARLES - I.--FATE OF THESE PICTURES. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - -Whatever may have been the failings of the Duke of Buckingham as a -husband, he marked his confidence in his wife by his will. That last -act of his life gave the Duchess power over all his personal -property, as well as a life possession of all his mansion-houses, -with a fourth of his lands in jointure. That his debts were -considerable, has been amply shewn during the course of the -preceding narrative. Previous to his expedition to Rhé, he had -wisely put his revenues into the hands of commissioners, and placed -it out of his own power to manage or mismanage his own affairs. His -occupations, as a courtier, as a minister, as an ambassador, and, -lastly, as a general, sufficiently excuse his want of leisure for -the control of his expenses, and the system of retrenchment -requisite to relieve him from harassing liabilities. - -He left, however, an immense amount of capital locked up in -pictures; and that famous collection which places him, as Dr. Waagen -affirms, in the third rank as “a collector of paintings in this -country,” came into the possession of his son. It was chiefly -deposited in York House--that stately structure, so complete and so -princely, that in 1663, when it had become the residence of the -Russian embassy, Pepys was still amazed at its splendour, although -thirty-five eventful years had shaken many a grand fabric to its -fall. “That,” he says, “which did please me best, was the remains of -the noble soul of the late Duke of Buckingham appearing in his -house, in every place, in the door-cases, and the windows.” - -It was in the Court of Madrid that Buckingham had learned to love -art, to favour artists, and to become a judge of their works. Philip -IV., of Spain, inert and inefficient as a monarch, and governed by -Olivares, was a man of considerable intellectual powers, and of -great taste. “The denizens of his palace breathed,” as a modern -writer expressed it, “an atmosphere of letters.”[142] At that time -the Castilian stage was in its perfection; the scenery was -inimitable, and the greatest expense was bestowed in representing -the pieces of Lope de Vega, and of Calderon; in the same manner as -the masques of Ben Jonson were aided in effect by the talents of -Inigo Jones. Nor was Philip IV. a mere patron of genius; he was -himself an actor and author, writing with purity and elegance: a -musician, a poet, or, as he delighted to style himself, _Ingenio de -esto corte_. He wrote a tragedy on the death of Essex, Elizabeth’s -favourite; and he often acted with other literary men of his Court, -delighting to vie with them in the display of fancy and humour in -the _Comedias de repente_, representations resembling those of -charades in the present day, in which a certain plot was worked out, -with extempore speeches. - -Footnote 142: - - Dr. Waagen--Life of Velasquez, p. 48. - -Several of this monarch’s drawings, both of figures and landscapes, -long remained as proofs of that skill which had distinguished both -his fathers and grandfathers. He was an incomparable judge of -painting; for at Valencia he delighted the citizens: on being shewn -the great silver altar of the cathedral, he remarked promptly, that -"the altar was of silver, but the doors were gold"--alluding to the -pictures painted by Aregio and Neapoli, which adorned the doors. - -It may easily be imagined how the example of this young Prince, only -in his nineteenth year when Buckingham visited Spain, must have -awakened in him, as in Charles, a new sense; fresh conceptions of -the beautiful, cravings hitherto unfelt, an honourable emulation. -And the example of Philip had its effect on both: the reception -given to Rubens, who, as an artist, was treated with far greater -distinction than he would have been as a mere diplomatist, in which -capacity he came; the efforts of Philip to form an academy of fine -arts; the honours bestowed on Velasquez; and the enthusiasm which he -shewed in the collection of fine pictures for the galleries, which -he so wonderfully enriched, must have proved to Charles and -Buckingham how far behind was their own country in taste and -liberality. They saw that the gold of Mexico and Peru was freely -given for the treasures of art, whilst royalty at home was lavish -only on pageants, horse-racing, hunting, and feasting. They saw the -elevating effects of art and letters, and staid not in Spain long -enough to witness the results of that life-long mistake made by -Philip IV., in resigning the reins of government to the hands of a -minister who lost for his sovereign great possessions, far exceeding -those that many conquerors have acquired. - -These refined tastes, which shone forth in Philip, were participated -by his young and beautiful queen, Isabella of Bourbon, his first -wife, and the sister of Henrietta Maria. She was the loveliest -subject of the pencil of Velasquez. At Broom-Hall, in Fifeshire, -there is a picture by him representing the exchange of this -Princess, when a girl, with Anne of Austria, the sister of Philip -IV. - -Isabella was destined to be the bride of Philip, then Prince of the -Asturias--Anne to become the wife of Louis XIII. of France. - -This production of Velasquez was only one of many portraits of this -lovely princess; for she was by all acknowledged to be the very star -of the Court. She shared the taste of her husband, whilst his young -brothers, both early instructed in drawing, warmly joined in the -King’s pursuits, not only in the arts, but in literature. The elder, -Don Carlos, beloved, as has been stated, by the Spaniards for his -dark complexion, was supposed to have excited the jealousy of -Olivares by his talents--he died in 1626: the second, the -Boy-Cardinal, who assumed the Roman purple and the mitre of an -archbishop, was the able pupil in painting of Vincencio Carducho, -and became the most intellectual of the Spanish Princes that had -appeared since Charles V. He set the fashion of those half-dramatic, -half-musical pieces, which were called in Spain, _Zarzuelas_.[143] -The boy--whom we have seen joining heart and soul, in his purple -robe, and beneath his mitre, in court revels, given in honour of -Charles I., was, at that very time, a student in philosophy and -mathematics; and when at the age of twenty-two he was sent to govern -Flanders, and henceforth to spend the brief span of life allotted to -him in camps and councils--was still, to the last, the patron of -Velasquez and Rubens.[144] - -Footnote 143: - - From the name of his country-seat. - -Footnote 144: - - The infant Cardinal, the conqueror of Nordlingen, died in 1641. - -Olivares the Magnificent, as he was often called, cultivated the -fine arts as a means of diverting the young monarch from his own -abuse of power, and the consequent discontents which marked his -administration. He possessed the most magnificent library in Europe, -abounding in rare manuscripts, and, domesticated in this house as -chaplain, Lope de Vega passed his old age. Quevedo, Pachecho, and -many others, owed much to the patronage of Olivares--a protection -which they paid back in compliments, and, like Lord Halifax, he was -“fed with dedications.” Olivares was one of the first sitters to -Velasquez; he was the patron of Murillo, and, in the downfall of -this minister, these two painters did not desert their early friend, -but alone clung to him in his misfortunes. - -The King, his Queen, the two royal brothers, and Olivares, had all a -passion for having portraits taken of themselves. Philip was born -for a sitter. His face, as Dr. Waagen remarks, “is better known than -his history.” His pale Flemish complexion, Austrian features, and -fair hair have been many times depicted by Rubens and Velasquez. He -was sometimes painted on his Andalusian courser, sometimes in black -velvet, as he was going to the council--even at his prayers. There -was an hereditary gift of silence and composure in his race: in -Philip the attribute was so signal, that he could witness a whole -comedy without stirring hand or foot, and conduct an audience -without a muscle moving, except those in his lips and tongue.[145] -Even after slaying the bull of Xarama, famed for strength and -fierceness, not for a moment did he change countenance. To this -incomparable staidness and dignity was added the advantage of a tall -figure, which Philip knew well how to set off by a perfect mastery -in combination of colours. Black he mixed almost uniformly with -white, and gold and silver. This stately monarch was never known to -smile more than three times in his life--that is, publicly, for in -private he was ever “full of merry discourses.” - -Footnote 145: - - Waagen, p. 62. From "Voyage en Espagne"--Cologne, 1662. - -Thus, taste, letters in every branch, the noblest works of -architecture and sculpture, were the themes of a court where those -who had left behind them the pedantry and vulgarity of King James -arrived in the vigour of youth and intellect. Velasquez was painting -a portrait of the King, and one also of the Infant, Don Fernando, -when Charles and Buckingham arrived at Madrid, and interrupted, by -their presence and the ceremonials of their reception, the -completion of these pictures. The astonished Prince and his -favourite found themselves transformed into a region hitherto -scarcely dreamed of, yet which they were, by natural refinement of -taste, well calculated to enter. They had left King James hunting in -a ruff and bombasted garments; that King hated novelties. “It was as -well,” Horace Walpole remarks, “that he had no disposition to the -arts, but let them take their own course, for he might have -introduced as bad a taste into them as he did into literature.” - -Walpole attributes, likewise, the absence of pictures in the houses -of the English nobility at this period to the great size and height -of the rooms which they erected in the sixteenth and seventeenth -centuries, when vastness seems to have constituted the idea of -grandeur. Pictures would have been lost in rooms of such height, -which were better calculated for tapestry; and he offers, as an -instance, Hardwicke--which was furnished for the reception and -imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots--and Audley-End, as proofs of -the prodigious space covered by a modern gentleman’s house in the -days of James I., and observes how impossible it would have been to -place pictures in such structures. - -One may readily conceive, therefore, the enchantment that was felt -in visiting the Escurial, the palace of Buen-retiro, and the noble -churches and famous convents of Madrid. Charles and Buckingham -beheld that capital in the height of its splendour, and witnessed -its most brilliant displays; they attended the grand, picturesque -services and processions; they became acquainted with the works of -Titian, of Velasquez, and Carducho. That Charles cherished the -remembrance of the scenes in which he had once played so romantic a -part, is evident from his employing a young painter, Miquel de la -Cruz, even when England was threatened with the great Rebellion, to -paint for him copies of a number of pictures from those in the -Alcazar of Madrid.[146] The painter was cut off by an early death, -and the project was never carried out. - -Footnote 146: - - Waagen; Life of Velasquez, p. 82. - -After visiting the halls of the Escurial and of the Pardo, Charles -resolved to form a gallery of art at Whitehall; and Buckingham, at -the same time, determined to decorate York House with Spanish -paintings. The nucleus of the gallery of art at Whitehall was bought -from the collection of the Conde de Villame. Charles, also, -endeavoured to purchase a small picture, on copper, of Correggio’s, -from Don Andres Velasquez, for a thousand crowns, but was -unsuccessful; he failed, also, in obtaining the valuable volumes of -Da Vinci’s drawings, which Don Juan de Espina refused to sell, -saying that he intended to bequeath these treasures of art to his -master, the King. The nobles in the Spanish Court were in the habit -of gratifying their young sovereign with presents of pictures and -statues; and a similar attention was paid both to the Duke of -Buckingham and to Charles. Philip gave the Prince the famous -“Antiope,” by Titian; as well as “Diana Bathing,” "Europa," and -“Danaë,” by the same master. Buckingham had several presents of -value given him; but though they were packed up, these paintings -were left behind, in the hurry of departure, and were never -forwarded to England. - -A great portion of the large sums spent by Buckingham in Spain was -expended in forming that famous collection which fell, unhappily, -into the hands of his son. It would appear that James I. somewhat -curtailed Charles’s expenditure on this head; for we find, by an -entry in the State Paper Office, that Buckingham lent the Prince -twelve thousand pounds during their sojourn in Spain. Nevertheless, -no specimen of Spanish art was ever conveyed to England by -Charles.[147] A sketch was, indeed, begun of the Prince, by -Velasquez, but it is doubtful if it were ever completed. Pachecho, -the father-in-law of Velasquez, states that Charles was so delighted -with this portrait in its unfinished state, that he presented the -great painter with a hundred thousand crowns.[148] One may readily -account for its never being completed, because Velasquez, when -Charles and Buckingham left Madrid, could scarcely have finished the -portraits and other pictures on which he was engaged by Philip IV. - -Footnote 147: - - State Papers: Calendar, by Mr. Bruce. - -Footnote 148: - - Waagen. - -In 1847, a picture belonging to Mr. Saare, of Reading, and supposed -to have been a relic of the gallery of Whitehall, was exhibited in -London as this lost portrait by Velasquez. It portrays Prince -Charles in a more robust form, and with a greater breadth of -countenance than any other known resemblance; and was stated to have -been painted in 1623, and to have been mentioned in a privately -printed catalogue of the gallery of the Earl of Fife, who died in -1809, in which it was stated that it had once belonged to the Duke -of Buckingham. Unfortunately, the surname of the Duke of Buckingham -was not specified; and since the title has been owned, so late as -1735, by the Sheffield family, the evidence was incomplete. A very -curious controversy ensued, but facts remain much in the same state -as before; and the authenticity of the portrait has been strongly -disputed, if not denied, by Dr. Waagen, and others. It is singular -that there was no work of Velasquez among the pictures left by -Buckingham. - -Whilst the great enlargement of ideas and improvement in taste, -resulting from the journey into Spain, is acknowledged, it must be -remembered that Charles and his favourite went, prepared in -knowledge, and in an honourable emulation, to profit by all they -might behold and hear. In painting, Perichief tells us, Charles “had -so excellent a fancy, that he would supply the defect of art in the -workman, and suddenly draw those lines, give those airs and lights, -which experience and practice had taught the painters.” In every -point he met the accomplished Philip IV. on equal grounds; in some -he exceeded him. A good antiquary, a judge of medals, a capital -mechanist--cognizant of the art of printing--there existed not a -gentleman of the three kingdoms that could compete with him in -universality of knowledge.[149] He was as ready for war as for -peace; could put a watch together, yet comprehend a fortification; -understood guns, and the art of ship-building; but the dearest -occupation of his leisure was the collection of sculptures and -paintings. - -Footnote 149: - - Perichief. - -The Crown was already in possession of some good pictures, when -Charles commenced his undertaking. Prince Henry had begun the work, -and the nobility, perceiving the King’s love of art, imitated the -Spanish nobles, and sent him presents of great value. But the great -act of Charles’s life as a connoisseur, was the purchase of the -collection of the Duke of Mantua, which was considered to be the -richest in Europe.[150] - -Footnote 150: - - Walpole, p. 183, vol. v. - -Philip IV. constantly employed his ambassadors and viceroys to buy -up fine pictures for his gallery; and Charles and Buckingham -likewise, on their return, adopted a similar plan on a smaller -scale, by instructing Sir Henry Wotton and Balthazar Gerbier to -negociate for them in works of art. It is obvious how much the royal -collection at Whitehall must have been prized; since, upon its being -sold during the Protectorate, the principal purchaser was Don Alonzo -de Cardenas, the agent of the Spanish King, and his purchases -required eighteen mules to carry them from the coast to Madrid, -whence Lord Clarendon, ambassador of the exiled Charles II. was -dismissed, that he might not see the treasures of his unfortunate -master thus brought into a far and foreign country.[151] - -Footnote 151: - - Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion. - -The collection of the Duke of Mantua cost Charles eighty thousand -pounds--Buckingham being the agent, and probably the instigator of -this purchase. The family of Gonzaga had been, in 1627, a hundred -years in forming this noble gallery. Little inferior to the Medici -in their liberality to artists, they were the patrons of Andrew -Mantegna, of Guido Romano, of Raphael, of Correggio, and of Titian, -successively. The “Education of Cupid,” by Correggio, was among King -Charles’s purchases, as well as the “Entombment,” now in the -Louvre,and the “Twelve Cæsars” by Titian. Rubens purchased for him -the Cartoons of Raphael, which had been sent by Leo X. to Flanders, -to be worked in tapestry, and left there. Then Charles received -various presents; that especially commonly styled the “Venus del -Pardo,” or more properly “Jupiter and Antiope;” the figures being -set off by one of the grandest landscapes by Titian, known. This gem -was given by Charles to the Duke of Buckingham.[152] It is now in -the Louvre, as is also the “Baptist,” by Leonardo da Vinci, a -present originally from Louis XIII. to Charles.[153] - -Footnote 152: - - Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painters; Art. “Charles I.” - -Footnote 153: - - In the work styled “Art and Artists,” by Dr. Waagen, there is a - full and most interesting account of all Charles’s collection. - -It was during the residence of Buckingham in Paris that he became -acquainted with Rubens. Eventually he bought the whole of the -collection of statues, paintings, and other valuable works of art, -which that master had formed at a cost of about a thousand pounds, -and which he sold to the Duke for ten thousand. But it was not often -that Buckingham increased his stores so easily; so early as the year -1613, he had in his household Balthazar Gerbier d’Ouvilly, of -Antwerp, a sort of amanuensis, or, as Sanderson styles him, a -“common penman,” whose transcribing the decalogue for the Dutch -Church was one of his first steps to preferment. Gerbier became a -miniature painter, and in that ostensible capacity went into Spain -with the Duke; he painted, amongst other portraits of the family, a -fine oval miniature of his patron on horseback, which, in Walpole’s -time, belonged to the Duchess of Northumberland; the figure, dressed -in scarlet and gold, is finished with great care--and the horse, -dark grey, with a white mane, is very animated; underneath the horse -is a landscape with figures, and over the Duke’s head is suspended -his motto, “_Fidei curricula crux_.” It was in allusion to the -well-known talents of Gerbier that the Duchess of Buckingham wrote -to the Duke, when in Spain, begging him, “if he had leisure to sit -to Gerbier for his portrait, that she might have it well done in -little.” - -Gerbier seems at that time to have been a special favourite with the -King and Queen, who supped once at his house--the entertainment, it -is said, costing the painter a thousand pounds.[154] Gerbier, like -Rubens, was employed in delicate diplomatic missions; he was also an -architect and an author, and the founder of an Academy for foreign -languages, and “for all noble sciences and exercises,” as he -expressed it. As a diplomatist, Gerbier negociated in Flanders a -private treaty with Spain:--as an architect, his fame rested, in the -reign of Charles, chiefly on a large room built near the Water Gate, -at York Stairs, in the Strand, which was commended by Charles I. -almost as much as the Banqueting House. Encouraged by this encomium, -Gerbier wrote a small work on magnificent buildings, proposing to -level Fleet Street and Cheapside, and to erect a fine gate at Temple -Bar; a plan of which was presented to Charles II., in whose reign -Gerbier died. He was the rival, or believed himself to be so, of -Inigo Jones. Hempstead-Marshal, the seat of Lord Craven, long since -burned down, was Gerbier’s last effort: he died before it was -completed, and was buried in the chancel of the church at that -place. - -Footnote 154: - - Note in Walpole, p. 189, vol. iii. - -His literary works seem to have been very singular compounds of -falsehood, invective, and flattery. Horace Walpole believes him to -have been the author of a tract printed by authority, in 1651, three -years after the execution of Charles I., entitled “The Nonsuch -Charles, his character,” and considers it one of the basest libels -ever published. “The style, the folly, the wretched reasoning, are,” -he observes, “consistent with Gerbier’s usual works; he must, at all -events,” he decides, “have furnished materials.” Nevertheless, two -years afterwards, Gerbier published a piece styled “Les Effets -Pernicieux,” written in French, and to this he affixed his name; it -was printed at the “Stag,” and composed apparently as a -precautionary palliative to the other work, in case of the -restoration of the Stuarts; and the notion seems to have succeeded, -since Gerbier returned to England with Charles II., and the -triumphal arches, erected on the Restoration, were designed by this -singularly versatile man.[155] He had, however, the merit, as we -have seen, of endeavouring to form an Academy, somewhat on the plan -of the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street. Sir Francis Keynaston -at that time resided in Covent Garden, and at his house the Academy -was held. None but gentlemen were admitted. Arts were taught by -professors, in lectures, Gerbier being one of the lecturers. The -academy was afterwards removed to Whitefriars; then to Bethnal -Green, whence he dedicated one of his lectures on Military -Architecture to General Skippon, whom he loaded with the most -fulsome, and from one who had, like himself, been overwhelmed by -kindnesses from Charles I.--the most treacherous flattery. - -Footnote 155: - - Walpole, p. 192. - -It is unsatisfactory to refer to any statement of Gerbier’s as -reliable; in a work on “Royal Favourites,” written in French, he -stated that Dr. Egglisham had applied to him, through Sir William -Chaloner, to procure his pardon, on condition of his confessing that -he had been instigated by others to publish his libel on Buckingham. -Gerbier stated that he had applied to the Secretary of State, but -received no answer. It is unfortunate that no one could believe -Gerbier, either when he calumniated or when he excused any -individual. - -It was by this able, scurrilous sycophant that the catalogue of -Buckingham’s pictures was drawn up. In it were enumerated thirteen -pictures by Rubens, whom the Duke had seen when he was at Antwerp, -shortly before the Expedition to Rhé. When, in 1630, the great -painter came to England as a diplomatist, the Duke was dead, but the -sovereign who had so greatly encouraged his tastes, did not, as -Walpole remarks, “overlook in the ambassador the talents of the -painter.” Rubens painted, for three thousand pounds, the ceiling of -the Banqueting House built by Inigo Jones--and depicting the -“Apotheosis of King James;” a subject highly inconsistent for the -purpose for which it is now most strangely appropriated as a chapel. -Vandyck was to have adorned the sides with the history of the -Garter; so that three great masters would have combined to form that -noblest room in the world; but so grand a possession was not -destined to be the work of former times, or the pride of our own. - -After Buckingham’s death, some of his pictures were bought by the -King, some by the Earl of Northumberland, and some by Abbot -Montague.[156] In the collection there were nineteen pictures by -Titian, seventeen by Tintoret, thirteen by Paul Veronese, twenty-one -by Bassano, two by Julio Romano, two by Georgione, eight by Palina, -three by Guido, thirteen by Rubens, three by Leonardo da Vinci, two -by Correggio, and three by Raphael, besides several by inferior -masters whose productions are scarce. The great prize of the -collection was the “Ecce Homo,” of Titian, eight feet in length and -twelve in breadth. For this magnificent work of art, in which -portraits of the Pope, the Emperors Charles V. and Solyman the -Magnificent are introduced, the Earl of Arundel had offered -Buckingham seven thousand pounds in land or money. The proposal was -refused, and the “Ecce Homo” shared the fate of many of the other -pictures in the year 1648. - -Footnote 156: - - Dr. Waagen says they were sequestrated; but it appears only a - portion of them were sold by the Parliament--the rest fell into - the hands of the second Duke of Buckingham. - -George, the second Duke of Buckingham, among whose few good -qualities was a loyal adherence to that family to whom his father -owed all, after being allowed by the Parliament a period of fifty -days to choose between desertion of the Stuarts and outlawry, chose -the latter. His estates were seized, but his father’s pictures, many -of which still hung on the now gloomy walls of York House, were sent -to him in his exile at Antwerp, by an old servant, John Traylinan, -who had been left to guard the property. These were now sold for -bread. Duart, of Antwerp, purchased some of them, but the greater -number became the possession of the Archduke Leopold, and were -removed to the Castle of Prague. Amongst them was the “Ecce Homo;” -which has been described as embodying the greatest merits of its -incomparable painter.[157] - -Footnote 157: - - Biographia, Art. “George Villiers,” the second note. - -Buckingham’s collection contained two hundred and thirty pictures. -One may conceive how grandly they must have adorned York House, -where in every chamber were emblazoned the arms of the two families, -lions and peacocks, the houses of Villiers and Manners, who were for -a few brief years united by one common bond under that roof.[158] -Neither pains nor money were ever spared by Charles, or by -Buckingham, to enrich their collections. Charles, with his own -hands, wrote a letter inviting Albano to England. Buckingham -endeavoured to attract Carlo Maratti, who had painted for him -portraits of a Prince and Princess of Brunswick, to the English -Court; but Maratti excused himself on the plea that he was not yet -perfect in his art.[159] Little could the King have foretold that -his treasures at Whitehall would have been sold, as Horace Walpole -expresses it, by “inch of candle;” or the Duke that his son and heir -should have parted with his father’s collection to save himself from -starvation in a foreign country. Such events seem to confirm Sydney -Smith’s counsel to a friend, not to look forward more than to a -futurity of two hours’ duration. - -Footnote 158: - - See Biographia Britannica. - -Footnote 159: - - Walpole. - -Charles I., less happy than Buckingham, had the chagrin to hear that -his favourite’s beloved collection was partially sold, three years -before his own death. It seems, as Walpole expresses it, “to have -become part of the religion of the time to war on the arts, because -they had been countenanced at Court.” In 1645 the Parliament ordered -the two collections to be sold; but, lest the public exigencies -should not be thought to afford sufficient cause for this step, they -passed the following acts to colour their proceedings:-- - -“Ordered, (July 23, 1635,) that all such pictures and statues there -(at York House) as are without any superstition, shall be forthwith -sold.”[160] - -Footnote 160: - - Dr. Waagen says that some of the Duke’s pictures were not genuine, - and many of little worth; but this is not the opinion of Horace - Walpole. - -“Ordered, that all such pictures as shall have the representation of -the second person in the Trinity upon them shall be forthwith -burnt.” - -"Ordered, that all such pictures there, as have the representation -of the Virgin Mary upon them, shall be forthwith burnt."[161] - -Footnote 161: - - Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iii., p. 297--from the - Journals of the House of Commons. - -This, Walpole remarks, was a worthy contrast to Archbishop Laud, who -made a Star Chamber business of a man’s breaking some painted glass -in the cathedral at Salisbury. Times were changed; Laud, however, -looked on the offence as an indication of a spirit of destruction -and irreverence;--unhappily, he was right. - -Such was the fate of Buckingham’s pictures: a brief notice of the -proceedings which dispersed the far more valuable collection of the -King must not be omitted. Immediately after Charles’s death, votes -were passed for the sale of his pictures, statues, jewels, and -“hangings.” It was then ordered that inventories should be made, and -commissioners be appointed to appraise, secure, and inventory the -said goods. Cromwell, to his honour, attempted to stop the -dispersion of these valuables; but he had matters of even greater -importance to engage his attention, and the sale, about the year -1650, appears, as far as the paintings were concerned, to have been -completed. From that time no further mention of them is to be found -in the Journals of the House of Commons.[162] - -Footnote 162: - - Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iii., p. 200. - -All the furniture from the ill-fated King’s different palaces was -brought up, and exposed for sale; and, as far as relates to the -jewels, plate, and furniture, the affair was not concluded until -1653. It must, indeed, have been a melancholy sight. Cromwell, -through his agent, was one of the principal purchasers. The price of -each article was fixed, but, if any one offered a higher sum, -preference was given. Cromwell, who resided alternately at Whitehall -and Hampton Court, bought the Cartoons for 300_l._ The order against -“superstitious” pieces was not, it seems, strictly observed; for a -painting of Vandyck’s, “Mary, our Lord, and Angels,” sold for -40_l._[163] The celebrated portrait of George, the second Duke of -Buckingham, and his mother, by Vandyck, one of the finest -productions of that master, was valued at 30_l._, and sold for -50_l._ Many of the finest pictures were bought by Mons. Jabach, a -native of Cologne, settled in Paris, who sold his collection -afterwards to Louis XIV. “The Entombment,” by Titian, which he -secured, and “Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus,” are in the -Louvre. Amongst the pictures in the Mantua collection, was the large -“Holy Trinity;” it was bought by De Cardenas, the Spanish -Ambassador; and on its arrival Philip IV. exclaimed, "That is my -pearl"--and the picture has, ever since, been known by that name. - -Footnote 163: - - Ibid., p. 204. - -There were, also, valuable allegorical sketches by Correggio, which -are among the valuable collection of drawings and designs in the -Louvre. - -The Imperial Gallery of the Palace Belvedere, in Vienna, contains -several fine pictures from the Whitehall collection. They were -bought at the sale by the Archduke Leopold William, Governor of the -Netherlands, and afterwards Emperor of Austria. Reynst, an eminent -Dutch connoisseur, Christina, Queen of Sweden, and Cardinal Mazarin, -were amongst the purchasers--but bought still more largely of the -jewels, medals, tapestry, carpets, embroidery--many of which went to -adorn Mazarin’s palace in Paris. Bathazar Gerbier, and other -painters, also purchased pictures--and thus, by their aid, and that -of some few Englishmen, the wreck of this noble collection may still -be traced in this country, but the greater portion was lost to it -for ever. Some miniatures were restored;--the States-General, during -the reign of Charles II., bought back the pictures formerly sold to -Reynst, and presented them to Charles II. - -By the exertions of that monarch, seventy of the best paintings that -his father had possessed again adorned his various Palaces. St. -James’s, Hampton Court, and Windsor were enriched with the works of -those masters in whose productions Charles I. had so greatly -delighted. But in Whitehall, the gallery of which was hung with the -works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Vandyck, -Holbein, Rubens, and many others, had been deposited the finest -specimens of their works. England seems fated never to contain a -collection suitable to her wealth, her intelligence, and her -wishes--for in 1697 that ancient palace, so often partially burnt, -was destroyed by fire; and within its old walls and many chambers -perished the various collections of Charles II., both of pictures, -medals, and sculpture.[164] - -Footnote 164: - - Dr. Waagen. - -Charles I., like all good judges of art, was extremely careful of -his pictures. Hitherto the Court revels had been held in that -famous gallery which Charles II. afterwards debased into a resort -for gamblers and infamous women of rank; and the Banqueting-house -was next appropriated to them. But during the Christmas of 1637, -when two masques were to be performed, the King being one of the -chief dancers, a building, the mere boarding of which cost two -thousand five hundred pounds, was erected in the main court at -Whitehall, because the King would not have “his pictures in the -Banqueting-house burnt with lights.”[165] - -Footnote 165: - - Dr. Waagen. - -The noble portrait by Vandyck, of Charles on horseback, was -reclaimed from Seemput, a painter, who had bought it at the sale; -and some few paintings which Catherine of Braganza had coolly -shipped off to Lisbon, were stopped by the Lord Chamberlain in their -embarkation. - -When the convulsions under which the country groaned had ceased, and -on the arrival of the Restoration, the nobility, though not -encouraged by the reigning monarch, introduced the custom of -adorning their country seats with paintings. “But the pure and -elevated taste,” as Dr. Waagen expresses it, “of Charles I. had -degenerated; the names of famous masters were indeed to be found, -but not their works.”[166] - -Footnote 166: - - Walpole, p. 188. - -Architecture and sculpture were also arts which owe infinitely to -the judicious patronage of Charles, assisted by Buckingham. Among -the Mantua collection was a whole army “of old foreign emperors, -captains, and senators,” whom Charles I., as Walpole tells us, -“caused to land on his coasts, to come and do him homage, and attend -him in his palace of St. James’s and Somerset House.”[167] But the -King also discerned and rewarded native genius; and when he planned -the noblest palace in the world at Whitehall, sent for no foreign -architect, but summoned Inigo Jones to his service. - -Footnote 167: - - Walpole, p. 203. - -“England,” says Walpole, “adopted Holbein and Vandyck; she borrowed -Rubens; she produced Inigo Jones.” Originally a joiner, Jones was -brought out of obscurity, according to many accounts, by the patron -who first extended a hand to assist George Villiers in his struggles -in life. William Earl of Pembroke was the friend alike of the young -courtier and of the son of the clothworker--the immortal Inigo. -Either by the Earl of Arundel or by Pembroke--it is not certain -which--Inigo was sent to Italy to learn landscape-painting; but at -Rome he soon discovered the inclination and bent of his genius. It -is of no use to stop the pure and flowing stream, and thus to make -it turbid. Inigo “laid down his pencil, and conceived Whitehall.” -Nature had not, he felt, destined him to decorate cabinets; his -vocation was to build palaces. He was, however, still in danger of -living in remote splendour. Christian III. enticed him to -Copenhagen, whence James I. sent for him, and whence he was brought -to be the Queen’s architect in Scotland. Patronized by Prince Henry, -he was in despair at the death of that royal youth, and went again -to Italy. It was in the interval between his two journeys to Rome -that he perpetrated some buildings in bad taste; to which the -appellation of “King James’s Gothic” was affixed. - -His first task, as Surveyor of the Works, to which office James -appointed him, was to build, for twenty pounds, a scaffolding, when -the Earl and Countess of Somerset were arraigned; his next, to -discover, by King James’s pedantic mandate, who were the founders of -Stonehenge. In 1619, he was entrusted with the direction of the -Banqueting-house at Whitehall, which was finished in two years, and -ordered to draw up a plan for the whole structure. - -Horace Walpole, who was a true royalist whenever the arts were -concerned, if not slyly in every other respect, thus speaks of that -great but vain effort to build in London a palace worthy of the -country. “The whole fabric,” he says, referring to Jones’s designs -for Whitehall, “was so glorious an idea, that one forgets in a -moment, in the regret for its not being executed, the confirmation -of our liberties obtained by a melancholy scene that passed before -the windows of that very Banqueting-house.”[168] The misfortunes of -this eminent man now began. Inigo Jones was a Roman Catholic, and, -as such, was peculiarly obnoxious to the Parliament party. His very -name, too, was mingled with associations of those arts and that -magnificence, which, from being the cause of envy, were now the -objects of detestation to certain of the people. “Painting had now,” -says Walpole, “become idolatry; monuments were deemed carnal pride, -and a venerable cathedral seemed equally contradictory to Magna -Charta and the Bible.” Even the statue of Charles at Charing Cross -was regarded as of ill-omen, and taken away lest it should bring -back unpleasant recollections. - -Footnote 168: - - Walpole, p. 270. - - “The Parliament did vote it down, - And thought it very fitting, - Lest it should fall and kill them all, - In the house where they were sitting.” - -It had become a matter of wonder that society could ever have -tolerated those masques patronized by James, by Charles, and by -Buckingham, in which the masks, costumes, and scenes were designed -by Jones, and the poetry written by Jonson. These representations -had been indeed interrupted by the quarrel between Inigo Jones and -Ben Jonson; and in the civil war they ceased entirely. With the -royal family and their followers literature and the arts were -banished; they were restored with the monarchy, but good taste was -not revived. “The history of destruction” superseded that reign of -elegance and learning which had a brief duration under Charles, and -which, whilst Buckingham was at the head of affairs, was the -main-spring of every impulse. “Ruin was the harvest of the Puritans, -and they gleaned after the reformers.” Of course vengeance fell on -the unfortunate royal architect and stage manager, Inigo Jones. His -face had been seen at every gorgeous revel; his hand was traceable -in many a country seat, even in the picturesque college of St. -John’s at Oxford; he had designed the chapel of Henrietta Maria at -St. James’s; he had erected the arcade and church of Covent Garden: -every familiar scene was haunted with his presence. - -The party that condemned him felt neither gratitude nor pity; two -years before the King’s death, he was fined 500_l._ for malignancy. -Afraid of a sequestration of all his revenues, he is stated to have -buried his money, as did Stone, the painter, in Scotland Yard; and -to have removed it, when fearful of discovery, to Lambeth Marsh. He -lived to see Cromwell occupy Whitehall, which he had hoped to -renovate; and to hear that Charles had suffered beneath the very -windows of that fine and perfect fragment of a palace which was -still, in spite of all the terrors of that execution, called the -Banqueting-house; he lived to be called “Iniquity Jones,” by the -successor of that Earl of Pembroke who had once been his generous -patron; he lived to learn that the wit, the poetry, the scenery that -had combined to render the masques at Burleigh a feast not only for -the senses, but for the intellect, were construed into heathenism. -All gallantry and romance were gone--and gone for ever; wit, indeed, -flourished after the Restoration, but it was wit without decency or -feeling. The old man must have felt that he had lived too long. -Somerset House had been with great difficulty saved from the -destruction of the Parliamentary decree; it gave poor Inigo, who -still appears to have nominally held his former office, a refuge -wherein he could lay down his head and die. He was buried in the -church of St. Bennet, at Paul’s Wharf; a monument erected there to -his memory was destroyed in the Fire of London, and the great -architect of the Banqueting-house remains without any memorial, save -the works of his genius. - -Vandyck was not settled in England, under the patronage of Charles -I., until after the death of Buckingham. Mytens, whose position as -the King’s principal painter was, as he believed, encroached on by -the celebrity of Vandyck, was patronized by Buckingham, for whom he -painted a portrait of Sir Jeffrey Hudson. - -This little wonder of the seventeenth century was nine years old -only at the Duke’s death. He had been domesticated at Burleigh on -account of his diminutive stature, which did not, at that time, -exceed seven or eight inches. Jeffrey was the plaything of the -Court: at the marriage-feast of Charles I., the Duchess of -Buckingham had him inserted in a cold pie, and served up at table to -the Queen, by way of presenting him to the royal bride, who took him -in her lap, and kept him. Until the age of thirty, this little -personage never grew. He then suddenly shot up three feet nine -inches, which he carried off with infinite dignity, and remained at -that height. He was still the butt of all the idlers at Whitehall, -and the theme of a poem, by Davenant, called “Jeffresdos,” the -subject being a battle between the dwarf and a turkey-cock. - -Henceforth he became important--went over to France on a mission of -great confidence, to fetch an experienced _sage-femme_ for the -Queen--was taken by the Pirates off Dunkirk on his return--was -rescued, only to encounter the incessant raillery of the courtiers, -which, to a man of his present size and importance, became -exasperating. Faithful and trusty, he went with Henrietta Maria into -France, and there, being goaded on by renewed insults from a Mr. -Crofts, sent a challenge. Crofts came to fight him provided only -with a squirt; the duel was to be on horseback, and with pistols, -that Jeffrey, or, as he had now become, Sir Jeffrey, might be more -on a level with his antagonist. By the first shot, Crofts was struck -dead. The next event in this adventurous life was the capture of -Jeffrey by a Turkish rover, during one of his voyages; he was sold -as a slave, and taken into Barbary; he was, however, ransomed, or -set free, so as to resume his attendance on the Queen. After the -Restoration, he was suspected of being concerned in the Popish plot, -and confined in the Gate House at Westminster. Here, a life that had -been rendered worthy of record even by his very littleness was -closed, in 1682; his old enemy, a gigantic porter at Whitehall in -Charles’s time, with whom the little creature was in incessant -strife, having long since been displaced--and another giant, Oliver -Cromwell’s porter, established in his stead. - -On Mytens the office of his Majesty’s “picture-drawer in ordinary, -with a fee of 20_l._ per annum, was conferred in 1625, procured by -the agency of Endymion Porter, who was the servant and relative of -Buckingham, from the Duke.”[169] - -Footnote 169: - - Walpole, p. 151, 152. - -Incited by the example of the Earl of Arundel, who employed a Mr. -Petty to collect antiquities in Greece, Buckingham despatched for -the same purpose Sir Thomas Roe, telling him, in explaining his -wishes, that “he was not so fond of antiquity as to court it in a -deformed or unshapen stone.”[170] Lord Arundel had begun to -“transplant old Greece into England.” His agent, Petty, was -indefatigable, “eating with Greeks on their work days, and lying -with fishermen with planks,” so that he might obtain his ends. This -valiant antiquary lost all his curiosities on returning from Samos, -and was imprisoned as a spy, but, regaining his liberty, set forth -again to his researches with the energy of a Layard.[171] - -Footnote 170: - - Walpole, p. 206. Note. From Peacham’s “Complete Gentleman.” - -Footnote 171: - - The fate of the Arundelian marbles is stated by Walpole to have - been as follows:--They came into the elder branch of the family, - the Dukes of Norfolk, and were sold by the Duchess, who was - divorced in the time of George II., to the Earl of Pomfret for - 300_l._ The Countess of Pomfret, great-grandmother to the present - Earl, gave them to the University - -The principal medallist in the time of Charles I. was Andrew -Vanderdort, a Dutchman, also patronized by Prince Henry. Upon the -accession of Charles, Vanderdort was made keeper of the King’s -cabinet of medals, with a salary of 40_l._ This cabinet or museum -was contained in a room in Whitehall, running across from the Thames -towards the Banqueting-house, and fronting the gardens westward. By -Vanderdort the coins of the realm were designed; and to the -commission to perform that work was added an injunction that he -should superintend the engravers. To Vanderdort was once confided -the preparing of the catalogue of the Royal collection, written in -bad English, and preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford. It is -related of him, that, being entrusted with a miniature by Gibson, -the “Parable of the Lost Sheep,” he laid it up so carefully, that, -when asked for it by the King, he could not find it, and hung -himself from grief.[172] - -Footnote 172: - - Walpole. - -It was owing to the suggestions of Buckingham that the great -portrait-painter, Gerard Honthorst, was invited by Charles I. to -England. Honthorst of Oxford. was a native of Utrecht, but had -completed his education at Rome. He had many pupils in painting of -high rank, and amongst them were Elizabeth of Bohemia and her -daughters, the Princess Sophia, mother of George I., and the -Princess Louisa, afterwards Abbess of Maubissen, being the most apt -scholars of that family. It was owing to the early culture of the -arts which both the sons of James I. had enjoyed, that it became an -easy task for Buckingham to incite Charles to the patronage of great -masters in afterlife. Solomon de Caus, a Gascon, was the instructor -of Prince Henry, and probably of Charles, who inherited the pictures -and statues which his brother had collected. Honthorst probably -improved by his lessons the taste that had been already so well -cultivated. At Hampton Court, a large picture on the staircase -sometimes rivets attention, without conferring pleasure--for the -taste for allegorical paintings has long since been extinct. It -delineates Charles and his Queen as Apollo and Diana in the clouds; -the Duke of Buckingham, as Mercury, is introducing them to the Arts -and Sciences, whilst genii are driving away Envy and Malice. This, -and other paintings, were completed by Honthorst in six months; the -King giving him three thousand florins, a service of silver plate -for twelve persons, and a horse. He also painted portraits of the -Duke and Duchess of Buckingham, sitting with their two children; and -it was likewise the Duke’s fancy to have a large picture by him, -representing a tooth-drawer, with many figures introduced around the -operation. - -Horatio Gentileschi, a native of Pisá, was one of those who -contributed alike to the collection of Charles and to the glories of -York House, which, long before Buckingham’s death, had, we are told, -become the admiration of the world. - -Gentileschi was treated with a degree of liberality that was quite -congenial to the feelings of Buckingham: he was invited to England, -and rooms were provided for his use, and a considerable salary -advanced to him. Some of the painted ceilings in Greenwich Palace -were his work; and he ornamented York House in a similar manner. -When it was dismantled, one of the ceilings was transplanted to -Buckingham House, in St. James’s Park, the seat of Sheffield, Duke -of Buckingham. He also painted the Villiers family, and, by the -Duke’s order, a Magdalen, lying in a grotto, contemplating a -skull--a strange subject for the worldly and high-spirited -Buckingham to select. But the delight of Charles and of his -favourite was Nicholas Lanière, meritorious as a painter, engraver, -and musician. It was Lanière who composed the music for some of Ben -Jonson’s masques, in recitative. Lanière, after the death of -Charles, set to music a funeral hymn written by Thomas Pierce. As a -composer, he was salaried by Charles with two hundred a-year. He -had, however, also painted pictures for King James; and it is stated -that Buckingham, not being able to induce that monarch to reward him -adequately, gave Lanière three hundred pounds at one time, and five -hundred at another, from his own means.[173] Lanière had been -instrumental in the negociation for the Mantua collection. After the -death of Charles he was one of those painters who viewed with deep -concern the dispersion of the Whitehall collection; and bought -several pictures at the sale of what he had contributed to enrich. - -Footnote 173: - - Biograph. Brit., Art. “Villiers.” Note. - -Whilst ceilings were painted, pictures distributed on richly-carved -panels, and in spacious galleries, there was even an attempt in -those days to decorate with frescoes the exterior of houses, as in -Bavaria, where even the dwellings of superior farmers are sometimes -adorned in that manner. Francis Cleyn, a Dane, was called to England -in the reign of James I., in order to improve also the manufacture -of tapestry at Mortlake, to which James had contributed two thousand -pounds. Hitherto, Sir Francis Crane, the proprietor, had worked only -on old patterns; Cleyn brought new and original designs to the aid -of the tapestry-workers. Five of the cartoons were sent by Charles -to be copied. Cleyn also painted the outside of Wimbledon House in -fresco; he designed one of the chimney-pieces in Holland House, and -gave the drawings for two chairs, carved and gilt, with shells for -backs, still there. In every possible department art was called into -play. Drawings for the great seals were made by Cleyn. He published -books for “carvers and goldsmiths.” Nothing was to be tasteless, -clumsy, or inappropriate; and, with this spirit abroad, it is not -surprising that the little that the Rebellion spared should be -models for our own conservative generation. - -Whilst Villiers employed portrait-painters on himself and on his -family, he did not forget the old man at Brookesby, long since gone -to the grave. Cornelius Jansen, by his order, painted a portrait of -his father; probably from some family picture. It was in the -possession of Horace Walpole, “less handsome,” he says, “but -extremely like his son.” - -The patronage extended by Charles I. to architects[174] was often -directed by Buckingham; for the King and the favourite had but one -soul between them. To exalt and improve the art of painting, they -summoned foreign architects as well as painters to England, -remunerated them liberally, and treated them with the courtesy due -to one of the noblest of professions. Charles delighted to dabble -with his brush on the canvas, his hand directed by the master, with -whom he sat for hours. Buckingham’s few leisure days were devoted to -his buildings and paintings. Amongst the English builders who worked -at the Banqueting-house, under Inigo Jones, was Nicholas Stone, who -was in 1619 appointed master-mason to the King, at the usual salary, -of twelve pence a-day; but the extra work he executed for Charles -was amply paid; and his salary during the two years he worked at -Whitehall amounted to four shillings and tenpence the day.[175] -Nicholas Stone designed four of the dials at St. James’s and -Whitehall.[176] He rebuilt the fountains at Theobald’s and Nonsuch; -his drawings are, it is to be feared, lost. He was the statuary -employed by the Countess of Dorset to set up at Westminster the -monument of Spenser the poet, for which he was paid forty pounds. -His great talent lay in tombs; amongst others, he erected one for -the Countess of Buckingham, the Duke’s mother, three years after her -son’s death, in 1631, in Westminster Abbey, for which he received -560_l._ Doubtless, therefore, he was continually employed by -Buckingham, and Stone’s various performances must have been just -what the Duke required. He was the modest architect, who did not -disdain to form and chisel the piers for gates--Inigo Jones -designing them,--at Holland House. He built the great gate of St. -Mary’s Church at Oxford, and the stone gates for the Physic Garden -in that city,--also designed by Inigo. The figure of the Nile at -Somerset House was by Stone; his skill, like that of Inigo, is -familiar to us, though we may almost have forgotten the hand that -had so much “cunning.” At York House, at Wanstead, New Hall and -Burleigh, his fine face, with his love-locks, his plain collar, and -tight doublet, were, we may be sure, often to be seen before ruin -and desertion darkened those once splendid homes of Villiers. - -Footnote 174: - - Walpole, p. 149, _passim_. - -Footnote 175: - - Walpole, p. 166. - -Footnote 176: - - There were five dials at Whitehall; a Mr. Gunter drew the lines, - and wrote a pamphlet on the use of them, in 1624. “One, too,” says - Horace Walpole, “may still be extant.” Vertue saw them at - Buckingham House, from whence they were sold. - -Few men, it must be acknowledged, in so brief a space, have done -more for the arts in this country than George Villiers. By -Charles, his friend and sovereign, who survived him twenty years, -much more was effected. Without their unceasing efforts, without -even the almost pardonable extravagance that was directed to -purposes so refined, England would almost have been devoid of -paintings by the greatest masters, and, what would be almost -worse, destitute of the love and reverence for high art which has -come down to us from the time of Charles I., and which is now -cherished, though unconsciously, in the breast of the poor -artisan, as in that of the richest peer or commoner. The crowds -who not only throng, but enjoy, the galleries of Hampton -Court--and, still more, the humble visitors from the Faubourg St. -Antoine and the Marais to the Louvre, on Sundays, in Paris--prove -that a love of what is true and holy, and even sublime, in -pictures, exists intuitively in the uncultivated mind, as well as -in the highest intelligence of the soul. Those who called from its -latent recesses this love of art in the seventeenth century are -greatly entitled to the gratitude of that age to which the -luxuries of music and painting are become necessities. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - -PATRONAGE OF THE DRAMA BY CHARLES AND THE DUKE OF - BUCKINGHAM--MASSINGER--BEN JONSON--THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE - COURT, AND WITH THE DUKE. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -After considering the benefits conferred by Charles I. and his -favourite on art, and detailing their patronage of eminent masters, -one turns, naturally, to the literature of the day, and more -especially--as subsidiary to music and painting--to the drama. - -The accession of James I. opened fairer prospects to dramatists than -they had enjoyed in the days of Elizabeth, who paid as grudgingly -for her amusements as for the services of her statesmen. To her -“Master of the bears and dogs” she assigned a salary of a farthing a -day only.[177] Yet the office was sometimes held by a Knight; and, -during the “princely pleasures of Kenilworth,” of which bear-baiting -formed a prominent feature, by no less opulent a person than Edward -Alleyn, the actor, and founder of Dulwich College. Little but -honour, therefore, had accrued, in the time of Elizabeth, to poets -and play-writers; and the struggling authors were obliged to have -recourse to a more liberal patronage than that of the Court--until -James I., somewhat “of a poet, but more of a scholar,” promoted, -with an extravagant zeal, the diversions which his taste disposed -him to enjoy. Plays, which his predecessor had deemed likely to draw -her younger subjects from the manlier recreations of bear-baiting -and hunting, were patronized in high quarters, and were henceforth -the fashionable diversions notwithstanding the invectives of the -Puritans, both of the Court, and in the provincial castles of the -nobility at a distance from London. - -Footnote 177: - - Note in Hartley Coleridge’s Introduction to Massinger’s Plays, p. - 32. - -Independently of the delights of the masque, which comprised both -music, dancing, and poetry, there were pleasures to be found in the -drama which accorded with the tendencies and failings of that -period. - -It was an age of personality, a disposition to which existed as -strongly in the unrefined court of James, and even among his -northern retainers, as in the brilliant galleries of Versailles, -encouraged by Louis XIV., and led by the dangerous and witty St. -Simon. “The great eye of the world,” says an able writer, “was not -then, any more than now, so intent on things and principles as not -to have a corner for the infirmities of individuals.”[178] Wilson, -Weldon, Winwood, Osborne, Peyton, Sanderson, circulated what were in -many instances fabrications about the higher classes; whilst the -crimes and absurdities of the lower orders were celebrated by the -ballad-mongers, or dramatized for the stage. Many of those ballads -transmitted to us, which were exempted from the fate of “damn’d -ditties,” were founded on authentic domestic tragedies, the actors -in which have long since passed into oblivion. The ballad, which -afforded the multitude a pleasing insight into the fact that their -superiors were no better than themselves, was the most popular -literature of the day. Sung to doleful tunes, with a nasal twang, -they called forth the satire of the dramatist, who aimed at a higher -species of personality, and who deprecated these, often scurrilous, -productions; which were, at length, checked in the time of Swift by -the imposition of a penny stamp on every loose sheet. The ballad was -a source of dread to the tavern bully, whose iniquities it exposed. - -“If I have not ballads made of you all, and sung to filthy tunes, -may this cup of sack be my poison,” says Falstaff. - -Footnote 178: - - Hartley Coleridge, p. 9. - - “Now shall have we damnable ballads out against us, - Most wicked madrigals.” - _Humorous Lieutenant._ - -Whilst the attention of society was not altogether fixed on exalted -members only, it was found difficult to restrain satire, and even -calumny, from introducing living characters on the stage, and from -depicting them with hateful qualities, and in invidious situations. - -In vain did the Master of the Revels, who was under the peculiar -influence of the Court, endeavour to control the disposition to -personality which characterized even many of the plays acted before -James I. and his son. In these compositions the public acquired that -insight into conduct and peculiarities which is now derived from -periodical papers, or from diaries, letters, and autobiographies, in -which our age is especially fertile. - -Amongst the dramatists of James and Charles’s reigns, we may take, -as the most remarkable, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and -Fletcher, and John Ford, the greater part of whose works were -produced during the life of King James and of Charles I. and II. - -The biography of each of these celebrated men elucidates much of the -manners and temper of the times, and their history comprises that of -this species of literature during the commencement and middle of the -seventeenth century. - -Philip Massinger was the son of Arthur Massinger, a retainer in the -household of the Earl of Pembroke. A retainer was often a gentleman -of good birth but small means, and this was probably the condition -of Arthur Massinger, who, from his carrying letters from his master, -the Earl, to Queen Elizabeth, could not have been a man of low -origin, else he would not have been admitted to the honour of -conveying any dispatch to one who placed so much importance on -lineage in those who entered her presence. That custom was still in -force, which surrounded a nobleman, not with menials, but with a -middle-class of bondmen, who thought service no degradation. It was -esteemed a turn of fortune when a youth of gentle birth could be -introduced into some noble house, to learn therein politeness, -chivalrous attention to ladies, and to imbibe, from example and -precept, that loyalty which was then considered a sort of virtue. -The education and training of a page is now confined to royal -courts; but there were, in England, in those days of the Tudors and -Stuarts, many minor courts, which exacted, in miniature, the duties -and service that existed in the palaces of the monarch. And of those -stately and wealthy patrons, none were more respected than the -Herberts, Earls of Pembroke, to whom Arthur Massinger wrote himself -“Bondman.” - -That wholesome discipline which it is difficult in our own time for -a parent to preserve over his family was maintained to the advantage -of a page who rose from a lowly to a confidential situation. -Massinger’s lines in the “New Way to Pay Old Debts” refer to the -subjection under which the youth groaned, but to which the matured -actors on this world’s stage looked back with gratitude:-- - - “Art thou scarce manumised from the porter’s lodge, - And now sworn servant to the pantofle, - And darest thou dream of marriage?” - _New Way to Pay Old Debts._ - -Yet in this servitude the father of Philip Massinger lived and died. -These grand establishments, in which the noble head saw around him -none but persons of gentle blood and breeding, would long since have -ceased to be congenial, even if they still existed, to the English -notions of independence, by which servitude is confounded with -slavery. But they had this advantage--the son of a retainer was -supposed to have a claim on the illustrious noble, who estimated his -father’s fidelity and offices; and that this was the case with -Philip Massinger, might seem probable from the advantages of -education which he was enabled to derive; and the value of which he -had learned to appreciate, in the proximity to the really noble and -intellectual family of Herbert. It appears from Philip Massinger’s -dedication of the “Bondman,” that he never had any personal -communication with Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery; but that -is no proof that he may not have been indebted for the advantage of -a university education to the far more intellectual and estimable -Henry, Earl of Pembroke, his father’s patron, as appears from the -following passage in the dedication of the “Bondman” to the Earl of -Montgomery:-- - -“However, I could never arrive at the happiness to be made known to -your lordship; yet a desire born with me, to make a tender of all -duties and service to the noble family of the Herberts, descended to -me as an inheritance from my dead father, Arthur Massinger. Many -years he happily spent in the service of your honourable house, and -died a servant in it, leaving his to be ever most glad and ready to -be at the command of all such as derive themselves from his most -honoured master, your lordship’s most honoured father.”[179] - -Footnote 179: - - Massinger’s Works, edited by Hartley Coleridge, p. 74. - -It would be agreeable to reflect that Massinger had passed his -childhood and youth, partly at all events, in the classical region -of Wilton Castle, which Sir Philip Sidney had almost sanctified to -the Muses by his presence, and whence he had issued forth on that -expedition in which he died a hero’s death. But those were not the -days in which the childhood and youth of celebrated men were -recorded, and of Massinger’s not a trace remained. We only guess at -the early influences which formed his imaginative, yet vigorous -mind. We only conjecture that his taste was directed to poetry by -the taste of those whom he must have learned first to respect. We -are not sure, yet we are glad to believe, that whilst his mind took -on afterwards the impressions of the age in which he lived, it was -in earliest youth incited by the author of the “Arcadia,” and by the -acquirements of her to whom that poem was dedicated, to culture and -exercise, until circumstances brought its powers into full activity. - -The dedication of the “Bondman” was written in 1624; and whilst it -shews that the poet had never seen Philip, Earl of Montgomery, it -does not follow, as has been stated, that he was _not_ reared at -Wilton during the life-time of Henry, Earl of Pembroke, the “noble -father” of Philip, who, as a younger son, was created Earl of -Montgomery, and long known by that title only. Henry, who was -succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl of Pembroke, died in -1600; and since Massinger was born in 1584, it is extremely probable -that he passed his childhood at Wilton, although, in compliance with -the custom of the age, he was probably sent out to nurse. Even the -name of his mother is unknown. Few authors of so much merit as -Massinger have been, as Hartley Coleridge observes, “so little -noticed by contemporaries;” and none so soon forgotten by succeeding -times. - -There can, however, be but little doubt that Philip Massinger -imbibed at Wilton that value for letters which is so soon caught by -children from the society of the intellectual; and that a gentler -influence than that of Earl Henry stimulated the natural -inclinations of his mind. A learned education for women of rank was -in vogue for nearly a century after the Reformation: with -Protestantism came in the notion that the female understanding was -worthy of high cultivation; and our earliest and most superior -women, in those times, were prepared for their important part in -life by a sound and almost masculine training. Witness the learning -of Lady Jane Grey, of Queen Elizabeth, of Joanna, Lady Abergavenny, -whom Walpole believes to have been the “foundress of that noble -school of female learning, of which (with herself) there were,” he -says, “no less than four authoresses in the three descents.”[180] -Among the learned and the virtuous none was more esteemed in her -time than Mary, the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and the third wife -of Henry, Earl of Pembroke, the son of Arthur Massinger’s patron. -She was one of those ornaments of her age who added lustre to her -station without forfeiting one feminine attribute. What was then -called a “polite education” comprised not only the acquisition of -light literature, but that also of classical learning. From her -mother, Lady Mary Dudley, this admirable woman inherited a noble and -congenial spirit; from her father, Sir Henry Sidney, surpassing -abilities, moral excellencies, enlarged views, generous motives. -That father, superior to the venal courtiers of his time, spent his -whole fortune in his endeavours to benefit Ireland and Wales, of the -affairs of which he held the administration. In her brother, Sir -Philip Sidney, the Countess of Pembroke found a companion in all her -pursuits, as well as in affection. Hence, as Spenser wrote, their -minds grew in unison:-- - - “The gentlest shepherdess that liv’d that day, - And most resembling, both in shape and spirit, - Her brother dear.” - -In conjunction with him, this gifted woman is said to have -translated the Psalms;[181] of which effort Daniel says:-- - - “Those hymns which thou dost consecrate to Heaven, - Which Israel’s singer to his God did frame, - Unto thy voyage eternity hath given, - And makes thee dear to Him from whence they came.” - -Footnote 180: - - Joanna, Lady Abergavenny, Mary Arundel, Catherine Grey, Mary - Duchess of Norfolk. See “Royal and Noble Authors.” - -Several of these are extant; one of them was published in the -_Guardian_;[182] and it corresponds with a Psalm printed in the -“_Nugæ Antiquæ_” as the Countess of Pembroke’s.[183] It has been -regretted that these productions are not authorized to be sung in -churches; for the present version, Mr. Hartley Coleridge remarks, -“is a disgrace and a mischief to the establishment.” These -translations are preserved in the library at Wilton. - -Footnote 181: - - Horace Walpole’s “Royal and Noble Authors,” vol. ii., p. 308. - -Footnote 182: - - No. 7. - -Footnote 183: - - Ibid. - -The Countess was residing there when the “Discourse of Life and -Death,” by Mornay, which she translated from the French, was -printed. This was in 1590, when Philip Massinger was six years of -age. She survived until 1621; and, since she extended her patronage -both to arts and letters, it is probable that she not only -befriended Ben Jonson, but that she encouraged and assisted the -struggling dramatist, whose father had been so favoured or retained -in her husband’s house. Ben Jonson’s well-known lines on her tomb -have challenged various criticisms. Whilst by some they are deemed a -tribute “which have never been exceeded in the records of monumental -praise,”[184] by another critic they are considered “too -hyperbolical, too clever, and too conceited to be inscribed on a -Christian’s tomb.”[185] - -Footnote 184: - - Note in Parke’s edition of “Royal and Noble Authors.” - -Footnote 185: - - Hartley Coleridge. - - “Underneath this marble hearse - Lies the subject of all verse-- - Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother; - Death, ere thou canst find another, - Learned, and fair, and good as she, - Time shall throw a dart at thee.” - -At all events, Massinger imbibed from his father’s connection with -the Herbert family, one taste--that for theatricals. Amongst the -retinue of the great peer, was a company of itinerant performers, -“the Earl of Pembroke’s players;” and though the childhood of -Massinger is indeed a blank, it maybe inferred that the attractions -of the theatre, or rather of the hall, in which that portion of the -Earl’s household must have been frequently occupied, were such as to -fascinate a boy of an imaginative turn of mind. He is stated to have -been shy, melancholy, retiring, and studious; that he received a -classical education, as a boy, is also stated; but when that -education was received, who directed that thoughtful and dreamy mind -to poetry, or how he, who was evidently designed for a scholastic -career, should have devoted himself to the profession of a -play-writer, does not appear to have been ascertained, even by the -indefatigable Gilford. - -But it was an age of great mental energy, and there was sufficient -in the rich harvest won by Shakspeare, or in the rare delights -afforded by his works, to account for the direction of young -Massinger’s genius. - -It has been conjectured, also, that he acted occasionally in those -plays the parts of which were then usually sustained by boys: of -this there remains not a single proof, and nothing is _certain_, in -so far as the events of his youth are concerned, except that he was -entered at St. Alban’s Hall, Oxford, in 1601-2. - -It must not be supposed that this fact at all implied what in the -present day it might appear to indicate. It did not follow that -Massinger was to enter one of the learned professions, because he -became a commoner in that small, ancient society of St. Alban’s -Hall; nor was it a proof that the young man had parents who were in -affluent circumstances, as a University career now seems to imply. -Oxford was then a place for cheap education, and many of the “poor -scholars” at the various colleges underwent, as Strype shews us, -great hardships. On the other hand, it was not uncommon for the -profession of letters to be in those days a man’s only calling; and -an academical training was his best commencement in that arduous -course, since a certain display of erudition was undoubtedly one of -the characteristics of the period. - -The exhibition to college was, according to Anthony Wood, given to -Massinger by the Earl of Pembroke; but others allege that Massinger -derived the means of subsistence at Oxford from his father. - -In those schools, where a man for the first, and perhaps for the -only, time in his existence, frames his own success, independently -of the patronage of others--in those schools, famed for -strict impartiality, and where the battle is really to the -strong--Massinger, nevertheless, did not appear. He left Oxford -without taking his degree; for he had made the mistake, fatal to a -poor man, who has to rest upon the endowments of that grand old -university for his support, of not adopting the studies which the -university prescribes to the exclusion of others. It was, indeed, a -sin in the eyes of that zealous antiquary, whose tomb, in a corner -of the anti-chapel of Merton College, is so often overlooked, save -by those who honour his labours, and who view his merits, thus -enshrined, with regretful reverence--that he gave his mind, as -Anthony Wood tells us, “more to poetry or romance, for about four -years or more, than to logic and philosophy, which he ought to have -done, as he was patronized _to that end_.” - -He adds, without further comment than this, “that, being -sufficiently famed for several specimens of wit, he betook himself -to writing plays.” Massinger left Oxford in 1606--he was then -twenty-two years of age. - -For some time his history is again a blank, and his exertions and -struggles, whatever they may have been, fell upon a serious, -religious, thoughtful temperament, devoid of the elasticity with -which Shakespeare fought and conquered the trials of fate. -Play-writing was, at that time, almost the only means by which ready -money could be obtained, and had the patronage of the Court in full -activity, when Massinger cast himself into his future and only -career. James I., soon after his accession, licensed the company of -players who had hitherto been styled the “Lord Chamberlain’s,” but -who were henceforth to be called "the King’s servants"--amongst whom -were Shakspeare, Burbage, Heminge, and others. Queen Anne adopted -the “Earl of Worcester’s company,” and Prince Henry that of the Earl -of Nottingham, the hero of the “Armada.” The Court, and even -provincial nobles and gentry, although Protestantized, kept, with as -scrupulous attention as ever, the great feasts of the Church; and on -these, as in former times a mystery or morality was given, so now a -play was often performed. “The stage,” says Hartley Coleridge, “was -evoking and realizing the finest imaginations of the strongest -intellects.” - -Whether Massinger ever acted or not, is as doubtful as every other -incident of his early life. It was not until 1614 that a glimmering -of his actual condition in life is seen through the darkness, and -the disclosure is melancholy and discouraging. There is something -touching, as well as dreary, in the gloom that one can only -diversify with scenes of penury and imprisonment for debt. At last -the light breaks out; and, in the words of the following appeal, the -history of some years of disappointment is disclosed:--[186] - -"To our most loving friend, Mr. Philip Hinchlow, Esquire, these,-- - -“Mr. Hinchlow--You understand our unfortunate extremitye, and I doe -not thinke you so void of cristianitee but that you would throw so -much money into the Thames as wee request now of you, rather than -endanger so many innocent lives. You know there is X_l._ more at -least to be receaved of you for the play. We desire you to lend us -V_l._ of that; which shall be allowed to you, without which we -cannot be bayled nor I play any more till this be dispatch’d. It -will lose you XX_l._ ere the end of the next weeke, besides the -hindrance of the next new play. Pray, sir, consider our cases with -humanity, and now give us cause to acknowledge you our true friend -in time of neede. Wee have entreated Mr. Davison to deliver this -note, as well as witness your love as our promises and always -acknowledgement to be ever your most thankful and loving -friends,[187] - - ”PHILIP MASSINGER. - “R. DAVISON. - ”NAT. FIELD." - -Footnote 186: - - This letter was discovered by Malone, in Dulwich College. There is - no date on it, but Mr. Payne Collier dates it in 1614, eight years - before the publication of the “Virgin Martyr.” - -Footnote 187: - - Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxiii. - -This letter is the only one with the signature of Philip Massinger -extant. It was addressed to a pawnbroker--such was Philip Hinchlow, -who, besides exercising that ancient profession, was also engaged in -theatrical speculations, his advances being chiefly made upon the -wearing apparel and properties, of which he acquired a large portion -in this way. “A comfortable sort of person,” remarks Hartley -Coleridge, “for three poets to be obliged to.” Especially when they, -as it were, pledged to him the labour of their brains; and that when -they were either already in prison, or afraid of that crisis in -their miserable destiny. Nathaniel Field, the writer of this letter, -was Massinger’s partner in the production of the “Fatal Dowry;” he -had a share in the Globe and Blackfriar’s Theatres, in conjunction -with Burbage, the original _Richard III._, _Hamlet_, and _Othello_; -and with Lowin, the original _Falstaff_. Field was also an actor, -and he performed in Ben Jonson’s masque, “Cynthia’s Revels,” in -1600, when he appeared as one of the children of the Queen’s chapel. -Robert Daborne was a man of good descent, a scholar and a clergyman, -although the author of several plays; nor was he the only clerical -dramatist in an age which was, indeed, "not an innocent one"--for -Cartwright, also a play-writer, was a divine, and, as Fuller states, -“a florid and seraphical preacher.”[188] - -Footnote 188: - - Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxv. - -It has been remarked that the “Fatal Dowry” was like the production -of a man in debt. Massinger might refer to his own case when he -wrote:-- - - “I will not take - One single piece of this great heap. Why should I - Borrow that I have no means to pay; nay, am - A very bankrupt, even in flattering hope, - Of ever raising any.” - -In addition to his poverty, to hard work, and the degradation of -debt, Massinger was fully conscious that he had not, in giving up -the certainty of a profession, attained a position in society. The -dramatist’s occupation was scarcely, in those times, considered a -creditable employment.[189] By the Puritans it was deemed sinful--by -learned men, idle and trifling; and although lawyers and -academicians, courtiers and ladies, and even the Queen and Princes -of the blood, took the conspicuous parts, there was still a certain -disrepute attached to the very instruments by means of which the -stage was brought into what is justly called its “palmiest state.” - -Footnote 189: - - Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xiv; from Dr. Farmer’s - “Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare.” - -There were perhaps various reasons for the slow success of Massinger -as a dramatist, and for that adverse fate the bitterness of which -breaks forth in all his works. The age was Puritan; and he was -supposed to have exchanged the Protestant principles with which he -had entered Oxford for Romanist opinions--or rather, what we should -now term Tractarian. That he may have been, as Mr. Gifford infers, -from his leaving Oxford without a degree, a Roman Catholic, is borne -out by no fact, although seemingly attested by the subjects of his -plays--the “Virgin Martyr,” the “Renegade,” and the “Maid of -Honour,” and from some passages in his other dramas. The bare -suspicion was enough to make an author unfashionable at the time -when the religion of the poet’s ancestors was the object of hatred -and terror, and the laws against recusants were in all their hateful -force. The plots of Massinger’s plays were, however, almost -invariably taken from French or Italian novels, or from old legends, -which embodied Romanism, and must, if Protestantized, have assumed -the form of satire. Another drawback to Massinger’s popularity was -the strong Whiggism which manifested itself in his plays, and which -was so greatly at variance with the tone of the Court and of the -higher classes during the early part of the reign of James I. He had -not the reverence for constituted authority which marked the -sentiments of Shakspeare, whilst his devotion to birth (not to -_rank_ alone) savoured of the son of the retainer in a great house, -where the servant generally is a far greater worshipper of the old -descent than the real possessor of the ancient pedigree.[190] Thus, -whilst this ill-fated man, full of genius, full of virtue, and of a -deep sense of religion, was always tempting the slings and arrows of -fortune, he was distrusted by the Puritans as a favourer of the -Romish faith; he was avoided by the loyal as an enemy to passive -obedience; and he must have been regarded with disgust by the rich -city merchants and traders, for his contempt for newly-acquired -wealth, and his merciless exposition of their assumption, in his -dramas. - -Footnote 190: - - Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxvii. - -Massinger, therefore, lived and died in poverty. The language of -complaint became habitual to him; he spoke of his despised state -with agony--yet his patrons were many and honourable; but he -addressed each successively in dedications which were masterpieces -of pure English, as his last hope--his dependence on whom “ate into -his very soul.” To Sir Robert Wiseman, of Thorrell’s Hall, in Essex, -he “freely, and with a zealous thankfulness, acknowledges that for -many years he had but _faintly subsisted_, had he not often tasted -of his great bounty.”[191] In his dedication of “The Picture” to the -noble Society of the Inner Temple, he thanks them, “his honoured and -selected friends,” for their “frequent bounties.” He lived upon -presents; and of the comforts of a certain income he had not, -probably, even one year’s experience. It is impossible to think of -such a career without pain--starving one day, repulsed with -condescension from the halls of the rich, another. He has depicted -feelingly, indeed, the gentleman reduced to penury, in the “New Way -to Pay Old Debts,” and the insults heaped on him by over-fed -sycophants. - -Footnote 191: - - Massinger’s Works, p. 167; in his Dedication of “The Great Duke of - Florence” to Sir Robert Wiseman. - - “_Overreach_ (to _Wellborn_)-- - Avaunt, thou beggar! - If ever thou presume to own me more, - I’ll have thee caged and whipp’d. - “_Amble_ (to _Wellborn_)-- - Cannot you stay, to be serv’d among your fellows - From the basket, but you must press into the hall?” - -The “basket” contained broken meat, which was placed in the porter’s -lodge of great houses, to be distributed to the poor. - -So, in the “Fatal Dowry,” _Pontalier_ says to _Liladum_:-- - - “Go to the basket, and repent.” - -It is with true feeling that Massinger put into the mouth of -_Wellborn_ these pleading lines:-- - - “Scorn me not, good lady! - But, as in form you are angelical, - Imitate the heavenly natures, and vouchsafe - At the least awhile to hear me. You will grant - The blood that runs in this arm is as noble - As that which fills your veins; those costly jewels - And those rich clothes you wear, your men’s observance - And women’s flattery, are in you no virtues; - Nor these rags, with my poverty, in me vices.” - -His life, however, was not without its solace. Happily for the -literary men of the age, Ralegh had comprehended what is most -essential both to mind and body, and in founding the meetings at the -Mermaid had provided for the dramatist, poet, and philosopher, -suitable relaxation. The place of meeting was at the Mermaid, in -Bread Street, Cheapside. Here Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, -Fletcher, and many others, enjoyed the rare companionship of Ralegh, -during the brief intervals in which he was not either engaged at the -Court, or in distant expeditions. Here wit was the current coin of -the company; toil was cast aside; “away with melancholy,” was the -burden of the guests, who had probably many a care hidden in the -core of their hearts. To Shakspeare’s joyous nature, and to the -sanguine and then unbroken spirit of Ralegh, the sorrows of the -past, the terrors of the future, might easily be forgotten, or -suspended over a cup of rich Canary; or, as night drew on, after a -beaker of sack-posset. But one may picture to oneself the diffident, -yet proud Philip Massinger, in his black doublet and plain white -linen collar, with shabby tassels hanging from it, feasting, -perhaps, at another man’s expense--trying to shine in these -"wit-combats"--trying to forget “the basket,” and to seem -prosperous; but, with the remembrance of the five pounds borrowed -upon the security of his capital of brains, with a heavy sigh, as -the delightful bard of Avon talked of retiring, on his fortune of -two hundred a-year, to the quaint old town, his birth-place. - -It must, however, have been a delicious opportunity of looking into -minds as various as they were original. Beaumont has described the -surface:-- - - “What things have we seen - Done at the Mermaid!--heard words that have been - So nimble and so full of subtle flame, - As if that every one from whence they came - Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, - And had resolved to live a fool the rest - Of his dull life ... - ... and when that was gone, - We left an air behind us, which alone - Was able to make the two next companies - (Right witty, though but downright fools) more wise.” - -A modern writer has compared these meetings to the “_Noctes -Ambrosianæ_.” Happier far the wits of modern days, than the gifted -men who, in the time of the Stuarts, were fain to cringe to patrons -for their subsistence. None but unsuccessful authors will rail at -modern publishers, when they remember the infinite miseries, with -few signal exceptions, of those who were unhappy enough to depend on -individuals and not on the public, whose will and taste the -publisher alone studies. - -Intemperance was, in those days, not only the sin of the -middle-classes, but that of the Court; and both James and his Queen -are said to have indulged in it. Massinger seems to have held what -were rare opinions in his time, and to have been an advocate for -total abstinence:-- - - "O take care of wine! - Cold water is far better for your healths, - Of which I am very tender."--_The Picture._ - -He wrote rapidly, and his pen was never idle; yet he lived in -miserable poverty. There is no record either that he was married--no -indication that, like every other poet, he had an unfortunate or -unrequited attachment. His pilgrimage had one solace, that of a -fervent religion; which had, probably, much of the superstitions -which were mingled, in those early days of Protestantism, with the -reformed faith. The Church of England was then “an untrimmed vessel, -lurching now towards Rome, and now towards Geneva;” it is therefore -no wonder if many of the young, the impassioned, the imaginative, -inclined to that form of faith and of worship which wore at least -the semblance of venerable seniority.[192] - -Footnote 192: - - Hartley Coleridge’s “Introduction,” p. xxv. - -There is not a line in Massinger’s works that can either convict him -of Romanism, or stamp him as a Protestant. Like many of his -contemporaries, his romantic fancy was captivated by the picturesque -ceremonial, the saintly observances, the _dramatic_ services of the -Romish Church; and to this was probably added a disgust to that -puritanic fervour by which not only the drama--to which there were, -in fact, many just exceptions to be made--but all that was -enchanting in life, poetry, secular music, revelry (not necessarily -corrupting), was condemned as sinful, and all intellectual luxury -prohibited and anathematized. - -The Herbert family continued to be friends to Massinger--at all -events, to lend him the support of their name. He dedicated “The New -Way to Pay Old Debts,” the most celebrated of his plays, to Robert, -Earl of Carnarvon. “I was born,” he says, “a most devoted servant to -the thrice noble family of your incomparable lady, and am most -ambitious, though at a proper distance, to be known to your -lordship.” Robert, Earl of Carnarvon, who had married the Lady -Katherine Herbert, although a friend and favourer of the Muses, and -also Grand Falconer of England, is long since forgotten--whilst the -poet, who addressed him “at a proper distance,” is remembered with -pride and interest. - -There was so close an intimacy at one time between the Earl of -Pembroke’s family and that of the Duke of Buckingham, that it seems -strange that no trace of Massinger’s having been patronized by him -are to be discovered. In fact, the annals of Massinger’s life -present little except the dates of his works. The eldest son of the -unworthy Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, the poet’s chief -patron, was married in 1634 to Lady Mary Villiers, then a mere girl. -It is true that this alliance was formed six years after -Buckingham’s death; but it was probably concerted before that event, -after the fashion of the day, in which the infant in the cradle was -often affianced by ambitious parents, and the nuptials solemnized at -ten or twelve years of age. Charles, Lord Herbert set out on his -travels directly after he had married his young wife, and died of -small-pox at Florence in 1636. Massinger wrote a poem on his loss, -among others, to his little bride:-- - - “True sorrow fell - With showers of tears--still bathe the widowed bed - Of his dear spouse.” - -The elegy, as it has been observed, had better not have been -written; and his “dear spouse” very likely at that time preferred -balls and revelries to her husband. - -It was, however, not impossible that Villiers, to please the Herbert -family, may have been the means of introducing Massinger to Charles -I., who justly estimated his great merits, and proved a more -generous as well as a worthier patron than the Earl of Pembroke and -Montgomery. - -The political tenets of Massinger brought him on one occasion into -considerable danger. They were, nevertheless, such as we should now -term moderate; but they were irrelevantly introduced into his -dramas, at a time when liberalism was almost regarded as next to -treason. In 1631, Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, -refused to receive a play of Massinger’s because it contained what -that functionary called “dangerous matters,” as to the deposing of -Sebastian, King of Portugal, and “thereby reflected upon Spain.” -Even the name of that piece is unknown, although the Master of the -Revels took care that the fee of twenty shillings for reading it -over was paid to him. In 1638, when the question of the Ship-money -was dividing the nation from the Court, Massinger, unable to control -his indignation at the oppressive measures of Charles I., produced -another play, called “The King and the Subject,” founded on the -history of Don Pedro the Cruel. It contained, amongst other free and -bold passages, these lines:-- - - “Monies? We’ll raise supplies which way we please, - And force you to subscribe to blanks, in which - We’ll mulct you as we shall think fit. The Cæsars - In Rome were wise, acknowledging no laws - But what their swords did ratify--the wives - And daughters of the senators bowing to - Their will as deities----” - -It was evident to all who had occasion to peruse the play in -manuscript, that Don Pedro was intended for the King. It was -submitted, however, to Charles, who was at Newmarket; he read it, -and then, in his own hand, marked the objectionable passage, and -wrote underneath these words, “This is too insolent; note that the -poet make it the speech of a King, Don Pedro, to his subjects.” This -is one instance of the kind nature of the often mistaken King, who -avoided condemning the play to oblivion.[193] That he encouraged -Massinger--that he perceived, beneath the bitterness of a struggling -man, a noble independence of character, is evident from Massinger’s -plays being, in the commencement of that reign, the fashionable -representations at Court. A bespeak at Court was the most signal -proof of success, and was all that could be desired by an author; -and Charles took an opportunity of conferring this benefit on -Massinger, when the poet’s feelings had been grievously wounded by -the opposition made to “The Emperor of the East,” on its first -performance by bespeaking that play. - -Footnote 193: - - The play was acted, but not printed, and has never been - discovered.--See Coleridge, from Malone. - -Massinger recorded his gratitude for the bespeak in a prologue, in -which he affirms his chief aim had been to please the King, and the -fair Henrietta Maria, in this production:-- - - “What we now present, - When first conceived in his vote and intent, - Was sacred to your pleasure; in each part - With his best of fancy, judgment, language, art, - Fashioned and formed so as might well, and may, - Deserve a welcome, and no vulgar way. - He durst not, sir, at such a solemn feast, - Lard his grave matter with one scurrilous jest, - But laboured that no passage might appear - But what the Queen, without a blush, might hear.” - -In 1633, just after the appearance of Prynne’s “Histriomastix,” -Charles ordered the representation of Massinger’s “Guardian” at -Whitehall, on Sunday--an unwise act, in the eyes of all; a wrong one -in those of most persons, who, without undue prejudice, view the -Sabbath not only as a day of holy rest, but as one in which the -thoughts and actions should be eminently pure, serene, and devout. -We cannot but allow that the Puritans had much reason on their side -in condemning this profanation, which was, one can scarcely doubt, -instigated by Queen Henrietta, or intended to please her. The plays -of Massinger were peculiarly unsuited to the Sabbath, from their -grossness. - -It is not easy to say what amount of indelicacy the ladies of that -period could listen to “without a blush.” Their confusion was, -indeed, hidden beneath a black velvet mask. Even eighty or ninety -years afterwards, the incomparable Queen Mary, the consort of -William III., and her maids of honour, listened, under that -protection, to the comedies of an age, perhaps, if possible, still -more licentious in its plays than that in which Massinger wrote. Nor -was it until the mask was abolished by law that the presence of -women was recognized as controlling impropriety. In the reign of -Anne, influenced by the correctness of the Court, as well as by the -presence of ladies, unexceptionable plays, of loftier tone, by -Steele and Addison, were placed on the stage. It is to be hoped that -Queen Henrietta scarcely comprehended what she heard in a language -of which she knew but little before her arrival in England; or -perhaps, with the French notions, that a married woman, however -young, may go everywhere and hear everything, even if only just -emancipated from a convent or the nursery, she may not have thought -herself and her attendants degraded by what they heard. - -The Queen’s partiality for Massinger was soon known by another -demonstration on her part. On the site of the old Monastery of -Blackfriars, which had been signalized by the sitting of the -Black Parliament, in the reign of Henry VIII., by the trial of -Katharine of Arragon in its hall, and by the condemnation of -Wolsey, James Burbage, and his company, known as the Earl of -Leicester’s players, had erected a theatre. It was within the -precincts, but not the jurisdiction, of the City; and the Lord -Mayor, after ejecting Burbage from the City, tried in vain to -drive them out of Blackfriars. The Puritan inhabitants of the -precincts were also inimical to the playhouse, and petitioned -the Lords and Council against its continuance there.[194] -Nevertheless, Queen Henrietta bespoke “Cleander,” a lost play of -Massinger’s, and went to see it acted at Blackfriars. She was -justly censured for this imprudence--not, indeed, for her -inconsistent patronage of dramas unfit for women to hear or -read--a sin which that age perceived not--but for a public -attendance at a theatre, on the stage of which the young -gallants of the time chose to sit, perched on stools, with -tobacco pipes in their mouths--or congregated in twopenny -refreshment-rooms, where ale and tobacco were sold. - -Footnote 194: - - Cunningham’s “London.” - -It does not appear that the patronage of the Court gave permanent -independence to Massinger. After the production of his last drama, -“The Fair Anchoress of Pausilippo,” his career was over. He latterly -lived at the Bankside, a residence probably chosen by him from its -vicinity to various theatres--to Blackfriars, from its proximity to -Blackfriars Road; to the Globe Theatre, in which Shakespeare had a -share; to Paris Garden, to the Rose, to the Hope, and the Swan. The -Chirk, near the Church of St. Saviour’s, even in the time of Charles -I., was the seat of all manner of low dissipation--bear-baiting, -among the rest--and consequently of misery and vice. The district -was not sanctified even by the holy edifice of St. Saviour’s; that -noble church, the finest specimen of the early English style in -London, the crypt of which is one of the un-seen sights of the -metropolis, having, happily, escaped the restoring hand of some -reprehensible churchwardens, who have done their best to spoil the -nave, and to reduce it to the level of their own ideas. To his -obscure home, near St. Saviour’s, Philip Massinger retired on the -evening of the 16th of March, 1639-40, to rest, in his usual health. -He was found dead in the morning in his bed. No friendly hand closed -his eyes--no kind voice whispered into his ear words of hope and -peace in Heaven, of which he had known so little on earth: no record -of the mortal disease which thus struck him down--what would be -called, in our time, prematurely--has been found. His death was, -like his life, a blank. The parish register tells us all that can be -told: “March 16, 1639-40.--Buried Philip Massinger, _a stranger_.” -He was followed to the grave by actors, and buried in the churchyard -of St. Saviour’s, then called St. Mary Overie, from an old -suppressed priory. No stone marked his grave. His funeral was too -poor for his remains to be interred within the church, where -Lancelot Andrews and Henry Sacheverell preached, and where their -bones repose; and where the poet Gower founded a chantry, and -erected a tomb. Massinger was interred among the poor and the -humble; perhaps his old companions of the playhouse, in after-days, -slept, also, near his nameless grave. - -His burial cost 2_l._--a sum large enough, in those days, to ensure -it, in Mr. Gifford’s eyes, a considerable amount of state and -ceremony; and the word “stranger,” which grates so painfully on the -feelings of those who reverence genius, is said by that authority to -be usually affixed to the name of any one not belonging to the -parish of St. Saviour. Yet, that his contemporaries put no epitaph -on his tomb, that there was nothing but the sod over the cold clay, -that no tradition even exists to show where he once lay, seems to -prove that the Puritans were in the ascendancy on that sad day when -the “stranger” was conveyed to his last home; and that they were -meet ancestors of those who have since “restored” the old church, -and have cleverly concealed the beauties of its interior. - -Massinger had great qualities. He was religious, and of rare honesty -and independence; yet his religion did not purify his thoughts, nor -tend, consequently, to chasten his productions--and his -circumstances wore away his real independence, as his dedications -testify. His conceptions of what was noble, of what was virtuous, -are beautifully expressed in those plays, which are yet so full of -coarseness as to be unpresentable; and whilst he never loses any -opportunity of exalting virtue, he seizes every occasion of -depraving the taste, if not the mind. In this respect he is far more -culpable than Shakspeare; the age had deteriorated: James I. was -coarse, and liked coarseness in others; his Court and his amusements -all partook of that characteristic, which increased after the old -chivalric style had declined. The elegance and purity in the works -of Sir Philip Sidney and Spenser were succeeded by coarseness in -those of Massinger, Ford, and Ben Jonson. When Massinger ceased to -write freely--and, in so doing, to indulge every fancy, fair or -foul--he wrote feebly. Of this “The Roman Actor,” to play which he -“held to be the most perfect birth of his Minerva,” affords an -example. It is free from indelicacy, but presents few of Massinger’s -striking excellencies. The plot is bad; the scene in which the -character of _Paris_ might have been so powerfully developed, when -tempted by _Domitian_, is poor. The tortures of the senators on the -stage, and the appearance of their ghosts afterwards, savours of the -love which Massinger had for the horrible--with the delineation of -which he seems to have consoled himself for his forbearance in other -points. Nevertheless, whilst the secondary characters in “The Roman -Actor” are poor and indistinct--whilst those of the primary actors -are striking and truthful--the timid tyranny of _Domitian_, and the -ambition of _Donitia_, are admirably worked out. - -The inordinate taste for revolting incidents on the stage was a -great feature of the times; the contemporaries of Somerset and his -wife were habituated to the excitement of fearful mysteries, of -crimes, and sins half-disclosed, yet awful in the dimness of partial -discovery. The frequent occurrence of murders, sometimes designedly, -“but more often in hasty broils,” in that day, presented subjects -which, to us, seem extravagant, but which were highly acceptable to -the bravadoes, who, smoking on the stage, brandished their rapiers, -and were ready to avenge a quarrel at the sword’s point. In nothing -is the difference of manners so marked between those days and these -as in the matter of _honour_. In those times, honour was perpetually -in every man’s mouth--personal courage was prominently brought -forward; and hence, every play had its braggart or its coward; and, -as we see in the works of Beaumont and Fletcher,[195] honour had its -code, its professional counsel, and its practical paid supporters. -But, with this code, this practice, moral courage had little to do; -the code of honour drew the main limit of caste, and the burgher and -the tradesman were beneath it. So important was it, however, to -observe the new code _aux ongles_, that a manual or grammar of its -rules was applied to satisfy the captious on nice points. Thus, when -_Adorio_, in Massinger’s “Maid of Honour,” laments that his honour -and reputation should suffer from having taken a blow in public from -_Caldoro_, accompanied with the infamous “mark of coward,” he is -referred by _Camillo_, to whom he pours forth his vexation, to -Caranza’s “Grammar” for directions, in much the same manner as a -lawyer would quote Lord St. Leonards on a point of law--or -travellers call on Murray as their authority. - -Footnote 195: - - See “Maid’s Tragedy.” - -When _Adorio_ talks of what he “would do” in the matter, _Camillo_ -answers:-- - - “Never think on’t, - Till fitter time and place invite you to it. - I have read Caranza, and find not in his Grammar - Of quarrels that the injured man be bound - To seek for reparation at an hour; - But may, and without loss, till he hath settl’d - More serious occasions that import him. - For a day or two defer it. - - _Adorio._--You’ll subscribe - Your hand to this? - - _Camillo._--And justify’t with my life. - Presume upon’t. - - _Adorio._--On then; you shall o’errule me.” - -Women were not let off so easily; happily for them, more was -expected from them than from men. Without referring to Caranza, -their honour consisted not only in chastity, but in constancy to -vows, and resistance to the temptations of wealth; and these -attributes were sufficiently rare to make the “Maid of Honour” an -exceptional character.[196] Massinger, however, assures us that -English women, even in those days, asserted a superiority in -intellect and character: it is true, they had no opportunity of -travelling, and stayed at home; but they learned from their lovers -and brothers the customs of those foreign countries which it was -then dangerous to traverse. - -Footnote 196: - - “The Guardian.” See Massinger’s Works, p. 351. - -Most men of rank or fortune, nevertheless, made the “grand tour” -before marrying; or left their young betrothed mistresses in their -native counties. In the “Guardian,” _Calipso_ says:-- - - “Why, sir, do gallants travel? - Answer that question; but at their return - With wonder to the hearers to discourse of - The garb and difference in foreign females-- - As the lusty girl of France, the sober German, - The plump Dutch frow, the stately dame of Spain.” - -It has been asked whether Massinger and Shakspeare ever -met?--whether, as Hartley Coleridge inquires, they ever “took a cup -of sack together at the Mitre or the Mermaid;” and whether Massinger -was ever umpire or bottle-holder in the “wit-combats” described by -Fuller? But upon this, as well as on many other points, there is no -light. We know not whom Massinger loved, nor whom he hated; we would -fain believe, with Coleridge, that his life was not passed without -some true affection--a link between passion and virtue; we would -willingly believe that, like Tasso, he loved one above him in -rank--or one below him--rather than that he had never loved at all. -But his works repel the surmise. True love is vehement--but it is -delicate; and it would have elevated his thoughts, and purified his -expressions. Massinger may have done justice to the intellect and -companionship of his countrywomen, but he had no reverence for the -most beautiful part of their nature; and in this, as in other -respects, is far below Shakspeare. - -The obscurity which overshadowed all Massinger’s career has rendered -any communication, as we have seen, between him and Buckingham, -doubtful; but it was far otherwise in respect to Ben Jonson--whose -works are so replete with allusions to the Villiers family, and to -their attributes, amusements, and bounties, that no biography of -George Villiers can be complete without a more copious reference to -the works of this dramatist than can be conveyed in the passing -notices which have been given of his masques, in the course of the -preceding narrative.[197] Ben Jonson was ten years older than -Massinger; and was born in 1574. Whether from his surname, or his -Christian name, or from his after-life, it is not easy to say, but -one generally looks upon Ben Jonson as a man of low birth. But such -was not the fact. His grandfather, a man of some family and fortune, -was a gentleman in the service of Henry VIII.; his father was in -holy orders, “a grave minister of the Gospel.”[198] - -Footnote 197: - - From the State Papers, a new volume of which has lately been - published, it appears that Jonson was accused of writing certain - lines on Buckingham’s assassination.--See Appendix. - -Footnote 198: - - Gifford’s “Life of Ben Jonson,” p. 2; from Anthony Wood. - -The family had originally settled at Annandale, in Scotland; but Ben -Jonson was born in Westminster. He had the misfortune to come into -the world a month after his father’s death. It was, perhaps, a less -adverse circumstance that his mother, two years afterwards, married -again. Her views were not exalted, and she took for her second -husband--tired, it might seem, of the genteel poverty of the -cloth--a master-bricklayer. Not even has Fuller, not even has -Gifford, been able to ascertain in what part of the suburb of -Westminster “Ben” was born. Fuller, however, consoles us; he could -not trace the poet in his _cradle_, but he could “fetch him,” as he -observes, in his “short coats.” About two years old, Ben was -_discovered_--that is to say, the haunts of his infancy were--“a -little child in Hartshorn Lane, near Charing Cross.” - -This neighbourhood was as poor as that of Westminster Abbey; and the -parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, which then extended to -Whitehall on the south, to Marylebone on the north, to the Savoy on -the east, and to Chelsea and Kensington on the west, when first -rated to the poor in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, contained only two -hundred persons sufficiently wealthy to pay those rates.[199] It -afterwards became the greatest cure in England, until several of its -parishes were separated from the patron saint, St. Martin’s. - -Footnote 199: - - Cunningham’s London. - -Here, however, Ben Jonson was brought up--getting such education as -he might from a school in the church of St Martin’s. It is stated, -however, by Gifford, to have been a “private school.” He might -possibly have been one of the private pupils on a foundation school. -Some unknown benefactor, however, removed the future poet from St -Martin’s, and placed him at St. Peter’s College, Westminster, which -was founded by Queen Elizabeth, in 1660--“a public school for -grammar, rhetorick,--_poetry_ (which the maiden Queen was too wise -to despise) and for the Latin and Greek languages.” - -This removal was the visible cause of all Ben Jonson’s eminence. -Camden, the historian, was then one of the masters of that school, -from whose ranks issued Cowley, George Herbert, Dryden, Churchill, -Cowper, Southey, and many others less celebrated. Ben Jonson always -retained an affectionate remembrance of Camden’s instructions:-- - - “Camden, most reverend head, to whom I owe - All that in wits I am, and all I know.” - -He dedicated his best play, “Every Man in his Humour,” to Master -Camden, “Clarencieux,” ending his dedication thus:-- - -“Now, I pray you to accept this; such wherein neither the confession -of my manners shall make you blush--nor of my studies repent you to -have been the instructor; and for the profession of any -thankfulness, I am sure it will, with good men, find either praise -or excuse, from your true lover, Ben Jonson.”[200] - -Footnote 200: - - Ben Johnson’s Works, p. i. - -From Westminster, Jonson went to Cambridge, probably to St. John’s; -but even of this important fact no certainty exists, for the -university register is imperfect, and from 1600 to 1602 there is an -hiatus. It is merely conjectured, from there being several books -containing the name of Ben Jonson in the library of St. John’s, that -he entered that College. Here, however, he only stayed, according to -Fuller, some weeks; funds were wanting for his support--a -circumstance which seems to shew that he was not sent up to Trinity -College on the foundation, as otherwise he would have had an -exhibition at Westminster. His parents were unable to supply means; -and the young student, thirsting for distinction, was obliged to -return and follow his step-father’s calling. Never was there a -situation so pitiable, and the condition of this aspiring scholar -was compassionated by other scholars of happier fortunes than -himself. Camden generously relieved him; Thomas Sutton, who, having -bought the Charter House from Lord Suffolk, nobly devoted it to an -hospital and school, “the master-piece of Protestant charity,” as -Lord Bacon styled it,--also, according to some accounts, consoled, -and compassionated, and assisted Jonson. It has even been said that -“Ben” was engaged to attend the eldest son of Sir Walter Ralegh, as -a tutor; but of this no certainty exists. All that is absolutely -known is, that he was sick of the trowel and the hod, whilst his -mind was running on Horace and Virgil; and that to escape what he -deemed degradation, he enlisted, went off to the Low Countries, and -served a campaign in that scene of war, which was a sort of school -to the young English soldier. - -His heart went, to a certain extent, along with this new profession. -“Let not those blush that have, but those that have not, a lawful -calling,” says Fuller,--and Jonson seems to have thought so -likewise. He returned, however, at nineteen, poor as ever, with the -same scholastic tastes; and the master-bricklayer being dead, he -repaired to his mother’s house. - -He next tried the stage. It has been, in all times, the refuge of -the unthrifty. But Jonson’s appearance was unfavourable to that -attempt. His very ugliness, one would have thought, might have been -an advantage. Mr. Gifford repels with fury the imputation on Jonson, -that his hero was frightful; yet the description he gives himself of -Ben Jonson is by no means attractive. His complexion, which had been -clear and smooth in boyhood, was disfigured by a scorbutic humour, -and ultimately by scars, from what the Germans are pleased to call -the “Englische Krankheit.” His features are said not to have been -irregular or unpleasing, but appear in his portraits to be large and -coarse. One eye looked askance; his forehead was, however, noble; -his person was broad and corpulent--after forty it became unwieldy; -and his gait, he himself owned, “ungracious.” In early youth his -worst points were not, probably, prominent; he had a delightful -voice and emphasis. “I never,” said the Duchess of Newcastle, "heard -any man read well but my husband; and I have heard him say, 'he -never heard any man read well but Ben Jonson, and yet he hath heard -many in his time.’"[201] - -Footnote 201: - - Gifford, from the Duchess of Newcastle’s Letters. - -Nevertheless, “Ben” was not a good actor. Critics differ as to the -nature and duration of his theatrical employ. And Gifford, who takes -every question relative to his hero as a personal matter, is -indignant at the statement that he was a strolling player, or ambled -by the side of a waggon, and took _mad Jeronymo’s_ part; but, as -most companies were then itinerant, and, as even now, first-rate -actors and actresses make provincial tours, there seems little call -for the venom and wrath poured out by the indefatigable biographer, -who points, with satisfaction, to the bulky figure of Jonson, and -asks how he could possibly act “little _Jeronymo_,” that "inch of -Spain"?[202] - -Footnote 202: - - From the First Part of “Jeronymo,” a popular play. - -Whatever was his position--whether, as Anthony Wood says, “he did -recede to a nursery or obscure playhouse, called the _Green -Curtain_,” in Shoreditch; or whether, as Gifford declares, that -statement is a mere fable, and that his aims were higher--seemed now -of little moment, perhaps, to Jonson himself; for his efforts were -interrupted by a duel. His antagonist is supposed to have been a -brother-player, who brought to the field a sword ten inches longer -than poor Ben’s. They fought, and Ben killed the gentleman with the -long sword, but was himself severely wounded in the arm; he was sent -to prison, and brought, as he described it, “near to the gallows.” - -Poor Ben was now, probably, fain to cry out with _Antonio_ in the -“Maid of Honour”:-- - - “But redeem me - From this captivity, and I’ll vow - Never to draw a sword, or cut my meat hereafter - With a knife that has an edge or point; I’ll starve first.”[203] - -Footnote 203: - - Massinger’s Works, p. 200. - -This imprisonment had a signal effect on Jonson’s destiny; he fell -into melancholy, and was visited in his despondency by a Romanist -priest, who applied himself to his consolation first, and to his -conversion afterwards. Jonson had been religiously brought up, and -it was not from indifference that he renounced the faith of his -parents and entered the Romish Church. Such conversions were -frequent in the early days of the Reformation. Jonson was no -controversialist; wiser men than he fell into the same error, and, -like such, atoned for it. The great light of our Church, Jeremy -Taylor, became for some time a Romanist, but returned to the -Anglican faith; Chillingworth and others wandered also, and also -returned. The readiest converts are often those of deep and earnest -feelings, which act on excitable minds, only superficially informed -on the great doctrines of Scripture.[204] Jonson’s imprisonment was -aggravated in its misery by a system of espionage which the -necessities of the times induced. The plots against Elizabeth’s life -usually originated in the seminaries of the priests. Jonson was -warned by his gaoler that he was watched. - -Footnote 204: - - Gifford, p. 7, note. - -He was eventually released, but by what agency does not appear. - -He quitted prison, and married a young woman of his new persuasion; -and there appears to have been no great reason to repent his choice. -His wife was shrewish, but respectable; and the poet’s prosperity -commenced with his marriage. - -From this time until the period when the Court festivities brought -him into frequent collision with Villiers, Jonson’s productions were -successive occasions of triumph. Nevertheless, money did not flow -into his coffers; and he was continually obliged to pledge, as -Massinger did, the labour of his brain--two sums of four pounds, and -twenty shillings, being advanced to him by Henslowe, the -father-in-law of Alleyn, the player, upon the plots of two plays -being presented and approved. Still poor Jonson had his enemies and -traducers. The scene of “Every Man in his Humour” was originally -laid in Thrace; the names were Italian, but wishing still further to -ensure its success, Jonson changed them, and brought the scenes to -London. Nevertheless, he was still attacked about his Italian story. -There seems, then, to have been as great an objection to works of -imagination based on foreign plots as in the present day. In -“Volpone,” Jonson carefully avoided introducing any material not -purely English. - -He was still a struggling author, with few friends except players -and playwrights, and with many enemies, owing to his vehemence of -temper and imprudence of speech. But of his animosity to Shakspeare, -and of the poet’s alienation from him, there seems no proof; and -indeed Shakspeare is reported to have stood godfather to one of his -children--although the improbable anecdote connected with that act -is discredited by Gifford. - -Jonson’s acquaintance with Shakspeare is stated by Rowe to have -begun with “a remarkable piece of humanity and good-nature on the -part of the immortal bard.” Jonson, who was then, as Rowe observes, -“entirely unknown to the world,” had offered “Every Man in his -Humour” for representation; it was carelessly looked over, and -returned in a supercilious manner by the person who had read it, -with the uncourteous answer “that it would be of no use to the -company.” Happily, however, Shakspeare chanced to cast his eyes on -the manuscript, and found in the play something that powerfully -engaged his attention. Generous, as well as gifted, he recommended -both Jonson and his drama to the attention of the actors, and to -that of the public also.[205] - -Footnote 205: - - Rowe’s “Life of Shakspeare,” p. xxxiii. - -The old play, with the Italian names, the scene laid at Florence, -had been first brought out at the Rose Theatre; and it was, -apparently, the amended drama, which, from the numerous alterations, -had become again Jonson’s property, according to the custom of the -time, that attracted the notice of Shakspeare.[206] Be that as it -may, “Every Man in his Humour” was acted at Blackfriars in 1598, and -Shakspeare’s name appears at the head of it as one of the -performers. This was about sixteen years before the Bard of Avon -sought for repose on the banks of his beloved river, and in his -native town. - -Footnote 206: - - Gifford, p. 2. - -Henceforth the literary world was divided by the factions which -penetrate even into the studies of the lettered; and a sort of -rivalship was set up, in which, it appears, the partisans of the two -great dramatists were far more rife than the parties concerned. - -The contending critics endeavoured to exalt the one at the expense -of the other. Pope observes, “It is ever the nature of parties to be -in extremes; and nothing is so probable as that, because Ben Jonson -had much the more learning, it was said on the one hand that -Shakspeare had none at all; and because Shakspeare had much the most -wit and fancy, it was retorted on the other that Jonson wanted both; -because Shakspeare borrowed nothing, it was said that Ben Jonson -borrowed everything; because Jonson did not write extempore, he was -reproached with being a year about every piece; and because -Shakspeare wrote with ease and facility, they cry’d he never once -made a blot.”[207] - -Footnote 207: - - Pope’s “Essay on Shakespere,” prefixed to the Oxford edition, p. - xix., 1745. - -Yet, without attempting to enter into a controversy long since -passed away, and doubtful in origin and extent, it is satisfactory -to find Jonson’s vindication from unworthy motives in his famous -lines, “To the Memory of my Beloved, the Author, Mr. William -Shakespere, and what he hath left us:” in which he truly calls him -the “Soul of the Age.” - -Jonson’s “Every Man in his Humour” was honoured, after it had been -played several times, by the presence of Queen Elizabeth, who was -one of Jonson’s earliest patrons. Nevertheless, in “Cynthia’s -Revels,” which was brought out during the following year, the poet -satirized the formal and affected manners of the Court. - -Whitehall was never gay after the execution of Mary Queen of Scots; -the joyousness of Elizabeth’s nature, which she had inherited from -her father, was gone. - -When mirth went out, pedantry came in. Euphüism was for a time in -vogue; the Queen, pensive one hour, fretful the next, looked -passively on the change; but to her courtiers--among whom Jonson now -began to mix--the satire in “Cynthia’s Revels” was, probably, highly -acceptable. Among the most reprehensible usages of the day was that -of bringing up children to perform on the public stage, as well as -in the Court. In 1609 authority was given to “William Shakespeare, -Robert Daborne, Nathaniel Field, and Robert Kirkham,” to provide and -instruct a certain number of children to perform in tragedies, -comedies, or masques, within the Blackfriars, or in “the realm of -England.” Shakspeare, who soon withdrew from the superintendence of -this juvenile company, has referred to them in “Hamlet,” thus -marking his disapprobation of the system.[208] - -“But there is, sir, an aviary of children, little eyases that cry -out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapp’d for -it. These are now the fashion, and so besottle the common stages (so -they call them) that many wearing rapiers are afraid of -goose-quills, and scarce dare come thither.” - -These children were, in some respects, well cared for. They were -selected from the young choristers in the Royal Chapel, and, by an -order, so early as the reign of Edward IV., they were to be sent to -Oxford or Cambridge, on the King’s foundation, at the age of -eighteen, should their voices be changed, or the number of -choristers be over-full. “Many good people,” observes Hartley -Coleridge,[209] “who are scandalized at the Latin plays of -Westminster, will be surprised that in the pious days of England, in -the glorious morning of the Reformation, in ‘great Eliza’s golden -time,’ under Kings and Queens that were the nursing fathers and -nursing mothers, the public acting of plays should be, not the -permitted recreation, but the compulsory employment of children -devoted to sing the praises of God--of plays too, the best of which -children may now only read in a ‘family’ edition of some, whose very -titles a modern father would scruple to pronounce before a woman or -a child.” - -Footnote 208: - - Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxiv. - -Footnote 209: - - Page xxxvi. - -These children were first impressed from the cathedrals by Richard -III.; and even Queen Elizabeth issued a warrant, under the -sign-manual, “authorizing Thomas Gyles,” the master of the children -of Paul’s, “to bring up any boys in cathedrals or collegiate -churches, in order to be instructed for the entertainment of the -Court.” The children of the Queen’s Chapel must, therefore, -henceforth form a principal feature in the representations of Ben -Jonson’s masques, as we picture them to our minds, either in -Whitehall--consumed by fire long since--or at Althorpe, or at -Burleigh-on-the-Hill, or in the stately Castle of Belvoir. Under -those vaulted roofs their young voices warbled the exquisite poetry -of Jonson to the music of Lawes, or--be it not recorded without -shame, nevertheless--were obliged to utter words of raillery, -bitterness, and indelicacy, which were usually, as Heywood in his -apology for actors confesses, allotted to the unconscious children -to deliver. - -Greatly as Ben Jonson hailed the accession of James I., he had soon -reason to regret the wise though parsimonious Queen Elizabeth. In -conjunction with Chapman and Marston, he had written a play called -"Eastward Hoe." It was well received; but there was a passage in it -reflecting on the Scotch. The two authors were arrested; Jonson had -not any share in writing the piece, but, being accessory to its -production, he honourably and “voluntarily” accompanied his two -friends to prison, thus surrendering himself to justice. No very -severe punishment was ever contemplated, but a report prevailed that -the three delinquents were to have their ears and noses cut. Jonson -is said to have been released owing to the intercession of Camden -and Selden; and they are declared to have been present when, after -his liberation, he gave an entertainment. On that occasion his -mother “drank to him, and showed him a paper which she designed, if -the sentence had taken effect, to have been mixed with his drink, -and it was a strong and hasty poison.” To show “that she was no -churl,” Jonson, in relating this story, added, “she designed to have -first drank of it herself.” - -He escaped from some other personal attack which, in common with -Chapman, he made on some individual, with only a second and also -temporary imprisonment;[210] and from this time was in such constant -requisition by the Court, that his imprudence went unnoticed. The -“Masque of Darkness” was composed by the express command of Anne of -Denmark, who appeared in it as a negress, surrounded with the dark -beauties of her supposed African Court. The Queen, and the -“Daughters of Night,” as the noble dames who acted in that pageant -were called, were placed in a concave shell, seated one above -another in tiers; from the top of the shell, which represented -mother-of-pearl, hung a cheveron of light, which cast a bright beam -on these ladies; the shell was moving up and down upon the sea, and -in the billows appeared varied forms of sea-monsters, twelve in -number, each bearing a torch on his back. The Queen was attired in -azure and silver, with a curious head-dress of feathers, fastened -with ropes of pearl, which showed well as the loops fell on the -blackened throats of the masquers, who also wore ropes of pearl on -their arms and wrists. Inigo Jones is conjectured to have written -the directions for the costume of this masque.[211] Jonson now -received periodical sums, not only from the Court, but from public -bodies and private patrons. A year seldom passed without a Royal -progress; and we have seen how essential the poet had become to the -often impromptu revelries in which James I. continually indulged. -Yet Jonson wrote his plays and masques slowly. The “Fox” took him a -year to complete. His notion was that “a good poet’s made as well as -born.”[212] He worked out his own success, and his labours were -incessant. He had a practice of committing to his commonplace book -remarkable passages that struck him. Lord Falkland, one of the most -accomplished of the cavaliers, expressed his astonishment at the -variety and extreme copiousness of Jonson’s knowledge. If a pedantic -display of learning be imputed to Jonson, it must be remembered that -it was, probably, in compliance with the taste of his royal patron, -James, who delighted in exhibiting his classical proficiency; and -who, even on his death-bed, as we have seen, answered the learned -Prelate near him in Latin. It was during the first years of King -James’s reign that Jonson justified these classic allusions in his -“Masque and Barriers,” at the nuptials of the Earl of Essex to the -faithless bride, also married afterwards to Somerset. “Some,” he -says, “may squeamishly cry out, that all endeavours of learning and -sharpness in these transitory devises, where it steps beyond their -little (or let me not wrong them) no brain at all, is superfluous. I -am contented these fastidious stomachs should leave my full tables, -and enjoy at home their clean empty trenchers, fitted for such airy -tastes, where perhaps a few Italian herbs, picked up, and made into -a sallad, may find sweeter acceptance than all the sound meat of the -world.” - -Footnote 210: - - Gifford, p. 23. See note by Mr. Dyce, p. 23. - -Footnote 211: - - Introduction to Massinger, p. xv. - -Footnote 212: - - “Lines on Shakespere,” p. 552; Ben Jonson’s Works. - -These beautiful masques had the great advantage of being set to -music by Henry Lawes, the composer who secured immortality to his -name by the music of “Comus,” composed by him. Lawes was beginning -his career of fame when Buckingham first entered the Court. The son -of a vicar choral in Salisbury Cathedral, he rose to be first a -gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and afterwards Clerk of the Chapel, -and conductor of the private music of Charles I. Henry Lawes -sometimes took a part in the masques which he composed; and acted -the attendant spirit in “Comus.” His “ayres” and dialogues have -disappointed posterity. Yet he appears to have been almost the -father of English vocal music; and, as Milton declares-- - - “Taught our English music how to space - Word with just note and accent.” - -Music, like all the other delights of peace, languished during the -troublous times of the Rebellion, or flourished only on the -battle-field. Lawes was obliged to teach singing during that period; -but he lived to compose the coronation anthem for Charles II., and -to have a place of interment assigned to him in Westminster Abbey. -His brother, less happy, though a skilful musician also, and often -employed in conjunction with Henry Lawes, took up arms for Charles -I., in whose service he also lived, and to whom he was devoted, and -fell, fighting for his sovereign, at the siege of Chester. - -It was then the custom for certain great families to receive -musicians, as well as men of letters, in their houses, and to employ -them in their especial line--sometimes in hymeneal festivities, -sometimes in composing requiems. Thus the arts and sciences, poetry, -music, painting, and scenic decoration, were united, during the -life-time of George Villiers, in a degree never before or since -known in this country. Massinger, Ben Jonson, Lawes, Inigo Jones, -were at the service of the rich and noble, and awaited their -bidding. Shakspeare died just after George Villiers had received the -first public proof of Royal favour--the honour of knighthood;[213] -and the era of masques and revels began. Still, “a craving for -mental enjoyment,”[214] as well as that derived from the senses, was -diffused. - -Footnote 213: - - In 1615. Shakspeare died in 1616. - -Footnote 214: - - Hartley Coleridge’s “Life of Massinger.” - -The religious changes and controversies in the preceding reigns had -improved the intellect of the higher orders in England, by making -some portion of learning necessary to those either engaged in -polemical disputes, or who, conscientious, though unassuming, wished -to form their own opinions. There was an earnestness in the awakened -minds of that period. “It was a time of much vice, much folly, much -trouble--but it was an age of much energy.”[215] When, after the -middle of Elizabeth’s reign, the thirst for controversy abated, the -desire for cultivation, the love of poetry, and the taste for art -remained, took another direction, and tended to the improvement and -enlightenment of social life. The higher classes did much to exalt -these dawning predilections, until the rebellion came; after that -fearful convulsion, the diversions of the great were henceforth -debased in character, and their minds in taste. - -Footnote 215: - - Gifford’s “Life of Ben Jonson,” p. 59. - -Mary Countess of Pembroke was one of the earliest and most admired -of Ben Jonson’s friends. To her son William, the early adviser of -the Duke of Buckingham, Ben Jonson dedicated his “Book of Epigrams.” -It is therefore almost certain that, before Jonson had appeared in -public, as the composer of masques for the express entertainment of -the great favourite at Burleigh, he had met Villiers at Wilton, in -the society of their common friend, Lord Pembroke--“a man,” Lord -Clarendon writes, “very well-bred, and of excellent parts, and a -graceful speaker upon any subject, having a good proportion of -learning, and a ready wit to apply and enlarge upon it.” When we add -to this that the Earl was no cold, haughty, and pompous host, but -facetious, affable, generous, magnificent, as disinterested and -independent with the rich and great as he was unaffected and -courteous to the humble; when we remember what Wilton even then -was--the pride of the nation; when we reflect what and who were the -men who were welcomed to its hospitality--men, as Clarendon -observes, “of the most pregnant parts and understanding;” when we -think of Ben Jonson there--probably received as a guest--whilst -Massinger was still only the son of a retainer; when we picture -Inigo Jones with his pencil--the sketches which he drew, praised by -Vandyck; or hear the voices of the two brothers Henry and William -Lawes, singing to soft airs the verses of Ben Jonson--we must -believe that George Villiers had in such scenes, before he lost the -friendship of Pembroke, many delights greater than the wearisome -partiality of James, or even a communion with the then unformed mind -of Charles. - -A Platonic admiration for Christian, Countess of Devonshire, called -forth in verses the romantic gallantry of the Earl of Pembroke. One -cannot help rejoicing that Lawes set to music what Pembroke wrote:-- - - "Wrong not, dear Empress of my heart, - The merits of true passion, - With thinking that he feels no smart - Who sues for no compassion. - . . . . . . Silence in love betrays more woe - Than words, though ne’er so witty. - The beggar that is dumb, you know, - May challenge double pity."[216] - -Footnote 216: - - “Royal and Noble Authors,” vol. ii., p. 268. - -From the society of Wilton, Villiers went forth imbued with those -tastes which never yielded wholly to the grosser diversions in which -his Royal patron indulged. Whilst he retained the friendship of Lord -Pembroke, Villiers was, in all probability, learning to estimate the -conversation and works of Ben Jonson; and henceforth, the efforts of -the dramatist must, to a certain degree, be associated with the -influence and protection of the favourite. - -London, in spite of the repeated proclamations of King James, -tending to restrain its extent, and to keep the provincial gentry in -their homes, was now generally crowded at certain seasons. A number -of small theatres were erected in various parts of the city, in -order to supply entertainments to those who would have turned with -disgust, since a finer taste had been introduced by the Reformation, -from the old moralities. Shakspeare, happily, formed an engagement -to produce his pieces at one theatre, but Jonson was obliged to -carry his productions to various minor houses, until the success of -his masques enabled him to form a higher estimate of the value of -his powers. His lighter pieces are marked by grace and sweetness; -but these characteristics he “laid aside,” says Mr. Gifford, -“whenever he approached the stage, and put on the censor with the -sock.”[217] The excellence of the masque in Ben Jonson’s time, the -great and gifted actors by whom it was performed, the fancy which -was suffered to expand itself in these pieces, the scenic effect to -which so vast an expense was devoted, incline us to think, with -Gifford, “that all our ‘most splendid shows are at best but beggarly -parodies,’ in comparison with those in which the Cliffords and -Arundels, the Stanleys, the Russells, the Veres, and the Wroths; -‘danced in the fairy rings, in the gay and gallant circles of those -enchanting devices.’”[218] - -Footnote 217: - - “Life of Ben Jonson,” p. 63. - -Footnote 218: - - Ibid., p. 67. - -After the death of Shakspeare, Jonson received, by patent, a pension -of a hundred marks a-year from James. It is supposed that the honour -of the laureateship chiefly or solely belonged to him. Hitherto the -title seems to have been merely honorary, adopted at pleasure by any -poet who was appointed to write for the Court. It had been borne by -Daniel in the time of Elizabeth. It was on this occasion that Jonson -applied to Selden for information concerning the origin of the title -of laureate; and that Selden drew up expressly, and introduced into -the second part of his “Titles of Honours,” a long chapter on the -custom of giving crowns of laurel to poets; at the conclusion of -which he says, “Thus have I, by no unseasonable digression, -performed a promise to you, my beloved Ben Jonson--your curious -learning and judgment may correct where I have erred;” and adds, -“where my notes and memory have left me short.” A graceful and -enviable compliment from such a man. - -The triumphs of Jonson’s genius were interrupted by his journey to -Edinburgh in 1618--a journey which he performed _on foot_. Here he -was the guest of Drummond, the poet of Hawthornden--under whose roof -he passed the April of 1619. This journey was regarded as the -greatest misfortune of Jonson’s life; not only because during his -stay in Scotland his wife died, but because Drummond, amongst other -injuries, gave the following character of Ben Jonson to the -world:--[219] - -“For,” he says, “Ben Jonson was a great lover and praiser of -himself, a contemner and scorner of others, given rather to lose a -friend than a jest, jealous of every word and action of those about -him, especially after drink, which is one of the elements in which -he lived; a dissembler of the parts which reigned in him, a bragger -of some good that he wanted, thinketh nothing well done but what -either he himself or some of his friends have said or done. He is -passionately kind or angry, careless either to gain or keep; -vindictive, if he be well answered as himself; interprets best -sayings and deeds often to the worst. He was for any religion, as -being versed in both.” - -Footnote 219: - - Gifford’s “Ben Jonson,” p. 37. - -The conduct of Drummond, styled by Mr. Gifford, “a cankered -hypocrite,”[220] has been justified by others; his very hospitality -to Jonson is termed by the infuriated biographer, “decoying him into -his house.” Drummond acted, in a very slight degree, in the same -capacity to Jonson as that which Boswell, a century and a half -afterwards, undertook in regard to the more fortunate Samuel -Johnson, who found in _his_ listener an admirer, and not a foe. Both -these great men had the calamity of having every idle expression set -down for the curiosity of an after-age; and “old Ben,” as his -contemporaries called him in their jovial meetings at the Mermaid, -did not stand the test so well as “Old Samuel.” We cannot, however, -regard the visit to Scotland as the great misfortune of Ben Jonson’s -life, as the impassioned Gifford pronounces it.[221] - -Footnote 220: - - In Laing’s Preface to notes of Ben Jonson’s Conversation. - -Footnote 221: - - Note by Dyce; Gifford, p. 38. - -Jonson, however, returned to London, unconscious of all that after -his death so agitated the literary world in the eighteenth century -on his account. He met, as he wrote to Drummond, with a “most -Catholic welcome from King James,” who was then, like Jonson, a not -disconsolate widower. The poet was writing a poem for the funeral of -Queen Anne, who had just died, but was unburied. He was very keenly -engaged in beginning the “Discovery,” which was to contain a -description of Scotland; and he signed himself Drummond’s “true -friend and lover.” He received, in return, two letters full of -kindness and compliment from Drummond, whom Gifford himself, -incapable of an act of insincerity, styles thereupon, “hypocrite to -the last.” - -Ben Jonson was now invited by Bishop Corbet to Christ Church, -Oxford, where he was created Master of Arts. Thence he passed to -Burleigh-on-the-Hill and to Windsor, to see the performance of his -"Gypsies Metamorphosed"--and to introduce little compliments in each -piece, as the _dramatis personnæ_ were varied or augmented by the -accession of fresh actors and actresses. About this time he wrote -his poem on the “Ladies of England.” It was lost--a mischance which, -in the weakness of one’s nature, one is apt to regret more than the -destruction of a vast body of philological notes, the fruit of -twenty years’ labour, for which Mr. Gifford calls for especial -sympathy. - -Jonson was now made “Master of the Revells,” and was nearly being -knighted. He passed his time in going from one country seat to -another; every Twelfth-day he was ordered to produce, or to repeat a -masque. Charles I. was now rising to maturity, and, like his -deceased brother, Henry, he loved the poetry of Jonson, and the -fancy of Inigo Jones. The match-making propensities of King James -were as yet undeveloped, and had neither troubled his repose nor -maddened the nation into a dread of his mistakes. Villiers was -young, gay, and unmarried; and the world was at peace. Those were -happy and busy days for Jonson--yet, amid all his labours, he found -time to collect an excellent library. He was not only a collector, -but a lender of his books--an unusual combination; a man must be -generous, indeed, to unite the two characters; nay, he gave them -also, liberally, to those qualified to value the rare editions which -he bought. “I am fully warranted in saying,” Mr. Gifford writes, -“that more valuable books given to individuals by Jonson are yet to -be met with than by any person of that age. Scores of them have -fallen under my own observation, and I have heard of abundance of -others.”[222] This is rare praise. Nevertheless, since brilliant -success always has its alloy, it was the lot of Jonson to suffer -from the ingratitude of his coadjutor, Inigo Jones; and the excuse, -perhaps, of Inigo was, that he was tried and tempted by the temper -and irony of Jonson. Their quarrel was inconvenient, and must have -caused some trouble in the representation of those masques and -revels over which Jonson presided. - -Footnote 222: - - Life, p. 49. - -“Whoever was the aggressor,” says Horace Walpole, “the turbulence -and brutality of Jonson was sure to place him most in the wrong.” -This is a hard judgment. Let it be remembered that the circumstances -of the two men were different. Jonson was poor, diseased, and in -that miserable plight when a generous temper is continually checked -by pecuniary difficulties. Inigo Jones had realized a handsome -fortune, and was then in the full enjoyment of wealth and -reputation. Unfortunately he was a poet; some of the masques printed -had their joint names as the composers. Jealousies arose, which -ought to have soon subsided, had either of these celebrated men -known how to curb his wrath. In Jonson’s case, his temper was his -worst enemy; but for this defect he had an excuse which might have -pleaded for him even with Inigo. In 1625, Jonson composed for King -James “Pan’s Anniversary,” the last piece that he presented to that -monarch; towards the end of that year he was attacked with palsy, -and a threatening of dropsy added to his accumulated trials. Poverty -and ill-health are pleas for indulgence. For the first evil, -Jonson’s improvidence, his hospitality, his utter want of prudence -in his affairs, may justly be blamed. The last was also partially -his own fault, for his habits were intemperate--and partly -ascribable to an hereditarily diseased constitution. Nature, which -had endowed him with that wonderful intellect, that indomitable -energy, had modified her gift by the infliction of a cruel malady, -which, being in the blood, was aggravated by the weakness of -approaching age. The suppers at the Mermaid were now finally -abandoned; and the club at the Devil Tavern, near Temple Bar, was no -longer enlivened by his wit. His intellect was affected to some -extent, but he recovered sufficiently to write the anti-masque of -“Jophiel” for the Court; after which, none of his productions were -commanded by the King during the space of three years. In his -necessities, unable to leave his room, or to move without -assistance, the poor invalid turned to the theatre as a source of -revenue, and produced “The New Inn.” It was hissed from the stage; -and, notwithstanding the dramatist’s plea in his epilogue that he -was “sick and sad,” he was persecuted with contemptuous verses, and -pursued with remorseless cruelty by the many enemies that his rough -manners had excited--among them, Inigo was the most inveterate. - -There was, however, one kind heart that pitied him--that of Charles -I. The monarch was touched by the lines which the hard critics in -the theatre could hear without compassion:-- - - “If you expect more than you had to-night, - The Maker is sick and sad; he sent things fit - In all the numbers both of verse and wit, - If they have not miscarried: if they have, - All that his faint and faltering tongue doth crave - Is, that you not impute it to his brain-- - That’s yet unhurt, although set round with pain. - It cannot long hold out: all strength must yield; - Yet judgment would the last be in the field - With the true poet.” - -Charles sent him a hundred pounds: the poet, in the fulness of -gratitude, wrote "A petition from poor Ben to the best of monarchs, -masters, and men"--full of gaiety and good-humour, yet touching, -even in its sparkling wit. The petition prayed that His Majesty -would make his father’s “hundred marks a hundred pounds,” alluding -to the pension granted by King James. The petition was granted, and -in the patent by which the annuity was confirmed, it was said, -“especially to encourage Jonson to proceed in those services of his -wit and penn, which we have enjoined unto him.” - -A tierce of Canary accompanied this act of bounty. It was Jonson’s -favourite wine, and the King, from his private bounty, sent it to -the sick poet. It was to be a yearly gift, not only to Jonson, but -to his successors; and the wine--Spanish Canary--was to be taken -from his Majesty’s cellars at Whitehall, out of the stores of wine -“remaining therein.” Charles little anticipated that even his love -of the drama should be made a cause of reproach to him at his trial. -“Had the King but studied Scripture half as much as he studied Ben -Jonson or Shakspeare!” was the cry of the Puritans. - -Jonson might now have been tolerably happy, had not his former -coadjutor, Inigo, still borne him enmity for having, during the -preceding year, placed his own name before that of the royal -architect. The conduct of Jones in this respect has been placed in -its true light by a letter from a Mr. Perry to Sir Thomas -Pickering.[223] In that letter it is stated that Inigo used his -“predominant power” at Court to injure Jonson, then bed-ridden and -impoverished, as the poet was. Henceforth, Aurelian Townshend, a -poet scarcely known, was employed to invent the masques represented -at Court, in conjunction with Inigo Jones. - -Footnote 223: - - This was communicated to Gifford by the late Mr. D’Israeli, to - whom historical literature owes indeed much. - -The same year that was marked by the death of Buckingham witnessed -poor Jonson’s “fatal stroke,” as he termed it, of palsy. He never -recovered this attack of 1628, and his days were overclouded by -successive mortifications. Hitherto the city of London had given him -a pension for his services. At the very time when it was most needed -by the forlorn dramatist, it was withdrawn, but restored three years -afterwards. The office for which he received this annuity was that -of City Chronologer. The plea made for its cessation was that there -had been “no fruits of his labours in that his place,” which place -was to commemorate signal events; other sources of emolument were -also withheld, on the plea that the fruits of that now exhausted -brain were no longer forthcoming. - -But bright instances of compassion and generosity stood forth amid -all this gloom. Amongst the great patrons of the drama was William -Cavendish, the first Earl of Newcastle, declared by Cibber to be -“one of the most finished gentlemen and distinguished patriots of -his time.” He had been constituted governor to Prince Charles, for -whom he ever retained the most loyal affection. Of this nobleman it -was said that he understood horsemanship, music, and poetry; but -that he was a better horseman than a musician, a better musician -than a poet. His wife, the eccentric Margaret Lucas, wrote of him -that “his mind was above his fortune, his generosity above his -purse, his courage above danger, his justice above bribers, his -friendship above self-interest, his truth too firm for falsehood, -his temperance beyond temptation.” - -It was by no means prejudicial to the popularity of this fine -specimen of an English nobleman that “he was fitter to break Pegasus -for a _manège_ than to mount him on the steps of Parnassus.” He -wrote a work entitled, “A new Method and Extraordinary Invention to -Dress Horses and Work them according to Nature, as also to Perfect -Nature by the Subtlety of Art.” The work, a folio, was succeeded by -various comedies, several of them written when Lord Newcastle was in -banishment, and acted, after his return to England, at Blackfriars. -He wrote, it is said, in the manner of Ben Jonson, to whom he was a -kind patron. The Earl was a singular compound of military skill and -ardour with literary tastes; by him Sir William Davenant, -poet-laureate after Jonson’s death, was made Lieutenant-General of -the Ordnance.[224] - -Footnote 224: - - Grainger, Biog. Hist., vol. i., p. 194. - -His wife, who at the time Ben Jonson knew her was Countess of -Newcastle, and afterwards Duchess, is one of the most voluminous of -writers among the (now) long catalogue of literary ladies in this -country. She was at once ridiculous and estimable--a combination of -qualities painful to friends, but never acknowledged by her -husband, who revered her talents, and tried to defend what was -incomprehensible to the learned--her philosophy. In private life she -was reserved, living almost entirely among her books, or in -contemplation, or writing indefatigably. Even during the night, one -of the Duke’s secretaries is said to have slept on a truckle bed in -a closet in her bedroom, in order to be ready to answer any sudden -bursts of inspiration that might occur; and the summonses to John, -“to get up and write down her Grace’s suggestions,” were frequent -and wearisome. Kind, pious, charitable, generous, and really gifted, -though romantic and visionary, this excellent lady’s peculiarities -might have furnished Molière with a model for his “Precieuses -Ridicules;” but, to Ben Jonson, they were lessened by the vast -amount of amiability that welcomed the poet to her stately abode, -or, better still, relieved him in his poverty and want. - -When the Earl and Countess of Newcastle heard of the poet’s play -being condemned--when they learned that various copies of -complimentary verses had been addressed to him by admirers, pitying -his humiliation--the Earl, worthy of the name of Cavendish (so dear -to England), sent to request a transcript of them. The reply is very -touching:--[225] - -"MY NOBLEST LORD, and my Patron by Excellence--I have here obeyed -your commands, and sent you a packet of my own praises, which I -should not have done if I had any stock of modesty in store; but -‘obedience is better than sacrifice,’ and you command it. I am now -like an old bankrupt in wit, that am driven to pay debts on my -friends’ credit; and, for want of satisfying letters, to subscribe -bills of exchange. - - “Your devoted - “BEN JONSON. - - "4th February, 1632. - -“To the Right Hon. the Earl of Newcastle.” - -Footnote 225: - - Gifford, p. 48. - -Also note, same page:-- - -"MY NOBLEST LORD AND BEST PATRON--I send no borrowing epistle to -provoke your lordship, for I have neither fortune to repay, nor -security to engage, that will be taken; but I make a most humble -petition to your lordship’s bounty to succour my present necessities -this good time of Easter; and it shall conclude a begging request -hereafter on behalf of - - "Your truest bondsman and - "Most thankful servant, - “B. J.” - -One of these complimentary poems was written by Lucius Cary, Lord -Falkland--a patriot, a soldier, and a poet, the very model of that -refined spirit of chivalry which never recovered itself after the -Rebellion. There must have been consolation in such a strain, from -such a man; but poor “old Ben,” as he was now called, was almost -past consolation. He was engaged on another play, “The Majestic -Lady.” The world, who had then deemed the old man dead,[226] -received it as the injudicious effort of a mind enfeebled. Dryden, -even, who should have forborne from the poor triumph over him whom -he wrongly considered a “driveller and a show,” called these last -plays “Ben’s dotages;” but, though feebler than his former dramas, -they exhibit no traces of _dotage_--that invidious and almost cruel -expression.[227] - -Footnote 226: - - Gifford, p. 49. - -Footnote 227: - - With a gentler feeling, Charles Lamb made numerous extracts from - “The New Inn,” to show that the mind that produced the “Fox” was - still there.--Ibid. - -Sustained by the Earl of Newcastle, praised by the noble Falkland, -pensioned by the King, one might have supposed that Jonson’s last -days would have been peaceful, though no longer cheerful. But he had -debts; and he was forced--bed-ridden, shaken in body and mind--to -write on to the very last. His latest effort was an interlude -welcome of King Charles to Welbeck, on his way to Scotland; for -which a tribute from Jonson’s muse was commanded by the -ever-friendly and munificent Newcastle. - -The timely gratuity sent to the poet, when the interlude was -ordered, “fell,” he wrote, “like the dew of Heaven on his -necessities.” He wrote to his patron in terms of gratitude, warm and -expressive, and creditable to himself and that benefactor. - -He continued at his desk; and a fragment of the “Last Shepherd,” one -of his last efforts which is preserved, proves that his fancy was -unclouded. Hitherto it has been painful to trace his decay--to -record his distress; but now light came to his death-bed, and came -from on high. Penitence, prayer, conviction of the true faith in our -Holy Apostolic Church, confession of sins, hope, and rest--these -were the Heavenly lights that broke over the gloom of his latter -hours. - -Happily--and let the fact he impressively recorded--his parents had -carefully impressed on his infancy deep religious convictions. - -As he lay, neglected by his former associates, and even believed by -the worldly to be dead--and dead, indeed, was he to them--the -impressions of his duty to his Maker grew more frequent and stronger -in his affection.[228] - -Footnote 228: - - Gifford, p. 48. - -To the Bishop of Winchester, who visited him during his long -illness, he expressed the deepest contrition for having profaned the -sacred name of his Creator in his plays. His “remorse was poignant;” -and doubtless this sense of the responsibility which is devolved on -great talents, which comes to many too late, was the foundation of -his heartfelt penitence and sorrow. He died on the 5th of April, -1637--and on the 9th his remains were entombed in Westminster Abbey, -on the north side, just opposite the escutcheon of Robertus de Ros. -A common pavement stone was placed over his grave; but Sir John -Young, of Great Milton, Oxfordshire, passing through the Abbey, -noticed that the stone was without any inscription to mark where the -great poet lay. Sir John, or, as Aubrey calls him, “Jack” Young, -gave one of the workmen eighteen-pence to cut an inscription; and -the words, “O rare Ben Jonson!” were carved as a temporary -distinction. Meantime, the admirers of the deceased poet were -collecting a subscription to defray the expense of a suitable[229] -monument to “poor Ben;” but the Rebellion breaking out, the project -was abandoned, and the money returned to the subscribers. - -Footnote 229: - - Gifford. - -No fewer than thirty-four elegies on Ben Jonson were collected by -Dr. Duppa, the Bishop of Winchester, and published under the title -of “Jonson’s Verbius;” and amongst the authors were Lord Falkland, -Ford, Waller, George Donne, Lord Buckhurst, and other illustrious -names. But perhaps there is no tribute more gratifying to the -admirers of Ben Jonson than that of Taylor, the water-poet, who had -met him at Leith. Jonson, be it remembered, had walked to Edinburgh, -yet he could not see the humble poet without giving him what he -could ill afford to bestow. - -“At Leith,” says Taylor, “I found my long-approved and assured good -friend, Master Benjamin Jonson, at one Master John Stuart’s house. I -thank him for his great kindness; for at my taking leave of him, he -give me a piece of gold, of two-and-twenty shillings value, to drink -his health in England; and withall willed me to remember his kind -commendations to all his friends. So, with a friendly farewell, I -left him as well as I hope never to see him in a worse state; for he -is among noblemen and gentlemen that know his true worth, and their -own honours, where with much respective love he is entertained.” - -The sum, as Gifford remarks, was not, in those days, an -inconsiderable one; and there was something graceful and touching in -the kindness of one placed so high, as Jonson was in literary fame, -to the humbler poet. - -This sketch of Ben Jonson’s life and writings may serve to -illustrate the manners of those times, and the nature of that -society in which George Villiers lived. In every revel Buckingham -was the most distinguished courtier. In every masque, during King -James’s life, he played a part. He knew the poet at Wilton; there -can be little doubt that the friends of Villiers were the patrons of -poor Ben. The panegyrist of the Duke, Lord Clarendon, lived, as he -has himself declared, “many years on terms of the most friendly -intercourse with Jonson.” In that conversation, praised by this -historian “as very good, with men of most note,” Villiers must have -borne a part; whilst Camden and Selden mingled with poor Ben, with -the Sackvilles, the Sidneys, the Herberts, and the numerous family -of Villiers. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - -BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER--THEIR ORIGIN--THEIR JOINT - PRODUCTIONS--CHARACTER OF BISHOP FLETCHER--ANECDOTES ABOUT THE - USE OF TOBACCO--FORD, THE DRAMATIST--HOWELL--SIR HENRY - WOTTON--THE CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM CONSIDERED. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - -Among the young Templars who devoted themselves to the drama during -the times of George Villiers, was Francis Beaumont. Born in the same -county as that in which Buckingham’s family were settled, and -bearing the same name as the Duke’s mother, there is every -probability of there being some tie of consanguinity between the -poet and the peer. - -Beaumont, like his colleague Fletcher, was one of ancient and -honourable family; and, as such, entitled to be called to the Bar. -It might be satisfactory to some of the lovers of literature to find -that its pursuit, in the days of the Stuart Kings, was most -frequently the choice of men of high connections, and by them -considered as equal in position to the calling of the Bar, and far -superior to that of the Church, or of medicine. The personal tastes -of James, the passionate love of the drama evinced by Charles, by -Henrietta Maria, and by Villiers, encouraged aspiring men to a -display of genius which might have long been hidden in a lawyer’s -wig, or extinguished for ever beneath the coif. Men were less -shackled then by conventionalities than in the present day. - -The father of Francis Beaumont was one of the judges of the Court of -Common Pleas during the reign of Elizabeth, and the family seat was -Grace-Dieu, in Leicestershire. Two gifted sons emerged from this -ancient Manor-house to the universities--John Beaumont,[230] who -became a Gentleman Commoner at Broad-gate Hall, Oxford; and Francis, -who was educated at Cambridge. Both were entered at the Inns of -Court: Francis at the Inner Temple, the popular resort of Cambridge -men; John, however, retired to Grace-Dieu, married into the family -of Fortescue, and devoted his peaceful days to translations of the -classics, and to religious poems, which even Ben Jonson eulogized. -Amongst them is the “Crown of Thorns,” a poem in eight books. -Whether from Buckingham’s influence, or from his own merit, or from -both conjoined, is not known, but he was knighted by Charles in -1626. He survived that honour only two years, dying in the same year -in which Buckingham was killed. - -Footnote 230: - - For some particulars of Sir John Beaumont, see Appendix. - -His brother, Francis Beaumont, born in 1586, had a less peaceful -career. Endowed with no ordinary abilities, he became acquainted -with those whose example was not calculated to promote the due -attention to legal studies. Ben Jonson and John Fletcher were then -in favour with the public. Jonson in the decline of life, Fletcher -almost in the dawn of his celebrity. - -The Fletchers, like the Beaumonts, were a family of talent; and the -famous friendship, or partnership, which produced so much, and to -which we owe some of the most beautiful passages of poetry, linked -to the most unreadable, was the result of that community of tastes -and studies which is promoted by the education at an English -university. - -Fletcher, as well as Beaumont, had been at Cambridge; and his -father, Dr. Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, having been a -benefactor to Benet College, that society was chosen for his -matriculation. He came to London, and meeting, at some one or other -of the clubs, with Francis Beaumont, they wrote plays in concert. -Fletcher, who was ten years younger than his partner, had the most -wit, the greatest luxuriance of fancy, the most extended conception, -and lavish prodigality of improprieties. Beaumont had the soundest -judgment, and employed it in cutting down young Fletcher’s daring -flights of fancy. Both assisted in forming the plots; since Beaumont -happened to be the elder of the two, his name appears first in the -literary firm, but it ought, in strict propriety, to be Fletcher and -Beaumont, instead of Beaumont and Fletcher. - -They worked out the plots together; and one night, as they sat in a -tavern, concocting a play, Fletcher undertook “To kill the King.” He -was overheard by a waiter, who gave information of their traitorous -designs; instantly the two young men were apprehended, and all the -terrors of the law were before them--until they succeeded in -justifying themselves, when the affair ended in mirth. - -Beaumont, meantime, was gaining the confidence even of the -formidable Ben Jonson, who submitted some of his works to his -criticism before publication. The young lawyer had that skill in -forming plots which seems like a natural gift, and which even good -writers are unable to acquire; and he is said to have concocted some -of those on which Jonson’s plays are founded. - -Meantime, he wrote a little drama called “A Mask of Gray’s Inn -Gentleman,” and a poem entitled “The Inner Temple.” Jonson, grateful -for his aid, and admiring his talents, poured forth his delight in -these lines:-- - - “How I do love thee, Beaumont, and thy muse, - That unto me do’st such religion use - How I do fear myself that am not worth - The least indulgent thought thy pen drops forth; - At once thou mak’st me happy, and unmak’st; - And giving largely to me more than tak’st. - What fate is mine that so itself bereaves? - What fate is thine, that so thy friend deceives? - When, even there when most thou praisest me, - For writing better I must envy thee.” - -But, unhappily, Beaumont’s career was ended before he had attained -the age of thirty. He was buried in St. Benedict’s within St. -Peter’s, Westminster. No inscription on his tomb recalls the merits -so soon closed in death; but Bishop Corbet, the author of the “Grave -Poem,” and Sir John Beaumont, commemorated them in epitaphs which -are to be found in their works. Frances Beaumont, the poet’s only -daughter, survived him many years; but lost some of her father’s -manuscript poems as she went to Ireland by sea. Beaumont died in -1615, just at the crisis of Villiers’ early career, when he became -first the subject of King James’s notice. Notwithstanding his -premature death, his plays attained an almost unrivalled popularity. -Dryden tells us that they were the most popular entertainments of -the time--two of them being acted through the year for one of -Shakspeare’s or Jonson’s; there being, he adds, a certain gaiety in -the comedies of Beaumont and Fletcher, and a pathos in their serious -plays, which accorded with the taste or humour of all men. -Posterity, however, does not admit of the comparison; but it is -impossible to say whether, if the lives of these two dramatists had -been spared, their powers might not have enabled them far to exceed -even the fanciful and poetical works which they found time to -accomplish. - -Fletcher died of the plague, in 1625, at the age of forty-five, and -his remains were carried to the church of St. Mary Overie, where -those of Massinger were deposited--and it has been said that they -were both interred in the same tomb; but of this there is no -certainty. - -It is, perhaps, the greatest compliment we can pay to the present -state of society to say that the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher can -never be listened to by an English audience, as long as Englishwomen -have one principle of delicacy, or Englishmen any respect for -virtue, remaining. Those, however, who desire to judge of the -poetical power of Fletcher will delight in his poem of the “Faithful -Shepherdess,” which Milton thought worthy of imitation in his mask -of “Comus.” Little is known of John Fletcher personally; but he -lived in times when every nerve was touched by stirring events, and -when many of the old memories which clung to men’s minds were -dramatic and tragical. His father, when Dean of Peterborough, had -attended Mary, Queen of Scots, to her execution. The good man, -looking, perhaps, for that preferment which followed, and forgetting -the peril, the misery of sudden conversions, had urged the heroic -Queen to change her religion, even at that solemn hour when the -heart clings the most closely to the impressions of youth. He -repeated his arguments; then she begged him three or four times to -desist. “I was born,” she said, “in this religion--I have lived in -this religion--and am resolved to die in this religion.” - -In spite of his vehement Protestantism, the Bishop had some small -and great failings; he was an inveterate taker of tobacco, which was -then not only imported, but reared in Ireland and England. The -Bishop probably considered tobacco to be, as Burton, in his “Anatomy -of Melancholy,” describes it, “a vertuous herbe, if it be well -qualified, opportunely taken, and medecinally used;” but he did not -follow the advice of that admirable writer in the moderation with -which the snuff-box and the pipe should be indulged in. The prelate -fell into an excess in the use of tobacco, to which Camden, in his -History of England, imputed his death. The narcotic weed was indeed -one of those luxuries of the age, which was most abused in the time -of Buckingham. Burton anathematizes it--“as it is commonly used by -most men, who take it as tinkers do ale; ’tis a plague, a mischiefe, -a violent purger of goods, lands, healthe, hellish, devilish, damned -tobacco, the ruin and overthrow of bodye and soule.”[231] - -Footnote 231: - - Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” vol i., p. 235. - -But no considerations of this nature could either restrain Bishop -Fletcher, or convince the gallants of the day that they were ruining -either body or soul in their love of tobacco. It was very generally -employed in the form of snuff by both sexes in the seventeenth -century, and was allowed even in the royal presence.[232] “Before -the meat came smoking to the board,” says Dekker, “our gallant must -draw out his tobacco-box, and the ladle for the cold snuff into the -nostril, all which artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can -reach his several tricks in taking it, as the whiff, the ring, &c., -for these are complements that gain gentlemen no mean respect.”[233] -It was the custom to raise the snuff with a spoon to the nose; the -snuff or pouncet-box having been long in vogue, charged, before the -discovery of Ralegh, with cephalic powder, known since the time of -Herodotus:-- - - “He was perfumed like a milliner, - And ’twixt his finger and his thumb he held - A pouncet-box, which ever and anon - He gave his nose.”[234] - -Footnote 232: - - Stowe’s “Annals.” - -Footnote 233: - - Gull’s “Horn-book,” pp. 119, 120. - -Footnote 234: - - Henry IV. - -It was in vain that every power was combined to crush the practice -of smoking, of the inveteracy of which Bishop Fletcher affords a -memorable example. Monarchs united to oppose it, and it was even -condemned on religious grounds; but that plea made no impression on -Bishop Fletcher. Elizabeth had published an edict against it, -assigning as a reason that her subjects, by employing the same -luxuries as barbarians, would become barbarous. James I. published -his famous counterblast to tobacco, comparing it to the “horrible -Stygian smoake of the pit that is bottomless;” and imposed on it a -prohibitory duty of six shillings and eight-pence per pound on its -importation--an impost which Charles continued, making tobacco a -royal monopoly, as it still is in France and the Netherlands--the -duty having been only twopence a pound in the reign of Elizabeth. -Still smoking prevailed; Ralegh had introduced it after the return -of Sir Francis Drake from America, and all fashionable men practised -it. Villiers, more especially, was probably among the most -inveterate, after his residence in Spain; a pipe, a mug of ale, and -a nutmeg were the right style at the Mitre and the Mermaid; and -probably found toleration even in the hall of Burleigh, or at -New-hall. - -It seems hard to challenge the self-indulgence of Bishop Fletcher, -or to grudge him a luxury which assisted Sir Isaac Newton in his -contemplative mood, and soothed Hooker when a shrewish wife nearly -drove him mad with vexation. Nevertheless, smoking, or taking snuff, -is said to have ended Dr. Fletcher’s days. He had also trials of -another kind to his health. He was the bishop who offended Elizabeth -by taking a second wife, and that wife a handsome widow, Lady Baker, -of Kent. The Queen, thinking that one wife was enough for a bishop, -forbade him her presence, and ordered Archbishop Whitgift to suspend -him, and whether from her Majesty’s displeasure, or from the effects -of tobacco, he died suddenly in his chair; “being well, sick, and -dead in one quarter of an hour.” - -The family of Fletcher were largely imbued with poetic fervour. -Giles, the bishop’s brother, was a man of great learning; and his -two sons, John and Phineas, were conspicuous during the reign of -James I. for their learning and poetry. Phineas, whose name occurs -in the biography of Villiers, wrote “The Purple Island,” an -allegorical description of man--a much extended version of -“Spenser’s Allegory” in his second book. He also composed “Piscatory -Eclogues and Miscellanies;” and his time was divided between the -duties of his calling (for he was a clergyman) and the delight of -composition. His brother Giles was, says Anthony Wood, equally -“beloved of the muses and the graces.” The Fletchers were, indeed, -remarkable for their gifts. Benlowes, in his verses to Phineas, thus -expresses his sense of their family attributes:-- - - “For ’twere a stain, Nature’s, not thy own; - For thou art poet born; who know thee know it; - Thy brother, sire--thy very name’s a poet.” - -The fame of Giles Fletcher rests chiefly on his poem called -“Christ’s Victory,” which is printed with the “Purple Island” by his -brother Phineas. - -Another of the young lawyers whose genius irradiated the drama in -the time of Villiers--was John Ford, a great genius, and a prudent -man, as far as we can judge by the close of his career. Like -Fletcher and Beaumont, Ford was well-born, and had a great advantage -in being descended, on his mother’s side, from the Chief Justice -Popham. He came to London and entered at Gray’s Inn, then, as Stowe -tells us, “a goodly house,” now the very _acmé_ of dismal and -decaying dinginess. It was illumined by the presence of Lord Bacon, -as it had recently been by that of Lord Burleigh; and when Ford took -chambers in the Inn, there were pleasant gardens for the gay young -students, in which they could walk and ruminate at their leisure; -whilst Gray’s Inn Lane, furnished with fair buildings and many -tenements, as Stowe also tells us, opened on the north with a view -of the fields leading to Highgate and Hampstead; and there, too, -dwelt Hampden and Pym, the vicinity of whom must have stirred up the -spirits of the young disputants, whose ardour for liberty was -excited during the days of the Remonstrance--the time of -Buckingham’s impeachment--and in those when the first tax for the -navy was levied. - -Ford, however, cared little, it appears, for those stormy questions, -but much for the drama, and more for the law, to which he was -brought up, and in the practice of which he was wise enough to -continue. A young man of a dramatic turn had many temptations, in -those days, to sacrifice the hopes of a slow advancement for the -brilliant success of a poet’s career. Ford, however, had a staid -cousin at Gray’s Inn, at the time when he became a member of the -Middle Temple, in 1602. This relative, also a John Ford, persuaded -him “to stick to the law;” and Ford, in after-life, recorded the -obligation with gratitude. - -Ford’s first production was not dramatic. When only seventeen years -of age, he wrote “Fame’s Memorial,” a tribute to one of the most -popular, and at the same time one of the most unfortunate, noblemen -of the day. The fate of the ill-starred Charles Blount, Lord -Mountjoy--afterwards Earl of Devonshire--impressed the young poet so -forcibly as to impel him, without any personal knowledge of this -hero, to write this _In Memoriam_. “The life of Lord Mountjoy,” -remarks Hartley Coleridge, “is the finest subject of biography -unoccupied.” He was the generous rival of Essex, with whom, -nevertheless, he had in early life fought a duel. Blount being “a -very comely man,” attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth. He -distinguished himself at a tilt, and she sent him a chess-queen of -gold, enamelled, which he tied on his arm with a crimson ribbon. -Essex, on seeing this, laughed scornfully, and said, “Now I perceive -every fool must have a favour!” Blount challenged him, and they -fought at Marylebone, where the Earl was disarmed and wounded. -Nevertheless, the combatants became firm friends even in early life, -and, in their later days, generous rivals. - -Unhappily, an attachment was formed between the handsome Charles -Blount and the Lady Penelope, the sister of Essex. She was, however, -under the guardianship of what was then called the Court of Wards. -She was, therefore, forced to marry Lord Rich. The result was -melancholy; and she became henceforth the mistress of the brave, but -unhappy, Blount, now Lord Mountjoy, and their connection was well -known. On the death of Rich, the guilty pair were married by Laud, -then Bishop of London. King James, on that occasion, said to -Mountjoy, “You have married a fair woman with a foul heart.” Perhaps -he was too severe in his judgment, yet the gallant Mountjoy felt the -opprobrium. His worldly prospects were marred by the union; so long -as the attachment with Lady Penelope had been merely understood, the -world had received her, and honoured him; but, when they were -married, the guilty pair were slighted and contemned. “However -bitter the cup of duty may be, duty commands us to drink it even to -the dregs.”[235] The sentiment is just, and Mountjoy felt it so. His -error was redeemed by suffering. He died, it is said, of a broken -heart, having long pined away under neglect and mortification.[236] - -Footnote 235: - - Hartley Coleridge. - -Footnote 236: - - Ibid--Note. - -To the Lady Penelope, the survivor of this sad romance, Ford -addressed his “Fame’s Memorial.” Mountjoy’s great valour in -Ireland--of which he was the true conqueror--had won him undying -renown. His domestic life touched the young poet’s feelings; and -upon it he wrote his tragedy of the “Broken Heart.” _Penthea’s_ -lamentation for her “enforced marriage” recalls, in that exquisite -play, poor Lady Penelope’s story:-- - - "_Penthea._--How, Orgilus, by promise I was thine - The heavens do witness! - . . . . . How I do love thee - Yet, Orgilus, and yet, must best appear - In tendering thy freedom. - . . . . . Live, live happy-- - Happy in thy next choice. - And oh! when thou art married, think on me - With mercy, not contempt! I hope thy wife, - Hearing my story, will not scorn my fall. - Now let us part." - -For some time Ford merely assisted other dramatists in their -compositions; it was not until 1628 that he produced “The Lover’s -Melancholy,” which he dedicated to the “Noble Society of Gray’s -Inn.” This play was suggested by Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” -from which Ford, as well as Sterne, freely borrowed. After -describing the rapidity, the impelling necessity with which the -works of Massinger and Jonson were produced, it is agreeable to -think of an author who was able “to write up to his own ideal.” Ford -not only disdained all pandering to the public taste, but even -regarded the emolument arising from his plays as a secondary -consideration, after he was once fairly established in his -profession. Nor was it then thought incompatible to unite the -character of a play-writer with that of a lawyer. The Templars, and -other learned societies, were the great patrons of the drama. Often -were the quaint halls of the Temple and of Gray’s Inn formed into -temporary theatres for some favourite piece; and the talk of the -young Templar was always of Blackfriars, the Curtain, or the -Rose--of Will Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson, and Ford. - -Ford conceived that his powers lay in the delineation of dark and -horrible crimes; in the exhibition of a mysterious and hopeless -melancholy. The moral of his dramas, whatever aspect it may bear in -our days, was intended to be good; but the grossness of the times -marred that intention, and his works show how impossible it is to be -at once moral and indelicate. Even _Penthea_ in the “Broken Heart,” -exquisitely as her character is drawn, lessens our sympathy by -expressions which no woman of the present day would utter in the -presence of a lover, and that lover for ever severed from her by her -indissoluble bonds with another man. - -But Ford wrote in the spirit and language of his time, with a high -purpose, and a coarse taste. “His genius,” it has been well -remarked, “is as a telescope, ill-adapted for neighbouring objects, -but powerful to bring within the sphere of vision what nature has -wisely placed at an unsociable distance.”[237] - -Footnote 237: - - Hartley Coleridge. - -He chose for the subject of his historical play the story of “Perkin -Warbeck.” With great skill he made this hero believe in his own -royalty; and he has left in this play, according to the opinion of -good judges, the best specimen of an historical tragedy after -Shakspeare. - -Ford resembled Shakspeare in some particulars of his fate. Happier -in that than his associates, he was able to retire, at an early age, -to his native Devonshire, where, tradition says, he lived to old -age. It is stated that he married, and had children; but even of -this there is no certainty. One thing alone is clearly shown, even -in Ford’s dim history, that he regarded literature as the -relaxation, and not the labour of his life; that he steadily pursued -the profession in which untiring work, honourable conduct, and fair -talents generally find an ultimate reward; that he was independent -of patronage; that he could treat those to whom he addressed his -dedications as men whom he was complimenting, not benefactors whom -he was suing; and lastly, that he was able to leave the world of law -and letters before that world’s enjoyments had been exhausted, or -its disappointments had soured and wearied his spirit. - -His last play was the “Lady’s Trial;” but his fame chiefly rests on -“Perkin Warbeck” and the “Broken Heart.” It is a proof of the great -esteem entertained for genius by the Earl of Newcastle, “poor Ben’s” -patron, that he was also friendly to Ford, who dedicated “Perkin -Warbeck” to that nobleman. - -It was not only by necessitous men of obscure extraction that poetry -was cultivated in those times; on the contrary, some acquaintance -with the Muses, although not thought essential in those who would -fain rise to distinction as courtiers, was, at all events, deemed -ornamental and advantageous. The name of Thomas Carew was -distinguished in the reign of Charles I., as one of the most -intellectual of his young courtiers. - -He was a man of an ancient Gloucestershire family; a branch of that -race settled in Devonshire, and his education was that usually -assigned to youths of good birth and expectations. He was entered at -Corpus Christi College, in Oxford, and his academical career was -succeeded, as was customary in those times, by travelling. From the -grand tour, Carew returned replete with wit, fancy, and with a high -reputation for accomplishments. - -He was, therefore, almost instantly noticed by Charles I., and, it -is evident, enjoyed the favour of Buckingham, to whom he addressed -“Lines on the Lord Admiral’s recovery from sickness.” Charles made -him one of his gentlemen of the Bedchamber, and Sewer in -ordinary--appointments which brought the poet into an immediate -contact with the principal characters of the Court; and he became -the intimate associate of Lord Clarendon, the eulogist of -Villiers, and the friend of Ben Jonson. As a writer of love -sonnets, Carew has had few equals; and he may be termed, in that -respect, the Moore of his age. His charming qualities as a -companion, and the elegance of his verses, are praised by -Clarendon; whilst his contemporaries--even those less happy than -himself--saw in him, whom they declared to be one of a “mob of -gentlemen,” who aspired to be eminent in polite literature, one -whose career added lustre to the pursuits of literature. Strange -to say, Carew was beloved and extolled by his less fortunate -contemporaries; and even Ben Jonson gave him his meed of praise, -which Carew returned with sympathy and admiration. - -After Jonson’s unlucky play, “The New Inn,” had been hissed off the -stage, and Jonson had vented his rage in an ode, Carew addressed the -angry poet in lines full of good sense, wit, and good feeling; and -yet, he hints, with a sincerity as rare as it is fearless, that his -powers were somewhat weakened since poor Ben had brought out the -“Alchemist.” - - “And yet ’tis true - Thy cousin muse from the exalted line, - Touched by the alchemist, doth since decline - From that her zenith, and foretells a red - And blushing evening when she goes to bed; - Yet such as shall outshine the glimmering light - With which all stars shall gild the following night.” - -Again he adds:-- - - “Let others glut on the extorted praise - Of vulgar breath, trust thou to after-days: - Thy laboured works shall live when Time devours - The abortive offering of their hasty hours. - Thou art not of their rank--the quarrel lies - Within thine own verge; then let this suffice - The wiser world doth greater thee confess - Than all men else, than thyself only less.” - -Carew, notwithstanding the highly virtuous tone of the Court in -which he lived, led an irregular life; and lived to mourn, in deep -repentance, for that more than wasted portion of his existence, in -which he gave way to the worst parts of his otherwise fine nature. -When Ben Jonson had ceased to write, Carew was selected as the poet -most calculated to supply the place of that great genius in -providing masques for the Court. Only one, however, produced by him, -remains. It is called “Cœlum Britannicum.” - -Inigo Jones was again summoned to be one of the “Inventors,” to -place the masque on the stage, and Henry Lawes composed the airs, -and superintended the musical performance; but those to whose -splendour and genius the perfection of this species of entertainment -was owing, were no longer there. Villiers was gone; Ben Jonson had -virtually quitted “the detracting world,” which he had once defied -from his proud pre-eminence. The country was even then split up into -factions. Happily for himself, Carew escaped their outbreak. He died -in 1639, expressing heartfelt religious convictions and penitence. - -Amongst the gentlemen writers, as they were styled, was Edmund -Waller, who, at the time of Buckingham’s death, was a young man of -twenty-three years of age. The lines addressed by him to Charles I., -on the extraordinary composure which the King showed on hearing of -that event, are well known. Even then Waller had been a member of -Parliament, and had been elected to sit in that assembly whilst he -was in his seventeenth year. Waller’s circumstances, his destiny, -his views of life, his genius, his disposition, were as opposite to -those of Massinger and Ben Jonson as can possibly be conceived. He -seemed born a courtier; and every effort he made was to advance -himself at first in that career, and afterwards as a politician. His -first appearance as a poet, in his eighteenth year, was to -congratulate King James on the escape of Prince Charles at St. -Audera, when returning from Spain; and in this poem his polished -verses, perfected, he alleged, by the study of Fairfax’s “Tasso,” -were so turned as to excite the admiration of the literary world, by -whom he was deemed the model of English versifiers. But, in spite of -his alleged devotion to Charles, and notwithstanding his continuing -to sit in Parliament, Waller sheltered himself during the storm that -ensued, and went to study chemistry under the guidance of his -kinsman, Bishop Morley--emerging only from his retreat at -Beaconsfield to mingle in the delightful circle of wits and -incipient heroes of whom the noble Falkland was the centre. - -He married early; having, with a fortune of nearly four thousand -a-year, espoused a city heiress, who died and left him a widower at -the age of twenty-five. Then this accomplished man of the world -looked out for rank, and paid his addresses, poetically at all -events, to the lovely Dorothy Sidney, the eldest daughter of the -Earl of Sidney. He apostrophized her as Saccharissa. She was, or he -made her out to be, a proud and scornful beauty, and he turned to -his "Amoret"--Lady Sophia Murray; but, though well-born, rich, -favoured by Charles, and nephew of John Hampden by his mother’s -side, so that he seemed secure of rising under any faction, Waller’s -loves did not prosper in the direction to which he at first guided -them; for he was wise in his generation, and could control his -fancies by views of interest. - -He married, therefore, a second time, “loving, doubtless, wisely and -not too well;” but neither the name, condition, nor fortune of his -second wife is mentioned by his biographers. - -From this time Edmund Waller’s career was despicable. In his heart a -Royalist, he absented himself from the House of Commons whenever -there was a chance of his being of service to the King, or of his -committing himself. Yet he sent Charles a thousand gold pieces when -the Royal standard at Nottingham was set up--and concocted, with a -conspirator named Tomkyns, a plot for delivering the City and the -Parliament into the hands of the Royalists. Nevertheless, he had -been seconding “my Uncle Hampden” in the House, in his censure of -Ship-money. When his plot--still called in history Waller’s plot, -for he had the chief blame--when this base conspiracy, unworthy of -any cause, was discovered, Waller confessed everything, and -criminated everybody. Confounded with fear, he had yet the -consummate hypocrisy to talk of his “remorse of conscience,” adding -one to the long list of crimes which that abused word is called to -sanction or excuse. It is a satisfaction to know that he was nearly -being hanged--that he was expelled the House--fined ten thousand -pounds--and then “contemptuously suffered to go into exile.” Never -was that party more fortunate than in getting rid of such a man. - -He took refuge at Rouen, and lived there and in Paris until all his -wife’s jewels were sold--for on them he lived. He was, however, at -last allowed to return home, and again he sullied Beaconsfield with -his presence. He hastened to flatter Cromwell, and even to propose, -in his smooth and flattering verses, the substitution of a crown of -gold for bays:-- - - “His conquering head has no more room for bays, - Then let it be as the glad nation prays; - Let the rich ore be melted down, - And the State fix’d by making him a crown: - With ermine clad and purple, let him hold - A royal sceptre made of Spanish gold!” - -Cromwell, however, was far too wise to take the bait. The sycophant -thought it expedient to write an ode on his death--for he was not -certain that the great man’s power might not be perpetuated by his -son. The instant, however, that the Restoration placed Charles II. -on the throne, Waller was ready with his congratulatory ode. He -dwelt on the guilt of the Rebellion; and, except that the flavour of -spicy flattery was so poor as to provoke a _bon mot_ from Charles -II. he might have succeeded. “Poets,” said the witty monarch, -“succeed better in fiction than in truth.” But with Waller it was -all fiction. - -He was soon a favourite at that easy, merry court; his poetry caused -his unconquerable duplicity to be forgotten--or, if not forgotten, -looked on even complacently by courtiers who held all virtue to be -hypocrisy. He managed to please everybody; though a water-drinker, -he was the life of Bacchanalian parties. It is owing to Clarendon -that the renegade was not made Provost of Eton--a post for which he -had actually the audacity to ask. He thence became the friend and -ally of George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham, to whose age -and time, rather than that of the subject of this memoir, one would -gladly consign the apostate poet. - -One of his worst acts was to vote for the impeachment of Lord -Clarendon; and here one would gladly end the record of the misdeeds -of an able and accomplished man, distinguished almost as much for -his eloquence as for his poetic productions. But Waller lived on; he -was favoured by James II., who seems to have been cajoled by the -flatteries which his royal brother had detected. Waller again in -parliament, and now eighty years old, was permitted to speak -jocularly with the monarch. One day he called Queen Elizabeth, in -James’s presence, the “greatest woman in the world.” "I wonder," -answered his Majesty, “you should think so; but it must be allowed -she had a wise council.” - -"And when, sire," cried Waller, “did you ever hear of a fool -choosing a wise one?” - -When it was known that the veteran courtier was going to marry his -daughter to Dr. Birch, a clergyman, James sent a French gentleman to -ask him how he could think of marrying his daughter to a falling -church. - -“The King does me great honour,” was the reply, “to concern himself -about my affairs; but I have lived long enough to observe that this -falling church has got a trick of rising again.” - -He foresaw the coming crisis, but lived not to have an opportunity -of writing odes to William III. and his Queen. He now composed -“Divine Poems,” and began to think, at the age of eighty-three, that -possibly this world, and the courts of the Charles’s and James’s, -were not everything that there was to value in life. When he found -himself sinking, he said, “Take me to Coleshill” (his native place); -“I should be glad to die, like the stag, where I was roused.” - -He was, however, too near death to be removed; and he expired at -Beaconsfield, in October, 1678, and thus escaped being the witness -of another revolution. - -Such were some of the eminent contemporaries of George Villiers, in -an age so rich in intellectual force as to constitute it, in that -respect alone, one of the most remarkable periods of English -history. - -But there were, among the _literati_ of that day, two men whose -observations were peculiarly directed towards the career of -Villiers--these were James Howell, the letter-writer, and Sir Henry -Wotton. - -Howell’s well-known name is mixed up repeatedly in the various -passages of the Duke of Buckingham’s foreign life. Howell was the -son of a clergyman, at Abernant, in Carmarthenshire; was accordingly -entered at Jesus College, Oxford, the great emporium of the Jones’s, -Williams’s, Morgans, and Howells. - -He was, like many of his countrymen, “a true cosmopolite,” born, -says Anthony Wood, neither to “house, land, lease, or office.” He -had not the misfortune of having a position in life to lose, so he -went to London, and became, through the interest of Sir Robert -Mansel, steward to a glass-house in Bond Street, glass being a -monopoly; whilst his elder brother rose to be Bishop of Bristol. - -Glass being by no means in its perfection, the proprietors of the -work sent James Howell abroad, in order to hire foreign workmen, and -to buy the best materials for a manufacture which they wished to -improve; and James Howell joyfully accepted the mission. He -travelled into France, Holland, Flanders, Spain, and Italy; and, -setting off in 1619, encountered George Villiers in his French tour, -came across him in Spain, and heard of him all the good and bad that -he has detailed in his letters to England. - -He gave up his stewardship, and posted again into Spain, in 1623, -and was in that country when Charles I. and Buckingham were at -Madrid. Like persons in the pit of a great theatre, Howell, in his -half-commercial, half-diplomatic capacity, saw a great deal which -the actors in that brilliant scene overlooked. - -His ostensible reason for going to Spain was to reclaim a rich -English ship which had been seized by the Viceroy of Sardinia; his -real occupation was that of watching the Royal “wooer,” and his -scarcely less conspicuous companion, Buckingham. Meantime, Howell -was made a Fellow of Jesus College; and, in accepting this honour, -he said he “should reserve his Fellowship, and lay it by as a warm -garment against rough weather, should any fall on him.” And -certainly he was destined to experience the changes and chances of -fortune in no ordinary degree. He returned to London, and was -appointed secretary to Lord Scrope, who was made Lord-President of -the North. Howell, therefore, was transplanted to York; and, whilst -there, was chosen member for Richmond, an honour for which he had -not canvassed. He sat, therefore, in the parliament which opened in -1627--a session so important to Buckingham, and so fraught with -consequences to the country. - -Still, the apparently fortunate man was without any fixed -employment. He had, however, talents which were then rare in this -country; he spoke seven modern languages--and, without recording his -own remark, which borders on levity, on that score, it must be -admitted that few Englishmen either in that age or this can do the -same. His merits were, in this respect, estimated by Charles I., who -sent him in the quality of secretary to Robert, Earl of Leicester, -to Denmark, when it became necessary to condole with the King of -that State on the death of his consort, Charles’s Danish -grandmother. Next, Howell was despatched to France, and subsequently -to Ireland, where the Earl of Strafford appreciated his wonderful -industry, and welcomed him kindly; he was intrusted by that -ill-fated nobleman with business, first in Edinburgh and then in -London; but his hopes of rising were crushed by the ruin of -Strafford, and by the crash which ensued. - -Charles, however, again despatched him to France, and made him, on -his return, Clerk of the Council. - -Poor Howell now believed that he had secured a permanent post, a -fixed income, and a most agreeable residence, an apartment being -allotted to him in Whitehall. The greater part of the old Tudor -palace was then still standing; the noble gates built by Henry VIII. -remained; the Banqueting-house was partially finished; all but the -paintings by Vandyck, who was to have adorned the sides of that -room, now used as a chapel, with paintings of all the history and -procession of the Order of the Garter, were completed--that -symmetrical fragment stood then as it now stands. Charles I. could -as little have anticipated that George of Hanover would have made -the room he destined for Ben Jonson’s masques into a chapel, with -the apotheosis of James I. upon the ceiling, as he could have -foreseen that one day he should be led out from one of the windows -of the Banqueting-house to Whitehall-gate, where “cords to tie him -down to the block had been prepared, had he made any resistance to -that cruel and bloody stroke.”[238] - -Footnote 238: - - See Cunningham’s “London,” Art. “Whitehall,” from Dugdale’s - “Troubles in England.” - -Equally unconscious of his royal patron’s doom as of his own fate, -Howell established himself in that palace, the only danger of which -seemed to be the frequent inundations of the Thames, by which -Whitehall was often half submerged. But shortly afterwards the King -left that palace to which he never returned but as a captive; and -Howell also departed. But, coming back to London on private -business, he was, in 1643, thrown into prison, his papers were -seized, and he was committed in close custody to the Fleet. - -This ancient prison had been, until that time, a place of durance -for persons sentenced by the Council Table, then called the Court of -the Star Chamber--so that Howell had the additional vexation of -being apprehended by one of the warrants which he would himself have -issued had the troubles of the Rebellion never commenced;--had -things remained as they were when Lord Surrey suffered from its -pestilent atmosphere, and when the importunate Lady Dorset was -silenced in what was truly called by Surrey, “that noisome place.” - -The Star Chamber was, however, it appears, abolished before the time -when James Howell, descending Whitehall stairs, was rowed up the -river Fleet, to a gate as portentous in its aspect and associations -as the Traitor’s-gate at the Tower; and thence conducted to what was -afterwards called the Common side of the prison.[239] When the -letter-writer entered its miserable courts, the Fleet had lost the -dignity of a state prison for minor political offences, and was a -place for debtors, and divided into two sides, the Master’s side and -the Common side. In the Common side, to complete the horrors, was a -strong-room, or vault, which has been described “to be like those in -which the dead are interred, and wherein the bodies of persons dying -are usually deposited till the coroner’s inquest has passed them.” - -Footnote 239: - - See Cunningham, vol. i., p. 311. The Author cannot avoid - expressing obligations to this excellent work. - -Howell, as he entered the Common side, probably thought that he -might live to be one of the mute inhabitants of that ghastly -chamber--for he was not only suspected by the Parliament, but in -debt. Wood, indeed, ascribes his captivity wholly to the curse of -debt, brought on by his own extravagance; and since Howell, like -many public men of the day, had no “income but such as he scrambled -for,” and since it was an age of careless expenditure, Wood is, -perhaps, in this statement, as he generally is, correct. - -The character of the man of desultory life rose under the trial. -During five years the once free and happy James Howell lay in that -den of misery--rendered more miserable by all that was going on in -the world, of which he heard enough in his durance, perhaps too -much. During that period Charles was beheaded; the gay precincts of -Whitehall were stained with the blood of one whom Howell had -reverenced as a royalist, but whose advisers, Buckingham, Laud, and -Strafford, he had censured, as a man of the world, of sense and -candour, could not fail to do. Whilst he lay in the place where -Falkland had been sent for sending a challenge--where Prynne had -paid the penalty for his “Histriomastix,” Howell’s thoughts no doubt -reverted to the pleasant days of Charles’s youth, in the fields near -Madrid, where plumed knights ran a course--or to the arena of the -bull-fight. He dreamed, perhaps, of the incomparable Infanta, or of -the stately Philip, and his gallant, flattered, sanguine English -guests. - -But he did better. Howell is not the only writer who has tried to -bind up the wounds of a broken heart by authorship; or has succeeded -in dissipating the hours of a long imprisonment by communicating not -only with the world of letters, which was nearly extinct in general -literature during the first year of the Protectorate, but with those -among the free, the sympathetic, and the celebrated who remembered -the poor debtor in his cell. One of his most notable efforts was his -own epitaph, beginning-- - - “Here lies entomb’d a walking thing, - Whom Fortune with the Fates did fling - Between these walls.” - -He wrote now his “Familiar Letters, Domestic and Foreign,” wisely -putting no date on the epistles as to place. He composed also -"Casual Discourses and Interlocutions between Patricius and -Peregrin, touching the Distractions of the Times"--this work was the -result of the Battle of Edge Hill--“Parables reflecting on the -Times;” "England’s Tears for the Present War;" “Vindications of some -Passages reflecting upon himself in Mr. Prynne’s book called the -‘Popish Royal Favourite,’” a work which coupled his name with that -of Buckingham; and his “Epistolæ-Hoelianæ.” These works came out -year after year. It is said by Wood that most of Howell’s letters -were written in the Fleet, though some of them purported to have -been sent from Madrid and other places. The fact is, he wrote for -subsistence; and his works were popular and productive. His -statements may, indeed, have been made so long after the events they -relate occurred, as to render them doubtful; yet it is acknowledged -that they contain a good view of the actors in those stirring -times--whilst they are almost the only letters that still preserve -the memory of the writer among us. - -Most of his other writings were political; one of his imaginative -flights recalls, in the idea that originated it, the title of the -pleasant brochure, “_Voyage autour de ma chambre_,” in our own -times. Howell’s composition is styled, “A Nocturnal Progress; or, a -perambulation of such Countries in Christendom performed in one -night by strength of imagination.” All the titles of his works are -striking: “Winter Dream,” "A Trance, or News from Hell, brought -first to town by Mercurius Acheronticus;"--this was published in -1649, after the King’s death. He still, Royalist as he was, bore his -misfortunes cheerfully; yet his loyalty sank at last beneath the -pressure of starvation, and he yielded to expediency. It was not, -however, until 1653 that his constancy broke down, and that he -addressed to Oliver Cromwell his “Sober’s Inspections made into the -carriage and consult of the late Long Parliament.” One may know the -views he took from the title; but when he compliments the Lord -Protector, compares him to Charles Martel, and descends to flattery, -Howell loses our respect. Neither does he regain it by his “Cordial -for the Cavaliers,” published in 1660, and answered by the “Caveat -for the Cavaliers” of Sir Roger L’Estrange. - -Payne Fisher, who had been poet-laureate to Cromwell, edited -“Howell’s Works,” in which he calls the author the “prodigy of the -age for the variety of his writings.” These were forty in number, -and in “them all,” says Fisher, “there is something still new, -either in the matter, method, or fancy, and in an untrodden tract.” - -For the change of politics in the famous letter-writer his friends -were prepared, when, after the King’s death, he wrote with what some -call prudence, others pusillanimity, these words:--“I will attend -with patience how England will thrive, now that she is let blood in -the Basilican vein, and cured, as they say, of the King’s evil.” -Nevertheless, Howell was made Historiographer-Royal in England by -Charles II., who was so lenient to his enemies, so ungrateful to his -friends. The place was even created for him; but death soon caused -him to vacate it. He ended his chequered life in 1660, and-was -buried in the Temple Church. - -Among the few who remembered George Villiers with gratitude, or -who endeavoured to rescue his memory from opprobrium, Henry -Wotton, his biographer, appears in a conspicuous and favourable -light. Most of the eminent men of the time had been reared, and -even trained, to public service, during the reign of Elizabeth, -when strength of purpose, honesty, ability, and learning were -the grounds of promotion in all the minor, as well as in the -superior departments of the State. Henry Wotton, born in 1568, -at Bocton Hall,[240] in Kent, and descended from an ancient -family, was a thoroughly-educated English gentleman. After some -years’ instruction at Winchester School, he was entered at New -College, Oxford. Close to that grand old college was Hart Hall, -a sort of subsidiary establishment; and Wotton, perhaps from -being a freshman, had his rooms in Hart Hall Lane. Here his -chamber-fellow, as he was then called, was Richard Baker, the -historian, who was entered at the same time, and born the same -year, and whose predilections for letters resembled those of -young Henry Wotton. The inestimable advantage of a companionship -of such a nature cannot be too highly appreciated by those who -watch the dawning mind of youth, and who desire them to have -recourse to the only sure preventive of dissipation--employment. -Baker, well known for his Chronicle, was also a writer on -theological subjects, and a young man of sincere piety. His -friend Wotton was then less distinguished for historical studies -than for his wit and learning. For some reason, not explained, -he left New College, and established himself in the then -old-fashioned tenement of Queen’s College, in the High Street, -where he was soon complimented by being selected to write a play -for the inmates of that house to perform. He produced a tragedy -called “Tancredo,” which was declared to manifest, in a very -striking manner, his abilities for composition, his wit, and -knowledge. Thus, like the gay Templar, or the student of Gray’s -Inn, did the young Oxonian delight in the drama--which formed, -to borrow a French expression, a sort of _debût_ for wits; nor -did Baker, though serious and plodding, despise the drama; and -even when, in after life, he had been knighted at Theobald’s by -King James, and Baker’s reputation stood high, he vindicated the -stage against Prynne, in a work entitled “Theatrum Redivivum.” - -Footnote 240: - - Otherwise Bougton Place (or Palace). See Izaak Walton’s “Life of - Sir H. Wotton.” - -Wotton, after proceeding Master of Arts in his twentieth year, left -Oxford, and passed a year in France; and then going on to Geneva, -formed there the friendship of Casaubon and of Beza. He remained -nine years in Germany and Italy, and returned to England an -accomplished and enlightened, as well as a learned man; being, says -his biographer, “a dear lover of painting, sculpture, chemistry, and -architecture.” He was soon appreciated by Robert Devereux, Earl of -Essex, then high in favour with Elizabeth; and became one of that -nobleman’s secretaries, and the most devoted of his friends. The -parallel which he has left the world between Essex and Buckingham, -and which Lord Clarendon answered, is written with an enthusiasm for -the character of Wotton’s first patron, which can only have sprung -from intimate acquaintance, and from that true affection which -generous, impulsive natures, such as that of Essex, are likely to -inspire. - -With Essex, Wotton remained until his patron was apprehended and -attainted of treason; then he fled to France, and scarcely had he -landed there when he heard that the Earl had been beheaded. He took -refuge from solitude, and perhaps peril, in Florence, where the -Grand Duke[241] of Tuscany received him cordially. James I. was then -reigning over Scotland; a plot threatened his life, and the Grand -Duke having become aware of this, by some intercepted letters, sent -Wotton, in disguise, to warn James of his danger. Wotton spoke -Italian perfectly; he, therefore, assumed the name and dress of an -Italian, and, thus disguised, set off on his hazardous journey. -Having been so deeply concerned in the affairs of Essex, he did not -venture to pass into England. He travelled, therefore, into Norway, -and, by that route, reached Scotland. He found the King at Stirling, -and was introduced into his presence under the name of Octavio -Baldi. He soon found an opportunity of disclosing himself to the -King, and, after remaining three months in Scotland, he returned to -Florence. - -Footnote 241: - - Ferdinand I., of the House of Medici, who, in 1589, succeeded his - brother Francis. - -Queen Elizabeth’s death brought him back to England, where his -favour with the new King was ensured. When James I. saw Sir Edward -Wotton, he inquired if “he knew not Henry Wotton?” - -"I know him well," was the reply, “for he is my brother.” - -The King then asked where he was, and ordered him to be sent for. -When Wotton first saw his Majesty, James took him into his arms, and -saluted him by the name of Octavio Baldi; then he knighted him, and -nominated him Ambassador to Venice. But it was not easy, in those -days, to avoid giving offence. The new Ambassador, passing through -Augsburg, met there, amongst other learned men, his old friend, one -Christopher Flecamore, who requested him to write something in his -Album, a book which even then Germans usually carried about with -them; Sir Henry, complying, wrote a definition of an Ambassador in -the Album. The sentence was given in Latin, as being a language -common to all that erudite company, but the definition was, in -English, this--“An Ambassador is an honest man sent to _lie_ abroad -for the good of his country.” - -This sentence was imparted, eight years afterwards, to one of King -James’s literary opponents, a jealous Romanist priest, named -Scioppius, who printed it in a work directed against the royal -polemic, and which pretended to show upon what a degraded principle -a Protestant acted. The book reached King James, who had the -mortification of hearing that this definition of an ambassador, -which happened to be then the correct one, whatever may now be the -case, was exhibited in glass windows at Venice. For some time James -was displeased, but on receiving Sir Henry’s explanation, he forgave -him, saying that the delinquent “had commuted sufficiently for a -greater offence.” - -The various embassies in which Sir Henry Wotton was engaged detained -him abroad until 1623, when he came home finally. A great piece of -preferment was then vacant; and, by the influence of the Duke of -Buckingham, it was bestowed on Wotton. This was the post of Provost -of Eton; but one great obstacle presented itself--Wotton had been -everything that was useful and important, but he was not in orders; -nevertheless, anything could be accomplished in those days--he was -made a deacon, and held the Provostship from 1623 to 1639, when he -died. The appointment did no discredit to him who procured it, for -Wotton was an able, honest man, singularly liberal in his religious -tenets for his time. He ordered that upon his grave, in the Chapel -of Eton College, there should be a sentence, in Latin, decrying the -itch for disputation as the real disease of the Church. He was a -great enemy to disputation. On being asked, “Do you believe that a -Papist can be saved?” he answered, “_You_ may be saved without -knowing that; look to yourself.” When he heard some one railing at -the Romanists with stupid rancour, he said:--“Pray, sir, forbear, -till you have studied these points better. There is an Italian -proverb which says, ‘he that understands amiss concludes worse;’ -forbear of thinking that the farther you go from the Church of Rome -the nearer you are to God.” - -Nevertheless, he was, like most lenient judges of the faith of -others, a staunch adherent to his own. “Where was your religion to -be found before Luther?” wrote a jocose Priest at Rome, seeing Sir -Henry in an obscure corner of a church, listening to the beautiful -service of the Vespers, and enjoying the exquisite music of a faith -which appeals so much to the senses. “Where yours is not to be -found--in the written Word of God,” was the answer, scribbled on a -piece of paper underneath the interrogation. - -Another evening Sir Henry sent one of the choir boys to his priestly -friend with this question:--“Do you believe those many thousands of -poor Austrians damned who were excommunicated because the Pope and -the Duke of Venice could not agree about their temporalities?” To -which inquiry the priest wrote in French underneath--"_Excusez moi, -Monsieur._" - -Such was the man whom Buckingham favoured; and who afterwards repaid -the obligation by a beautiful, somewhat florid, but authentic -biographical account of the Duke’s origin, his rise, his dangers, -his services, and his death. Quaint but expressive language, genuine -enthusiasm, and personal acquaintance, render this sketch one of the -most delightful compositions of Sir Henry’s pen. In comparing him, -in prosperity and in adversity, to Essex, the master whom he loved, -Wotton pays the Duke of Buckingham what he conceived to be the -highest compliment. He was commencing a life of Martin Luther, and -intending to interweave in it a history of the Reformation in -Germany, when Charles I. prevailed on him to lay it aside, and to -begin a history of England. That undertaking has something -unfortunate associated with it. Rapin and Hume never lived to -complete their works. Mackintosh died after leaving a noble fragment -to increase our sorrow for his loss. Macaulay has expired before -half his glorious task has been given to the world. Sir Henry Wotton -had sketched out some short characters as materials, when his -intentions and Charles’s commands were frustrated by death. His -“Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, or a collection of Lives, Letters, and Poems, -with characters of sundry personages, and other incomparable pieces -of Language and Art, by the ever-memorable Sir Henry Wotton,”[242] -is a small octavo volume; yet large enough to create regret that one -of such rare powers and opportunities had not written, with the -candour of his nature, a history of the times in which he -flourished. His “State of Christendom, or a most exact and curious -discovery of many secret passages and hidden mysteries of the -times,” supplies in some measure that deficiency. - -Footnote 242: - - Collected and edited by Izaak Walton, in 1672. - -Successful in life, Wotton was, in his death, fortunate in being the -subject of an elegy from the pen of Cowley, then a young man of -twenty-one, at Trinity College, Cambridge.[243] - -Footnote 243: - - Cowley was born in 1618. - -If we except the encouragement given by the Duke of Buckingham to -the masque, and the preference evinced by him for literature as one -of the essential ingredients of civilized society, the progress of -letters, it must be avowed, has owed little to his direct -intervention. - -Clarendon, though at the time of the Duke’s death patronized by -Laud, was then a young lawyer, little more than twenty years of -age.[244] Being brought into contact with Archbishop Laud, during -the course of a cause in which he was even then retained by some -London merchants, Clarendon, at that time Edward Hyde, must not only -have heard much of Buckingham, but have known him personally; but -the public career of the future historian did not commence till -1640. As, however, Hyde then affected the fine gentleman and the man -of letters rather than the lawyer, he probably, in those characters, -had opportunities of seeing Buckingham on the same footing as that -on which he became acquainted with Falkland, Selden, Waller, Carew, -and others; but he owed nothing, as far as we can trace, to the -friendship of Villiers. - -Footnote 244: - - He was born in 1608, and was only seventeen when he began the - study of the law under his uncle, Sir Nicholas Hyde. - -Ralegh and Bacon were above the patronage of the favourite; the one -was suffered to die in prison, the other was long alienated from his -early admirer and sometime pupil, the Duke. Nevertheless, there were -not a few persons, as it has been seen, eminent as writers, who were -indirectly assisted and protected by Buckingham, and who paid him -the tribute of their gratitude or admiration. Still the aid he gave -to art was far more liberal than any that he afforded to letters. - - * * * * * - -Such is the view taken of the redeeming services performed to -society by a man who had much in his public career to be forgiven. -With respect to the acts to which he prompted Charles, to screen -himself, no defence can be offered: but for the general bearing of -that King’s conduct towards his Parliament, he must be deemed -irresponsible, since his death neither changed his Sovereign’s line -of principle, nor moderated his actions. Buckingham was less a man -of evil intentions than of expediency; to get out of a difficulty, -he imperiled the freedom of the people, and the safety of the Crown, -when he might bravely have courted inquiry, and profited by counsel. -It was one of his great misfortunes that he never made a true and -worthy friendship with any man so nearly his equal as to be able -frankly to advise him against what Clarendon calls the “current, or -rather the torrent, of his passions.” He was surrounded by needy -brothers, and influenced by an ambitious, unscrupulous mother. One -faithful friend would not only have saved him from many perils, but -might have prompted him to do “as transcendant worthy actions” as -any man in his sphere. In spite of prosperity, he was of a -persuadable nature; he was naturally candid, just, and generous; no -record remains of the temptation of money leading him to do any -unkind action. “If,” says Lord Clarendon, “he had an immoderate -ambition, it doth not appear that it was in his nature, or that he -brought it to the Court, but rather found it there. He needed no -ambition, who was so seated in the hearts of two such masters.” - -No man was more vilified in his private life than Buckingham. Like -all persons of weak principles and impulsive nature, he was at once -engaging and disappointing; warm-hearted one instant, selfish the -next; the idol of his family, whom he befriended unceasingly; the -object, during his life, of his young wife’s most devoted affection, -which he often forgot or betrayed. Nevertheless, whilst his moral -character was sullied by many blemishes, it was free from the -unblushing profligacy of some of his predecessors, and superior to -the hypocritical sensuality of his contemporary, Richelieu. Happily -for the age, the almost blameless early career of Charles enforced -that virtue should be respected, and that vice, where it existed, -should remain concealed. Buckingham probably owed to this necessity -much of what, at all events, may be endowed with the praise of -decorum. - -The popular error of many historians, who depict him as an arrogant -favourite, a remorseless extortioner, a reckless invader of liberty, -the minion of his own King, and the instrument of foreign Courts, -yields before the more intimate view of Buckingham’s character which -has been unfolded in the collections now laid open to all readers of -history. That he was impetuous, but kind in nature--careless of -forms, but courteous in spirit--led widely astray by mad passions, -yet returning in love and penitence to his home--is now confessed. -No instances have been found to substantiate against him charges of -corruption, such as that which was commonly practised in those days; -he was loaded with presents of land, of money--he spent freely what -had been thus bestowed--and the affection borne to him by his -dependents is the best earnest of his many good qualities as a -master and a patron. - -In his liberality to all around him, he is said by Wotton, who -thoroughly understood the noble nature which he compared to that of -Essex, to have been “cheerfully magnificent,” whilst he conferred -his favours with such a grace, that the manner was as gratifying as -the gift, “and men’s understandings were as much puzzled as their -wits.” - -His disposition was full of tenderness and compassion. The man who -fell by the assassin’s hand had a horror of capital punishment, -“Those,” Lord Clarendon observes, “who think the laws dead if they -are not severely executed, censured him for being too merciful; and -he believed, doubtless, hanging the worst use a man could be put -to.” Consistent with this sweetness of character were his affability -and gentleness to men younger than himself, as well as his ready -forgiveness of injuries, an “easiness to reconcilement,” which -caused him even too soon to forget the circumstances of affronts and -evil deeds, and, therefore, exposed him to a repetition. - -Of all the imputations which were fixed on Buckingham, that of a -desire to enrich himself, from motives of avarice, is the most -completely refuted by facts. During the four years that he enjoyed -the unbounded confidence of Charles I. he became every day poorer. -His affairs were investigated, and the result was proved. It is, -indeed, a question, and a very serious one,--how far any man is -justified in spending, even on noble purposes, and certainly not in -mere show, largely beyond his income, as Buckingham did; but his -conduct is, at all events, more pardonable than the mere desire to -collect a great fortune, from sources which he seems to have -considered should be expended either in doing honour to his -Sovereign abroad in his embassies--a notion paramount in those days, -though out of date in ours--or by the encouragement of arts and -sciences, and the duties of hospitality at home. - -When we recapitulate the errors of this celebrated man--his -omissions, his sins, his want of good faith, his overlooking the -benefits he might have conferred on his country, until it was almost -too late for repentance, his sacrifice of his Sovereign’s best -interests to his own will--we must, at the same time, admit great -extenuation. No mercy was shown to his faults by the historians of -his time, nor of the age succeeding; they wrote under a sense of the -deep injuries from which the Rebellion received its first impulse. -We must not look for fairness in such a ferment. Even after the tomb -had long been closed over his remains, it was scarcely safe, -certainly scarcely prudent, to palliate the faults, or to place the -virtues of Buckingham in a fair light. We have now, however, the -satisfactory assurance that Buckingham was conscious of his faults; -contrite for his misdeeds; and earnest in his resolution to repair -them, had his life been spared.[245] - -Footnote 245: - - State Papers, vol. cxiv., No. 17; August 27, 1627. Calendar, - edited by Mr. Bruce. - -Lord Clarendon closes his “Disparity” between the Earl of Essex and -the Duke of Buckingham in these words:-- - -“He that shall continue this argument further may haply begin his -parallel after their deaths, and not unfitly. He may say that they -were both as mighty in obligations as any subjects; and both their -memories and families as unrecompensed by such as they had raised. -He may tell you of the clients that buried the pictures of the one, -and defaced the arms of the other, lest they might be too long -suspected for their dependants, and find disadvantage by being -honest to their memories. He may tell you of some that drew -strangers to their houses, lest they might find the track of their -own footsteps, that might upbraid them with their former attendance. -He may say that both their memories shall have a reverend fervour -with all posterity, and all nations. He may tell you many more -particulars, which I dare not do.” - - - - - APPENDIX. - - APPENDIX. - - -In the Calendar edited by Mr. Bruce (1859), there are the following -details, amongst other curious particulars, of the state of affairs -after the Duke of Buckingham’s unfortunate expedition to Rhé:-- - -"Lionel Sharp to Buckingham, reports his sermon preached (at St -Margaret’s, Westminster), in which he had alluded to the censure -thrown upon the Duke for his late failure at Rhé, and had declared -that he who had ventured all that was dearest in the world for a -foreign church, would, if he ‘had as many lives as hairs,’ venture -them all for his own, with other laudatory personal allusions to the -Duke. Is ready to ‘do the rest’ within two days, ‘if he may have the -place in Westminster, or on Sunday next.’"--_Vol. cii., Domestic, -No. 76, April, 1628._ - -This is a singular letter, not only as showing the alarm which led -the Duke to have recourse to the Elizabeth plan of “tuning the -pulpits,” but also as an instance of the almost impious mixture of -political and worldly affairs with sacred subjects. - - SECOND ATTEMPT ON LA ROCHELLE. - -_Sir Henry Palmer to Secretary Nicholas, from on board the -“Garland,” before La Rochelle, under the Earl of Denbigh_:--"In this -letter Sir Henry states that what was here given out to be feasible -they find directly impossible. On the approach of the English Fleet, -the French retreated under their ordnance. The palisadoes across the -river described. The Council of War determined that they should put -out to sea, and spend their victual abroad. Lord Denbigh cruising -between Ushant and Scilly. The writer between Portsmouth and Cape La -Hogue. No man but looked back upon the poor town but with eyes of -pity, though not able to help them."--_Vol. ciii., No. 50, May 8, -1628._ - -_Letter from the Earl of Denbigh to the same._--"Men have ever been -the censure of the world who are unsuccessful from public -employments. Misinformation has been the cause of this misfortune. -They found Rochelle so blocked up, that in eight days’ stay they -never heard from them. The palisado is so strengthened with two -floats of ships, both within and without, moored and fastened -together from their ports to half-mast high, that, lying in shoal -water, it is impossible to be forced."--_Vol. ciii., No. 57, dated -May 9, at sea._ - -Various letters seem to clear Lord Denbigh of cowardice in turning -back. See letters from Rowland Woodward to Francis Windebank. "The -report is, that Lord Denbigh was overruled by Ned Clarke, that would -not hazard the Fleet. The King was never seen to be so much moved, -saying, ‘if the ships had been lost, he had timber enough to build -more.’"--_Vol. civ., No. 47._ - -In a letter from Sir Henry Hungate to William, Earl of Denbigh, it -is stated, "the King’s pleasure is that not a single man should go -ashore."--_Vol. civ., No. 69._ - - RESPECTING THE “REMONSTRANCE.” - -"Message on Wednesday from the King, that he would not yield to any -alteration in his answer, but would close the Session on the 11th -inst. The house proceeded with the Remonstrance, until another -message, which absolutely forbade them to do so. Scene which -ensued:--Most part of the house _fell a-weeping_. Sir Robert Philips -could not speak for weeping. Others blamed those that wept, and said -they had swords to cut the throats of the King’s enemies. - -"That afternoon the King and the Lords were in council from two to -eight on the question whether the Parliament should be dissolved. -The negative was resolved on. On the following morning the Speaker -explained away his message, and the house proceeded with the -Remonstrance. The King agreed thereunto, and came that afternoon, -gave the customary royal assent, adding other observations which are -repeated. It is impossible to express with what joy this was heard, -nor what joy it causes in the city, where they are making bonfires -at every door, such as was never seen but upon his Majesty’s return -from Spain."--_Letter from Sir Francis Nethersole to the Queen of -Bohemia, vol. cvi., No. 55, dated June 5. The Strand._ - -"Sends a copy of the Remonstrance of the Commons. It was presented -to the King on Tuesday last. The Duke was present in the -Banqueting-house at the time, and on his Majesty rising from his -chair, kneeled down, with a purpose, it was conceived, to have -besought his Majesty to say something. But the King, saying only -‘No,’ took him up with his hand, which the Duke kissed, and so his -Majesty retired. This was all that passed at the time, and all that -is like to come of the Remonstrance. His Majesty’s favour to the -Duke is no way diminished, but the ill-will of the people is like to -be much increased."--_The same to the same, vol. cvii., No. 78, June -19. The Strand._ - - DEATH OF BUCKINGHAM. - -Some further particulars of this event and its effects are related -in a letter from Sir Francis Nethersole to James Earl of Carlisle. - -“The King took the Duke’s death very heavily, keeping his chamber -that day, as is well to be believed. But the base multitude in the -town drink healths to Felton, and these are infinitely more cheerful -than sad faces of better degrees.” - - FELTON. - -_Examination of Richard Harward_:--"George Willoughby taught him to -write. Saw Felton at Willoughby’s within a month; Felton complained -of the Duke as a cause why he lost a captain’s place, and the -obstacle why he could not get his pay, being four score and odd -pounds. Went together to the Windmill, where examinant read the -Remonstrance to him, and Felton took it and carried it away."--_Vol. -cxiv., No. 128._ - -"Sir Robert Savage committed to the Tower for saying that if Felton -had not killed the Duke he would have done it."--_Vol. cxvi., No. -95, Sept. 10, 1628._ - -Report by Dr. Brian Duppa of an interview held by himself and others -with John Felton in the Tower. (Dr. Duppa was afterwards tutor to -Charles II.):-- - -"On stating to him that though he had no mercy on the Duke, the King -had so much compassion on his soul as to give directions to send -divines to draw him to a feeling of the horror of his sin, he fell -on his knees with humble acknowledgment of so great grace to him. -Throughout he confessed his offence to be a fearful and crying sin; -attributed it, “upon his soul, to nothing but the Remonstrance.” -Being asked whether some dangerous propositions, found in his -handwriting, had not stimulated him, he denied, saying they were -gathered long ago out a book called the “Soldier’s Epistles.” He -denied that any creature knew of his resolution but himself, and -requested that he might do some public penance before his death, in -sackcloth, with ashes on his head, and ropes about his neck."--_Vol. -cxvi., No. 101, Sept. 2, 1628._ - -Felton, it appears, had two letters found in his bag, perhaps -duplicates. The knife was sewed into his dress. It appears that -Felton was, at one time, puffed up by the popular applause. The -state of rabid enmity to the Duke existing in the country, was -exhibited in inhuman verses on his death, such as these:-- - - “Make haste, I pray thee; launch out your ships with speed; - Our noble Duke had never greater need - Of sudden succour, and these vessels must - Be his main help, for there’s his only trust.” - -Satire upon the Duke, beginning-- - - “And art thou dead, who whilom thought’st thy state - To be exempted from the power of Fate? - Thou that but yesterday, illustrious, bright, - And like the sun, did’st with thy pregnant light - Illuminate other orbs?” - -One of the poems of the day excited more than ordinary attention. It -was addressed by the writer to “his confined friend, Mr. John -Felton!” Suspicion fell on Ben Jonson; and even in the house of his -friend, Sir Robert Cotton, the belief that he had written the poem -found credence. Jonson was then paralytic, and his mind may have -been somewhat embittered, perhaps enfeebled, but he was guiltless of -this act of ingratitude to his deceased patron, and to his living -sovereign, King Charles. His examination upon this charge is, as Mr. -Bruce remarks in his preface, p. 8, ix., a new incident in Jonson’s -life. The original examination before the Attorney-General is to be -found in the Calendar before referred to, vol. cxix., No. 33. See -Preface by Mr. Bruce, p. 9. - -"The examination of Benjamin Jonson, of Westminster, gentleman, -taken this 26th day of October, 1628, by me, Sir Robert Heath, his -Majesty’s Attorney-General:-- - -"The said examinant being asked whether he had ever seen -certain verses beginning thus--‘Enjoy thy bondage,‘ and ending -thus--‘England’s ransom here doth lie,’ and entitled thus--‘To -his confined friend,’ &c., and the papers of these verses -being showed unto him, he answereth that he hath seen the like -verses to these. And being asked where he saw them, he saith, -at Sir Robert Cotton’s house, as he often doth, the papers of -these verses lying there upon the table after dinner. This -examinant was asked concerning these verses as if himself had -been the author thereof; thereupon this examinant read them, -and condemned them, and with deep protestations affirmed that -they were not made by him, nor did he know who made them, or -had ever seen or heard them before. And the like protestations -he now maketh upon his Christianity and hope of salvation. He -saith he took no copy of them, nor ever had copy of them. He -saith he hath heard of them since, but ever with detestation. -He being further asked whether he doth know who made or hath -heard who made them, he answereth he doth not know, but he -hath heard by common fame that one Mr. Townley should make -them, but he confesseth truly that he cannot name any one -singular person who hath reported it. Being asked of what -quality that Mr. Townley is, he saith his name is Zouch -Townley; he is a scholar, and a divine by profession, and a -preacher, but where he liveth or abideth he knoweth not, but -he is a student of Christ Church in Oxford. - -“Being further asked whether he gave a dagger to the said Mr. -Townley, and upon what occasion, and when, he answereth, that on a -Sunday after this examinant had heard the said Mr. Townley preach at -St. Margaret’s Church in Westminster, Mr. Townley, taking a liking -to a dagger with a white haft which this examinant ordinarily wore -at his girdle, and was given to this examinant, this examinant gave -it to him two nights after, being invited by Mr. Townley to supper, -but without any circumstance and without any relation to those or -any other verses; for this examinant is well assured this was so -done before he saw those verses, or had heard of them; and this -examinant doth not remember that since he hath seen Mr. Townley. - - ”BEN JONSON." - -Zouch Townley, to whom the verses were ascribed, was one of the -Townleys of Cheshire. He escaped a prosecution, with which he was -threatened in the Star-chamber, by taking refuge at the Hague. He -was evidently on terms of intimacy with Jonson, to whom he addressed -commendatory verses, beginning-- - - “Ben, - The world is much in debt, and though it may - Some petty reckonings to small poets pay, - Pardon if at thy glorious sum they stick, - Being too large for their arithmetic.” - -It is agreeable to find that Ben Jonson stands wholly acquitted of -the charge of being the writer of the offensive and discreditable -verses in question. - - ---------- - -The following letter from Edmund Windham to Dr. Plot, author of the -history of Staffordshire, relative to the ghost story related by -Clarendon, is taken from the “Biographia Britannica”:-- - -"SIR--According to your desire and my promise, I have written downe -what I remember (divers things being slipt out of my memory) of the -relation made me by Mr. Nicholas Towse, concerning the apparition -which visited him about 1627. - -"I and my wife, upon occasion being in London, lay at my brother’s, -Pym’s, house, without Bishopsgate, which was next house unto Mr. -Nicholas Towse’s, who was his kinsman and familiar acquaintance--in -consideration of whose society and friendship he took a house in -that place; the said Towse being a very fine musician and very good -company--for aught I ever saw or heard, a virtuous, religious, and -well-disposed gentleman. About that time, the said Mr Towse told me -that, one night being in bed and perfectly waking, and a candle -burning by him (as he usually had), there came into his chamber, and -stood by his bed-side, an old gentleman, in such a habit as was in -use in Queen Elizabeth’s time; at whose first appearance Mr. Towse -was very much troubled; but after a little while, recollecting -himself, he demanded of him in the name of God, _What he -was?--whether he were a man?_ And the Apparition replied, _Noe_. -Then he asked him _if he were a devil_? And the Apparition answered, -_Noe_. Then said Mr. Towse, _In the name of God, what art thou -then_? And, as I remember, Mr. Towse told me that the Apparition -answered him that _he was the ghost of Sir George Villiers, father -to the then Duke of Buckingham, whom he might very well remember, -since he went to schole at such a place in Leicestershire_--naming -the place, which I have forgotten. And Mr. Towse told me that the -Apparition had perfectly the resemblance of the said Sir George -Villiers in all respects, and in the same habit that he had often -seen him wear in his lifetime. The said Apparition also told him -that he could not but remember the much kindness that he, the said -Sir George Villiers, had expressed to him whilst he was a scholar in -Leicestershire, as aforesaid; and that, out of that consideration, -he believed that he loved him, and that therefore he made choice of -him, the said Mr. Towse, to deliver a message to his son, the Duke -of Buckingham, thereby to prevent such mischief as would otherwise -befall the said Duke, whereby he would be inevitably ruined. And -then, as I remember Mr. Towse told me, that the Apparition -instructed him what message he should deliver to the Duke; unto -which Mr. Towse replied that he should be very unwilling to go to -the Duke of Bucks upon such an errand, whereby he should gaine -nothing but reproach and contempt, and be esteemed a madman, and -therefore desired to be excused from the employment. But the -Apparition prest him with much earnestness to undertake it, telling -him that the circumstances and secret discoveries (which he should -be able to make to the Duke of such passages in the course of his -life which were known to none but himselfe) would make it appeare -that his message was not the fancy of a distempered braine, but a -reality. And so the Apparition tooke his leave of him for that -night, telling him that he would give him leave to consider until -the next night, and then he would come to receive his answer, -whether he would undertake his message to the Duke of Buckingham or -noe. Mr. Towse passed the next day with much trouble and perplexity, -debateing and reasoning with himselfe whether he should deliver this -message to the Duke of Buckingham or not; but in the conclusion he -resolved to doe it. And the next night, when the Apparition came, he -gave his answer accordingly, and then received full instructions. - -"After which Mr. Towse went and found out Sir Thomas Bludder and Sir -Ralph Freeman, by whom he was brought to the Duke of Buckingham, and -had several private and long audiences of him. I myselfe, by the -favour of a friend, was once admitted to see him in private -conference with the Duke, where (although I heard not their -discourse) I observed much earnestness in their actions and -gestures. After which conference Mr. Towse told me that the Duke -would not follow the advice that was given him, which was (as I -remember) that he intimated the casting off and rejection of some -men who had great interest in him--and, as I take it, he named -Bishop Laud; and that he, the Duke, was to do some popular acts in -the ensueing parliament, of which the Duke would have had Mr. Towse -to have been a Burgess, but he refused it, alledging that, unless -the Duke had followed his directions, he must doe him hurt if he -were of the parliament. Mr. Towse also then told me that the Duke -confessed that he had told him those things that no creature knew -but himselfe, and that none but God or the Divell could reveale to -him. The Duke offered Mr. Towse to have the King knighte him, and to -have given him preferment (as he told me), but that he refused it, -saying that, unless he would follow his advice, he should receive -nothing from him. Mr. Towse, when he made this relation, told me the -Duke would inevitably be destroyed before such a time (which he then -named), and accordingly the Duke’s death happened before that time. -He likewise told me that he had written downe all the discourses he -had had with the Apparition; and that _at last his comeing to him -was so familiar, that he was as little troubled with it as if it had -been a friend or acquaintance that had come to visit him_. Mr. Towse -told me further, that the Archbishop (then Bishop of London) Dr. -Laud, should, by his counsels, be the author of a very great trouble -to the kingdome, by which it should be reduced to that extremity of -disorder and confusion that it should seem to be past all hope of -recovery without a miracle; but yet, when all people were in -despaire of happy days againe, the kingdome should suddenly be -reduced and resettled again in a most happy condition. - -"At this time my father Pym was in trouble, and committed to the -Gatehouse by the Lords of the Councill, about a quarrel between him -and the Lord Pawlett, upon which one night I sayd unto my cousin -Towse, by way of jest, _I pray you ask your Apparition what shall -become of my father Pym’s business_?--which he promised to doe; and -the next day told me that my father Pym’s enemies were ashamed of -their malicious prosecution, and that he would be at liberty within -a weeke, or some few days, which happened accordingly. - -"Mr. Towse’s wife (since his death) told me that her husband and -she, living in Windsor Castle, where he had an office, that summer -the Duke of Buckingham was killed, told her the very day that the -Duke was set upon by the mutinous mariners in Portsmouth, saying the -... would be his death, which accordingly fell out--and that at the -very instant the Duke was killed (as upon strict enquiry they found -afterwards) Mr. Towse, sitting amongst some company, suddenly -started up and said, _The Duke of Buckingham is slain_. Mr. Towse -lived not long after; which is as much as I can remember of this -Apparition, which, according to your desire, is written by, - - “Sir, yours, &c., - “EDMUND WINDHAM. - -“Boulogne, Aug. 5, 1652.” - - ---------- - -The following letter has been adduced as a proof that Villiers owed -his favour with Charles to an incident in the Monarch’s early -life--his sole dereliction from propriety, as it is said. -Buckingham, it is said, was Charles’s confidant, and mediator -between him and King James:-- - -"Steenie, I have nothing now to wryte to you, but to give you -thankes bothe for the good counsell ye gave me, and for the event of -it. The King gave mee a good sharpe potion, but you took away the -working of it by the well-relished comfites ye sent after. I have -met with the partie that must not be named, once alreddie, and the -cullor of wryting this letter shall make mee meete with her on -Saturday, although it is written the day being Thursday. So assuring -you that this business goes safelie on, I rest - - “Your constant loving friend, - “CHARLES."[246] - -“I hope ye will not shew the King this letter, but put it in the -safe custodie of Mister Vulcan.” - -Footnote 246: - - “Historia et vitae et regni Ricardi II.,” p. 104, by Mr. T. - Hearne, who tells us the letter is said to have once belonged to - Archbishop Sancroft, and observes it is the only intrigue he had - ever heard this Prince was concerned in. - - THE END. - - - R. BORN, PRINTER, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT’S PARK. - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -There are several anomolies in the footnoting. Footnotes were -numbered from 1 to 99, and then the sequence was repeated, starting -with ‘1’. There are also a number notes which are denoted only with -a traditional asterisk, etc. There is no apparent reason for the -dual system. There is one instance, on p. 130, where a numbered -footnote (138) is to be found referenced in a note (137) indicated -with an asterisk. For this text, all footnotes have been -re-sequenced numerically across the whole volume, to assure -uniqueness. - -At the bottom of p. 25, the letter opening ‘MY DERE LORD’ is -prefixed by an apparent footnote anchor, for which there is no -matching note. This has been deemed a stray printer’s mark and -removed. - -On p. 284, the paragraph ending ‘bonds with another man.’ was -printed with, in the original, a footnote anchor ‘1’, but there is -no matching footnote. The ‘1’ anchor is repeated on the following -page, with the expected note. The anomolous anchor has been removed. - -Given the frequent quotations, it was inevitable that opening and -closing quotation marks would sometimes be lost or misplaced. A -sampling of these problematic passages reveals that the author has a -tendency to paraphrase and otherwise misquote. They are placed here -where the context or voice makes their position obvious, or where an -inspection of the original sources was possible and allowed for the -proper placement. - - 29.18 to himself and all good men.[”] Added. - - 29.20 [“]Sir George Goring, writing Removed. - - 32.2 than with his victuals.[”] Added. - - 45.5 which were by the Duke so freely Added. - forgiven,[”] - - 59.2 [“]and then, when should they be paid?” Added. - - 60.17 were now content to forget him.[’]” Added. - - 80.13 on any minister of start[.] Added. - - 87.15 says Lord Clarend[e/o]n Replaced. - - 87.18 for the pardon of his errors;[”] Added. - - 87.21 even Lord Clarend[e/o]n observes Replaced. - - 92.13 apparently cau[ /s]eless melancholy Restored. - - 114.2 looking down into y[^e] hall Added. - - 118.25 his end was upon Satterdau morning[.] Added. - - 217.15 in which Shak[s/e]speare had a share Replaced. - - 238.8 “authorizing Thomas Gyles,[”] Added. - - 240.22 to have first drank of it herself[.] Added. - - 244.215.1 Jo[u/n]son,” p. 59. Replaced. - - 259.20 sent [to ]request a transcript Restored. - - 326.21 Letter from Sir Francis Netherso[t/l]e Replaced. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The life and times of George Villiers, -duke of Buckingham, Volume 3 (of 3), by Katherine Thomson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS, VOL 3 *** - -***** This file should be named 54288-0.txt or 54288-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/2/8/54288/ - -Produced by KD Weeks, MWS, Bryan Ness and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The life and times of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, Volume 3 (of 3) - From original and authentic sources - -Author: Katherine Thomson - -Release Date: March 6, 2017 [EBook #54288] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS, VOL 3 *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, MWS, Bryan Ness and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Transcriber’s Note:</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>There are both numbered footnotes and notes using the traditional -asterisk, dagger, etc. The latter have been</p> - -<p class='c001'>The footnotes have been collected at the end of the text, and are -linked for ease of reference.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s <a href='#endnote'>note</a> at the end of this text -for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered -during its preparation.</p> - -<div class='htmlonly'> - -<p class='c001'>Corrections appear in the text as <ins class='correction' title='original'>corrected</ins>. -The original text will be displayed in-line when the cursor is placed -on the corrected text. Except in the advertising matter at the end -of the text, the highlighted words also serve as links to explanatory -notes.</p> - -</div> -<div class='epubonly'> - -<p class='c001'>Corrections appear in the text as <ins class='correction' title='original'>corrected</ins>. -The highlighted words serve as a link to an explanatory note.</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The cover image has been created, based on title page information, and -is added to the public domain.</p> -<div class='htmlonly'> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_I'>I</span> - <h1 class='c002'>THE LIFE AND TIMES <br /> <span class='small'>OF</span><br /> <span class='xlarge'>GEORGE VILLIERS,</span><br /> DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES.</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>BY MRS. THOMSON,</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span></div> - <div><span class='small'>“MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,”</span></div> - <div><span class='small'>“LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH,”</span></div> - <div><span class='small'>“MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH,”</span></div> - <div><span class='small'>&c., &c.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div>IN THREE VOLUMES.</div> - <div class='c000'>VOL. III.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>LONDON:</div> - <div>HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,</div> - <div>SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,</div> - <div>13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.</div> - <div class='c000'>1860.</div> - <div class='c000'><span class='small'><em>The right of Translation is reserved.</em></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div>LONDON:</div> - <div>PRINTED BY R. BORN, GLOUCESTER STREET,</div> - <div>REGENT’S PARK.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS OF VOL. III.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class='c006' /> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='92%' /> -<col width='7%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Death of the Earl of Suffolk--His Address to the Heads of Houses--The Opportunity seized upon by the King to make Buckingham Chancellor--Indignation of the House of Commons--Injudicious Conduct of the King--Vehement Debates--Sir Dudley Digges and Elliot sent to Prison--Buckingham’s Motives for Engaging in a War with France--He endeavours to send away the Queen’s Servants--His Fear of losing his Influence--Arrival of Soubise and Rohan--The Duke goes to Dover--To Portsmouth--Letters from the Duchess--From his Mother--He sets sail for Rochelle--His First Operations Successful--Care taken by him of his Troops--1626-1627</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II.</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>The Delay in Sending Provisions--The Impossibility of reducing the Citadel by Famine--The Duke’s own means were embarked in the Cause--Sir John Burgh--His Death--Letter of Sir Edward Conway to his Father--Buckingham’s Sanguine Nature--Efforts of Sir Edward Nicholas</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_41'>41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_iv'>iv</span>CHAPTER III.</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Felton--His Character--Uncertainty of his Motives--Circumstances under which he was brought into Contact with Buckingham--Motives of his Crime discussed--The Remonstrance--The Fate of La Rochelle--Buckingham’s Unpopularity--Returns to Rhé--Misgivings of his Friends--Interview with Laud--with Charles I.--His Farewell--He enters Portsmouth--Felton--The Assassination--Original Letters from Sir D. Carlton and Sir Charles Morgan--The King’s Grief</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV.</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Character of the Duke of Buckingham--His Patronage of Art--His Collection--The Spanish Court Described--Collection by Charles I.--Fate of these Pictures</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V.</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Patronage of the Drama by Charles and the Duke of Buckingham--Massinger--Ben Jonson--Their Connection with the Court, and with the Duke</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI.</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Beaumont and Fletcher--Their Origin--Their Joint Productions--Character of Bishop Fletcher--Anecdotes about the Use of Tobacco--Ford, the Dramatist--Howell--Sir Henry Wotton--The Character of the Duke of Buckingham Considered</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_267'>267</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><span class='sc'>Appendix</span></td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_321'>321</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>DEATH OF THE EARL OF SUFFOLK--HIS ADDRESS TO THE -HEADS OF HOUSES--THE OPPORTUNITY SEIZED UPON -BY THE KING TO MAKE BUCKINGHAM CHANCELLOR--INDIGNATION -OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS--INJUDICIOUS -CONDUCT OF THE KING, VEHEMENT DEBATES--SIR -DUDLEY DIGGES AND ELIOT SENT TO -PRISON--BUCKINGHAM’S MOTIVES FOR ENGAGING IN -A WAR WITH FRANCE--HE ENDEAVOURS TO SEND -AWAY THE QUEEN’S SERVANTS--HIS FEAR OF LOSING -HIS INFLUENCE--ARRIVAL OF SOUBISE AND ROHAN--THE -DUKE GOES TO DOVER--TO PORTSMOUTH--LETTERS -FROM THE DUCHESS--FROM HIS MOTHER--HE -SETS SAIL FOR ROCHELLE--HIS FIRST OPERATIONS -SUCCESSFUL--CARE TAKEN BY HIM OF HIS TROOPS--1626-1627.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span><span class='large'>LIFE AND TIMES OF</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'>GEORGE VILLIERS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c011' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div><span class='large'>CHAPTER I.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>Whilst these matters were in agitation, the -death of the Earl of Suffolk, Chancellor of the -University of Cambridge, afforded the King an -opportunity of evincing his unbounded favour to -the Duke of Buckingham, even whilst he lay -under the very shadow of a parliamentary impeachment.</p> - -<p class='c001'>A few years previously, the unpopularity of the -Duke at Cambridge had been manifested by a -play, in which his measures were satirized, and -which had been acted by the scholars of Ben’et -College.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>The ancient discipline of the University appears, -indeed, to have so greatly relaxed, that in 1625-6--in -compliance with a letter from the King--Lord -Suffolk had found it expedient to address -the Heads of Houses, whom he styled “Gentlemen, -and my loving friends,” exhorting them to -restore order and “consequent prosperity to their -University.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The last sentence had an ominous sound, for -there were few cases in which the King thought it -necessary to interfere, in which Buckingham did -not prompt the royal mind to active measures.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Notwithstanding the unpopularity of his minister, -disregarding the public notion that, as the -patron and personal friend of Laud, Buckingham -was the patron of Roman Catholics, and in direct -defiance of the impeachment, all the influence of -the Crown was employed to procure the Duke’s -election to the office of Chancellor.</p> - -<p class='c001'>That dignity was considered then, as it now is, -one of the highest tributes to personal character, -as well as to political eminence, that the nation -could offer. It happened that Doctor Mew, the -Master of Trinity College, was the King’s Chaplain. -No fewer than forty-three votes were obtained -by his means; nevertheless, there was a -powerful opponent in Lord Thomas Howard, son -of the late Chancellor; a hundred and three votes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>against the Duke were secured by him, and with -more exertion, it is supposed, that he might have -defeated the Duke’s partisans.<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c013'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Buckingham therefore was elected: thus did -Charles, to use the words of Sir Henry Wotton, -“add to the facings or fringings of the Duke’s -greatness the embroiderings or listing of one -favour upon another.” But the King, in point -of fact, was doing his favourite the greatest injury, -by thus marking him out as an object for the -justly-aroused indignation of the public.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His doom was, however, at hand. Whatsoever -he may have intended to do for Cambridge -was cut short by the hands of destiny. There -remains, however, a very characteristic memorial -of Buckingham in that University. The silver -maces still in use, carried by the Esquire Bedells, -were a present from the ill-fated Duke,<a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c013'><sup>[2]</sup></a> whose -presiding office was of so short continuance.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was to be expected that the House of Commons -would receive with great anger this fresh -proof of the King’s contempt for their body. Regarding -this election as a reflection upon them, -a resolution was passed to send to the University -a remonstrance against their choice. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>Charles, however, considering--and with some -justice--that this remonstrance would be an -invasion of the privileges of the University, -despatched a message to the House, by Sir -Richard Weston, desiring them not to interfere; -inditing, at the same time, a letter to the University, -expressing his approbation of their election -of the Duke.<a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c013'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The Duke’s answer to the impeachment was -put in on the tenth of June: on the fourteenth -the Commons presented a petition, praying for -liberty to proceed in the discharge of their duty--and -entreating that Buckingham might, during -the impeachment, be removed from the royal -presence.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Had the King yielded to a prayer so reasonable -and equitable, the fury of the public might -have been appeased. But he viewed the most -important question of this early period of his -reign, as between man and man, not as between -a monarch and his subject. Buckingham’s great -fault, he considered, was being his favourite. No -criminality could be proved in any department of -his conduct as minister.<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c013'><sup>[4]</sup></a> Nor could Charles, -who had hung over the death-bed of his father, -treat with anything but contempt the accusation -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>of poison. The King believed that all the other -articles of the impeachment were prompted by a -resolution, after attacking his minister, to assail -his own prerogative. He had been reared in the -greatest jealousy on that one point, and with the -strongest and most conservative value for the -sovereign authority. Charles, accomplished as a -man, was profoundly ignorant and prejudiced as -a king: his views were narrow, and his knowledge -of the constitution of his country limited. His -notions had been warped by a residence at the -courts of France and Spain. The immediate -effects of a despotic rule are to a superficial observer -imposing. It is only to those who look -into the interior circumstances of a people, and -who well consider the tendencies of an arbitrary -government to blight honest ambition, to cramp -and weaken the national character, that its real -misery and degradation are apparent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In Spain, with Buckingham ever at his side; in -a court full of picturesque splendour; in youth, -with hope and love before him, Charles had probably -forgotten the aching hearts in the prisons -of the Inquisition. In France, the irresistible -fascinations of Richelieu had not, it is reasonable to -suppose, been wanting to bias the mind of one -likely to be so nearly allied to the royal family of -France. Most of all those influences that betrayed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>Charles to his ruin must, however, be ascribed -to the dogmatic fallacies of his father. James -had educated according to his own contracted -opinions not only his son, but the favourite who -was hereafter, as it is expressed by Sir Henry -Wotton, to be “the chief concomitant” of the -future sovereign of England.<a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c013'><sup>[5]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Of late years, before the quarrel with the -Commons, the popularity of Buckingham had increased. -The whole scene of affairs had been -changed from Spain to France; the alteration -was satisfactory to many, and was ascribed to the -Duke--and he had not only become suddenly a favourite -with the public, but had been extolled in -Parliament.<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c013'><sup>[6]</sup></a> This was, indeed, says Wotton, “but -a mere bubble or blast, and like an ephemeral fit -of applause, as eftsoon will appear in the sequel -and train of his life.” The contrast, therefore, -between a success so recent and the present -odium into which he had fallen, was no doubt the -cause of much chagrin to the harassed favourite, -who seems, like most men of sensitive natures, -to have valued popularity, and to have been fully -aware that his political life depended upon it. -He knew that no man could long resist the force -of public opinion in this country. Even in those -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>days, suppressed as it was by a fettered press, and -by the gaunt spectre of injustice in Star-chambers, -it had exploded into one burst of forcible indignation -in the House of Commons. Somewhere the -dauntless spirit of an Englishman must speak out, -and it then began to make itself heard in that great -assembly which had hitherto been almost as subservient -to Court influence as the French Chamber -of the present day.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The answer of the Duke to the Impeachment -was drawn out with much skill by Sir Nicholas -Hyde,<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c013'><sup>[7]</sup></a> the uncle of Edward Hyde, afterwards -Lord Clarendon. Sir Nicholas was considered to -be a sound lawyer, and a man of honourable character. -He was a “staunch stickler,” says Lord -Campbell, “for prerogative; but this was supposed -to arise rather from the sincere opinion -he formed of what the English constitution was -or ought to be, than from a desire to recommend -himself for promotion.”<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c013'><sup>[8]</sup></a> He succeeded Sir Randolf -Crewe, who was suddenly removed from his -seat to make room for one who had no objection -to the arbitrary acts by which Charles endeavoured -to support Buckingham, and who was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>ready to conduct the war with France without -the aid of parliament.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The debates which were now carried on with -vehemence seemed to produce little impression on -the counsels which incited Charles and Buckingham -to acts of insanity. The chief orators on the -side of the parliament were Selden, Noy, and -Thomas Wentworth, member for Oxford, and, before -their commitment, Sir Dudley Digges, and Sir -John Eliot. To this list several others must be -added; amongst the most notable were those of -Burton and Prynne. Burton had been one of the -clerks of the closet to King Charles when Prince -of Wales, and had been offended by not accompanying -his royal master to Spain, but grew still -more indignant at the preferment of Laud; and -by being himself regarded as an “underling.” He -was afterwards dismissed the court for various acts -of insolence, and became, as a matter of course, -the bitterest enemy of his late patron.<a id='r9' /><a href='#f9' class='c013'><sup>[9]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>There were now, to use the language of Sir -Edward Coke, “two leaks in the ship,” or State. -“Two leaks,” he declared, “would drown any -ship;”<a id='r10' /><a href='#f10' class='c013'><sup>[10]</sup></a> yet Lord Campbell, as well as other historians, -is of opinion that had it not been for the -attempt to force episcopacy on Scotland, Charles, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>and even his descendants, might have continued -to rule by absolute power, until, in the course of -centuries, the public voice might have forced a -revolution upon the country.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Whilst the levying of a loan, by which -Charles hoped to supply the place of a grant -from Parliament, was going on, Buckingham was -using every effort to return to that country where, -either as a lover or as a conqueror, he hoped to -see Anne of Austria once more. According to -Clarendon, he had sworn that he would see the -Queen in spite of all the power of France, and -that determination had originated the war which -was now on the eve of commencing.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In order to challenge reprisals, since there was -no pretence to warrant a proclamation of war -with France, Buckingham encouraged the capture -of French vessels by English ships and privateers, -taking the vanquished vessels as prizes. He -began, also, to make his great influence available -by his efforts to lower the French nation in the -eyes of the King, fearing lest the young and beautiful -queen should oppose the war. He endeavoured, -it is alleged, to alienate the affections of -the King from the bride of his choice, and to shew -her personally every species of insolence and rudeness. -Once, when she did not call upon his -mother, as she had promised to do by appointment, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>Buckingham entered her Majesty’s room in -a rage; the Queen answered him harshly: upon -which he told her that there had been Queens in -England who had lost their heads.<a id='r11' /><a href='#f11' class='c013'><sup>[11]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Buckingham appears to have been in a fever of -jealousy; hitherto he had exercised a sole influence -over his royal master. Henceforth, the -less public but more sure sway of an idolized -wife would for ever interfere with his counsels. -Infuriated against the French, yet madly in love -with their Queen, Buckingham had only been -deterred from returning to France as a private -individual by a dread of assassination on the part -of Richelieu, who had, it appears, entertained that -design. Having persuaded Charles to send back, -contrary to treaties, the Queen’s French attendants, -he now drove the inexperienced and irritated -Henrietta Maria to despair; and finding herself -in a foreign country, where all around her were -inimical to her religion, and to herself, she passionately -entreated to be allowed to return to France. -Buckingham, rejoicing at the success of his -schemes, besought Charles to allow him to conduct -the Queen home. But that proposal, when -transmitted to Paris, was indignantly rejected by -the French Court, and the Duke was confirmed -in his resolution to commence a war with a nation -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>which had the courage to decline his friendship.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His scheme for sending back the Queen’s -French servants had been, however, agreeable in -the extreme to Charles--and it may even have been -suggested by the King, who, in answer to a letter -from the Duke, writes to him thus:--“Steenie, -I have received your letters by Dic Graeme. -This is my answer: I command you to send all -the French away to-morrow out of town; if you -can, by fair means, but stick not long in dispatching, -otherwise force them away like so -many wyld beasts, until ye have shipped them, -and so the devil go with them. Let me hear -no more answer, but of the performance of my -command; so trust your faithful and constant -friend, <span class='sc'>Charles R.</span> Dated Oaking, 7 Aug. -1626.”<a id='r12' /><a href='#f12' class='c013'><sup>[12]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>His former loan of ships to the French implies -a more friendly footing with that nation than these -later passages of the Duke’s life may seem to indicate.<a id='r13' /><a href='#f13' class='c013'><sup>[13]</sup></a> -It was in fact his dread of any influence -stronger than his own that caused Buckingham to -induce Charles to break off the treaty with Spain; -and had instigated his animosity to France. Haunted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>by the dread of being superseded in Charles’s -favour, there were moments when his overburdened -mind was opened to some humble -friends, and the apprehensions of the King’s regard -being alienated were imparted in agony to -a confidant.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Buckingham was also aware of that intriguing -and uncertain disposition in Henrietta Maria, -which, in spite of a certain heroism of character -which she possessed, shewed itself in mournful colours -in later periods of her chequered life. The -patronage which she wished to divide among her -French followers was also a source of jealousy to -the Duke, who had hitherto disposed of all Court -offices to people who would support him in his -state of power, or aid him if he fell. Henrietta -was attended on her arrival in this country by -many younger sons of good families in France, -who looked to England as the field where golden -honours were plentifully to be reaped. “They -devoured so much,” we are told, “that all the thrift -of Bishop Juxom, who had amassed much, -was gulped down by these insatiable sharks.”<a id='r14' /><a href='#f14' class='c013'><sup>[14]</sup></a> -Patronage and influence being withdrawn, the -Duke’s ruin must, he knew, be complete. He had -nothing to expect from his country, for he had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>never considered the interests of his native land -as identified with his own. There were in his -mind some motives of a higher class and a more -general nature, although we must not look for lofty -principles of action in those days.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The intrigues of Richelieu, who was now Buckingham’s -rival and foe, worked in England through -the Queen. The Duke had been overreached by -the Cardinal, and thirsted for open revenge. By -denying the troops of Count Mansfeldt a passage -through France, the army of that celebrated -general had perished. There was no doubt of -Richelieu’s determination to extirpate the Protestants, -and all promises of befriending them had -long since proved faithless; the Duke, therefore, -saw that he had been compromised, and he resented -that superiority in trickery, which it is -difficult for a mind like his to bear. Whilst he -had thus been deceived by France, Buckingham -was suffering by the popular cry against recusants; -and the Romish priests, adding to that cry, were -enjoining on Henrietta Maria, as a penance, that -she should walk bare-footed to Tyburn, as a -tribute to the memory of the Jesuits, who had -been executed at that spot of sad remembrances. -Thus, the cause of the suffering Protestants in -France had become the cause of the people, and -Buckingham hoped to regain his popularity by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>espousing it--whilst, at the same time, by sending -away the French attendants of the Queen, he -should banish the emissaries of Richelieu. Much -of his conduct has been attributed to the influence -of a French Abbot, who was related to the Duke -of Orleans, who was also a violent enemy to the -Cardinal.<a id='r15' /><a href='#f15' class='c013'><sup>[15]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Fortunately for Buckingham’s endeavours to -regain popularity, the Duc de Soubise, who, together -with the Duc de Rohan, his brother, were -the great leaders of the Protestant party in -France, arrived during the summer, after the dissolution -of Parliament in England. The Abbot, -it seems, who had incited Buckingham against -Richelieu, had at the same time acquainted the -Duc de Soubise with the state of affairs in England. -The alliance of these two great noblemen was -eagerly accepted by Buckingham. The Duc de -Rohan engaged to supply 4000 foot and 200 -horse, to assist the English on landing in France; -which was an enterprize eagerly coveted by -Buckingham.<a id='r16' /><a href='#f16' class='c013'><sup>[16]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>M. de Soubise had at his command a fleet of -twenty-three sail, which was to proceed at once -to La Rochelle, then closely besieged by Richelieu, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>and to throw provisions into the town. The -English Government engaged to fit these ships -up, to victual them, and to store them with provisions -for La Rochelle. Private information disclosed, -however, that these “ships were miserable -rotten things, of little or no force.” Their crews -amounted to 1,261 wretched French sailors, who -had neither bread nor drink till the Duke’s vice-admiral -went down to Plymouth.<a id='r17' /><a href='#f17' class='c013'><sup>[17]</sup></a> Soubise had, -afterwards, a supply of beef and pork allowed for two -days a week; of fish, for the other four; some small -store of butter and cheese, and some eighteen or -twenty tons of cider. This seems to have been all the -provisions for all the ships; and Admiral Pennington, -writing to the Duke, said:--“I wish the Frenchmen -had all the rest, for our people will never eat -it, only the best of it.” So like the English now -were the English then. A hundred tons of beer -were to be supplied out of the town.<a id='r18' /><a href='#f18' class='c013'><sup>[18]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>But other unforeseen difficulties occurred, and -the greatest was the want of men. The miserable -provisions, or, perhaps, the lingering presence -of the plague, now produced sickness and death -among the seamen; “so that few of the captains,” -writes Pennington, “have sufficient men to bring -their ships about.” He begs to have a <em>strict</em> command -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>for the “press” sent him;<a id='r19' /><a href='#f19' class='c013'><sup>[19]</sup></a> but even that -was of no avail, as the strongest men fled up the -country and hid themselves in the woods.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then certain merchants, to whom the Lord-Admiral -looked for a supply of ships in war, were unwilling -to lend their vessels. They even disabled -their vessels to prevent their being used; and it -became necessary for Pennington, as he stated, to -send his carpenters to repair them--and after all -he was obliged to wait for a reinforcement from -Ireland.<a id='r20' /><a href='#f20' class='c013'><sup>[20]</sup></a> The poor Vice-Admiral wrote anxious -letters, praying that the useless merchant-ships -might be sent away; whilst the others, French -and all, might be well provisioned at once. He -entreated that a ship-load of cordage, cables, -anchors, and sails for the furnishing of other ships, -might come forthwith. This was a miserable beginning -of an aggressive war, and Charles must -now have seen his folly in having quarrelled with -Parliament. Eventually, Pennington informed the -Duke that he was obliged to discharge all the -merchant ships, except a few from Ireland, which -were in good condition.<a id='r21' /><a href='#f21' class='c013'><sup>[21]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The situation of the Duke seems, at this moment, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>to have been truly pitiable. It has been -already stated that he received and answered all -letters himself; and the applications made to him, -in his capacity of High Admiral, seem to have -been of the most minute character. Sometimes -among his correspondence we find a letter from -Admiral Burgh, wanting to know what he was to -do with some Newfoundland fish which had come -into his possession as Vice-Admiral.<a id='r22' /><a href='#f22' class='c013'><sup>[22]</sup></a> Then follow -numerous complaints of the dilapidated state of the -forts and castles which ought to have guarded -the coasts. In 1625, however, they were reported -to be in a perfect state for defence.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Often was the Duke addressed as “the most noble -Prince George;” whilst in numerous epistles a tribute -is paid to his justice and circumspection, which -would surprise those who take the ordinary view -of his character. His powers and his province -were alike important. A Lord High Admiral was, -to use the words of an eminent writer, “one to whom -is committed the government of all things done -upon or beyond the sea in any part of the world--all -things done upon the sea-coast in all ports -and harbours, and upon all rivers below the first -bridge next towards the sea.” So far for his -powers; the following were among the list of his -privileges:--</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>“To the Lord High Admiral belong all penalties -of all transgressions at sea or on the shore, -the goods of pirates and felons, all stray goods, -wrecks at sea and headlands, a share of all lawful -prizes not granted to lords of manors adjoining -the sea; all great fishes, as sea-dogs, and other -great fishes, called royal fishes, except whales and -sturgeon.”<a id='r23' /><a href='#f23' class='c013'><sup>[23]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Questions arising out of these privileges, and -disputes between Lord Zouch and the captains of -vessels, on the subject of wrecks, occur incessantly -among the documents in the State-paper -Office, which almost supply a history of the period.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In the beginning of the year 1626, Buckingham -had commenced his naval operations by sending to -impress twenty of the best merchant-ships in the -Thames or elsewhere; “such,” were his instructions, -“as shall be most ready to go to sea, and most -able to do his Majesty’s service in his present -employments.”<a id='r24' /><a href='#f24' class='c013'><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The impressment of these vessels does not seem -to have been successful in this instance; and -although the captains to command them were appointed -by Government, they found great difficulty, -as has been before stated, in manning -their ships.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>Great, meantime, were Buckingham’s endeavours -to clear the seas of pirates, as well as to -recover that dominion over the narrow seas upon -which encroachments had been made. The Duke -now began to be assisted by Sir Edward Nicholas, -whose name appears at this period as the writer -of the Duke’s answers to suitors, and who was -evidently regarded with much confidence by -Buckingham.<a id='r25' /><a href='#f25' class='c013'><sup>[25]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Although a fleet of twenty sail, of the king’s -ships, and others had been prepared so early as -the 6th of January, 1625-6, for a service of six -months,<a id='r26' /><a href='#f26' class='c013'><sup>[26]</sup></a> yet it was not until June that the Duke -suddenly left the court, and, with all the haste -of his impetuous nature, went on board the -fleet at Dover so unexpectedly that his secretary -Nicholas could not join him before he -set out, but was a few hours too late. Neither -had due preparations been made; shoes, shirts, -and stockings were wanting for three thousand -men; the surgeons’ chests were not supplied with -medicines; many of the soldiers’ arms were wanting; -the colonels and captains begged to have -new colours; the soldiers to have hammocks; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>and it was represented to the Duke that their food -ought not to be so inferior as it then was to that -of the sailors.<a id='r27' /><a href='#f27' class='c013'><sup>[27]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The Duke, according to Sir Henry Wotton’s statement, -was personally employed on either element; -both “Admiral and General,” there seems to -have been a deficiency of discipline; several -murders were committed by the soldiery, and an -enforcement of martial law was recommended.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His haste and secrecy had, perhaps, another -object. It precluded those farewells which are -the most touching to those who encounter the -chances of war. In Buckingham’s case, the parting -with his wife, whom he might never see again, -must have been mingled with self-reproach as -well as sorrow. He evaded it therefore by flight, -notwithstanding a promise that he should see her -again, nay even by an assurance that he should not -go with the expedition to Rhé.<a id='r28' /><a href='#f28' class='c013'><sup>[28]</sup></a> This conduct -wounded the poor Duchess to the heart, and -it was perhaps these traits of conduct that -alienated her affections, and made her less reluctant -to a second marriage than might have -been expected from one of her gentle nature. -Buckingham’s apparent neglect would have been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>inexplicable were it not remembered how completely -an unhallowed passion for another severs -and rends all domestic ties; and that, long before -the links are broken, they are loosened by the first -deviation from duty, even in thought. The following -letters were probably found among the -Duke’s papers at the time of his death, and so -conveyed to the State-Paper Office, where they -have remained buried--the words of reproach -and sorrow, unheeded and unknown. They are -evidently strictly confidential; but they explain -and excuse, if anything can excuse, the after-conduct -of the Duchess. Much that followed the -Duke’s decease is accounted for in this epistle:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My Lord</span>,--Now as I do to plainly se you -have deceved me, and if I judge you according -to y<sup>r</sup> one<a id='r29' /><a href='#f29' class='c013'><sup>[29]</sup></a> words I must condemn you not only -in this hut in your accation<a id='r30' /><a href='#f30' class='c013'><sup>[30]</sup></a> you so much -forswore. I confese I deed ever fere you wood -be catched, for there was no other likelyhoode -after all that showe but you must needs go--for -my part, but I have bine a very miserable woman -hitherto that never could have you keepe at -home, but now I will ever looke to be so till some -blessed ocasion comes to draw you quite from the -Cort, for ther is non more miserable than I am, -and till you leve this life of a cortyer w<sup>ch</sup> you have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>bine ever since I knewe you, I shall ever thynke -myself unhappye. I am the unfortunate of all -outher, that ever when I am w<sup>th</sup> child I must have -so much cause of sorrow as to have you go from me, -but I never had so great a cause of greeve as now. -I hope God of his mercie give me patience, and if -I were sure my soule wood be well I could wish -myself to be out of this miserable world, for till -then I shall not be happye: now I will no more -right to hope you do not goe, but must betake myself -to my prayers for your safe and prosperous -jorney w<sup>ch</sup> I will not fayle to do, and for your -quicke returne: but never, whilst I live, will I trust -you agane, nor never will put you to your oathe -for any thinge agane. I wonder why you sent -me word by <em>crowe</em><a id='r31' /><a href='#f31' class='c013'><sup>[31]</sup></a> that you wood se me shortly, -to put me in hopes: I pray God never woman may -love a man as I have done you that non may -fele that w<sup>ch</sup> I have done for you: sence ther is no -remedy but that you must go, I pray God to send -you gon quickly, that you may be quickly at home -again, and whosoever that wisht you to this jorney -by side yourselfe, that they may be punished for -it, because of a greete dele of greeve to me; but -that is no mater now ther is no remedy but patience -w<sup>ch</sup> God send me. I pray God to send me -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>wise, and not to hurt myself w<sup>th</sup> greeving now. I am -very well, I thanke God, and so is Mall and so -I bid farewell.--Your poor greeved and obedient -wife,</p> -<div class='c014'>"<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.</div> - -<p class='c001'>"I pray give order before you goe for the -jewells w<sup>ch</sup> I owe for ... burn this: for God’s -sake, go not to lande: and pity me, for I feel (most -miserable) at this time: be not angry with me for -righting, for my hart is so full I cannot chuse, because -I deed not looke for it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>"I would to Jesus that there were in any way -in the world to fetch you out of the jorney with -y<sup>r</sup> honor, if any prayers or any suffering of mine -could do it I were a most happy woman, but you -have send y<sup>r</sup>self and made me miserable: God for -give you for it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>"You have forgoten poore Dicke Turpin for all -y<sup>r</sup> promis to me.<a id='r32' /><a href='#f32' class='c013'><sup>[32]</sup></a></p> -<p class='c015'>“26th June, 1627. -To the Duke of Buckingham.”<a id='r33' /><a href='#f33' class='c013'><sup>[33]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>And again, on the sixteenth of June, was sent -another epistle, full of affection:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My dere Lord</span>,--I was very much joy’d at -the receiving y<sup>r</sup> leter last night, and I will assure -you I do not only right cheerfully, but am so in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>my hart, and outwardly every on may see it, and -so they do, for they tell me they ar glad to see me -so cheerfull, and I hop sences. I will assure you I -will not fayle to keep my promis w<sup>th</sup> you; I hope -you will not deseve me in breaking yours, for I protest -if you should, it woold half kill me: and -I give you humble thanks for saying you will -likewise keepe your word with me in the outher -mane bisnes,<a id='r34' /><a href='#f34' class='c013'><sup>[34]</sup></a> as you call it. I am very glad you cam -so well to y<sup>r</sup> jorneys end, but sorey it was so latt, -for Mr. Murey told me it was nine a clocke before -you gott thether. I pray lett me here as often -from you as you can, and send me word when I -shall be so hapye as to se you, for I shall think it -very longe, my lord: I thanke God I am very well, -so farwelle, my dere Lord, your true loving, and -obedient wife,</p> -<div class='c014'>"<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.<a id='r35' /><a href='#f35' class='c013'><sup>[35]</sup></a></div> - -</div> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"My Lord, for God sake lett some of that money -w<sup>ch</sup> you in tended to have at Portsmouth to be left -w<sup>th</sup> Dick Oliver, if it be but five hundred pound to -pay Mr. Ward for a ringe and for a cross w<sup>h</sup> you -gave to my Lady Exeter: for Jesus sake do this, for -I am so hanted with them for it, that I do not -know what to do; if you will but send me 400<em>l.</em> I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>will dispatch them myself, for I cannot ster for -them.<a id='r36' /><a href='#f36' class='c013'><sup>[36]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>"I beseech you remember my cusin Turpine.</p> -<p class='c016'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham, -my dere husband.”</span><a id='r37' /><a href='#f37' class='c013'><sup>[37]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>This epistle was soon followed by another letter, -expressive of great affection--the poor Duchess -begging of the Duke not to deceive her, and -to love no one but herself. “It was impossible,” -she writes, “for woman to love a man more than -she did him.” Again she writes:--“beginning -to fear” that some hints in which he had encouraged -a hope of their meeting again before he sailed -were but deceptions, and that she should not see him -again, “she was grieved,” she added, “that he -had not told her the truth.”<a id='r38' /><a href='#f38' class='c013'><sup>[38]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The Duke’s example and presence, however, -after all these delays, had so great an effect both -on officers and men, that, on the second of June, -Sir Fulke Greville had to write word from Cowes -Castle, that he could, with a “perspective,” see -a part of the fleet in Stokes Bay.<a id='r39' /><a href='#f39' class='c013'><sup>[39]</sup></a> The Duke, -meantime, was harassed with difficulties; affairs -were far from being in a satisfactory condition; -there was continual difficulty in getting seamen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>and supplies of money were wanting to leave the -coast guarded, to repair the navy, to furnish -stores, and to pay the sailors on their return from -Rhé.<a id='r40' /><a href='#f40' class='c013'><sup>[40]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Meantime the town of Portsmouth was gladdened -by the presence of the King, who walked -round the fortifications; and, judging for himself -of the ruinous state of the bulwarks, promised -that they should be repaired. It was Buckingham’s -intention at this time to build a new -dock at Portsmouth, in order to supersede that at -Chatham, and thus to benefit the naval service -incredibly.<a id='r41' /><a href='#f41' class='c013'><sup>[41]</sup></a> Charles entered into this admirable -plan. Accompanied by Monsieur de Soubise, -the Earls of Rutland and Denbigh, Lord Carlisle -and the Lord Chamberlain, he went aboard -several of the ships, and dined at last in the -“Triumph.” At table his conversation ran all day -on the armament, and he asked Sir John Watts, -in his own language, whether “she” (the -“Triumph”) “could yar or not?” The repast went -off with great hilarity: the Duke’s musicians playing -merrily, and Archie the fool, and Sir Robert -Deale, adding to the general jollity. Well might -the Duchess, nevertheless, mourn at the departure -of her husband. The plague was raging in the fort -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>of La Rochelle with as much fury as in England.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At length, on the 27th of June, the Duke -sailed from Portsmouth. If we could accept as -sincere the good wishes which attended his departure, -no man ever left England with greater -assurances of devotion. “Secretary Conway was -ready,” he declared, “to carry his hand all the world -cries for the Duke’s service.” “The Duke’s good -works,” he said, “came forth with a better grace -than he ever observed in the acts of any other -man. Besides his own duty, affection, and humble -endeavour and thorough hope,” he “joyed” -to consign to the Duke the duty, thankfulness, -faith, and affection of his posterity.<a id='r42' /><a href='#f42' class='c013'><sup>[42]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Secretary Cope sent a message of good wishes -in these terms: “God direct his ways and his -ends, and make them acceptable to himself and -all good <a id='corr29.18'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='men.'>men.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_29.18'><ins class='correction' title='men.'>men.”</ins></a></span><a id='r43' /><a href='#f43' class='c013'><sup>[43]</sup></a> Even the Queen, between -whom and the Duke there had been so great a -coolness, sent him a letter, with best wishes. <a id='corr29.20'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='“Sir'>Sir</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_29.20'><ins class='correction' title='“Sir'>Sir</ins></a></span> -George Goring, writing to his “ever and above -all most honoured Lord,” the Duke of Buckingham, -engaged to “keep the Duke safe with the Queen.” -The Duchess could not, however, he said, reconcile -herself to his departure, without one word of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>farewell; and the Duke’s mother thought a “word -or two in” excuse would revive her much.<a id='r44' /><a href='#f44' class='c013'><sup>[44]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>It was not therefore, it seems, the departure -alone of her husband, but his neglect, that pained -her. Fond, indeed, and true were the hearts that -mourned for his absence in peril. His sister, the -Countess of Denbigh, shed many a tear when she -missed the Duke at chapel on the morning of his -departure with the King.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His mother’s blessing was given in these few, -but very expressive words:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>“<span class='sc'>My deare and most beloved Sonne</span>,--Your -departure lies grevous at my hart, being -oprest with many motherly feres, and were it not -for the great joy I beheld in your face that presages -some good fortunes, I had bene much worse, -but since it must be as it is, I will omit all (with -you) to God’s pleasure, assuring my selfe he that -hath done so much for you, will make you a happy -instrument of his further glory, and your eternall -comfort; to which end I will addres all my prayers -to our sweet Saviour Jesus,--being your ever most -assured loving Mother,</p> - -<div class='c014'><span class='sc'>M. Buckingham</span>.<a id='r45' /><a href='#f45' class='c013'><sup>[45]</sup></a></div> - -<p class='c001'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham.”</span></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The first letter, written according to the Duke’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>orders, by Sir James Bagg, who accompanied -him, to Secretary Nicholas, shewed how unabated -was the impetuous and arbitrary spirit of the -favourite. “The Duke,” Bagg wrote, “is very desirous -to have the refusers of the loan sent for to the -council, which will make the western people sensible -that Eliot and Coryten do not only lie by -the heels for my Lord’s sake.”<a id='r46' /><a href='#f46' class='c013'><sup>[46]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>He set out, however, in high spirits, excited by -the change of scene, and full of confidence in his -projected movements. It is agreeable to find a -concern for the comfort and health of the troops, -which amounted in all to between six and seven -thousand, under his command. On the twelfth of -July, the “Triumph,” with nineteen great ships of -the fleet, was seen near St. Martin’s, at Rochelle; -King Charles’s colours, the white flag, and the St. -Andrew’s cross, in the main tops, being visible to -the dismayed French over in the port; and -firing from our ships was instantly commenced. -Whilst these operations were going on, we find -Buckingham writing to Secretary Nicholas, desiring -that victuals may be sent after them with -all possible speed; and, above all, to take care that -the fleet be furnished out of hand with London -beer; “the beer from Portsmouth,” adds the -Lord-Admiral, “proves naught, and the soldier is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>better satisfied with his beer, if it is good, than -with his <a id='corr32.2'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='victuals.'>victuals.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_32.2'><ins class='correction' title='victuals.'>victuals.”</ins></a></span><a id='r47' /><a href='#f47' class='c013'><sup>[47]</sup></a> At first the Duke’s expedition -was attended with success; a landing at St. Martin’s -point, opposite to Rochelle roads, was effected, -and the French, who attacked the invaders, were -driven back with considerable slaughter. On the -14th of July the troops advanced inland, and -took the small fort of St. Marie, and the town of -La Flotte; on the eighteenth they gained possession -of the town of St. Martin’s. Great praises -of the Duke’s valour were transmitted to England, -by a writer who penned his epistle on a drum’s -head, near St. Martin’s. The forces then beleaguered -the fort, erecting a battery of twenty-one pieces -of “ordnance.” “The Lord-General,” wrote -Sir Allen Apsley, “is the most industrious, -and in all business one of the first in -person in dangers. Last night the enemy’s ordnance -played upon his lodging, and one shot -lighted upon his bed, but did him no harm.”<a id='r48' /><a href='#f48' class='c013'><sup>[48]</sup></a> -“Unluckily,” adds the same writer, “there was -no bread and beer thought of for the soldiers--wheat -instead of bread, and wine instead of -beer.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>There appeared every prospect of a long siege, -unless reinforcements from England should arrive -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>to strengthen the Duke’s efficiency. Whilst the -fort held out, the citizens of La Rochelle knew not -which side to take. The Duke, every writer from -St. Martin’s agreed, behaved in the most admirable -manner, shewing qualities which no one suspected -him of possessing. “His care is infinite, his courage -undauntable, his patience and continual labours -beyond what could have been expected.” Such -was the language of one of Secretary Conway’s -correspondents. “Himself,” continues this writer, -“views the grounds, goes to the trenches, visits the -batteries, observes where the shell doth light, and -what effects it works.”<a id='r49' /><a href='#f49' class='c013'><sup>[49]</sup></a> The greatest vigilance -was indeed necessary, owing to the carelessness of -some of the officers; there was no one of any great -capacity except the Duke and Sir John Burgh--a -brave but rough soldier, whose plain speaking -was often offensive to Buckingham. His chief adviser -in military affairs was Monsieur Dulbier, a -man of great experience, but devoid of any striking -talents.<a id='r50' /><a href='#f50' class='c013'><sup>[50]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Meantime the poverty of the Treasury at home -impeded the speedy supplies for which Buckingham -incessantly wrote. It was his urgent necessity -that stimulated the unjust and extortionate -collection of the loan--in default of contributions -to which imprisonment was the instant punishment. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Several Frenchmen, also, were about this -time committed for trying to allure Sir Sackville -Crowe’s workmen into France to cast ordnance.<a id='r51' /><a href='#f51' class='c013'><sup>[51]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Disheartened by the delay of the supplies, Buckingham -wrote word that he was making trenches, -but, owing to the stony nature of the ground, they -went on slowly, whilst the Fleet was dispersed -round the Island of Rhé; so that unless some -speedy succour came, the expedition could scarcely -be benefited by anything that might be sent. The -citadel, he considered, would be impregnable, if once -the fortifications were perfected; in its present -unfurnished state, the only way would be to take -it by famine. Already thirty musketeers who had -been sent out to get water had been captured. -Toiras, the Governor, was likely “to make the place -his death-bed.” The enemy were strong, and the -siege would doubtless be a long one, but he was -confident that the King would not let him want -aid. By the advice of the Duc de Soubise, he had -issued a proclamation, setting forth that the King’s -intention was only to assist the Protestants.<a id='r52' /><a href='#f52' class='c013'><sup>[52]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>But the Protestants in La Rochelle unhappily -refused the aid<a id='r53' /><a href='#f53' class='c013'><sup>[53]</sup></a> of the ever-hated English. Louis -XII. was ill; the court was divided into factions: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>and favourable terms were even offered the Huguenots, -provided that they did not admit the -English into the city.<a id='r54' /><a href='#f54' class='c013'><sup>[54]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The Duke, during all this time of deep anxiety, -attended religious service daily, and was, it is possible, -the more inclined to have recourse to the One -Source of help and safety, an attempt to assassinate -him having been made whilst he was beleaguering -Fort St. Martin. No impression was made upon -the enemy, who were three thousand strong in -garrison. Mines were resorted to; two water-pipes -were cut off, and the besieged were driven -out of their outworks; but Buckingham wrote -word from the camp that his army, without a supply, -would soon not only be disabled from continuing -the siege, but would lose what they had -gained.<a id='r55' /><a href='#f55' class='c013'><sup>[55]</sup></a> His anxiety on this point was expressed -in every letter, and in the most earnest terms, and -it was fully responded to by Charles I., but still a -reinforcement of two thousand men which had -been promised did not arrive. Money could not -be raised, and the King was obliged to wait the -issue of “three bargains” offered to him before he -could send out either provisions or men.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Nothing could be more vexatious than the position -of the Duke. He was within a distance of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>what was then three or four days’ sail from -England--his credit, his honour, perhaps his life, -were staked on the relief of the Huguenot citizens -of La Rochelle. Forty days, nevertheless, elapsed -without even a message by fisher-boat reaching -the famishing troops, “who were well supplied -with wheat, but had neither means to grind, or -ovens to bake it.”<a id='r56' /><a href='#f56' class='c013'><sup>[56]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>It was not until the twenty-seventh of August, -two calendar months since the expedition had -sailed from Portsmouth,that arms, ammunition, and -victuals were sent off by Nicholas--“honest -Nicholas,” as the Duke used to call him; but no -money came. Of that which was intended for the -Duke, some was raised by his own stewards, but -was detained on account of pressing claims in his -own affairs. The want of money was almost distracting. -Nothing could be extracted from the -Lord Treasurer Middlesex; even at home the -young Queen Henrietta Maria declared herself -to be terribly incommoded for want of it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Send us men,” was the burden of every letter -from the camp; and a small contribution from a -quarter little suspected of patriotism was the answer -to this appeal--Lady Hatton furnishing six -stalwart volunteers from Purbeck, clothed and -armed from head to foot.<a id='r57' /><a href='#f57' class='c013'><sup>[57]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>The Duke’s mother, too, after the manner of -mothers, remitted him some money, and, at the -same time sent him, as mothers do on such occasions, -a reproving letter. But, unhappily, she who -had implanted the lessons of worldly wisdom, and -those alone, and whose whole life had been a commentary -on those precepts, could not hope to influence -her son for good. She indeed reaped as -she had sown. One cannot, however, avoid pitying -the alarm which was soon to be so fearfully -realized by the events which succeeded the fatal -enterprize.</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My deerly beloved sonne</span>--I am very -sorrie you have entered into so great busines, and so -little care to supply your wants as you see by the -little hast that is mad to you. I hop your eys wil be -oppened to se what a greate goulfe of businesses -you have put your selfe into, and so little regarded -at home, wher all is mery and well plesed, though -the shepes be not vitiled as yet, nor mariners to go -with them: as for monyis the kingdom will not -supply your expences, and every man grones -under the burden of the tymes. At your departuer -from me, you tould me you went to make pece, -but it was not from your hart: this is not the -way for you to imbroule the hole christian world -in warrs, and then to declare it for religion, and -make God a partie to this wofull affare so far -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>from God as light and darknes; and the high way -to make all christian Princes to bend ther forces -against us, that other ways in policie would have -taken our parts. You knew the worthy King your -master<a id='r58' /><a href='#f58' class='c013'><sup>[58]</sup></a> never liked that way, and as far as I can -perseve ther is non that crise not out of it. You -that acknowleg the infinite mercy and providence -of all mightie god in preserving your life amongest -so many that false doune ded on every side -you, and spares you for more honor to himself, if -you would not be wilfully blind and overthro your -selfe, body and soule, for he hath not I hope -made y<sup>u</sup> so great and gevin you so many exsellent -parts as to suffer you to die in a dich,--let me that -is your mother intreat you to spend some of your -ouers in prayers, and meditating what is fitting -and plesing in His sight that has done so much for -you, and that honor you so much strive for: bend -it for his honor and glorie, and you will sone find -a chang so great that you would not for all the -kinddomes in world for goe, if you might have -them at your disposing: and do not think it out of -fere and timberousnes of a woman I perswad you -to this;--no, no, it is that I scorne. I would have -you leve this bluddy way in which you are exept -into, I am sure contray to your natuer and disposition. -God hath blessed you with a vartuis wife -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>and swet daughter, with an other sonne, I hope, -if you do not distroy it by this way you take: she -can not beleve a word you speke, you have so -much deseved herselfe: she works carefully for -you in sending monies with the supply that is now -in coming, though slowly: it would have bene -worse but for her. But now let me come to my -selfe. If I had a world you should command it, -and whatsoever I have ore shall have it: it is all -yours by right, but, alas, I have layd out that mony -I had, and mor by a thousand ponds, by your consent -in bying of Gouldsmise Grang which I am -very sory for now. I never dremed you should -have neded any of my helpe, for if I had ther -should have wanted all and my selfe before you. -I hop this servant will bring us better newes of -your resolutions then yett we here of; which I -pray hartily for and give almass for you that it -will pleas Allmighty God to deret your hart the -best way to his honor and glorie. I am ever</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“your most loving affectionat sad Mother,</div> - <div class='line in24'>“<span class='sc'>M. Buckingham</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham.”</span><a id='r59' /><a href='#f59' class='c013'><sup>[59]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Very different was the style in which the affectionate-hearted -Duchess thus addressed him. The -characters of these two women are singularly contrasted -in these letters:--</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span></div> -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My dere Lord</span>--Already do I begine to -thinke what a longe time I shall live without -seeing you: truly there can be no greater affliction -to me in the world than your absences, and I confese -you have layd a very harde comand upon me -in biding me be merey now in y absences, but I -will assure yo nothing can be harde to me when I -know I pleas you in the doing of it, thoughe -outherways it would be:--remember your promis -to me, but do not deseve me, for now I believe any -thinge you saye, and love me only still, for it is -impossible for woman to love mane more than I -do you, and you have left me very well satisfied -w<sup>th</sup> you. <em>My</em> Lord, I have sent you a letter which -I beseech you give to the Commissioner about my -sister Wasington’s deat, because without that -my Lord Savage can do nothing, and the touther -is a warrant to Oliver for the allowances you give -her, w<sup>ch</sup> he refuses to paye w<sup>th</sup> out one:--good my -Lord, dispatch Dicke Turpin, and I shall thinke -myself infinitely obliged to you for it. I am very -well, I thanke God: you shall be sure to heare -often, and do not forget to right often to me and -remember your promis, thus wishing you all happynes, -I rest, your trewe loving and obedent wife,</p> -<div class='c014'>"<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.</div> - -<p class='c001'>"Pray remember my duty to my Father.</p> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham.”</span><a id='r60' /><a href='#f60' class='c013'><sup>[60]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>THE DELAY IN SENDING PROVISIONS--THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF REDUCING THE CITADEL BY FAMINE--THE DUKE’S OWN MEANS WERE EMBARKED IN THE CAUSE--SIR JOHN BURGH--HIS DEATH--LETTER OF SIR EDWARD CONWAY TO HIS FATHER--BUCKINGHAM’S SANGUINE NATURE--EFFORTS OF SIR EDWARD NICHOLAS.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span><span class='large'>CHAPTER II.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>In spite of incessant appeals to the authorities at -home, the end of August arrived, and no provisions -were received at the camp. The Duke -then addressed Sir William Becher, enclosing a -letter to be shewn to the King, stating that, if provisions -did not arrive within twenty days, it would -be impossible to detain the mariners at Rhé. Provisions, -the Duke said, were getting low; and the -cannon did little harm to the citadel, which would -only be subdued by famine.<a id='r61' /><a href='#f61' class='c013'><sup>[61]</sup></a> All seemed of no -avail. “Everything,” as Sir William Becher complained -to Nicholas, “seemed to go backwards.” -Even the Duke’s own money, which he had wished -to advance to the victuallers, was still kept back by -his stewards; and six hundred quarters of wheat -belonging to him, which he had left at Portsmouth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>as a supply, were still in that seaport. One cannot -help echoing the exclamation of Sir Edward Conway, -in writing to his father, General Conway--“If -we lose this island it shall be your faults in England!” -Every letter, meantime, spoke of the carelessness -of life shown by the Duke, of the sanguine -nature that encouraged others, and of his great affection -to the King, and to the cause he had undertaken.<a id='r62' /><a href='#f62' class='c013'><sup>[62]</sup></a> -The difficulties which were encountered in -getting provisions together are almost inconceivable -at the present day: the merchants refused to supply -anything that would not yield them fifteen -per cent; but at last, Sir Edward Nicholas prevailed -with some Bristol speculators, his friends, -to send provisions, on condition that their men -should not be pressed into the service, and that -the vessels should be laden with salt.<a id='r63' /><a href='#f63' class='c013'><sup>[63]</sup></a> This aid -was, indeed, timely, for the troops were beginning -to consider themselves neglected and forgotten by -their country.<a id='r64' /><a href='#f64' class='c013'><sup>[64]</sup></a> And a great loss contributed to -the general dejection. Sir John Burgh, the brave -though uncourtly officer who had quarrelled with -the Duke, was shot through the body in the -trenches, and killed. Sir Edward Conway, writing -to his father, thus simply, and as a true soldier, -remarks, that “the sorrow of the Duke, and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>honours he doth in his burial, are sufficient encouragements -to dying.” “There was some difference” -he adds, “between Burgh and the Duke, -through some inconsiderate words, on the part of -former, which were by the Duke so freely <a id='corr45.5'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='forgiven,'>forgiven,”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_45.5'><ins class='correction' title='forgiven,'>forgiven,”</ins></a></span> -and through these Conway thought “an -honest man and the Duke could not be enemies.” -By Buckingham’s orders the old general’s remains -were sent home, to be interred in Westminster -Abbey. “The army,” the same writer relates, -“grows daily weaker--purses are empty, ammunition -consumes, winter grows, their enemies increase -in number and power, and they hear nothing -from England.”<a id='r65' /><a href='#f65' class='c013'><sup>[65]</sup></a> At length, on the twenty-first of -September a letter<a id='r66' /><a href='#f66' class='c013'><sup>[66]</sup></a> came from one of Buckingham’s -friends, Sir Robert Pye, who, whilst declaring -that the reinforcements were in great forwardness, -begged of the Duke to “consider the end,” -and to reflect on the exhausted state of the revenue, -which was forestalled, he states, for three -years; much land had been sold, all credit lost, and -Government was at the utmost shift with the commonwealth. -“Would that I did not know so much -as I do,” added the courtier. Deputy-Lieutenants -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>were supine, and Justices of the Peace of the -better sort willing to be put out of the commission:--every -man “doubting and providing for -the worst,” so that all were in a sort of panic. -All these discomforts were ascribed to the loan, -and the loan was the consequence of the projected -war with France and Spain. Too late did -Charles, who had hitherto left everything to the -Duke, “knit his soul unto business,” and endeavour -to provide for the fruitless contest.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The month of October proved even more disastrous -to the English than September. Hopes -were entertained of a surrender. Two gentlemen -from the citadel came to treat of surrendering; -and, after trying to make conditions, asked leave -till the next day to consider them. The night was -dark and stormy; notice was given of the approach -of an enemy; the Duke put out to sea himself, -but the barques took a wrong direction, and the -enemy’s fleet of thirty-five barques broke through -that of the English, and the Admiral of the Fleet -was taken prisoner. Fourteen or fifteen of the -enemy’s barques, however, furnished with a -month’s provisions, got through to the citadel, -which was thus relieved. On account of the -sickness produced by the immoderate eating of -grapes, and also considering the uncertainty of -supplies from England, there were many of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>Colonels who now recommended retiring from before -Rhé; and so discouraged was the Duke at -this failure, that he was on the point of going -back to England, when an offer from the citizens -of La Rochelle to take a thousand sick -into their town, and to send to the camp five -hundred men with provisions, encouraged him -to wait for reinforcements.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On this incident the fortune of the whole siege -seemed to hinge, and it must have been extremely -tantalizing, when the citadel was on the very eve of -surrendering, to find that relief had been poured -into it by the enemy. No one could imagine how -it had been managed. There was a nightly watch -of six hundred boats; the Duke was generally -among the men in these boats, or in the trenches, -till near midnight; even the common sailors pitied -his exertions, and felt for his anxieties. Then -there was a battery of seven cannon, that fired -upon the very landing-place, beneath the Fort, -besides sunken collies that played on the same -spot. The wind was then fair for Rhé, and the -merchant ships that had been hired were making -for the Island; but the others were detained, -since no supplies from England had arrived to -enable them to act. In the midst of all his uncertainties -the following letter from the Duchess -was despatched to the Duke:--</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span></div> -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My Lord</span>--I ded the last night here very -good nwse that you had taken the ships w<sup>ch</sup> cam -to releve the fort, which I hope will so much discurage -them as now they will be out of all hope, and -quickly yeelde it upe, and then I hope you will -remember your promise in making hast home, for -I will assure you both for the publicke, and our -private good here in cort, ther is great neede of -you, for your great Lady,<a id='r67' /><a href='#f67' class='c013'><sup>[67]</sup></a> that you believe is so -much your frend, uses your frends something worse -then when you were here, and your favour has -made her so great as now shee cares for nobody: -and poore Gordon is the basist used that ever any -creature was, for now you ar not here to take his -part they do flie most fercly uppon him, but when -you com I hope all things will be mended. I pray -say nothing of this, and be sure to burne this leter -when you have rede it. I thanke God I am very -well. Mall is very well, I thanke God. I thanke -you for the orange water you sent me, but yett I -dare not us it coming from the Governor,<a id='r68' /><a href='#f68' class='c013'><sup>[68]</sup></a> thus -praying for your health, in hast, I rest</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“your trewe loving and obedent wife,</div> - <div class='line in19'>“<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>“10th Octr.”</p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>1627(?)--(<em>on the back of the original letter in pencil.</em>)</span></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>Whilst money was thus called for in vain, to -carry on the war, the defences at home were daily -becoming more and more ruinous. The castles in -the Downs were in danger of being swallowed by -the sea: and water got into the moat of Deal -Castle; the Lanthorn of that fort was wholly -destroyed, the loss of which, being a sea-mark, -was a source of bitter complaint; Walmer Castle -was in ruins.<a id='r69' /><a href='#f69' class='c013'><sup>[69]</sup></a> Friends there were who wrote to -Buckingham to urge strongly on his attention all -that was threatening the country, and to suggest -his return; amongst these the Viscount Wilmot<a id='r70' /><a href='#f70' class='c013'><sup>[70]</sup></a> -was one whose expressions were modified by great -kindness, and evident partiality for the Duke; -whilst advice came less graciously from Viscount -Wimbledon, whose recent failure must have rendered -his comments on the affair far from palatable.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Before his letter of suggestion and advice -could have arrived, Buckingham had, however, -consented to a retreat. The state of despair into -which his troops had been thrown by the reinforcement -of the citadel, and their discovery of the -false representations of the amount of provisions -on which the besieged could count, induced him -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>to take this fatal step. Presently, however, better -information was obtained; and though the sick -had been sent into La Rochelle, and the ordnance -embarked, the vacillating Duke again determined -to “stay and bide it out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>In the midst of this perplexity, on the fifteenth -of October, a valuable auxiliary was sent in the -person of Charles, Viscount Wilmot.<a id='r71' /><a href='#f71' class='c013'><sup>[71]</sup></a> Lord -Holland also set sail, but the Duke now found -it difficult to persuade the men to await the long -promised assistance. “Pity our misery!” was their -cry. The people were “looking themselves and -their perspectives” (as telescopes were then styled) -“blind in watching for Lord Holland from the tops -of houses;” yet that nobleman lingered at Portsmouth, -pretending to believe that Buckingham, -who, he said, he knew “would stay till the last -<em>bite</em>,” might be supplied with victuals from the -west. Then he feared also, as he stated, that the -Duke might have sailed towards home; that he was -ill supplied with provisions; and that he might be -obliged to put back into France or Spain. The -King, meantime, was wondering and asking why -Holland lingered first at Portsmouth and then in -the Downs? Charles’s impatience was expressed -with a force unusual to his gentle character. Until -the eighteenth of October, no one in England, it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>appears, knew of the great distress into which -Buckingham and the forces were plunged by -the failure of the supplies.<a id='r72' /><a href='#f72' class='c013'><sup>[72]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Whilst the wind was against the Duke’s return, -no one could suppose that he would throw up the -whole end of the expedition, and sail homewards; -yet reports of his preparing to do so continually -got abroad, as may be seen from the following -letters from the Countess of Denbigh, Buckingham’s -only sister, by whom he was much -beloved:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>“<span class='sc'>Moust deere brother</span>--I hope these nue -supplys will give you such advantage to you, that -your busines will be ended to your honer and -contentment. I pray be not be to hasty to ingage -your selfe in any other afares till you see howe -you shall be supplyed. I would you could but -see our afares here: wee ar sometymes for Ware, -some tymes a showe of Peace: poor I must be -patiend: I have much to speeke to lett you -knowe of all particulars, but I am a bad relater of -thinges. I will promis you to play my part in -patience, and when you com you well not be lede -away with them that doth not love you, and be -false to you and all yours. I pray God to bles you: -forgit not to rede of the booke I gave you, and if -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>you will take phisick this fall of the leafe you -shall do very well, so I take my leave.</p> -<div class='column-container'> -<div class='col_left'> -“20th Octr. 1627. -</div> -<div class='col_right'> -“your loving sister,<br/><span class='sc'>Su. Denbigh</span>.” <a id='r73' /><a href='#f73' class='c013'><sup>[73]</sup></a> -</div> -</div> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham.”</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>“<span class='sc'>Moust deere brother</span>--I hope you will be -sure of supplyes before you undertake to go to -Rocchell, for ether ther hath beene some grate -mistake or neglicte: that you [should have beene] -in any distrecs, it doth grefe my very hart and sole. -I heare you have beene in great wantes, but I -hope before this you are released. I pray be not -to venterus, and I hope you well not forgit the -booke I gave you, to looke over it often, at the -leaste morning and evening, so with my best love, -I take my leave.</p> -<div class='column-container'> -<div class='col_left'> -“26th Octr. 1627. -</div> -<div class='col_right'> -“your loveing sister,<br/><span class='sc'>Su. Denbigh</span>.” -</div> -</div> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham, my deere Brother.”</span><a id='r74' /><a href='#f74' class='c013'><sup>[74]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>It must have been peculiarly aggravating, amidst -the anxieties of the Duchess and Lady Denbigh, -to find that all the Duke’s perplexities, privations, -and sufferings had not in the slightest -degree mitigated his unpopularity at home. It -must have been still more irritating to know that, -whilst the troops before St. Martin’s Fort were in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>a state of starvation, there was the greatest disorder -and carelessness in sending the supplies. -“There is,” Lord Wilmot wrote to Conway, -“neither commissary of victuals, nor any one to -give account of arms. They find one thousand -muskets, but no pikes nor armour.” Meantime the -Duke’s army were in want of clothes, and mostly -went barefoot.<a id='r75' /><a href='#f75' class='c013'><sup>[75]</sup></a> Then Lord Holland, when at last -on board the fleet, complained that there was no -one officer or creature who could tell what there -was aboard the provision ships, five of which were -Dutch, and might steal away at any moment. -There seems to have been neither patriotism at -home, in regard to this expedition, nor honour in -allies, nor even common honesty in the commanders -of hired vessels.</p> - -<p class='c001'>For several days the wind continued contrary to -Lord Holland’s departure from Plymouth. The -twenty-sixth of October had arrived, and the Duke, -as it appeared from private letters, had "stayed it -out till the last bit of bread:"--such is the expression -of John Ashburnham, a devoted partisan of -Buckingham’s: fears were even entertained that -the fleet and army were lost; then “such a rotten, -miserable fleet set out to sea as no man ever saw;” -“our enemies,” Ashburnham adds, “seeing it, may -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>scoff at our nation.” Lord Holland, who had been -expected by the Duke on the fifteenth, was still -waiting for a fair wind at Plymouth on the twenty-seventh,<a id='r76' /><a href='#f76' class='c013'><sup>[76]</sup></a> -employing himself there in trying to expedite -recruits, and to send out a Scottish regiment. -“In his responsibility” (as he wrote to the -King) "he had provided two or three hundred -live sheep, to go out for the sick men, who die for -want of fresh meat;"--“three thousand pairs of -stockings for the men in the trenches; physic also, -and an apothecary.” Despair, however, possessed -all minds; and a report now began to disquiet even -the sanguine, stating that the French were landing -an army on the Island of Rhé. The report -was true; one fatal mistake had been made by -Buckingham--he had left the fort of St. Pré -unmolested.</p> - -<p class='c001'>This castle, seated, as its name bespeaks, in a -meadow, had appeared too paltry a conquest to -the sanguine and impetuous Buckingham, when he -had first landed at Rhé. He had passed it untouched, -but it was now well garrisoned with -French troops from the mainland; still its importance -was not fully comprehended until the -fatal moment came for a retreat from before Fort -St. Martin. It is evident that the Duke had -overlooked that which should have been a preliminary -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>step in his march; and that his attention -had been distracted by an undertaking too arduous -for a man whose life had been passed in a very different -battle-field from that on which he now ventured -his fortunes. Hitherto, he had been a mere -civilian, knowing nothing of war, but in the Tourney--nothing -of nautical matters, but in gala-vessels, -or some favourite ship; and little of the sea, but on -maps. Well might his mother caution him not to -engage in too “great business;” it was not, in his -case, an idle warning, but desperation had impelled -him to make the fatal experiment of being at once -General and Admiral in a contest with warriors -so perfect as the French. Had he been reinforced -in good time,--had the measures at home been -directed by energy, or even by good faith -merely---the events which so overclouded his later -actions with a shade of shame might not have -happened. From the moment when the French -occupied the Fort St. Pré, the game was, -however, virtually lost.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Meantime, Charles I., it is manifest from his -letters to Lord Holland, was beginning to be seriously -displeased with the negligence of the Commissariat -Department. He was also desirous of -impressing Lord Holland, not only with the great -importance of the result of the expedition, but likewise -of his anxiety for the safety of the Duke, “to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>whom,” the King writes, “whosoever does the -best service is the most happy, be it for life -or death.”<a id='r77' /><a href='#f77' class='c013'><sup>[77]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>So late as the latter end of October, Buckingham -was resolved either to stay in the island if -supplies came,--or, if they did not arrive, to put -himself and the army into La Rochelle, and “run -their fortune.”<a id='r78' /><a href='#f78' class='c013'><sup>[78]</sup></a> This was his last resolution. At -one time he had fully determined on leaving, for -some of his soldiers were barefooted: others were -sick of the siege, and had neither bread, meat, nor -beer; but the Duc de Soubise had re-assured him, -and, promising eight hundred men from La Rochelle, -had encouraged Buckingham to decide on -scaling the Fort St. Martin.<a id='r79' /><a href='#f79' class='c013'><sup>[79]</sup></a> Meantime, Lord -Holland did not appear: he was still at Plymouth. -Contrary to the advice of the mariners, he had -forced the whole fleet out of the Catwaters into -Plymouth Sound; but it was driven back by the -“cruellest storms” of twenty hours’ duration that -had ever been known. Great damage was done: -it was now necessary to stay to repair the crazy -ships--the wind, as Lord Wilmot expressed it, -“did so overblow.” The violence of the elements, -and the knavery or indifference of man, seemed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>combined to keep back aid from the hungry soldiers -in the Island of Rhé, and to ruin their general.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Perhaps the best, or, as many persons think, -the only excuse for Buckingham in the step he -eventually took, is contained in a touching letter -from Sir Allen Apsley to “Honest Nicholas.” -Apsley, described in one of the letters from the -camp as “very sick and melancholy,” dates his -letter “from his sick and lately senseless bed on -board the Nonsuch.”<a id='r80' /><a href='#f80' class='c013'><sup>[80]</sup></a> “No man,” he begins by -saying, “has he more cause more faithfully and -more affectionately to love than Nicholas.” “His -soul melts with tears to think that a State should -send so many men, and no provision at all for -them. But for Nicholas’s provision, through merchants, -they had been miserably starved long since.” -He then goes on to relate that “there were about -five thousand seamen and four thousand landsmen -in great distress for meat and drink. The army -had already lost four thousand men, and all their -commanders.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>A sort of responsive testimony to the Duke’s -sufferings, and to the cruel neglect of the authorities -at home, is conveyed in a letter from William, -Earl of Exeter, to Buckingham. “What cannot -be obtained by your courage,” writes the descendant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>of the great Burleigh, “must in the end be -submitted to your patience.” If the Duke “sowed -onions, he would be sure of onions; if he sowed -men, they are in danger, for the most part, to -come up ingrates.” “The indolence,” he adds, -“which his highness has cause to resent, is as -great infidelity as is that of commission.” Then -he cites examples of great generals, who, without -loss of honour, abandoned enterprizes which -could not be accomplished; what the Duke had -already done was, he said, “miraculous.”<a id='r81' /><a href='#f81' class='c013'><sup>[81]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Neither did the Duke receive any encouragement -to remain, even from one of his best friends, -Sir George Goring, the faithful adherent in the -great rebellion of Charles I.<a id='r82' /><a href='#f82' class='c013'><sup>[82]</sup></a> Goring had, in a -former letter, represented to the Duke how futile -would be any dependence on supplies; for the -“City,” he wrote, “whence all present money -must now be raised, is so infected by the malignant -part of this kingdom, that no man will lend -any money upon any security, if they think it -will go the way of the Court, which is now made -diverse from the State--such is the present distemper.” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>The King, it was said, might choose -to break all his bonds, <a id='corr59.2'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='and'>“and</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_59.2'><ins class='correction' title='and'>“and</ins></a></span> then, when should -they be paid?” Under these circumstances, Goring -strongly advised the Duke to return home, and -“to curb the insolence of the French some other -way.”<a id='r83' /><a href='#f83' class='c013'><sup>[83]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>On the very day on which this letter was -written, a newsletter, dated on board the Triumph, -in the Road of Rhé, announced that the embarkation -of the troops had already taken place. -La Rochelle had by that time been completely -blockaded by the French--too late it had declared -for the English. For the safety of that city it -was essential that Buckingham should remain; -but, although he has been almost universally condemned -for retiring, it is evident that the want -of provisions, and the delay of reinforcements -from England, extenuate, if they do not wholly -justify, that step. He had now been expecting -Lord Holland’s arrival for nearly a fortnight, and -Lord Holland was still at Teignmouth--having -been again driven back by contrary winds.<a id='r84' /><a href='#f84' class='c013'><sup>[84]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>During all this time, no words could describe -all the distress of mind suffered by Buckingham -better than those of his biographer and attached -adherent, Sir Henry Wotton. “In his countenance, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>which is the part that all eyes interpret, no open -alteration,” even after his reverses, could be detected, -but the suppressed feelings were the more -poignant for that disguise.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“For certain it is,” adds Sir Henry, “that to -his often-mentioned secretary, Dr. Mason, whom -he had in pallet near him, for natural ventilation -of all his thoughts, he broke out into passionate -expressions of anguish, declaring, in the absence -of all other ears and eyes, ‘that never his dispatches -to divers princes, nor the great business -of a fleet, of an army, of a siege, of a treaty, of -war, of peace, both on foot together, and all of -them in his head at a time, did not so much -trouble his repose as a conceit that some at home, -under His Majesty, of whom he had well deserved, -were now content to forget <a id='corr60.17'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='him”'>him.’”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_60.17'><ins class='correction' title='him”'>him.’”</ins></a></span><a id='r85' /><a href='#f85' class='c013'><sup>[85]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Wotton partly ascribes the Duke’s failure to one -cause--an improvident confidence, brought with -him from a Court where fortune had never deceived -him. Besides, he adds, “We must consider -him yet but rude in the profession of arms, -though greatly of honour, and zealous in the -cause.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>By others he is considered to have committed -an error in not having first attacked the Isle of -Oléron, which was not only weakly garrisoned, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>but well supplied with wine and oil, and other -provisions. But his great mistakes arose from -his impulsive nature--a disposition often the concomitant -of energy. Without waiting for the -advice of Soubise, he had invested St. Martin’s; -in marching to St. Martin’s, he had overlooked -the Meadow Castle, as St. Pré was called by his -soldiers; and that fort was now the chief impediment -to his retreat.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Having been urged in vain by Soubise to -remain, Buckingham aimed one last blow. He -attempted to storm Fort St. Martin. He was -perhaps incited to this rash and fruitless act by -the taunting conduct of the besieged, who, knowing -that he intended to starve them into submission, -hung provisions on the walls. No breach -was made, and the assault had no other result -than the loss of soldiers. A retreat was then -decided on. The forces could not now return by -St. Pré, and a new route was to be taken. A -causeway amid deep salt-marches was their only -choice; and this causeway, or mound, was terminated -by a bridge that joined to Rhé the second -island of Vié. Here no fort to protect the -bridge had been erected, and there was therefore -no passage over to Vié. The French had all this -time been close in pursuit. Buckingham was -in the rear, and, as a contemporary observed, “had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>like to have been snapped,”<a id='r86' /><a href='#f86' class='c013'><sup>[86]</sup></a> if he had not ridden -through the troops on the narrow causeway, -where more than eight or ten could not ride -abreast. It was not until the English had -reached the Island of Vié that the French chose -to attack them; then the delay of forming a -bridge gave the pursuers time to make their onset -with an advantage they could not have had on the -causeway, where a handful of men might have set -at defiance a host. The French drove the English -horse on Sir Charles Birch’s regiment of -foot, and both he and Sir John Radcliffe were -killed. A hot skirmish ensued. “Our men,” -says a newsletter, “spoiled one another, and -more were drowned than slain. The Duke was -the last man in the rear, and carried himself -beyond expression bravely.”<a id='r87' /><a href='#f87' class='c013'><sup>[87]</sup></a> Ultimately the -bridge was made good, and on the following day -the embarkation of the crest-fallen English was -safely effected. Buckingham was of course -blamed by one faction, and excused by the other, -for this failure. Denzil, afterwards Lord Holles, -the great leader of the Presbyterian party, a -man who, during his whole life, never changed -sides, censured him in forcible terms, quoting the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>words of one whom he styles “a prophet of their -own sides,” in saying that the enterprize was “ill -begun, badly carried on, and the result accordingly -most lamentable.” “It was a thousand to -one,” Holles adds, “that all our ships had not been -lost.” Ten days’ provision alone remained; when -that was exhausted the Duke must have submitted -to the enemy.<a id='r88' /><a href='#f88' class='c013'><sup>[88]</sup></a> No one disputed Buckingham’s -courage; he brought back, as Hume -expresses it, “the vulgar praise of courage and -personal bravery.” He was justly, nevertheless, -condemned for the risk he ran in the retreat; -for, it was said, had the General been lost, what -would have become of the troops, who had retreated -in disorder?</p> - -<p class='c001'>The letters in the State-Paper Office, to which -reference has been made, though they do not -refute the charge that the enterprize was “ill -begun,” exonerate Buckingham, nevertheless, -from much blame: he had every reason to expect -reinforcements, for which he was continually -begging; no Commander-in-Chief was ever left in -a predicament more cruel; and he was justified -in retiring by the certainty that provisions must -soon fail, and the uncertainty of any fresh supply -from the tardy and corrupt authorities at home.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The confusion in the retreat was stated to be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>such that “no man,” Denzil Holles wrote, “can -tell what was done, nor no account can be given -how any man was lost--not the lieutenant-colonel -how his colonel, nor lieutenant how his -captain, which was a sign that things were ill -carried.” “This every man alone knows--that -since England was England, it received not so -dishonourable a blow.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The loss was indeed severe; thirty standards -had been taken, but more lost; four colonels -killed, and about two thousand of our men -perished during the retreat.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On the tenth of November the fleet left Rhé, -and on the twelfth it was seen in Portsmouth -Roads, Buckingham’s ship, the Triumph, being -distinguished. The Duke, however, who was returning -home under such painful circumstances, -was not in that vessel. As the fleet neared Plymouth, -he quitted his ship, and, getting into a -ketch, went into the port, in order to gather some -account why the succours so long expected at -St. Martin’s had never arrived. He had also -another step to take--that of sending off an immediate -despatch to the King, in order that His -Majesty might be apprized by himself alone of -the great loss and failure incurred in the attempt -on Rhé. The messenger was sworn, on forfeiture -of his head, to secrecy.<a id='r89' /><a href='#f89' class='c013'><sup>[89]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>“Charles received the news,” Conway wrote, in -reply, “with the wisdom, courage, and constancy -of a great king, and has declared so much kingly -justice and goodness, with affection, to the Duke, -as renders his grace, in the king’s judgment, and -in the opinion of all those who heard him, clear -from all imputation, and honoured by his actions: -all guiltiness remaining upon this State for whatsoever -fault or misconduct is come to that army.” -Considering the delay in sending succour, the -event was thought to have been better than could -have been expected.<a id='r90' /><a href='#f90' class='c013'><sup>[90]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>A letter soon followed from Sir Edward Nicholas, -informing the Duke that, six weeks ago, the state -of provisions at Rhé was mentioned to the King -and the Lords, “but was not credited.” He recommended -his patron to do nothing until after -his arrival in London: all things were at a stand, -he says, until the Duke should give them “life -and direction.” Secretary Conway, in a letter to -his son, even “joyed” to find so few had been -killed, and so little, “in point of honour,” lost, -taking the greatest loss to be in the quality of some -half dozen persons.<a id='r91' /><a href='#f91' class='c013'><sup>[91]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Three days after the Duke had landed at Plymouth, -the Duchess wrote to him:--</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span></div> -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My Lord</span>--Sence I hurd the newse of thy -landing I have bine still every hower looking for -you, that I cannot now till I see you sleepe in the -nights, for every minite, if I do here any noyes, I -think it is on from you, to tell me the happy -newes what day I shall see you, for I confese I -longe for it w<sup>th</sup> much imptience. I was in great -hope that the bisnes you had to do at Portsmouth -wood a bine don in a day, and then I -should a seene you here to-morrow, but now I -cannot tell when to expect you. My Lord, there -has bine such ill reports made of the great lose -you have had by the man that came furst, as your -frends desiers you wood com to clere all w<sup>th</sup> all -speede: you may leve some of the Lords there to -se what you give order for don, and you need not -stay yourself any longer:--this, beseeching you to -com hether on Sunday or Munday w<sup>th</sup>out all fayle. -I rest yours,</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“true loving and obedent wife,</div> - <div class='line in16'>“<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>"Mr. Maule desires you to com to the King, -though you stay but on night, for they were never -so busie as now.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham.”</span><a id='r92' /><a href='#f92' class='c013'><sup>[92]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Many were the welcomes offered to the Duke -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>on his return. Henry, Earl of Manchester, -“hoped that God had preserved him to add to -his honour;” and begged him not to be discouraged, -for no captain nor general could play his part -better; Sir James Bagge declared that the Duke -was “dearer to him than children, wife, or -life;” and Mr. Mohun and Sir Bernard Granville -“will put down their lives and fortunes,” they -wrote, “at the Duke’s feet.”<a id='r93' /><a href='#f93' class='c013'><sup>[93]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>It seems, however,from the following letter--half -reproachful, yet ever affectionate--that some time -passed before the Duke saw his wife, and that -even then he had thoughts of returning to Rhé:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>My dere Lord</span>--I was in great hope by on -of your leters that I should a hade the happynes -to a sene you this weeke, but sences I have not -had it confirmed by any more, and in this I -received by my lady’s mane I was in hope wood -a tould me sartanly when I should a had the -happnes to a sene you, but your leter not saying -on worde makes me begine now to fere that you -have but deceived me all this whill in giving me -assurances that you deed not, and now I begine to -be much greeved that you wood not a tould me -the truth; but yet I cannot absolutly dispare, because -I hope you will yett be as good as your word, -for I confese, if you should go, I should not have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>a stout hart. My Lord, these too cusens of yours -desires you to accept of there servis, and lett -them go w<sup>th</sup> you, for thay had rather venter ther -lives w<sup>th</sup> you than stay behind, but I hope you -will put them in some way for ther advancement, -for thay deserve very well, and I hope will till -the last. I am very well, I thanke God, and ever</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“your trewe loving and obedent wife,</div> - <div class='line in21'>“<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.<a id='r94' /><a href='#f94' class='c013'><sup>[94]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'><span class='small'>“To the Duke of Buckingham.”</span></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>It is a terrible state when esteem and affection -are opposed; for, in a woman’s heart the latter is -sure to gain the ascendancy. Allowance must, -however, be made for the Duke’s almost overwhelming -occupations at this time, and for the -harassed state of his mind, which prevented him -writing to his wife.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Upon arriving in Plymouth, Buckingham, however, -experienced a greater act of friendship than -any mere welcome in words. The warmest and -most estimable of his friends was Sir George -Goring, one of those true-hearted Cavaliers of -whom Englishmen of every party may be truly -proud. To Goring the Duke left, in some -measure, the care of his mother, when he sailed -for La Rochelle. Goring’s blessings had followed -the Duke on his voyage. “My dearest Lord,” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>are the terms in which Goring addressed him; -and he showed that he was, as he himself -wrote, faithful in every point to him for whom -he professed friendship.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The incident which now occurred rests on the -authority of Sir Henry Wotton, the long-trusted -servant of James I., and the devoted adherent of -Buckingham, by whose influence he had been -made Provost of Eton.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Scarcely had Buckingham set off from Plymouth, -on his way to London, than a messenger, -sent in haste from Goring, warned him not to -take the usual road, for that his friend had -authentic information that a design upon his life -would be attempted on his journey. The Duke -received the letter when on horseback, and, -crushing it into his pocket, without the slightest -sign of apprehension, rode on. He was attended -by seven or eight gentlemen only; and -they were merely provided with the swords they -usually wore, and had no other means of defence. -There was one among them, however, who was -personally bound to the Duke by ties of kindness -and affection; this was his nephew, the -young Lord Fielding, the son of that sister -who had wept when she saw that the Duke -was not at chapel with the King. The most -cordial union, indeed, existed between all the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>members of the Villiers’ family; and they were -bound by gratitude as well as by affection to the -Duke.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The party rode on, when, about three miles -from the town, they were stopped by an aged -woman, who came out of a house on the road, -and asked “whether the Duke were in the company?” -Buckingham was pointed out to her; -and she then, coming close up to his saddle, -told him that in the very next town through -which he was to pass she had heard some -desperate men “vow his death;” she therefore -advised him to take another road, which she offered -to show him.</p> - -<p class='c019'>This circumstance, added to the warning letter -sent by Goring, greatly impressed those around -the Duke; and they entreated him to take the -old woman’s advice. But whether from his usual -recklessness of consequences, or from an idea -that his showing fear would provoke taunts from -his enemies, does not appear; the Duke obstinately -refused to comply. And yet this “strange -accident,” as Wotton calls it, was the more -remarkable, as it was a sort of prelude to his -fate, and in itself was of importance to a man -whose unpopularity before he left England was -now, at his return, tenfold more general than -it had ever been during his career.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>As they were disputing, the Duke still resolute, -his young nephew, Fielding, went up to -him, and entreated him to honour him by giving -him his coat and the blue ribbon of the Garter, -that he might wear them through the town; and -he urged his request by pleading that the Duke’s -life, in which the welfare of the whole family -was concerned, was the most “precious thing -under Heaven.” He declared that he could so -muffle himself up in the Duke’s hood, in the -way his uncle was accustomed to do in cold -weather, that no one could fail to be deceived--so -that, attention being withdrawn, the Duke -would be able to defend himself.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Duke caught the noble-spirited youth in his -arms, and kissed him. “Yet,” he said, “he would -not accept that offer from a nephew whose life -he valued as he did his own;” then rewarding the -poor woman for her good-will to him, he gave -orders to his retinue how to act in case of -attack, and rode calmly onwards.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Scarcely had he entered the town, when a half-drunken -soldier caught hold of his bridle, as if -he wanted to beg; instantly a gentleman of the -Duke’s train, though at some distance, rode up, -and, with a violent thrust, severed the man from -the Duke, who, with the others, galloped quickly -through the streets. Either from his usual indifference -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>to danger, or fearing, as Sir Henry -Wotton says, to “resent discontentments too -deep” to be allayed, no notice was taken of -this incident of Buckingham’s journey to London,<a id='r95' /><a href='#f95' class='c013'><sup>[95]</sup></a> -nor any inquiries made as to the projected -assassination.</p> - -<p class='c019'>On his return to Court, the king received him -graciously; no change appeared in the outward -demeanour of those who met him; but his horse -regiment had been composed of the sons of the -noblest families in the land, and smothered regrets -for the loss of “such gallant gentlemen” were -as prevalent amid the higher classes, as deep resentment -was in the indignant and vehement -lower orders of society.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“The effects of this overthrow,” Lord Clarendon -observes, “did not at first appear in whispers, -murmurs, and invectives, as the retreat -from Cadiz had done; but produced such a -general consternation over the face of the whole -nation, as if all the armies of France and Spain -were united together, and had covered the -land.”<a id='r96' /><a href='#f96' class='c013'><sup>[96]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Charles was, however, resolved to see no fault in -his favourite, to acknowledge no disgrace; with a -confidence in the Duke that would have done honour -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>to a private friendship, he wrote to him, saying, that -with “whatever ill success he came, he should ever -be welcome--one of his greatest griefs being that -he was not with him in that time of trial, as they -might have much eased each other’s griefs.” -Adding, that the Duke “had gained, in his mind, -as much reputation as if he had performed all his -desires.”<a id='r97' /><a href='#f97' class='c013'><sup>[97]</sup></a> The terms on which they stood towards -each other were those of one young man -towards another--his companion in pleasures and -pursuits, his fellow-traveller, his confidant--not -those existing between a sovereign and a trusted -subject, amenable to public opinion.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The step which Buckingham took, on his -arrival in London, was to ask immediately for a -public audience with the King and Lords in -Council. Then he plunged at once into the -subject about which the country was in a -ferment. He “delivered a clear account of the -passages, descending even to the good and bold -actions of private soldiers.” He extolled the -patience of the army, and “the fair opportunity -offered of turning their sufferings into glory, if -their virtue had been seconded with the power -and succours designed for it.” He named every -officer in terms of great praise; and if both -officers and men were sensible of “the honours -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>and obligations done them by the Duke, they -would,” Conway wrote, “live with their swords, -or die with them in their hand, to pay him that -duty.” The King, also, put the “right interpretation -on the Duke’s actions.” This open way of -forestalling criticism, and, perhaps, impeachment, -was certainly as sagacious as it was fearless.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Duke, before leaving the coast, had provided -carefully for the soldiers who were sick and -wounded, and amongst whom a fearful infectious -disease prevailed, so that those in whose -houses men were billeted died of the same -malady. A storm soon damaged fifteen or sixteen -of those fated ships which had returned -from Rhé: and such was the poverty of the -State, that, so late as the fifth of January, 1620, -we find the sailors, who had deserved so much -from their country, ill from want of clothes.<a id='r98' /><a href='#f98' class='c013'><sup>[98]</sup></a> -There was no money for their pay, which was in -arrears; there arose, of course, a mutinous spirit -among them. The sailors were so destitute of clothing, -that they would not do their duty in their -ships, and many fell dead into the harbours. Still -money could not be raised, although every possible -expedient to obtain it was employed by the -King. Among others who supplied him was Sir -Francis Crane, Garter King-at-Arms, to whom -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>Charles gave certain royal manors for security, to -the extent of seven thousand five hundred pounds.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Court was now both dull and partially deserted; -the beautiful masques of Ben Jonson were -no longer called into requisition: they had been -discontinued since 1626, and were not resumed until -two years after Buckingham had ceased to exist; -and the only diversion specified for the Christmas -festivity of this, his last Christmas, was “a running -masque,” to be performed on a Sunday, -hastily got up, and of no particular note.<a id='r99' /><a href='#f99' class='c013'><sup>[99]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Throughout the whole of the winter, the condition -of the navy was the incessant theme of -Buckingham’s various official correspondents. -“Many of the men,” writes Sir Henry Mervyn, -“for want of clothes, are so exposed to the -weather, that their toes and feet miserably rot -away piecemeal.” Yet a fresh expedition was, -so early as the twelfth of January, in contemplation; -and, hearing this, the French prisoners, to -whom an allowance of eightpence a-day was -given, refused to go back, as they said there -would soon be a fleet fitted out for La Rochelle. -Meanwhile news arrived of great naval preparations -in France, and the sailing from Bordeaux -of ships which were to be sunk in the Channel -before La Rochelle.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>During all these troubles, and whilst a storm -hovered over him, an heir was granted to the -parents, who were anxious for the boon--and -George, the second Duke of Buckingham, of the -house of Villiers, was born. Owing to the death -of his elder brother, Charles, when an infant, his -birth was a source of great delight to the Duke -and Duchess.<a id='r100' /><a href='#f100' class='c013'><sup>[100]</sup></a> And great need was there for all -that could solace the days that were now numbered. -All that had been brilliant in the career -of Buckingham had faded into gloom; the -country was justly irritated by the measures -which he had recommended--the war, the impressment -of seamen, the scheme for granting to -the King the tonnage and poundage for the Customs -during Charles’s life--were subjects which -kept all classes--some from anger, some from -fear--in continual agitation. The impressment -of seamen had formerly been applied only to the -lower classes; but they had been taught by the -higher orders, who had felt the burden of oppression -themselves, to understand their condition and -their rights, and a determined spirit of resistance -ensued; yet it must, in justice, before we draw our -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>conclusions, be remembered, that the Government -was only indirectly responsible for the present -shattered condition of the navy, and for the depth -of misery into which the brave sailors had sunk. -Generally, the great business of setting out ships -had been charged on the port towns and neighbouring -shires, but it was now too heavy a burden -on them to bear. The Privy Council, therefore, -cast up the whole charge of the fleet, which -was prepared in February, 1628, and divided it -among all the counties.<a id='r101' /><a href='#f101' class='c013'><sup>[101]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Neither does it appear that there was in the -expenses of the navy, even during the time of -war, any extravagance. The error was in the -original neglect of the maritime forces, and injustice -to a noble profession; the ruin incident -to total indifference to its maintenance during the -reign of James I. Had not Buckingham, in a few -brief years, done much towards its renovation, the -naval power would have been almost extinct.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst at Rochelle, he had placed the -affairs of the navy in the hands of commissioners. -On the 28th of February (1681) the Council -called for these commissioners, and gave them -“the King’s thanks for past services, letting them -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>know that it was his pleasure in these stirring -times to use again the ancient offices of the -Admiralty.”<a id='r102' /><a href='#f102' class='c013'><sup>[102]</sup></a> The commissioners, on retiring, -gave in their certificates, signed by the Duke as -Lord Admiral, of the expenses of the navy, both -ordinary and extraordinary, in harbours, and the -ordinary at sea, containing six ships and four -pinnaces, for the year 1628. It amounted to -forty thousand, eight hundred, and seventy-six -pounds, fourteen shillings and fourpence<a id='r103' /><a href='#f103' class='c013'><sup>[103]</sup></a>--the -rest of the fleet being supplied by merchants, and -paid by local contributions. But the country -was little disposed to view any point with leniency. -Their grievances were, indeed, almost -daily increasing; and whilst the landholders -were impoverished, the loss of all commerce -between England and France completely alienated -the mercantile community from the Court.</p> - -<p class='c019'>A Parliament was summoned. During the -preceding year the Duchess of Buckingham had -apprehended great danger to the Duke in allowing -the commission of inquiry into the affairs of -the navy to drop; and had expressed her fears that -the abuses brought to light, and unremedied, -might hereafter be laid on the Duke.<a id='r104' /><a href='#f104' class='c013'><sup>[104]</sup></a> There had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>been no time then, in the hurry of the ill-starred -expedition to Rochelle, to complete that inquiry; -but the Duchess’s fears were indeed realized, -when, after the Petition of Right had been -passed by both Houses, the King went to the -House of Lords, sent for the Commons, and then, -in his chair of state, and when the Petition had -been read to him, instead of giving his consent to -the bill in the concise form in which the monarch, -in Norman French, declares that “Le Roy le -veult,” delivered an evasive answer, promising -much, but signifying nothing.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The indignation of the House of Commons -first descended on the head of Mainwaring, afterwards -Bishop of St. Asaph, who had preached, by -the King’s order, a sermon containing doctrines subversive -of liberty. Mainwaring, although he had -acted under royal authority, had been fined a thousand -pounds, imprisoned, and suspended during -three years.<a id='r105' /><a href='#f105' class='c013'><sup>[105]</sup></a> After he had been sentenced, the -House proceeded to pass “strong condemnation on -Buckingham,” whose name had hitherto not been -mentioned. It must have been a singular scene, -when, on the fifth of June, the House being assembled, -a message was delivered to them from -the King, announcing that, as he meant to prorogue -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>Parliament in six days, he desired that no -new business, which might consume time, nor lay -any aspersion on His Majesty’s ministers, should -be commenced. A deep dejection was observed -on all faces; but when Sir John Eliot, the most -impassioned speaker of that period of earnest and -eloquent men, rose, and was about to denounce -Buckingham as the author of all the national misfortunes, -he was stopped by Sir John Finch, -the speaker, who, rising from his chair, his eyes -full of tears, told the House that he had been -commanded to interrupt every member who laid -aspersions on any minister of <a id='corr80.13'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='start'>state.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_80.13'><ins class='correction' title='start'>state.</ins></a></span> A profound and -melancholy silence succeeded; then, after several -members had broken it, by resuming the debate, -it was strange again to hear that voice which had -never deceived his fellow-subjects, and to behold -Sir Edward Coke rise, and remind them of -former parliamentary impeachments, and tell -them that it was their province to regulate prerogative -and correct abuses; and he added, “If -they flattered man, God would never prosper -them.” Then the name fell from his lips that -none since the King’s message had dared to -utter: he denounced Buckingham; he called him -the grievance of grievances; and, setting at -nought the royal mandate, declared, that till the -King were informed of that truth, the Commons -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>could neither continue together, “nor depart -with honour.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Thus the fears of the poor Duchess of Buckingham -were finally and fully realized. One -member imputed to the Duke the ruin of the -shipping, in the restoration of which he had so -incessantly laboured. The faults of others were -thus laid on him. Another stated that there were -Papists in every branch of the public service. The -intolerant fierceness of Puritanical opinions, on -this occasion, blazed out. Selden proposed a declaration -of grievances, and suggested that, though -a mantle had been thrown over the charge against -the Duke in the last Parliament, it ought to be -resumed, and judgment demanded. Whilst the -question was being put, on this motion, whether -the Duke should be named as the primary cause -of grievances, the Speaker begged leave to retire -for a few minutes, and soon returned with a message -from the King to adjourn.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The consternation at the Court must have been -extreme; for Charles now retraced his former -steps; again went to the House, and, giving his -consent to the Petition of Right, in the usual -form since the Norman Conquest, “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>Soit droit -fait comme il est desiré</em></span>,” was received with loud -acclamations. His popularity did not, however, -last very long. He took this opportunity to commit -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>an act which was both dangerous to himself -and to his friend. When, by the dissolution of a -former parliament, the impeachment of the Duke -had been stopped, Charles, to save appearances, -ordered an information against him to -be filed in the Star Chamber. He now ordered -this information to be taken off the file; thus -insulting the Commons, who had named Buckingham -as the “grievance of grievances.”<a id='r106' /><a href='#f106' class='c013'><sup>[106]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>It may easily be imagined how deeply chagrined -Buckingham must have been during these -proceedings. Among the common people his name -was held in still greater detestation than even by -his parliamentary opponents.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was during this session that Sir Thomas -Wentworth, recently created Viscount Strafford, -distinguished himself by his eloquence, which -he exerted in support of Buckingham, thus abandoning -his former show of patriotism, in the -fervour of which he had denounced the Council -of State.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“They have taken from us,” he exclaimed--“what -shall I say?--indeed, what have they -left us? They have taken from us all means of -supplying the King, and ingratiating ourselves -with them, by tearing up the roots of all property.”<a id='r107' /><a href='#f107' class='c013'><sup>[107]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>In the midst of this declaration the Presidentship -of the County of York was deemed likely -to be vacated, owing to the illness of Lord -Scrope, who then held it; and Wentworth had -not scrupled to solicit the promise of it in the following -terms of abject flattery to Buckingham. -The letter is addressed to Lord Conway:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<div class='c014'><span class='small'>“Wentworth, this 20th of January, 1625.</span></div> - -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>My much honored Lord</span>,--The duties of -the place I now hold not admitting my absence -out of these parts, I shall be bold to trouble your -lordship with a few lines, whereas otherwise I -would have attended you in person. There is a -strong and general beleaf with us here that my -Lord Scrope purposeth to leave the Presidentshippe -of York; whereupon many of my friends -have earnestly moved me to use some means to -procure it, and I have at last yielded to take it a -little into consideration, more to comply with them -than out of any violent inordinate desire thereunto -in myself. Yett, as on the one side I have -never thought of it unless it might be effected, -w<sup>th</sup> the good liking of my Lord Scrope, soe will -I never move further in it till I know also how -this may please my Lord of Buckingham, seeing, -indeed, such a seale of his gracious good opinion -would comfort me much, make the place more acceptable; -and that I am fully resolved not to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>ascende one steppe in this kind except I may take -along with me by the way a special obligation to -my Lord Duke, from whose bountye and goodness -I doe not only acknowledge much allready, -but, justified in the truth of my own hartte, doe -still repose and rest under the shadow and protection -of his favour. I beseach y’r Lorp., therefore, -be pleased to take some good opportunity -fully to acquaint his Grace hearunto, and then to -vouchsafe, with y’r accustomed freedom and nobleness, -to give me your counsel and direction, wh. -I am prepared strictly to observe, as one albeit -chearfully embracing better means to doe his -Majesty humble and faithful service in the parttes -whear I live, yet can w<sup>th</sup> as well contented a -mind, rest wher I am, if by reason of my manie -imperfections I shall not be judged capable of -neuer appointment or trust. There is nothing -more to add for the present save that I must -rest much bounden unto y’r Lorp. for the light -I shall borrow from y’r judgement and affection -hearin and soe borrow it too, as may better enable -me more effectually to express myself hereafter.--Y’r -Lorp. most humble and affec<sup>ate</sup> kinsman to -be commanded,</p> -<div class='c014'><span class='sc'>T. Wentworth</span>.</div> -<p class='c020'><span class='small'>To the Right Honble. my much honored Lord the Lorde -Conway, Principall Secretary to his Majestie.”</span><a id='r108' /><a href='#f108' class='c013'><sup>[108]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>This favour being granted, and Sir Thomas -having been created a Viscount, he appeared in -the upper house as an advocate for the ministers -whom he had, only a few months previously, denounced; -but the adherence of Strafford was of -little benefit to Buckingham, as his new ally was -the most unpopular of men. One unhappy result, -however, this unprincipled alliance produced. -The new partisan ingratiated himself with Charles -during his late and brief support of Buckingham; -and the seeds were laid of that influence which so -tended to undermine the future stability of the -Crown, and pioneered the way to Charles’s fall.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The most unjust aspersions were now circulated -throughout all society. It was Buckingham’s -custom to cast away, as unworthy of consideration, -all reports that were brought to him. -On one occasion, hearing that two Colonels, when -before St. Martin’s Fort, had said to a third that -they observed the Duke often go in his barge to the -fleet, and that they believed he would steal away to -England some day; and that if he did, they swore -they would hand out the white flag, and deliver -up the town and island to Tonar, the Governor; -the Duke called a council of war, the accused -being absent, and charged these gentlemen with -their words. They flatly denied them on their -swords. The Duke, without further inquiry, believed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>them, and dismissed the court. Nor did -he ever pay any attention to things said about -him, either in the Commons or in the camp.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In the same way he appears to have treated -James Howell, who, presuming on having been -in his service, and on the affabilities of the Duke, -and a facility of character which had its advantages -as well as disadvantages, wrote an impertinent -letter, saying, that in his “shallow apprehension” -it might be well for the Duke to -part with some of his places, and so to avoid -opprobrium. “Your Grace,” he remarked, “might -stand more firm without an anchor.” Then he -next threw out some suggestions as to the better -regulation of the Duke’s family and private -affairs; and ended by saying that he knew the -Duke did not, nor need not, affect popularity. -“The people’s love,” he added, “is the strongest -citadel of a sovereign prince, but wrath often -proved fatal to a subject, for he who pulleth off -his hat to the people giveth his head to the -prince.” And he ends by referring to “a late -unfortunate Earl,” who, a little before Queen -Elizabeth’s death, had drawn the axe across his -own neck; he had become so unpopular, that -he was considered dangerous to the State. This -very unpleasant reference was taken, at all events, -amicably by Buckingham. The fate of Essex -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>was often supposed to shadow forth his own; -and the rapid rise, the more rapid fall, the -generous, careless nature, the very early doom -of both, to have suggested that parallel between -the Earl of Essex and Buckingham, in which -Lord Clarendon has placed the characters of -both before the reader in delicate touches.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In one respect they were very different. Essex, -when attacked, even before going to Ireland, -wrote an apology, which he dispersed with his -own hands. Buckingham left his fame to his -contemporaries, and to posterity, just as they -choose to view it. On an offer once being made -to him to write a justification of his actions, he -refused it, says Lord <a id='corr87.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Clarenden'>Clarendon</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_87.15'><ins class='correction' title='Clarenden'>Clarendon</ins></a></span>, “with a pretty -kind of thankful scorn, saying that he would trust -to his own good intentions, which God knew, -and trust to Him for the pardon of his <a id='corr87.18'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='errors;'>errors;”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_87.18'><ins class='correction' title='errors;'>errors;”</ins></a></span> -that he saw no “fruit of apologies but the multiplying -of discourse, which, surely,” even Lord -<a id='corr87.21'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Clarenden'>Clarendon</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_87.21'><ins class='correction' title='Clarenden'>Clarendon</ins></a></span> observes, “was a well-settled matter.”<a id='r109' /><a href='#f109' class='c013'><sup>[109]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>But there were dangers lurking in his path -which no defence could avert. Personal danger -did not appal him. Slander did not affect him. -Yet a forgotten, morbid, disappointed man was -the instrument of destiny; and even in this crisis -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>Buckingham seems never to have shrunk from -the assassins, even in imagination: he knew that -he had already escaped great perils--and that -consciousness gave him security.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>FELTON--HIS CHARACTER--UNCERTAINTY OF HIS MOTIVES--CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH HE WAS BROUGHT INTO CONTACT WITH BUCKINGHAM--MOTIVES OF HIS CRIME DISCUSSED--THE REMONSTRANCE--THE FATE OF LA ROCHELLE--BUCKINGHAM’S UNPOPULARITY--RETURNS TO RHE--MISGIVINGS OF HIS FRIENDS--INTERVIEW WITH LAUD--WITH CHARLES I.--HIS FAREWELL--HE ENTERS PORTSMOUTH--FELTON--THE ASSASSINATION--ORIGINAL LETTERS FROM SIR D. CARLETON AND SIR CHARLES MORGAN--THE KING’S GRIEF.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span><span class='large'>CHAPTER III.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c022'>Whilst all these events were pending, dark -designs were being formed and cherished in the -distempered mind of one far from the Court, and -probably wholly forgotten by him to whose -destiny he gave the final stroke.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Hitherto Buckingham had escaped all bodily -harm. He had rallied speedily from illness, and -was in the full vigour of his life; he had returned -unhurt from the perilous service at Rhé; he had -repeatedly crossed the Channel, and tracked even -the great ocean when the science of navigation, -as well as of ship-building, was imperfect, and -when a thousand dangers encompassed his course: -he had escaped the pestilence by which the army -lost many of its best men. And yet his days -were numbered.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>In the remote county of Suffolk the unhappy -John Felton was born. He was the youngest -son of an ancient family, and in somewhat narrow -circumstances, and had been a lieutenant in a -regiment of foot, under the command of Sir John -Ramsey, in the expedition against Rhé. He was -a man of great reserve, which, though he had long -led a soldier’s life, in the course of which he appears -to have risen from the ranks, was still silent -and gloomy. In person he was diminutive, with a -meagre form, and a face rendered almost ghastly -from the expression of that deep, habitual, and -apparently <a id='corr92.13'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='cau eless'>causeless</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_92.13'><ins class='correction' title='cau eless'>causeless</ins></a></span> melancholy to which we -give the term morbid; and thus singularly did -these outlines of his character correspond with -the circumstances of his daily life. So strange -was it to discover in the young soldier the characteristics -attributable to a cloister rather than -to a camp, that one turns to the mournful plea of -insanity for explanation. But no defence of that -nature, or on that ground, was ever attempted -for Felton; unhappily, so much has lunacy increased -in modern times, that it forms now one -point in almost every case of unaccountable -crime. In the days of our ancestors it was -different. Such an excuse was rare, and only -applied to imbecility, or to mania, when too -apparent to be disputed.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>To this day, indeed, there has been found no -adequate motive for the deed, which Felton long -contemplated in the depths of a soul that never -gave utterance to its joys or sorrows, and exchanged -no sympathies with others. Whatever -“may have been the immediate or greatest motive -of that felonious conception,” Sir Henry Wotton -declares, “is even yet in the clouds.”<a id='r110' /><a href='#f110' class='c013'><sup>[110]</sup></a> The -origin of that dark design has, nevertheless, been -referred to a disappointment in Felton’s military -career. This he subsequently denied, by saying -that the Duke had always shown him respect. -Whilst at Rhé, Felton’s captain having died in -England, he naturally applied to Buckingham for -promotion. The Duke, however, consulted the -colonel of the regiment, and, by his suggestion, -gave the company to an officer named Powell, -who happened to be lieutenant of the colonel’s -company, and a man of great bravery; and -Felton himself acknowledged the justice and expediency -of this preference of Powell to himself. -So that, to follow the same authority, the idea -of any rancour being harboured, owing to this -arrangement, can have no foundation.<a id='r111' /><a href='#f111' class='c013'><sup>[111]</sup></a> But the -notion has been taken up by historians adverse to -Buckingham--and such are in the majority--rather -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>to heighten the impression that he suffered -for an act of injustice, for which his death -was, more or less, a retribution, than from any -certain conviction on the point.</p> - -<p class='c019'>There was also another cause assigned for the -crime which Felton meditated. In his native -county there was a certain knight whom the -Duke had latterly favoured; and between this -individual and Felton there “had been ancient -quarrels not yet healed,” which might be festering -within his breast, and worked up by his own -grievance into frenzy. But this explanation is -also rejected by Sir Henry Wotton, whose evidence -is the best that can be given, as proceeding -from a man of principle, and a contemporary and -friend of Buckingham’s.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Three hours before his execution, however, -Felton, either as a palliation to others, or to excuse -the deed to himself, alleged that the -book written by Dr. Egglisham, King James’s -Scottish physician, in which the Duke was portrayed -as one of the foulest monsters upon earth, -unfit to live in a Christian court, or even within -the pale of humanity, had a great effect upon -his mind, in inciting him to what he deemed an -act of heroic virtue. The fact, indeed, it is plain, -was, that his religious convictions had an all-powerful -influence upon his judgment, which was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>warped by the gloomy bigotry which casts a -shadow over the noblest and most encouraging -hopes of the Christian. The tenor of this unhappy -man’s life had been marked by seriousness -and religious observances; but it was the religion -which condemned all who differed--the religion, -not of love, but self-righteousness and hatred.</p> - -<p class='c019'>During the leisure of peace--if peace that can -be called in which all the elements of civil war -were being engendered--the Petition of Right--that -great measure, which even Clarendon allows, -"was of no prejudice to the Crown"--received -the King’s assent. Not contented with what -they found might prove a bare declaration of the -law, the Commons drew up a Remonstrance, -addressed to the King, in order that the too -great power of Buckingham might be diminished. -The promotion of Papists, the protection of -Arminians, under the patronage of Neal and -Laud, were the chief subjects, and were calculated -to arouse and inflame the passions of a fanatic, -like Felton, and to have suggested the reasoning -that was soon warped, by prejudice and hatred, -into the form and conception of guilt. There -were other subjects of complaint in that celebrated -Remonstrance, which touched him also--the standing -commission of general continued to Buckingham -in time of peace, the dismissal of faithful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>officers from various places of trust, the failures at -Cadiz and at Rhé--these were but a small part of -that important document, but they were the portion -most likely to excite such a mind as that of -Felton. He stated, indeed, that the idea of -assassination, which he had repelled by stern -efforts of conscience--for he was a man misled -and mistaken, but not devoid of certain principles, -and he dared to make use of that solemn and -misguiding word, conscience--was revived, with -irresistible force, by the Remonstrance. Never, -hitherto, had the members most distinguished for -oratory in parliament reasoned with so much -force, and so much research, and so great a depth -of legal argument, as on the Petition of Right, -and its successor, the Remonstrance. It was the -era of good taste and profound argument in that -great assembly.<a id='r112' /><a href='#f112' class='c013'><sup>[112]</sup></a> All tended to strengthen Felton -in the conviction that the Duke was a traitor and -oppressor, whom any patriot would do well to -assassinate.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Then he read works which maintained the lawfulness -of ridding a nation of an oppressor; and -the voice of conscience was heard no more--a -false heroism was thenceforth the spectre that -lured him onwards. Never was there a more -striking instance of the influence of one mind -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>over another than that which the books of the day -had over the mind of Felton; never was there a -more prominent exemplification of the responsibilities -of a writer, even if his words chance to have -only an ephemeral reputation, than this man’s crime.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The resolution was then formed--Buckingham’s -life was to be sacrificed for the public good. Sir -Henry Wotton seems to think that every plea -adopted by Felton in explanation of this design -was to be distrusted. “Whatever were the -true motives, which, I think, none can determine -but the Prince of Darkness itself, he did -thus prosecute the effort.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>He bought for tenpence, in a cutler’s shop on -Tower Hill, a knife--that instrument, the blow -of which paralyzed England--and sewed the -sheath into the lining of his pocket, so that he could -at any time draw out the knife with one hand--his -other being maimed and powerless.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Being thus provided, he watched in gloom and -privacy (for he was very poor) the opportunity -over which he brooded.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Meantime, Buckingham was mingling, in the -full confidence of his fearless nature, in the affairs -of that world which he was so soon to quit for -ever. His unpopularity was at its acmé, and if -he feared not for himself, there were friends who -trembled for his safety. Sir Clement Throgmorton, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>a man of great consideration and judgment, -one day asked a private conference, and advised -the Duke to wear a coat of mail underneath his -his outer garment. The Duke received the suggestion -very kindly, but gave this reply, -“Against popular fury a coat of mail would be -but a weak defence, and with regard to an attack -from any single man, he conceived there was no -danger.” "So dark," says Wotton, “is destiny.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>This consciousness of being the object of universal -hatred probably increased the keen desire -which now possessed the Duke’s mind of retrieving -the discredit into which his failure had -plunged him. During the whole of the spring, -preparations for a fresh descent on La Rochelle -had been in contemplation. As good a squadron -as that which Admiral Pennington had previously -commanded was ready at Plymouth by the end -of February, ten ships having been pressed into -the service. Several new vessels were built, notwithstanding -that the workmen of the navy at -Chatham complained that they had not received -any pay for seven months. Buckingham was, -at one time, on the point of visiting Plymouth, -but went to Newmarket instead.<a id='r113' /><a href='#f113' class='c013'><sup>[113]</sup></a> During the -session of Parliament his brother-in-law, the Earl -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>of Denbigh, was dispatched with a fleet to the -relief of La Rochelle, which was blockaded by -the French, but he returned without even attempting -to effect anything; and the unfortunate -town was left to its fate. Richelieu, besieging -it by circumvallations, constructed a mole -across the mouth of the harbour, leaving room -only for the ebb and flow of the sea; and -destruction seemed inevitable. It was, therefore, -a very probable means of recovering his credit -at home, for the Duke again to attempt the relief -of those who, as Protestants, represented a cause -dear to English hearts. Independently of this, it -is not unlikely that old rivalship with the sagacious -Cardinal may have influenced Buckingham -to undertake a second expedition to La Rochelle.<a id='r114' /><a href='#f114' class='c013'><sup>[114]</sup></a> -It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at that Buckingham’s -name should be covered with so much opprobrium -after his death, when the fate of the heroes -who defended La Rochelle is remembered. In the -October of the year in which the Duke perished, -La Rochelle, long refusing to yield, was forced -to submit. The inhabitants surrendered at discretion--even -with an English fleet, commanded -by Lord Sidney, in sight. Of fifteen thousand -men who had been enclosed in the town, only -four thousand survived famine and fatigue, to lay -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>down their arms before the generals sent by -Richelieu.</p> - -<p class='c019'>To make a last effort for these valiant sufferers -was, therefore, the wisest determination that -Buckingham could form. The fleet which Lord -Denbigh had commanded was in good condition, -and all at home had learned experience through -failure. He had taken that severe lesson to his -own heart. Had Buckingham been spared to -relieve La Rochelle, and to recover for England the -honour of her sullied reputation, his errors would -doubtless have been forgiven.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Before leaving London, the Duke went to take -leave of Laud, then Bishop of London. Laud -had now, both in civil and ecclesiastical matters, -a great influence over the King: of this Buckingham -was fully sensible.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Sir Henry Wotton, who had made some inquiries -whether the Duke had had any presentiment -of his death, relates a touching scene between -the Duke and Laud.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“My Lord,” Buckingham said, “you have, I -know, very free access to the King, our sovereign; -let me pray you to remind his Majesty to be good -to my poor wife and children.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>At these words, or perhaps rather on looking -at the expression of countenance with which they -were uttered, the Bishop, with some uneasiness, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>asked the Duke whether he had any forebodings -in his mind which he did not like to betray?</p> - -<p class='c019'>“No,” replied the Duke; “but I think some -adventure may kill me as much as any other -man,”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The day before he was assassinated, the Duke -being ill, Charles the First visited him whilst he -was in bed. After a long and serious conversation -in private, they separated, Buckingham embracing -the King “in a very unusual and passionate -manner;” and he also showed great emotion on -taking leave of Lord Holland, “as if his soul -had divined he should see them no more.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The twentieth of August was his birthday. He -had completed his thirty-sixth year--that -period which has been marked by a great writer -as the departure of youth<a id='r115' /><a href='#f115' class='c013'><sup>[115]</sup></a>--it might have been, -perhaps, in Buckingham’s case, the beginning of -wisdom extracted from experience.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was the age of omens and other superstitious -weaknesses; and supernatural warnings were not -wanting to heighten the effect of the tragedy that -was soon to be acted. Neither did they who foreboded -evil to the Duke wait until after the event -to bring forth their ghostly revelations. One day, -some little time before the Duke’s death, he was -playing at bowls with the King in Spring Gardens. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>Buckingham, as he usually did,even in Charles’s presence, -kept his hat on, a piece of presumption which -irritated a Scotsman named Wilson, who, in his -wrath, tossed off the Duke’s hat, and declared he -would punish impertinence wherever he met it in -the same way. On looking round for this man, he -had vanished, and was nowhere to be found. The -courtiers marvelled at the incident, and regarded -it as ominous of the Duke’s fate; but he laughed -at them for their folly, and showed no fear.<a id='r116' /><a href='#f116' class='c013'><sup>[116]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>His indifference was regarded as infatuation; -in fact, it proves that the Duke was, in some -respects, superior to those whom he most respected. -There was no lone spinster in the -country more given to believe in dreams and -omens than Laud; and his diary contains perpetual -references to his dreams. Every slight incident -had its peculiar meaning, foreshadowing some -great event. Nor does Lord Clarendon rise -above the tone of the times, in his relation of that -famous ghost story which forms one of the most -prominent incidents of Buckingham’s latest days.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Old Sir George Villiers had now been dead -eighteen years, and perhaps few of his family, -and certainly not his wife, who had been -twice married, ever wished to see him again. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>There was a certain Mr. Nicholas Towse, however, -living in Bishopsgate Without, London, to -whom the aged knight appeared in the spirit, -during the year 1627, making choice of that individual -as the depositary of secrets beyond the -grave, because he had known him whilst he was a -boy at school in Leicestershire, near Brookesby. -As a mark of friendship, therefore, the apparition -of Sir George favoured Mr. Towse with his revelations, -and stood one night at the foot of his -bed, dressed in the costume of the time of Elizabeth. -There was a candle in the room, and Mr. -Towse was perfectly wakeful. On beholding Sir -George, he uttered, according to his own account, -the natural inquiry, “What he was, and whether -he was a man?” To which the apparition answered, -“No.” Then Towse, in considerable -emotion, asked, “Was he a devil?” To which -the apparition still answered, “No.” Then Mr. -Towse, with increasing agitation, said, “In the -name of God, tell me what you are?”</p> - -<p class='c019'>"I am," replied the spectre, in doublet and -hose, “the spectre of Sir George Villiers, the -father of the Duke of Buckingham;” adding, that -because he believed Mr. Towse loved him, and -was sensible of the former kindness that he had -shown him, he had selected him as the bearer of a -message to the Duke of Buckingham, warning -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>him in such a manner as to prevent much mischief -and present ruin to the Duke.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst the apparition was speaking, Towse became -more and more convinced of his identity, and -more fully conscious that the long defunct master of -a noble house stood before him; nevertheless, he -refused to do Sir George’s bidding, saying that it -would bring ridicule on him to carry to the Duke -such a message. But the ghost earnestly entreated -him to comply, assuring him, after the manner of -ghosts, that there were certain passages in the -Duke’s life known only to himself and his son, -and that the revelation of these would plainly -show the Duke it was no “distempered fancy, -but a reality, that he wished to disclose.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>That night was one of irresolution, if not of incredulity; -but, on the next, the unhappy Towse, -thus picked out for so ghostly a service, promised -to go to the Duke. He went, indeed, and found out -Sir Thomas Freeman and Sir Ralph Bladden, -the Duke’s chamberlains, by whom he was presented -to the Duke. Then followed some private -and agitated interviews between Buckingham -and Towse, and the cautions of the ghost -were fully and forcibly communicated: they related -chiefly to Buckingham’s patronage of Laud, -and suggested some popular acts which the Duke -was to perform in Parliament--and, in short, contained -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>advice that any reasonable man might -have offered. But nothing that was said by Mr. -Towse made the slightest impression on the -Duke, except, when certain passages of his life -were referred to, with which the ghost had -primed Mr. Towse, he owned he had believed -“that no living creature knew of them but himself, -and that it must be either God or the devil -that had revealed them.” The Duke then offered -to get Mr. Towse knighted, and to have him -made a burgess in the forthcoming Parliament. -But Mr. Towse, finding that the obstinate -favourite was deaf to his advice, left him, prognosticating -that the Duke’s death would happen -at a certain time--which prognostic was fulfilled.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Mr. Towse then returned to Bishopsgate Without; -and, there is much reason to believe, laboured -under mental malady; for the visits of the apparition -were now so frequent that he grew familiar -with him, “as if it had been a friend or acquaintance -that had come to visit him.” And from -this very unpleasant guest Towse learned to see -in perspective many events that had not then -dawned on England; more especially the troubles -of Prynne, who was Towse’s father-in-law--which -was contrary to all rule, as a ghost should keep to -one subject. On the day of Buckingham’s death, -also, Mr. Towse and his wife being at Windsor -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>Castle, where Towse had an office, they were -sitting in company, when he started up, exclaiming, -“The Duke of Buckingham is slain!” At -the very moment that these words were uttered -the blow had been given. Towse dying soon -after, also foretold his own death.</p> - -<p class='c019'>This narrative, thought worthy of insertion by -Clarendon, and therefore not to be completely -disregarded in any biography of Buckingham, -is taken, however, from a letter penned at -Boulogne, by one Edmund Wyndham, in 1672, -twenty years after the event.<a id='r117' /><a href='#f117' class='c013'><sup>[117]</sup></a><a id='r118' /><a href='#f118' class='c013'><sup>[118]</sup></a> According to -Lord Clarendon, Buckingham, after hearing -Towse’s revelation, was observed ever afterwards -to be very melancholy. That he had misgivings -as to his return, we have seen; but there are few -men so insensible, at such a moment, as to be -quite free from presentiment of evil--more especially -one on whom the eyes of the country -were directed in resentment, and regarding -whom the Commons was then preparing a Remonstrance.<a id='r119' /><a href='#f119' class='c013'><sup>[119]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Felton, meantime, was intent on pursuing his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>scheme. The frank and kindly manner of the -Duke towards his officers and soldiers at Rhé, -his personal courage, and his participation in the -hardships all had undergone in that expedition, had -failed to propitiate the assassin, who was, in fact, -stimulated by the fiercest of all incentives--political -hatred, justified by the plea of religion. -He set off, therefore, to Portsmouth, and, partly -on horseback, and partly on foot, accomplished -that journey; and perhaps the desperate state of -his fortunes added to his gloomy views and -reckless designs, into which one thought of self-preservation -never entered. At a few miles from -Portsmouth he was seen sharpening the fatal knife -on a stone; he arrived at that city with the determination -that, should his scheme of assassination -fail for want of opportunity, he would enlist as -a volunteer, in order to accomplish it eventually.</p> - -<p class='c019'>There was, of course, considerable bustle in the -town; and on entering it, when the ghastly -murderer stood unobserved amongst the crowd, -there was too numerous a train about the Duke -for Felton to reach him. Fearful of observation, he -kept himself indoors one morning after his arrival; -but, on the ensuing day, repaired to the house -where Buckingham was staying. The Duke was -at that time at breakfast, and little attention was -paid by a number of suitors and applicants who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>were waiting for him in the antechamber, to the -diminutive being who was watching, with his -dark purpose, among the unconscious crowd. -As there were several military men, amongst -whom was the Duc de Soubise, with Buckingham, -as well as Sir Thomas Fryer, much animation -pervaded the conversation, in consequence of -a report having reached Portsmouth that La -Rochelle had been relieved. Soubise and his followers -believed that this report was set on foot by -some agents of the French, in order to induce the -English to relax in their preparations, until the -mole, which it was Richelieu’s plan to form at the -mouth of the harbour, should be completed. He -and the other foreigners spoke with vehemence, -and in tones which the English, who were listening, -deemed to be those of anger. The Duke, it -appeared, was inclined to believe the report, and -the eagerness of Soubise was not, therefore, to be -matter of surprise, since his interests, and those -of his adherents, were irrevocably engaged in the -approaching expedition. At length, however, the -conference ended; Soubise took his leave, and -Buckingham rose to quit the chamber where he -had breakfasted.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was, probably, with a pre-occupied mind that -he thus prepared to go out; and it is very possible -that he scarcely observed a small figure, which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>he may not even have recognized, which was lifting -up, as he passed on, the hangings between the room -and the antechamber. This was Felton. Buckingham, -on his way, stopped an instant to speak to Sir -Thomas Fryer, one of his Colonels, who was a -short man--so that, in order to hear his reply, the -Duke bent down his head somewhat. Fryer -then drew back, and, at that moment, Felton, -striking across the Colonel’s arm, stabbed Buckingham -a little above the heart. The knife was -left in the body; the Duke, with a sudden effort, -drew it out, and exclaiming, “The villain has -killed me,” pursued the assassin out of the -parlour into the hall or antechamber, where he -sank down, and, falling under a table, drew a deep -breath, and expired.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Then the utmost confusion ensued. The English, -misled by what had passed at breakfast, accused -Soubise and his followers of the murder; and they -would have been instantly sacrificed to the fury of -the populace, had not some persons of cooler -feelings interposed in their behalf. No one had -seen the murderer; he had come in unnoticed, -and had withdrawn in like manner. At this -moment, a hat, into which a paper was sewn, was -found near the door; it was eagerly examined, -and some writing on the paper read with avidity, -and these words were deciphered:--</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span></div> -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>“That man is cowardly, base, and deserves -neither the name of a gentleman nor soldier, -who will not sacrifice his life for the honour of -God, and safety of his prince and country. Let -no man commend me for doing it, but rather -discommend themselves; for if God had not -taken away our hearts for our sins, he could -not have gone so long unpunished.</p> -<div class='c014'>”<span class='sc'>Jno. Felton.</span>"<a id='r120' /><a href='#f120' class='c013'><sup>[120]</sup></a></div> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst the bystanders were reading these words, -the body of the Duke had been conveyed to the -inner apartment, from which he had issued, having -been first laid on the table of the antechamber, -or hall; and in this inner chamber it was -left, without a single person, even a domestic, to -watch over his remains, or to give him that tribute -of sorrowing respect which is due to the poorest. -And this singular neglect has been regarded as -a proof of indifference in those who, but a few -minutes previously, were crowding round the -powerful Minister and General. But it was, in -fact, one of those accidents which often bear a very -different construction, when they are considered -relatively to the circumstances of the hour, to that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>placed on them. Sir Henry Wotton, to whom the -fact was mentioned by one of the Duke’s friends, -speaks of it as “beyond all wonder;” but accounts -for it by the horror which the murder had -excited, added to the astonishment at the sudden -disappearance of the murderer, who had glided -from the terrible scene like an actor who has -done his part, and makes his exit. For a time, -however, whilst high words were heard between -the Frenchmen and their accusers, whilst murmurs -from the street below, of the eager and -infuriated crowd, were changed into yells of vengeance, -that cold corpse lay unheeded; “thus, -upon the withdrawing of the sun, does the -shadow depart from the painted dial.”<a id='r121' /><a href='#f121' class='c013'><sup>[121]</sup></a> All -were, indeed, in the house, occupied in asking -again and again the question, Where could the -owner of the hat be?--for he, doubtless, was -the assassin. Whilst they were thus talking, a -man without a hat was seen walking with perfect -composure up and down before the door. “Here,” -cried one of the crowd, “is the man who killed -the Duke,” upon which Felton calmly said, “I -am he, let no person suffer that is innocent.” -Then the populace rushed upon him with drawn -swords, to which Felton offered no defence, preferring -rather to die at once, than to abide the issue -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>of justice. He was, however, rescued by others less -violent--a circumstance which was thought very -fortunate for the popular party, on whom a stigma -might have rested had the murderer been killed; -and Felton being secured, was conveyed to a -small sentry-box; he was instantly loaded with -heavy irons, which prevented his either standing -upright or lying down in that narrow prison, -where he remained sometime, whilst the mob -were raging without in the streets.<a id='r122' /><a href='#f122' class='c013'><sup>[122]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>The Duchess of Buckingham was in an upper -room of that house in which the husband whom -she had “loved,” to use her own words, “as never -woman loved man,” was murdered. She had -not, when it happened, risen from her bed.<a id='r123' /><a href='#f123' class='c013'><sup>[123]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>The following very graphic account, written by -a very devoted friend of Buckingham, Sir -Dudley Carleton, presents, in several details, a -somewhat different delineation of this scene of -murder, to that which has been related, collected -from various sources, although, in various instances, -it is confirmatory of the statements -usually received.<a id='r124' /><a href='#f124' class='c013'><sup>[124]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>"<span class='sc'>S<sup>r</sup></span>--If y<sup>e</sup> ill newes we have heard (doe not as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>their use is) out flye these lres,<a id='r125' /><a href='#f125' class='c013'><sup>[125]</sup></a> they will bring you -y<sup>e</sup> worst of y<sup>e</sup> strangest I think you ever received: -sure I am, whatever passed my pen. Our -noble Duke in y<sup>e</sup> midst of his army he had ready -at Portsmouth as well shipping as land forces, -in y<sup>e</sup> height of his favour with our Gracious -Master, who was herd by at this place and in the -greatest joy and alacrity I ever saw him in my -life at y<sup>e</sup> newes he had received about of y<sup>e</sup> clock -in y<sup>e</sup> morning on Saturday last of y<sup>e</sup> relief of -Rochell, in that fort, that y<sup>e</sup> place might well -attend his coming, wherewith he was hastening -to y<sup>e</sup> King, who that morning had sent for -him by me upon other occasions;--at his going out -of a lower parlour where he usually sat, and had -then broken his fast in presence of many standers -by (Frenchmen with Monsieur de Soubise, -officers of his army and those of his own Trayns) -was stabbed unto y<sup>e</sup> heart a little above y<sup>e</sup> -breast with a knife by one Felton, an Englishman, -being a Reformed Lieutenant, who hastening out -of y<sup>e</sup> doore and y<sup>e</sup> duke having pulled out y<sup>e</sup> knife -which was left in y<sup>e</sup> wound and following him -out of y<sup>e</sup> parlour into y<sup>e</sup> hall, with his hand -putt to his sword, there fell down dead with much -effusion of bloud at his mouth and nostrils. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>The Lady Anglesea,<a id='r126' /><a href='#f126' class='c013'><sup>[126]</sup></a> then looking down into -<a id='corr114.2'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='y'>y<sup>e</sup></ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_114.2'><ins class='correction' title='y'>y<sup>e</sup></ins></a></span> hall out of an open Gallery, which crossed -y<sup>e</sup> end of it, and being spectator of this tragical -fight, went immediately with a cry into y<sup>e</sup> -Duchesses Chamber, who was in bed, and then -fell down on y<sup>e</sup> floor, so surprized y<sup>e</sup> poor -Duchesse with this sad ... matin....<a id='r127' /><a href='#f127' class='c013'><sup>[127]</sup></a> -The murderer in y<sup>e</sup> midst of y<sup>e</sup> noise and tumult, -every man drawing his sword and no man knowing -whom to strike, nor from whom to defend -himself, slipt out into y<sup>e</sup> kitchen and there stood -with some others unespyed, when a voyce being -currant in the court to w<sup>ch</sup> y<sup>e</sup> window and -doore of y<sup>e</sup> kitchen answered (a Frenchman, a -Frenchman), and his guilty conscience making -him believe it was “Felton, Felton” (who being -otherwise unknown and undiscovered might well -have escaped) he came out of y<sup>e</sup> kitchen with his -sword drawn, and presenting himselfe, said, I -am the man: some offering to assayle him and -one running at him with a spit, he flung down -his sword and rendered himselfe to y<sup>e</sup> company, -who being ready to handle him as he deserved by -tearing him in pieces I took him from them, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>having committed him to y<sup>e</sup> custody of some -officers, when I had taken y<sup>e</sup> best order I could -for other affairs in so great confusion, jointly with -Secretary Cooke I examined y<sup>e</sup> man and found he -had no particular offence against y<sup>e</sup> Duke, more -than all others for want of some small entertayments -were owing him: but he grounded his -practise upon y<sup>e</sup> Parliament’s Remonstrance as to -make himselfe a Martyr for his Country, which -he confessed to have resolved to execute y<sup>e</sup> Monday -before, he being then at London, and came -from thence expressly by the Wednesday morning, -arriving at Portsmouth y<sup>e</sup> very morning, not -above half an hour before he committed it. We -could not then discover any complices, neither -did we take more than his free and willing confession: -but now His Majestie hath ordayned by -Commission y<sup>e</sup> Lord Treassurer, Lord Steward, -Earl of Dorset, Secretary Cooke and myselfe to -proceed with him as y<sup>e</sup> nature of y<sup>e</sup> fact requires, -and wee shall begin this afternoon: meane while -I would not but give you this relation to y<sup>e</sup> end -you may know y<sup>e</sup> truth of this bloudy act, -which will flye about the world diversly reported -to you, and you should not find it strange such a -blowe to be struck in y<sup>e</sup> midst of y<sup>e</sup> Duke’s -friends and followers: you must know y<sup>e</sup> murderer -took his time and place at y<sup>e</sup> presse near -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>y<sup>e</sup> issue of y<sup>e</sup> room, and many of us were stept out -to our horses, as I my selfe was to go to Court -with the Duke. The murderer gloryed in his -acte y<sup>e</sup> first day; but when I told him he was -y<sup>e</sup> first assassin of an Englishman, a gentleman, a -soldier, and a protestant, he shrunk at it, and is -now grown penitent. It seems this man and -Ravillac were of no other Religion (though he -professeth other) than <em>assassanisme</em>; they have -the same maxims as you will see by two writings -were found sowed in his hat, wc<sup>h</sup> goe herewith.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='small'>“From Lord Viscount Dorchester to” [not addressed.]</span><a id='r128' /><a href='#f128' class='c013'><sup>[128]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>In another letter, addressed to the King of -Bohemia by Sir Charles Morgan, it was also shown -in what sanguine spirits the Duke was, and how -he was forming good resolutions, when he received -the fatal blow which cut him off from all -hope of retrieving the errors he so candidly confessed, -or of completing the work of reformation, -in various departments, which he hoped to -accomplish. Although we may feel assured that -the blow was suffered to fall for some purpose -of mercy, yet never did any sudden death seem -more untimely.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The King was only about six miles from Portsmouth, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>whence he intended doubtless to witness -the departure of a friend whom he never ceased -to lament. He was at prayers when Sir John -Hippesley came suddenly into the Presence Chamber, -where service was that day performed, and -whispered the news into his Majesty’s ear. -Charles did not permit a single feature of his -face to express either astonishment or distress; -and, when a deep pause ensued, the appalled -chaplain thinking to spare his Majesty the distress -of remaining during the service, he calmly -ordered him to proceed with the prayers--and, -until those were concluded, preserved the same -undisturbed demeanour. Some there were who -argued, from this perfect mastery over his feelings, -that the King did not regret the death of -one who had rendered him so unpopular, and -from whom he could not unloose the bonds which -early habit and youthful friendship had drawn so -closely as to convert them into shackles. But the -deep sorrow which Charles felt was shown in -his affectionate care of those whom his favourite -loved; nor was it, as some supposed, without a -stern effort that he controlled his emotions -whilst he remained amid those assembled in -prayer. No sooner was the service over, than -he suddenly departed to his chamber, and, throwing -himself on his bed, gave full vent to a passion -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>of grief, and, weeping long and bitterly, -paid to the poor Duke the tribute of his anguish,--lamenting -not only the loss of an excellent -friend and servant, but “the terrible manner of -the Duke’s death.” And he continued for many -days in the deepest melancholy.<a id='r129' /><a href='#f129' class='c013'><sup>[129]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Of course, in those days, this fearful event -was said to have been foretold, not only by a -ghost, but in dreams, and by presentiments. -Sir James Bagg, one of the Duke’s most trusted -servants, has left the following proof of his belief -in dreams:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>"<span class='sc'>Right Honorable</span>--Hand in hand came -to my unfortunate hand yo Expps.<a id='r130' /><a href='#f130' class='c013'><sup>[130]</sup></a> and my -noble friend Mr. Secretarie Cooke’s, and yo<sup>r</sup> -Honors leynes could not be but welcome although -they brought vnto mee the sadd and heavy -newes of that damnable act of that accursed -ffelton, wc<sup>h</sup> hath so seated itself in my heart as -it will hould memorie there, of the untymilie -losse of my deere and gracious Lord to my unpacified -sorrow untill my Death; for as I partook -wt<sup>h</sup> him of his comforts living, I will have -a share of his sorrowes after him. Oh my Lord! -his end was upon Satterdau <a id='corr118.25'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='morning'>morning.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_118.25'><ins class='correction' title='morning'>morning.</ins></a></span> The daie -of his dissolving tould mee by a dreame, discribed -in all. It wanted but the damned name of Felton. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>But that fiende unworthy of it was entituled by -the name of Souldier. This Dreame tould my -Wife and dearest friends, did not a little trouble -mee, but now the trueth thereof torments me.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"Yo leynes my only comforte brought wt<sup>h</sup> -them his Mat<a id='r131' /><a href='#f131' class='c013'><sup>[131]</sup></a> commands. In all I doe obey -them," &c., &c.</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>The letter is addressed thus from Sir James -Bagg--“For his Lordship,” and dated, “Augt. -28th, 1628.”<a id='r132' /><a href='#f132' class='c013'><sup>[132]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Amongst the Duke’s relations the Countess -of Denbigh was most beloved by him, and his -affection was warmly returned. On the very -day of his death he wrote to her. Whilst she was -penning her answer, her paper was moistened -with her tears, in a passion of grief so poignant -and so despairing, that she could only account -for it by believing those transports of sorrow to -have been prophetic. She wrote to him these -words:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>“I will pray for your happy return, which I -look to with a great cloud over my head, too -heavy for my poor heart to bear without torment. -But I hope the great God of Heaven will bless -you.”<a id='r133' /><a href='#f133' class='c013'><sup>[133]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>On the day after the Duke’s death, the Bishop -of Ely, who was the devoted friend of Lady -Denbigh, being considered the fittest person to -break the intelligence to her, went to visit her, -but hearing that she was asleep, waited until she -awoke, which she did in all the perturbation -produced by a terrible dream. Her brother, she -said, had seemed to pass with her through a field, -when, hearing a sudden shout from the people, -she had asked what it meant, and was told that it -was for joy that the Duke of Buckingham was -ill. She was relating this dream to one of her -gentlewomen when the Bishop entered her -chamber. The scene that followed may be easily -conceived. Whatever were the ill-starred Duke’s -failings, he died beloved by those most dear to -him.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His sister’s apprehensions were, indeed, perfectly -justifiable, and they might well intrude -into those hours of silence in which thoughts of -the absent or unhappy most frequently trouble -our minds. Had the Duke again been saved -from the chances of war, what might have been -his fate at home in case of his return unsuccessful? -Already had he hardly escaped from the indignation -of the people: even then, in the remote -county of Carmarthen, they were raising reports -that the King had been poisoned by the Duke--reports -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>that had been believed by the simple -inhabitants of Wales. The fury of party had -much to answer for in the excitement of bad -passions, the end and mischief of which can never -be foreseen.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The greatest obscurity hung over the motives -which prompted the act, unless it be explained by the -practical aberration of a mind which, still bearing -the outward semblance of reason, has evil -thoughts, fostered by strong passions. The connections -of Felton were not only poor--his -mother appears to have been illiterate. To them, -probably, his designs were never imparted, -although they lived in the metropolis; yet it is -evident, from several circumstances, that they -knew of his animosity to the Duke, and were, to -a certain extent--without any complicity--prepared -to hear of some fearful act on the part of -their unhappy relative.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst the Duke’s family were overwhelmed -with anguish, another humble mourner almost -sank under the blow. This was Elianore -Felton, the mother of the assassin. She was a -native of Durham, of which city her father had -once been mayor, but she was then residing -in London. On the 24th of August, in the -church in St. Dunstan’s, in the Strand, an aged -woman and her daughter attended afternoon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>service. These poor women were Elianore -Felton and Elizabeth Hone, the mother and sister -of Felton.</p> - -<p class='c019'>During the singing of the psalms, whilst the -congregation were standing up, some disturbance -took place in the church. Elianore Felton, turning -to a gentleman near her, inquired what was -the cause? She was told that the Duke of Buckingham -was killed; upon which, although the name -of the assassin was not then mentioned to her, -the unhappy woman fainted.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It is probable that, knowing her son’s sentiments -towards the Duke, and being aware of Felton’s -fanatical opinions and moody temper, a panic, -causing that sudden fainting, seized her. Her -daughter, also, as the poor mother confessed -in her subsequent examination, swooned also. -These facts are very remarkable, and seem to -show that she and her mother were aware of -Felton’s intentions. No further information was -gathered from these gentlewomen by those -around them, until, in about half-an-hour, upon -the church becoming fuller, there ran another -whisper through it, purporting that a certain -Lieutenant Felton, or Fenton, had killed the -Duke. Then, as Elizabeth Hone confessed, she -did much weep and lament, supposing that it -was her brother that had done the deed. She -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>had, however, the presence of mind to conduct -her mother home, before she told her that it -was her son who had committed murder, and -plunged the nation into consternation, and his -family into ruin.</p> - -<p class='c019'>No proof whatsoever of any conspiracy was -to be elucidated from the unfortunate relations -of the culprit. Debt and disappointment had, -according to their evidence, driven Felton to -desperation. How many of the evil accidents -of life issue, as far as one can see, humanly -speaking, from pecuniary mismanagement. Felton, -on the Wednesday before the Duke was killed, -had gone to his mother’s lodging, and told her -of his intention to get the money due to him -for pay from the Duke; adding, that “he was -too deeply in debt to stay longer in town.” -Eighty pounds, it appeared, was then owing to -him. This, and the loss of his Captaincy, were -all that he had alleged to his own family against -the Duke; he owned to no other grievance. -The mother and sister, and brothers, were, however, -committed to prison, although Edmund -Felton, the brother of the delinquent, affirmed -that he had not seen him for ten weeks previously -to the murder; that John Felton had been -estranged from him, and did not let him know -where he lodged. There was no attempt in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>the examination, which took place before Thomas -Richardson and Henry Finch, to screen the -culprit by a plea of insanity; all his brother -said was, that his disposition was “melancholie, -sad, and heavy, and of few words.”<a id='r134' /><a href='#f134' class='c013'><sup>[134]</sup></a> Alone had -he conceived, planned, and put into execution the -deed of guilt; yet such was the hard disposition -of the times, that it was proposed to extract -a confession from John Felton by torture; but -Charles interposed, and forbade the application -of that horrible test,<a id='r135' /><a href='#f135' class='c013'><sup>[135]</sup></a> and it was never again -attempted in this country.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The nation was paralyzed by the death of -the Minister, Admiral, and General. “During -Buckingham’s presence at Court,” as Mr. Bruce, -in the preface to the “Calendar of State Papers,” -remarks, “he reigned there as the King’s absolute -and single Minister. Every act of the Government -passed by or through his will. The -King was little seen or heard of on State -affairs. He seldom ever attended a sitting of -the Privy Council, except to carry out some -object of his favourite.” The void, the loss, may -easily be conceived, after the death of the Duke. -Charles, however, not only entered warmly into -public affairs, but into the care and concerns of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>those children whom his friend had solemnly bequeathed -to his charge.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His first office, however, was to honour the -remains of one so suddenly cut off, whilst in the -prime of life. The process of embalming was -then deemed indispensable; the Duke’s body, -therefore, was submitted to that, happily, now -disused operation; his bowels were interred at -Portsmouth, where Lady Denbigh erected over -them a memorial. Thus the place of his death -was marked.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The corpse was then conveyed to York House, -where all that could be viewed of that once -noble form was exhibited underneath a hearse. -Eventually it was entombed under a splendid -monument in Westminster Abbey, on the north -side of Henry VII.’s Chapel; and his Duchess, -notwithstanding her second marriage, and his -two sons, were buried in the vault beneath the -tomb with their father.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Duchess of Buckingham was near her -confinement when this tragedy occurred. When -Charles first visited the young widow, he promised -her that he would be a “husband to her, -and a father to her children.” One son alone -was living at the time of the Duke’s decease. -This was George, the second Duke of Buckingham -of the house of Villiers. The character -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>of this young nobleman, to whom Horace Walpole -imputed “the figure and genius of Alcibiades,” -has been “drawn by four masterly hands. -Burnet has hewn it out with his rough chisel. -Count Hamilton touched it with slight delicacy, -that finishes while it seems to sketch. Dryden -catched the living likeness. Pope completed the -historical resemblance.” Lastly, Sir Walter Scott, -in our time, has depicted this singular being with -admirable skill, if not with perfect fidelity. He -was scarcely a year and seven months old at his -father’s death.</p> - -<p class='c019'>One daughter, Lady Mary Villiers, survived the -Duke. In the third year of the reign of Charles I., -Buckingham having then no male heir, caused a -patent to be made, limiting to her the title of -Duchess of Buckingham, in default of male issue, -his infant eldest son, Charles, having died in -1626, and George not being then born.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Lady Mary’s life, so happy, seemingly, in her -infancy, when, as “little Moll,” she was King -James’s plaything, was not, in one respect, felicitous. -Her first marriage, to Charles Lord -Herbert, son and heir of Philip, Earl of Pembroke, -was hastened, and performed privately -in the chapel at Whitehall, because the young -bride had formed an attachment to Philip -Herbert, a younger son, who “did more apply -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>himself to her,” as she stated, than the elder -suitor.</p> - -<p class='c019'>But her mother chided her out of this fancy, -and the wedding took place--the bridegroom -dying of small-pox a few weeks afterwards. -Lady Mary married, secondly, James, Duke of -Richmond and Lennox, by whom she had a son, -Esme Stuart, who died in infancy; and thirdly, -Thomas Howard, brother of the Earl of Carlisle. -She left no children, so that her father’s desire to -perpetuate in her his title was not realized. If -we may believe the praise of an epitaph which -was undisguisedly paid for, we must suppose -Lady Mary to have been endowed with all the -virtues.<a id='r136' /><a href='#f136' class='c013'><sup>[136]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Some months after the Duke’s death, his -widow gave birth to a son, named Francis after -his grandfather, who provided for him in a fortune -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>of 1,000<em>l.</em> a-year. When he grew up, however, -Francis shared with his brother the misfortune -that overshadowed the family, from the unexpected -second marriage of their mother to Randolph -Macdonald, first Earl and afterwards Marquis -of Antrim. It is painful to find the widowed -Duchess separated from her children, having -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>become a Roman Catholic; and having incurred in -this, and on account of the conduct of her husband -in Ireland, under Sir Thomas Wentworth, the -King’s displeasure. Charles so greatly disapproved -of her marriage, that he refused, for -several years, to see her, and, when reconciled, -took away her children lest they should be imbued -with her religious opinions. The young -Duke and his brother Francis were educated, -unhappily for themselves, with the Princes, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>Charles II. and his brothers; and Lady Mary -was received in the house of the Earl of Pembroke, -her father-in-law. Such are the changes -and chances of life, that in 1639 we find Katharine, -(still signing herself “Katharine Buckingham”) -interceding with Strafford for her husband, Lord -Antrim. “Any misfortune,” she writes, “to my -lord must be mine.”<a id='r137' /><a href='#f137' class='c013'><sup>[137]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>For him she had sacrificed indeed the favour -of the King, and the guardianship of her children.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In 1648, Lord Francis, who, with his brother, -had taken the field against the Parliament, was -killed, at about two miles distance from Kingston-on-Thames: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>standing with his back planted against -an oak-tree on the road-side; and, scorning to ask -quarter, he met his death gallantly, having nine -wounds on his face and body. He is said to have -been a most beautiful youth, and was only nineteen -when he thus fell. His body was brought -by water to York House, then sad and desolate, -and was taken thence to be deposited in his father’s -vault, with a Latin inscription on the coffin, preserved -by Brian Fairfax, a faithful adherent, who -thought it a pity that the epitaph should be buried -with him; and who has therefore given it in his life -of George, the second Duke of Buckingham. The -elder brother of Lord Francis, after a life of extraordinary -adventure, vicissitude, study, and dissipation, -died, in 1688, quietly in his bed--“the fate of -few of his predecessors of the title of Buckingham.” -His body also lies entombed near his father. “The -life of pleasure and the soul of whim,” as Pope -describes him, his career furnishes a wide field for -reflection and investigation, to those who may dare -to dive into a biography so characterized by all -the worst parts of the age in which he existed, -as that of this profligate man.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Mary, Countess of Buckingham, survived the -Duke, her son, four years--when, with her life, -her dignity expired.</p> - -<p class='c019'>John Villiers, Lord Purbeck, died in 1657, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>when the titles which he bore became extinct. -He lived, however, to recover his powers of mind, -and to act as a friend and guardian to his nephews. -Lady Purbeck, his first wife, took the -name of Wright, and her son, by Lord Howard, -bore that surname. The once flattered heiress, -whose follies and misconduct were forgiven, as -we have seen, by her father, died in 1645, in the -King’s Garrison, at Oxford, and she is buried in -the Church of St. Mary’s, in that city.<a id='r139' /><a href='#f139' class='c013'><sup>[139]</sup></a> Notwithstanding -the misery of his first union, Lord Purbeck -married again; but had no issue by his -second wife, who was a daughter of Sir William -Thugsby, of Kippen, in Yorkshire.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Robert Wright, the illegitimate son of Lady -Purbeck, took his wife’s name of Danvers, in -order to abandon that of Villiers, so distasteful -to the Commonwealth, with which he sided.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His descendants, nevertheless, laid claim to the -honours of the first Lord Purbeck--and, although -their claim was refused by Parliament, assumed -them, until, in 1774, the death of the last pretender -to the title, George Villiers, died without -issue.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Christopher Villiers, the youngest brother of -the Duke, pre-deceased him, dying in 1624. His -title became extinct in 1659.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>Sir William Villiers, the eldest half-brother of the -Duke, had never emerged from his original obscurity; -but Sir Edward, his other half-brother, -whom Buckingham constituted President of -Munster, was highly esteemed for his justice and -hospitality, and lamented by the whole province.<a id='r140' /><a href='#f140' class='c013'><sup>[140]</sup></a> -From him, through his son, who had succeeded his -maternal uncle in the title of Viscount Grandison, -was descended the famous (or infamous) Barbara -Villiers, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, the -mistress of Charles II. Her beauty appears to -have been one of the few traits of the Villiers -family that she possessed.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It is remarkable that not one of the titles conferred -on the family of Villiers by James I. remains -to distinguish the descendants of old Sir -George of Brookesby. The Earldoms of Clarendon -and of Jersey are subsequent creations.<a id='r141' /><a href='#f141' class='c013'><sup>[141]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>The Duchess of Buckingham, as she still styled -herself, appears to have lived occasionally at -Newhall, for after her daughter’s marriage she -was very desirous of having her with her--but -the King would not hear of it; and the soundness -of his judgment was proved by the conduct -of the Duchess. Her life was henceforth -occupied in bringing over converts to the -faith she professed; amongst others she succeeded -in making a proselyte of the Countess -of Newburgh. After the death of her father, -in 1632, she inherited the title of Baroness de -Ros. It is remarkable that even in her person -the honours her first husband had procured for -his family did not abide. She, indeed, by courtesy, -bore still his title, but was actually Marchioness -of Antrim and Baroness de Ros. So -extraordinary an acquisition of honours, and so -rapid an extinction, are not known in any other -family of England, but are peculiar to the House -of Villiers.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Few things disappoint the reader more than -the unaccountable change in the character of -Katharine, Duchess of Buckingham, after she -ceased, except by courtesy, to bear that name. She -seems to have hastened, not only to plunge into a -second marriage, but to have at last avowed, -what she had during the whole of her life denied, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>the tenets of the Church of Rome. Henceforth -she was opposed to the monarch by whom -her husband, the Duke, had been overwhelmed -with benefits. This painful alteration in one -so gentle, so forgiving, so affectionate in her -earlier life, is one of those anomalies in life that -one cannot cease to regret, without being able -to explain.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM--HIS PATRONAGE OF ART--HIS COLLECTION--THE SPANISH COURT DESCRIBED--COLLECTION BY CHARLES I.--FATE OF THESE PICTURES.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c023'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span><span class='large'>CHAPTER IV.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c022'>Whatever may have been the failings of the -Duke of Buckingham as a husband, he marked his -confidence in his wife by his will. That last act of -his life gave the Duchess power over all his personal -property, as well as a life possession of -all his mansion-houses, with a fourth of his lands -in jointure. That his debts were considerable, -has been amply shewn during the course of the -preceding narrative. Previous to his expedition -to Rhé, he had wisely put his revenues into the -hands of commissioners, and placed it out of -his own power to manage or mismanage his -own affairs. His occupations, as a courtier, as a -minister, as an ambassador, and, lastly, as a -general, sufficiently excuse his want of leisure -for the control of his expenses, and the system -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>of retrenchment requisite to relieve him from -harassing liabilities.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He left, however, an immense amount of capital -locked up in pictures; and that famous collection -which places him, as Dr. Waagen affirms, -in the third rank as “a collector of paintings -in this country,” came into the possession of his -son. It was chiefly deposited in York House--that -stately structure, so complete and so princely, -that in 1663, when it had become the residence -of the Russian embassy, Pepys was still amazed -at its splendour, although thirty-five eventful -years had shaken many a grand fabric to its -fall. “That,” he says, “which did please me -best, was the remains of the noble soul of the -late Duke of Buckingham appearing in his -house, in every place, in the door-cases, and the -windows.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was in the Court of Madrid that Buckingham -had learned to love art, to favour artists, -and to become a judge of their works. Philip -IV., of Spain, inert and inefficient as a monarch, -and governed by Olivares, was a man of considerable -intellectual powers, and of great taste. -“The denizens of his palace breathed,” as a -modern writer expressed it, “an atmosphere of -letters.”<a id='r142' /><a href='#f142' class='c013'><sup>[142]</sup></a> At that time the Castilian stage was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>in its perfection; the scenery was inimitable, -and the greatest expense was bestowed in representing -the pieces of Lope de Vega, and of -Calderon; in the same manner as the masques -of Ben Jonson were aided in effect by the talents -of Inigo Jones. Nor was Philip IV. a mere -patron of genius; he was himself an actor and -author, writing with purity and elegance: a -musician, a poet, or, as he delighted to style -himself, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>Ingenio de esto corte</em></span>. He wrote a tragedy -on the death of Essex, Elizabeth’s favourite; -and he often acted with other literary men of -his Court, delighting to vie with them in the -display of fancy and humour in the <span lang="it" xml:lang="it"><em>Comedias de -repente</em></span>, representations resembling those of charades -in the present day, in which a certain -plot was worked out, with extempore speeches.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Several of this monarch’s drawings, both of -figures and landscapes, long remained as proofs -of that skill which had distinguished both his -fathers and grandfathers. He was an incomparable -judge of painting; for at Valencia he delighted -the citizens: on being shewn the great -silver altar of the cathedral, he remarked promptly, -that "the altar was of silver, but the doors were -gold"--alluding to the pictures painted by Aregio -and Neapoli, which adorned the doors.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It may easily be imagined how the example of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>this young Prince, only in his nineteenth year -when Buckingham visited Spain, must have -awakened in him, as in Charles, a new sense; -fresh conceptions of the beautiful, cravings -hitherto unfelt, an honourable emulation. And -the example of Philip had its effect on both: the -reception given to Rubens, who, as an artist, was -treated with far greater distinction than he -would have been as a mere diplomatist, in which -capacity he came; the efforts of Philip to form -an academy of fine arts; the honours bestowed -on Velasquez; and the enthusiasm which he -shewed in the collection of fine pictures for the -galleries, which he so wonderfully enriched, must -have proved to Charles and Buckingham how far -behind was their own country in taste and liberality. -They saw that the gold of Mexico and -Peru was freely given for the treasures of art, -whilst royalty at home was lavish only on -pageants, horse-racing, hunting, and feasting. -They saw the elevating effects of art and letters, -and staid not in Spain long enough to witness the -results of that life-long mistake made by Philip IV., -in resigning the reins of government to the hands -of a minister who lost for his sovereign great possessions, -far exceeding those that many conquerors -have acquired.</p> - -<p class='c019'>These refined tastes, which shone forth in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>Philip, were participated by his young and beautiful -queen, Isabella of Bourbon, his first wife, and -the sister of Henrietta Maria. She was the -loveliest subject of the pencil of Velasquez. At -Broom-Hall, in Fifeshire, there is a picture by -him representing the exchange of this Princess, -when a girl, with Anne of Austria, the sister of -Philip IV.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Isabella was destined to be the bride of Philip, -then Prince of the Asturias--Anne to become -the wife of Louis XIII. of France.</p> - -<p class='c019'>This production of Velasquez was only one of -many portraits of this lovely princess; for she was -by all acknowledged to be the very star of the Court. -She shared the taste of her husband, whilst his -young brothers, both early instructed in drawing, -warmly joined in the King’s pursuits, not only in -the arts, but in literature. The elder, Don -Carlos, beloved, as has been stated, by the -Spaniards for his dark complexion, was supposed -to have excited the jealousy of Olivares by his -talents--he died in 1626: the second, the Boy-Cardinal, -who assumed the Roman purple and the -mitre of an archbishop, was the able pupil in -painting of Vincencio Carducho, and became the -most intellectual of the Spanish Princes that had -appeared since Charles V. He set the fashion of -those half-dramatic, half-musical pieces, which were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>called in Spain, <span lang="es" xml:lang="es"><em>Zarzuelas</em></span>.<a id='r143' /><a href='#f143' class='c013'><sup>[143]</sup></a> The boy--whom we -have seen joining heart and soul, in his purple robe, -and beneath his mitre, in court revels, given in -honour of Charles I., was, at that very time, a -student in philosophy and mathematics; and when -at the age of twenty-two he was sent to govern -Flanders, and henceforth to spend the brief span -of life allotted to him in camps and councils--was -still, to the last, the patron of Velasquez -and Rubens.<a id='r144' /><a href='#f144' class='c013'><sup>[144]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Olivares the Magnificent, as he was often -called, cultivated the fine arts as a means of -diverting the young monarch from his own abuse -of power, and the consequent discontents which -marked his administration. He possessed the -most magnificent library in Europe, abounding in -rare manuscripts, and, domesticated in this house -as chaplain, Lope de Vega passed his old age. -Quevedo, Pachecho, and many others, owed much -to the patronage of Olivares--a protection which -they paid back in compliments, and, like Lord -Halifax, he was “fed with dedications.” Olivares -was one of the first sitters to Velasquez; he was -the patron of Murillo, and, in the downfall of this -minister, these two painters did not desert their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>early friend, but alone clung to him in his misfortunes.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The King, his Queen, the two royal brothers, -and Olivares, had all a passion for having portraits -taken of themselves. Philip was born for a sitter. -His face, as Dr. Waagen remarks, “is better -known than his history.” His pale Flemish complexion, -Austrian features, and fair hair have -been many times depicted by Rubens and -Velasquez. He was sometimes painted on his -Andalusian courser, sometimes in black velvet, as -he was going to the council--even at his prayers. -There was an hereditary gift of silence and composure -in his race: in Philip the attribute was so -signal, that he could witness a whole comedy -without stirring hand or foot, and conduct an -audience without a muscle moving, except those in -his lips and tongue.<a id='r145' /><a href='#f145' class='c013'><sup>[145]</sup></a> Even after slaying the bull of -Xarama, famed for strength and fierceness, not -for a moment did he change countenance. To -this incomparable staidness and dignity was added -the advantage of a tall figure, which Philip knew -well how to set off by a perfect mastery in combination -of colours. Black he mixed almost -uniformly with white, and gold and silver. This -stately monarch was never known to smile more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>than three times in his life--that is, publicly, -for in private he was ever “full of merry discourses.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Thus, taste, letters in every branch, the noblest -works of architecture and sculpture, were the -themes of a court where those who had left behind -them the pedantry and vulgarity of King James -arrived in the vigour of youth and intellect. -Velasquez was painting a portrait of the King, -and one also of the Infant, Don Fernando, when -Charles and Buckingham arrived at Madrid, and -interrupted, by their presence and the ceremonials -of their reception, the completion of these -pictures. The astonished Prince and his favourite -found themselves transformed into a region -hitherto scarcely dreamed of, yet which they were, -by natural refinement of taste, well calculated to -enter. They had left King James hunting in a -ruff and bombasted garments; that King hated -novelties. “It was as well,” Horace Walpole -remarks, “that he had no disposition to the arts, -but let them take their own course, for he might -have introduced as bad a taste into them as he -did into literature.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Walpole attributes, likewise, the absence of -pictures in the houses of the English nobility at -this period to the great size and height of the -rooms which they erected in the sixteenth and seventeenth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>centuries, when vastness seems to have -constituted the idea of grandeur. Pictures -would have been lost in rooms of such height, -which were better calculated for tapestry; and he -offers, as an instance, Hardwicke--which was furnished -for the reception and imprisonment of -Mary Queen of Scots--and Audley-End, as proofs -of the prodigious space covered by a modern -gentleman’s house in the days of James I., and -observes how impossible it would have been to -place pictures in such structures.</p> - -<p class='c019'>One may readily conceive, therefore, the -enchantment that was felt in visiting the Escurial, -the palace of Buen-retiro, and the noble churches -and famous convents of Madrid. Charles and -Buckingham beheld that capital in the height of -its splendour, and witnessed its most brilliant -displays; they attended the grand, picturesque -services and processions; they became acquainted -with the works of Titian, of Velasquez, and -Carducho. That Charles cherished the remembrance -of the scenes in which he had once played -so romantic a part, is evident from his employing -a young painter, Miquel de la Cruz, even when -England was threatened with the great Rebellion, -to paint for him copies of a number of pictures -from those in the Alcazar of Madrid.<a id='r146' /><a href='#f146' class='c013'><sup>[146]</sup></a> The painter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>was cut off by an early death, and the project was -never carried out.</p> - -<p class='c019'>After visiting the halls of the Escurial and of -the Pardo, Charles resolved to form a gallery of -art at Whitehall; and Buckingham, at the same -time, determined to decorate York House with -Spanish paintings. The nucleus of the gallery of -art at Whitehall was bought from the collection -of the Conde de Villame. Charles, also, endeavoured -to purchase a small picture, on copper, of -Correggio’s, from Don Andres Velasquez, for a -thousand crowns, but was unsuccessful; he failed, -also, in obtaining the valuable volumes of Da -Vinci’s drawings, which Don Juan de Espina -refused to sell, saying that he intended to bequeath -these treasures of art to his master, the King. -The nobles in the Spanish Court were in the -habit of gratifying their young sovereign with -presents of pictures and statues; and a similar -attention was paid both to the Duke of Buckingham -and to Charles. Philip gave the Prince the famous -“Antiope,” by Titian; as well as “Diana Bathing,” -"Europa," and “Danaë,” by the same master. -Buckingham had several presents of value given -him; but though they were packed up, these -paintings were left behind, in the hurry of -departure, and were never forwarded to England.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>A great portion of the large sums spent by -Buckingham in Spain was expended in forming -that famous collection which fell, unhappily, into -the hands of his son. It would appear that James -I. somewhat curtailed Charles’s expenditure on this -head; for we find, by an entry in the State Paper -Office, that Buckingham lent the Prince twelve -thousand pounds during their sojourn in Spain. -Nevertheless, no specimen of Spanish art was -ever conveyed to England by Charles.<a id='r147' /><a href='#f147' class='c013'><sup>[147]</sup></a> A sketch -was, indeed, begun of the Prince, by Velasquez, -but it is doubtful if it were ever completed. -Pachecho, the father-in-law of Velasquez, states -that Charles was so delighted with this portrait -in its unfinished state, that he presented the great -painter with a hundred thousand crowns.<a id='r148' /><a href='#f148' class='c013'><sup>[148]</sup></a> One -may readily account for its never being completed, -because Velasquez, when Charles and -Buckingham left Madrid, could scarcely have -finished the portraits and other pictures on which -he was engaged by Philip IV.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In 1847, a picture belonging to Mr. Saare, of -Reading, and supposed to have been a relic of -the gallery of Whitehall, was exhibited in London -as this lost portrait by Velasquez. It portrays -Prince Charles in a more robust form, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>with a greater breadth of countenance than any -other known resemblance; and was stated to have -been painted in 1623, and to have been mentioned -in a privately printed catalogue of the gallery of the -Earl of Fife, who died in 1809, in which it was stated -that it had once belonged to the Duke of Buckingham. -Unfortunately, the surname of the -Duke of Buckingham was not specified; and -since the title has been owned, so late as 1735, by -the Sheffield family, the evidence was incomplete. -A very curious controversy ensued, but -facts remain much in the same state as before; -and the authenticity of the portrait has been -strongly disputed, if not denied, by Dr. Waagen, -and others. It is singular that there was no -work of Velasquez among the pictures left by -Buckingham.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst the great enlargement of ideas and improvement -in taste, resulting from the journey -into Spain, is acknowledged, it must be remembered -that Charles and his favourite went, prepared -in knowledge, and in an honourable emulation, -to profit by all they might behold and hear. -In painting, Perichief tells us, Charles “had so -excellent a fancy, that he would supply the defect -of art in the workman, and suddenly draw those -lines, give those airs and lights, which experience -and practice had taught the painters.” In every -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>point he met the accomplished Philip IV. on -equal grounds; in some he exceeded him. A -good antiquary, a judge of medals, a capital mechanist--cognizant -of the art of printing--there -existed not a gentleman of the three kingdoms -that could compete with him in universality of -knowledge.<a id='r149' /><a href='#f149' class='c013'><sup>[149]</sup></a> He was as ready for war as for -peace; could put a watch together, yet comprehend -a fortification; understood guns, and the -art of ship-building; but the dearest occupation of -his leisure was the collection of sculptures and -paintings.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Crown was already in possession of some -good pictures, when Charles commenced his undertaking. -Prince Henry had begun the work, -and the nobility, perceiving the King’s love of art, -imitated the Spanish nobles, and sent him presents -of great value. But the great act of Charles’s -life as a connoisseur, was the purchase of the collection -of the Duke of Mantua, which was considered -to be the richest in Europe.<a id='r150' /><a href='#f150' class='c013'><sup>[150]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Philip IV. constantly employed his ambassadors -and viceroys to buy up fine pictures for his -gallery; and Charles and Buckingham likewise, -on their return, adopted a similar plan on a smaller -scale, by instructing Sir Henry Wotton and Balthazar -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>Gerbier to negociate for them in works of -art. It is obvious how much the royal collection -at Whitehall must have been prized; since, upon -its being sold during the Protectorate, the principal -purchaser was Don Alonzo de Cardenas, the -agent of the Spanish King, and his purchases required -eighteen mules to carry them from the -coast to Madrid, whence Lord Clarendon, ambassador -of the exiled Charles II. was dismissed, -that he might not see the treasures of his unfortunate -master thus brought into a far and foreign -country.<a id='r151' /><a href='#f151' class='c013'><sup>[151]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>The collection of the Duke of Mantua cost -Charles eighty thousand pounds--Buckingham -being the agent, and probably the instigator of -this purchase. The family of Gonzaga had been, -in 1627, a hundred years in forming this noble -gallery. Little inferior to the Medici in their liberality -to artists, they were the patrons of Andrew -Mantegna, of Guido Romano, of Raphael, of -Correggio, and of Titian, successively. The -“Education of Cupid,” by Correggio, was among -King Charles’s purchases, as well as the “Entombment,” -now in the Louvre,and the “Twelve Cæsars” -by Titian. Rubens purchased for him the Cartoons -of Raphael, which had been sent by Leo X. to -Flanders, to be worked in tapestry, and left there. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>Then Charles received various presents; that especially -commonly styled the “Venus del Pardo,” or -more properly “Jupiter and Antiope;” the figures -being set off by one of the grandest landscapes by -Titian, known. This gem was given by Charles -to the Duke of Buckingham.<a id='r152' /><a href='#f152' class='c013'><sup>[152]</sup></a> It is now in the -Louvre, as is also the “Baptist,” by Leonardo da -Vinci, a present originally from Louis XIII. to -Charles.<a id='r153' /><a href='#f153' class='c013'><sup>[153]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>It was during the residence of Buckingham in -Paris that he became acquainted with Rubens. -Eventually he bought the whole of the collection -of statues, paintings, and other valuable works of -art, which that master had formed at a cost of -about a thousand pounds, and which he sold to -the Duke for ten thousand. But it was not often -that Buckingham increased his stores so easily; -so early as the year 1613, he had in his household -Balthazar Gerbier d’Ouvilly, of Antwerp, a -sort of amanuensis, or, as Sanderson styles him, a -“common penman,” whose transcribing the decalogue -for the Dutch Church was one of his first -steps to preferment. Gerbier became a miniature -painter, and in that ostensible capacity went into -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>Spain with the Duke; he painted, amongst other -portraits of the family, a fine oval miniature of his -patron on horseback, which, in Walpole’s time, belonged -to the Duchess of Northumberland; the -figure, dressed in scarlet and gold, is finished with -great care--and the horse, dark grey, with a white -mane, is very animated; underneath the horse is -a landscape with figures, and over the Duke’s head -is suspended his motto, “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>Fidei curricula crux</em></span>.” It -was in allusion to the well-known talents of Gerbier -that the Duchess of Buckingham wrote to -the Duke, when in Spain, begging him, “if he -had leisure to sit to Gerbier for his portrait, that -she might have it well done in little.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Gerbier seems at that time to have been a -special favourite with the King and Queen, who -supped once at his house--the entertainment, it -is said, costing the painter a thousand pounds.<a id='r154' /><a href='#f154' class='c013'><sup>[154]</sup></a> -Gerbier, like Rubens, was employed in delicate -diplomatic missions; he was also an architect -and an author, and the founder of an Academy -for foreign languages, and “for all noble sciences -and exercises,” as he expressed it. As a diplomatist, -Gerbier negociated in Flanders a private -treaty with Spain:--as an architect, his fame -rested, in the reign of Charles, chiefly on a -large room built near the Water Gate, at York -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>Stairs, in the Strand, which was commended by -Charles I. almost as much as the Banqueting -House. Encouraged by this encomium, Gerbier -wrote a small work on magnificent buildings, -proposing to level Fleet Street and Cheapside, -and to erect a fine gate at Temple Bar; a plan -of which was presented to Charles II., in whose -reign Gerbier died. He was the rival, or believed -himself to be so, of Inigo Jones. Hempstead-Marshal, -the seat of Lord Craven, long since -burned down, was Gerbier’s last effort: he died -before it was completed, and was buried in the -chancel of the church at that place.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His literary works seem to have been very singular -compounds of falsehood, invective, and flattery. -Horace Walpole believes him to have been the -author of a tract printed by authority, in 1651, -three years after the execution of Charles I., entitled -“The Nonsuch Charles, his character,” and -considers it one of the basest libels ever published. -“The style, the folly, the wretched reasoning, -are,” he observes, “consistent with Gerbier’s -usual works; he must, at all events,” he -decides, “have furnished materials.” Nevertheless, -two years afterwards, Gerbier published a piece -styled “Les Effets Pernicieux,” written in French, -and to this he affixed his name; it was printed -at the “Stag,” and composed apparently as a precautionary -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>palliative to the other work, in case of -the restoration of the Stuarts; and the notion -seems to have succeeded, since Gerbier returned -to England with Charles II., and the triumphal -arches, erected on the Restoration, were designed -by this singularly versatile man.<a id='r155' /><a href='#f155' class='c013'><sup>[155]</sup></a> He had, however, -the merit, as we have seen, of endeavouring to -form an Academy, somewhat on the plan of the -Royal Institution in Albemarle Street. Sir Francis -Keynaston at that time resided in Covent Garden, -and at his house the Academy was held. None -but gentlemen were admitted. Arts were taught -by professors, in lectures, Gerbier being one of -the lecturers. The academy was afterwards removed -to Whitefriars; then to Bethnal Green, -whence he dedicated one of his lectures on Military -Architecture to General Skippon, whom he -loaded with the most fulsome, and from one who -had, like himself, been overwhelmed by kindnesses -from Charles I.--the most treacherous flattery.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It is unsatisfactory to refer to any statement -of Gerbier’s as reliable; in a work on -“Royal Favourites,” written in French, he stated -that Dr. Egglisham had applied to him, through -Sir William Chaloner, to procure his pardon, on -condition of his confessing that he had been instigated -by others to publish his libel on Buckingham. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>Gerbier stated that he had applied to the -Secretary of State, but received no answer. It -is unfortunate that no one could believe Gerbier, -either when he calumniated or when he excused -any individual.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was by this able, scurrilous sycophant that -the catalogue of Buckingham’s pictures was -drawn up. In it were enumerated thirteen pictures -by Rubens, whom the Duke had seen when -he was at Antwerp, shortly before the Expedition -to Rhé. When, in 1630, the great -painter came to England as a diplomatist, the -Duke was dead, but the sovereign who had so -greatly encouraged his tastes, did not, as Walpole -remarks, “overlook in the ambassador the -talents of the painter.” Rubens painted, for -three thousand pounds, the ceiling of the -Banqueting House built by Inigo Jones--and -depicting the “Apotheosis of King James;” a -subject highly inconsistent for the purpose for -which it is now most strangely appropriated as a -chapel. Vandyck was to have adorned the sides -with the history of the Garter; so that three -great masters would have combined to form that -noblest room in the world; but so grand a possession -was not destined to be the work of former -times, or the pride of our own.</p> - -<p class='c019'>After Buckingham’s death, some of his pictures -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>were bought by the King, some by the Earl of -Northumberland, and some by Abbot Montague.<a id='r156' /><a href='#f156' class='c013'><sup>[156]</sup></a> -In the collection there were nineteen pictures by -Titian, seventeen by Tintoret, thirteen by Paul -Veronese, twenty-one by Bassano, two by Julio -Romano, two by Georgione, eight by Palina, three -by Guido, thirteen by Rubens, three by Leonardo -da Vinci, two by Correggio, and three by Raphael, -besides several by inferior masters whose productions -are scarce. The great prize of the collection -was the “Ecce Homo,” of Titian, eight feet -in length and twelve in breadth. For this magnificent -work of art, in which portraits of the -Pope, the Emperors Charles V. and Solyman -the Magnificent are introduced, the Earl of -Arundel had offered Buckingham seven thousand -pounds in land or money. The proposal was -refused, and the “Ecce Homo” shared the -fate of many of the other pictures in the year -1648.</p> - -<p class='c019'>George, the second Duke of Buckingham, -among whose few good qualities was a -loyal adherence to that family to whom -his father owed all, after being allowed by -the Parliament a period of fifty days to choose -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>between desertion of the Stuarts and outlawry, -chose the latter. His estates were seized, but his -father’s pictures, many of which still hung on the -now gloomy walls of York House, were sent to him -in his exile at Antwerp, by an old servant, John -Traylinan, who had been left to guard the property. -These were now sold for bread. Duart, -of Antwerp, purchased some of them, but the -greater number became the possession of the -Archduke Leopold, and were removed to the -Castle of Prague. Amongst them was the “Ecce -Homo;” which has been described as embodying -the greatest merits of its incomparable -painter.<a id='r157' /><a href='#f157' class='c013'><sup>[157]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Buckingham’s collection contained two hundred -and thirty pictures. One may conceive how -grandly they must have adorned York House, -where in every chamber were emblazoned the -arms of the two families, lions and peacocks, the -houses of Villiers and Manners, who were for a -few brief years united by one common bond -under that roof.<a id='r158' /><a href='#f158' class='c013'><sup>[158]</sup></a> Neither pains nor money were -ever spared by Charles, or by Buckingham, to -enrich their collections. Charles, with his own -hands, wrote a letter inviting Albano to England. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>Buckingham endeavoured to attract Carlo Maratti, -who had painted for him portraits of a Prince and -Princess of Brunswick, to the English Court; but -Maratti excused himself on the plea that he was -not yet perfect in his art.<a id='r159' /><a href='#f159' class='c013'><sup>[159]</sup></a> Little could the King -have foretold that his treasures at Whitehall -would have been sold, as Horace Walpole expresses -it, by “inch of candle;” or the Duke -that his son and heir should have parted with -his father’s collection to save himself from starvation -in a foreign country. Such events seem -to confirm Sydney Smith’s counsel to a friend, -not to look forward more than to a futurity of -two hours’ duration.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Charles I., less happy than Buckingham, had -the chagrin to hear that his favourite’s beloved -collection was partially sold, three years before -his own death. It seems, as Walpole expresses -it, “to have become part of the religion of the -time to war on the arts, because they had been -countenanced at Court.” In 1645 the Parliament -ordered the two collections to be sold; but, lest -the public exigencies should not be thought to -afford sufficient cause for this step, they passed -the following acts to colour their proceedings:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Ordered, (July 23, 1635,) that all such pictures -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>and statues there (at York House) as are without -any superstition, shall be forthwith sold.”<a id='r160' /><a href='#f160' class='c013'><sup>[160]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>“Ordered, that all such pictures as shall have -the representation of the second person in the -Trinity upon them shall be forthwith burnt.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>"Ordered, that all such pictures there, as have -the representation of the Virgin Mary upon them, -shall be forthwith burnt."<a id='r161' /><a href='#f161' class='c013'><sup>[161]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>This, Walpole remarks, was a worthy contrast -to Archbishop Laud, who made a Star Chamber -business of a man’s breaking some painted glass -in the cathedral at Salisbury. Times were -changed; Laud, however, looked on the offence -as an indication of a spirit of destruction and -irreverence;--unhappily, he was right.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Such was the fate of Buckingham’s pictures: a -brief notice of the proceedings which dispersed -the far more valuable collection of the King must -not be omitted. Immediately after Charles’s -death, votes were passed for the sale of his -pictures, statues, jewels, and “hangings.” It -was then ordered that inventories should be -made, and commissioners be appointed to -appraise, secure, and inventory the said goods. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>Cromwell, to his honour, attempted to stop the -dispersion of these valuables; but he had matters -of even greater importance to engage his -attention, and the sale, about the year 1650, -appears, as far as the paintings were concerned, -to have been completed. From that time no -further mention of them is to be found in the -Journals of the House of Commons.<a id='r162' /><a href='#f162' class='c013'><sup>[162]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>All the furniture from the ill-fated King’s -different palaces was brought up, and exposed for -sale; and, as far as relates to the jewels, plate, -and furniture, the affair was not concluded until -1653. It must, indeed, have been a melancholy -sight. Cromwell, through his agent, was one of -the principal purchasers. The price of each -article was fixed, but, if any one offered a higher -sum, preference was given. Cromwell, who resided -alternately at Whitehall and Hampton -Court, bought the Cartoons for 300<em>l.</em> The order -against “superstitious” pieces was not, it seems, -strictly observed; for a painting of Vandyck’s, -“Mary, our Lord, and Angels,” sold for 40<em>l.</em><a id='r163' /><a href='#f163' class='c013'><sup>[163]</sup></a> The -celebrated portrait of George, the second Duke -of Buckingham, and his mother, by Vandyck, -one of the finest productions of that master, was -valued at 30<em>l.</em>, and sold for 50<em>l.</em> Many of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>finest pictures were bought by Mons. Jabach, a -native of Cologne, settled in Paris, who sold his -collection afterwards to Louis XIV. “The Entombment,” -by Titian, which he secured, and -“Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus,” are in the -Louvre. Amongst the pictures in the Mantua -collection, was the large “Holy Trinity;” it was -bought by De Cardenas, the Spanish Ambassador; -and on its arrival Philip IV. exclaimed, "That is -my pearl"--and the picture has, ever since, been -known by that name.</p> - -<p class='c019'>There were, also, valuable allegorical sketches -by Correggio, which are among the valuable collection -of drawings and designs in the Louvre.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Imperial Gallery of the Palace Belvedere, -in Vienna, contains several fine pictures from -the Whitehall collection. They were bought -at the sale by the Archduke Leopold William, -Governor of the Netherlands, and afterwards -Emperor of Austria. Reynst, an eminent Dutch -connoisseur, Christina, Queen of Sweden, and -Cardinal Mazarin, were amongst the purchasers--but -bought still more largely of the jewels, medals, -tapestry, carpets, embroidery--many of which -went to adorn Mazarin’s palace in Paris. Bathazar -Gerbier, and other painters, also purchased -pictures--and thus, by their aid, and that of -some few Englishmen, the wreck of this noble -<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>collection may still be traced in this country, but -the greater portion was lost to it for ever. Some -miniatures were restored;--the States-General, -during the reign of Charles II., bought back the -pictures formerly sold to Reynst, and presented -them to Charles II.</p> - -<p class='c019'>By the exertions of that monarch, seventy of -the best paintings that his father had possessed -again adorned his various Palaces. St. James’s, -Hampton Court, and Windsor were enriched with -the works of those masters in whose productions -Charles I. had so greatly delighted. But in Whitehall, -the gallery of which was hung with the -works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, -Correggio, Vandyck, Holbein, Rubens, and many -others, had been deposited the finest specimens of -their works. England seems fated never to contain -a collection suitable to her wealth, her intelligence, -and her wishes--for in 1697 that ancient -palace, so often partially burnt, was destroyed -by fire; and within its old walls and many chambers -perished the various collections of Charles II., -both of pictures, medals, and sculpture.<a id='r164' /><a href='#f164' class='c013'><sup>[164]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Charles I., like all good judges of art, was -extremely careful of his pictures. Hitherto the -Court revels had been held in that famous -gallery which Charles II. afterwards debased -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>into a resort for gamblers and infamous women of -rank; and the Banqueting-house was next appropriated -to them. But during the Christmas of -1637, when two masques were to be performed, -the King being one of the chief dancers, a building, -the mere boarding of which cost two thousand -five hundred pounds, was erected in the main -court at Whitehall, because the King would not -have “his pictures in the Banqueting-house -burnt with lights.”<a id='r165' /><a href='#f165' class='c013'><sup>[165]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>The noble portrait by Vandyck, of Charles on -horseback, was reclaimed from Seemput, a -painter, who had bought it at the sale; and some -few paintings which Catherine of Braganza had -coolly shipped off to Lisbon, were stopped by -the Lord Chamberlain in their embarkation.</p> - -<p class='c019'>When the convulsions under which the -country groaned had ceased, and on the arrival -of the Restoration, the nobility, though not -encouraged by the reigning monarch, introduced -the custom of adorning their country seats with -paintings. “But the pure and elevated taste,” as -Dr. Waagen expresses it, “of Charles I. had -degenerated; the names of famous masters were -indeed to be found, but not their works.”<a id='r166' /><a href='#f166' class='c013'><sup>[166]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Architecture and sculpture were also arts -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>which owe infinitely to the judicious patronage of -Charles, assisted by Buckingham. Among the -Mantua collection was a whole army “of old -foreign emperors, captains, and senators,” whom -Charles I., as Walpole tells us, “caused to land on -his coasts, to come and do him homage, and -attend him in his palace of St. James’s and -Somerset House.”<a id='r167' /><a href='#f167' class='c013'><sup>[167]</sup></a> But the King also discerned -and rewarded native genius; and when he -planned the noblest palace in the world at Whitehall, -sent for no foreign architect, but summoned -Inigo Jones to his service.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“England,” says Walpole, “adopted Holbein -and Vandyck; she borrowed Rubens; she produced -Inigo Jones.” Originally a joiner, Jones -was brought out of obscurity, according to many -accounts, by the patron who first extended a -hand to assist George Villiers in his struggles -in life. William Earl of Pembroke was the -friend alike of the young courtier and of the son -of the clothworker--the immortal Inigo. Either -by the Earl of Arundel or by Pembroke--it -is not certain which--Inigo was sent to Italy -to learn landscape-painting; but at Rome he soon -discovered the inclination and bent of his genius. -It is of no use to stop the pure and flowing -stream, and thus to make it turbid. Inigo “laid -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>down his pencil, and conceived Whitehall.” -Nature had not, he felt, destined him to decorate -cabinets; his vocation was to build palaces. He -was, however, still in danger of living in remote -splendour. Christian III. enticed him to Copenhagen, -whence James I. sent for him, and whence -he was brought to be the Queen’s architect in -Scotland. Patronized by Prince Henry, he was -in despair at the death of that royal youth, and -went again to Italy. It was in the interval -between his two journeys to Rome that he perpetrated -some buildings in bad taste; to which -the appellation of “King James’s Gothic” was -affixed.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His first task, as Surveyor of the Works, to -which office James appointed him, was to build, -for twenty pounds, a scaffolding, when the Earl -and Countess of Somerset were arraigned; his -next, to discover, by King James’s pedantic mandate, -who were the founders of Stonehenge. -In 1619, he was entrusted with the direction of -the Banqueting-house at Whitehall, which was -finished in two years, and ordered to draw up a -plan for the whole structure.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Horace Walpole, who was a true royalist whenever -the arts were concerned, if not slyly in every -other respect, thus speaks of that great but vain -effort to build in London a palace worthy of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>country. “The whole fabric,” he says, referring -to Jones’s designs for Whitehall, “was so glorious -an idea, that one forgets in a moment, in the -regret for its not being executed, the confirmation -of our liberties obtained by a melancholy -scene that passed before the windows of that -very Banqueting-house.”<a id='r168' /><a href='#f168' class='c013'><sup>[168]</sup></a> The misfortunes of -this eminent man now began. Inigo Jones was a -Roman Catholic, and, as such, was peculiarly -obnoxious to the Parliament party. His very -name, too, was mingled with associations of those -arts and that magnificence, which, from being the -cause of envy, were now the objects of detestation -to certain of the people. “Painting had now,” -says Walpole, “become idolatry; monuments -were deemed carnal pride, and a venerable cathedral -seemed equally contradictory to Magna -Charta and the Bible.” Even the statue of -Charles at Charing Cross was regarded as of ill-omen, -and taken away lest it should bring back -unpleasant recollections.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The Parliament did vote it down,</div> - <div class='line'>And thought it very fitting,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest it should fall and kill them all,</div> - <div class='line'>In the house where they were sitting.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>It had become a matter of wonder that society -could ever have tolerated those masques patronized -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>by James, by Charles, and by Buckingham, -in which the masks, costumes, and scenes -were designed by Jones, and the poetry written -by Jonson. These representations had been -indeed interrupted by the quarrel between Inigo -Jones and Ben Jonson; and in the civil war -they ceased entirely. With the royal family -and their followers literature and the arts were -banished; they were restored with the monarchy, -but good taste was not revived. “The history of -destruction” superseded that reign of elegance and -learning which had a brief duration under Charles, -and which, whilst Buckingham was at the head -of affairs, was the main-spring of every impulse. -“Ruin was the harvest of the Puritans, and they -gleaned after the reformers.” Of course vengeance -fell on the unfortunate royal architect and -stage manager, Inigo Jones. His face had been -seen at every gorgeous revel; his hand was -traceable in many a country seat, even in the -picturesque college of St. John’s at Oxford; he -had designed the chapel of Henrietta Maria at -St. James’s; he had erected the arcade and -church of Covent Garden: every familiar scene -was haunted with his presence.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The party that condemned him felt neither -gratitude nor pity; two years before the King’s -death, he was fined 500<em>l.</em> for malignancy. Afraid -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>of a sequestration of all his revenues, he is stated to -have buried his money, as did Stone, the painter, -in Scotland Yard; and to have removed it, when -fearful of discovery, to Lambeth Marsh. He -lived to see Cromwell occupy Whitehall, which -he had hoped to renovate; and to hear that -Charles had suffered beneath the very windows of -that fine and perfect fragment of a palace which -was still, in spite of all the terrors of that execution, -called the Banqueting-house; he lived to be -called “Iniquity Jones,” by the successor of that -Earl of Pembroke who had once been his generous -patron; he lived to learn that the wit, the -poetry, the scenery that had combined to render -the masques at Burleigh a feast not only for the -senses, but for the intellect, were construed into -heathenism. All gallantry and romance were -gone--and gone for ever; wit, indeed, flourished -after the Restoration, but it was wit without -decency or feeling. The old man must have felt -that he had lived too long. Somerset House had -been with great difficulty saved from the destruction -of the Parliamentary decree; it gave poor -Inigo, who still appears to have nominally held his -former office, a refuge wherein he could lay down -his head and die. He was buried in the church of -St. Bennet, at Paul’s Wharf; a monument -erected there to his memory was destroyed in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>Fire of London, and the great architect of the -Banqueting-house remains without any memorial, -save the works of his genius.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Vandyck was not settled in England, under the -patronage of Charles I., until after the death of -Buckingham. Mytens, whose position as the -King’s principal painter was, as he believed, -encroached on by the celebrity of Vandyck, was -patronized by Buckingham, for whom he painted -a portrait of Sir Jeffrey Hudson.</p> - -<p class='c019'>This little wonder of the seventeenth century -was nine years old only at the Duke’s death. He had -been domesticated at Burleigh on account of his -diminutive stature, which did not, at that time, -exceed seven or eight inches. Jeffrey was the -plaything of the Court: at the marriage-feast of -Charles I., the Duchess of Buckingham had him -inserted in a cold pie, and served up at table to -the Queen, by way of presenting him to the -royal bride, who took him in her lap, and kept -him. Until the age of thirty, this little personage -never grew. He then suddenly shot up three -feet nine inches, which he carried off with -infinite dignity, and remained at that height. He -was still the butt of all the idlers at Whitehall, -and the theme of a poem, by Davenant, called -“Jeffresdos,” the subject being a battle between -the dwarf and a turkey-cock.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>Henceforth he became important--went over -to France on a mission of great confidence, -to fetch an experienced <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>sage-femme</em></span> for the -Queen--was taken by the Pirates off Dunkirk on -his return--was rescued, only to encounter the -incessant raillery of the courtiers, which, to a man -of his present size and importance, became exasperating. -Faithful and trusty, he went with -Henrietta Maria into France, and there, being -goaded on by renewed insults from a Mr. Crofts, -sent a challenge. Crofts came to fight him provided -only with a squirt; the duel was to be on -horseback, and with pistols, that Jeffrey, or, as he -had now become, Sir Jeffrey, might be more on a -level with his antagonist. By the first shot, Crofts -was struck dead. The next event in this adventurous -life was the capture of Jeffrey by a -Turkish rover, during one of his voyages; he was -sold as a slave, and taken into Barbary; he was, -however, ransomed, or set free, so as to resume -his attendance on the Queen. After the Restoration, -he was suspected of being concerned in the -Popish plot, and confined in the Gate House at -Westminster. Here, a life that had been rendered -worthy of record even by his very littleness -was closed, in 1682; his old enemy, a gigantic -porter at Whitehall in Charles’s time, with whom -the little creature was in incessant strife, having -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>long since been displaced--and another giant, -Oliver Cromwell’s porter, established in his stead.</p> - -<p class='c019'>On Mytens the office of his Majesty’s “picture-drawer -in ordinary, with a fee of 20<em>l.</em> per annum, -was conferred in 1625, procured by the agency -of Endymion Porter, who was the servant and -relative of Buckingham, from the Duke.”<a id='r169' /><a href='#f169' class='c013'><sup>[169]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Incited by the example of the Earl of Arundel, -who employed a Mr. Petty to collect antiquities -in Greece, Buckingham despatched for the same -purpose Sir Thomas Roe, telling him, in explaining -his wishes, that “he was not so fond of -antiquity as to court it in a deformed or unshapen -stone.”<a id='r170' /><a href='#f170' class='c013'><sup>[170]</sup></a> Lord Arundel had begun to “transplant -old Greece into England.” His agent, Petty, -was indefatigable, “eating with Greeks on their -work days, and lying with fishermen with planks,” -so that he might obtain his ends. This valiant -antiquary lost all his curiosities on returning from -Samos, and was imprisoned as a spy, but, regaining -his liberty, set forth again to his researches -with the energy of a Layard.<a id='r171' /><a href='#f171' class='c013'><sup>[171]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>The principal medallist in the time of Charles I. -was Andrew Vanderdort, a Dutchman, also -patronized by Prince Henry. Upon the accession -of Charles, Vanderdort was made keeper of -the King’s cabinet of medals, with a salary of -40<em>l.</em> This cabinet or museum was contained in a -room in Whitehall, running across from the -Thames towards the Banqueting-house, and -fronting the gardens westward. By Vanderdort -the coins of the realm were designed; and to the -commission to perform that work was added an -injunction that he should superintend the -engravers. To Vanderdort was once confided the -preparing of the catalogue of the Royal collection, -written in bad English, and preserved -in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford. -It is related of him, that, being entrusted -with a miniature by Gibson, the “Parable of -the Lost Sheep,” he laid it up so carefully, that, -when asked for it by the King, he could not find -it, and hung himself from grief.<a id='r172' /><a href='#f172' class='c013'><sup>[172]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>It was owing to the suggestions of Buckingham -that the great portrait-painter, Gerard Honthorst, -was invited by Charles I. to England. Honthorst -of Oxford. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>was a native of Utrecht, but had completed his -education at Rome. He had many pupils in -painting of high rank, and amongst them were -Elizabeth of Bohemia and her daughters, the -Princess Sophia, mother of George I., and the -Princess Louisa, afterwards Abbess of Maubissen, -being the most apt scholars of that family. -It was owing to the early culture of the arts which -both the sons of James I. had enjoyed, that it -became an easy task for Buckingham to incite -Charles to the patronage of great masters in afterlife. -Solomon de Caus, a Gascon, was the instructor -of Prince Henry, and probably of Charles, -who inherited the pictures and statues which his -brother had collected. Honthorst probably improved -by his lessons the taste that had been -already so well cultivated. At Hampton Court, -a large picture on the staircase sometimes rivets -attention, without conferring pleasure--for the -taste for allegorical paintings has long since been -extinct. It delineates Charles and his Queen as -Apollo and Diana in the clouds; the Duke of -Buckingham, as Mercury, is introducing them to -the Arts and Sciences, whilst genii are driving -away Envy and Malice. This, and other paintings, -were completed by Honthorst in six months; -the King giving him three thousand florins, a -service of silver plate for twelve persons, and a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>horse. He also painted portraits of the Duke -and Duchess of Buckingham, sitting with their -two children; and it was likewise the Duke’s -fancy to have a large picture by him, representing -a tooth-drawer, with many figures introduced -around the operation.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Horatio Gentileschi, a native of Pisá, was one -of those who contributed alike to the collection -of Charles and to the glories of York House, which, -long before Buckingham’s death, had, we are -told, become the admiration of the world.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Gentileschi was treated with a degree of liberality -that was quite congenial to the feelings of -Buckingham: he was invited to England, and -rooms were provided for his use, and a considerable -salary advanced to him. Some of the painted -ceilings in Greenwich Palace were his work; and -he ornamented York House in a similar manner. -When it was dismantled, one of the ceilings -was transplanted to Buckingham House, in St. -James’s Park, the seat of Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. -He also painted the Villiers family, and, -by the Duke’s order, a Magdalen, lying in a -grotto, contemplating a skull--a strange subject -for the worldly and high-spirited Buckingham to -select. But the delight of Charles and of his -favourite was Nicholas Lanière, meritorious as a -painter, engraver, and musician. It was Lanière -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>who composed the music for some of Ben Jonson’s -masques, in recitative. Lanière, after the death -of Charles, set to music a funeral hymn written -by Thomas Pierce. As a composer, he was -salaried by Charles with two hundred a-year. -He had, however, also painted pictures for King -James; and it is stated that Buckingham, not -being able to induce that monarch to reward -him adequately, gave Lanière three hundred -pounds at one time, and five hundred at another, -from his own means.<a id='r173' /><a href='#f173' class='c013'><sup>[173]</sup></a> Lanière had been instrumental -in the negociation for the Mantua collection. -After the death of Charles he was one of -those painters who viewed with deep concern the -dispersion of the Whitehall collection; and -bought several pictures at the sale of what he had -contributed to enrich.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst ceilings were painted, pictures distributed -on richly-carved panels, and in spacious -galleries, there was even an attempt in those -days to decorate with frescoes the exterior of -houses, as in Bavaria, where even the dwellings -of superior farmers are sometimes adorned in that -manner. Francis Cleyn, a Dane, was called to -England in the reign of James I., in order to improve -also the manufacture of tapestry at Mortlake, -to which James had contributed two thousand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>pounds. Hitherto, Sir Francis Crane, the proprietor, -had worked only on old patterns; Cleyn -brought new and original designs to the aid of -the tapestry-workers. Five of the cartoons were -sent by Charles to be copied. Cleyn also painted -the outside of Wimbledon House in fresco; he -designed one of the chimney-pieces in Holland -House, and gave the drawings for two chairs, -carved and gilt, with shells for backs, still there. -In every possible department art was called -into play. Drawings for the great seals were made -by Cleyn. He published books for “carvers and -goldsmiths.” Nothing was to be tasteless, clumsy, -or inappropriate; and, with this spirit abroad, it -is not surprising that the little that the Rebellion -spared should be models for our own conservative -generation.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whilst Villiers employed portrait-painters on -himself and on his family, he did not forget the -old man at Brookesby, long since gone to the -grave. Cornelius Jansen, by his order, painted a -portrait of his father; probably from some family -picture. It was in the possession of Horace Walpole, -“less handsome,” he says, “but extremely -like his son.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The patronage extended by Charles I. to architects<a id='r174' /><a href='#f174' class='c013'><sup>[174]</sup></a> -was often directed by Buckingham; for the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>King and the favourite had but one soul between -them. To exalt and improve the art of painting, -they summoned foreign architects as well as painters -to England, remunerated them liberally, and treated -them with the courtesy due to one of the noblest of -professions. Charles delighted to dabble with his -brush on the canvas, his hand directed by the master, -with whom he sat for hours. Buckingham’s few -leisure days were devoted to his buildings and -paintings. Amongst the English builders who -worked at the Banqueting-house, under Inigo -Jones, was Nicholas Stone, who was in 1619 appointed -master-mason to the King, at the usual -salary, of twelve pence a-day; but the extra work -he executed for Charles was amply paid; and his -salary during the two years he worked at Whitehall -amounted to four shillings and tenpence the -day.<a id='r175' /><a href='#f175' class='c013'><sup>[175]</sup></a> Nicholas Stone designed four of the dials -at St. James’s and Whitehall.<a id='r176' /><a href='#f176' class='c013'><sup>[176]</sup></a> He rebuilt the -fountains at Theobald’s and Nonsuch; his drawings -are, it is to be feared, lost. He was the statuary -employed by the Countess of Dorset to set up at -Westminster the monument of Spenser the poet, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>for which he was paid forty pounds. His great -talent lay in tombs; amongst others, he erected -one for the Countess of Buckingham, the Duke’s -mother, three years after her son’s death, in 1631, -in Westminster Abbey, for which he received 560<em>l.</em> -Doubtless, therefore, he was continually employed -by Buckingham, and Stone’s various performances -must have been just what the Duke required. He -was the modest architect, who did not disdain to -form and chisel the piers for gates--Inigo Jones -designing them,--at Holland House. He built the -great gate of St. Mary’s Church at Oxford, and -the stone gates for the Physic Garden in that -city,--also designed by Inigo. The figure of the -Nile at Somerset House was by Stone; his skill, -like that of Inigo, is familiar to us, though we may -almost have forgotten the hand that had so much -“cunning.” At York House, at Wanstead, New -Hall and Burleigh, his fine face, with his love-locks, -his plain collar, and tight doublet, were, we -may be sure, often to be seen before ruin and -desertion darkened those once splendid homes of -Villiers.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Few men, it must be acknowledged, in so -brief a space, have done more for the arts -in this country than George Villiers. By -Charles, his friend and sovereign, who -survived him twenty years, much more was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>effected. Without their unceasing efforts, without -even the almost pardonable extravagance that -was directed to purposes so refined, England -would almost have been devoid of paintings by -the greatest masters, and, what would be almost -worse, destitute of the love and reverence for -high art which has come down to us from the time -of Charles I., and which is now cherished, though -unconsciously, in the breast of the poor artisan, as -in that of the richest peer or commoner. The -crowds who not only throng, but enjoy, the -galleries of Hampton Court--and, still more, the -humble visitors from the Faubourg St. Antoine -and the Marais to the Louvre, on Sundays, in -Paris--prove that a love of what is true and holy, -and even sublime, in pictures, exists intuitively -in the uncultivated mind, as well as in the highest -intelligence of the soul. Those who called from -its latent recesses this love of art in the seventeenth -century are greatly entitled to the gratitude -of that age to which the luxuries of music -and painting are become necessities.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>PATRONAGE OF THE DRAMA BY CHARLES AND THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM--MASSINGER--BEN JONSON--THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE COURT, AND WITH THE DUKE.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span><span class='large'>CHAPTER V.</span></div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c022'>After considering the benefits conferred by -Charles I. and his favourite on art, and detailing -their patronage of eminent masters, one -turns, naturally, to the literature of the day, and -more especially--as subsidiary to music and -painting--to the drama.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The accession of James I. opened fairer prospects -to dramatists than they had enjoyed in the -days of Elizabeth, who paid as grudgingly for -her amusements as for the services of her statesmen. -To her “Master of the bears and dogs” -she assigned a salary of a farthing a day only.<a id='r177' /><a href='#f177' class='c013'><sup>[177]</sup></a> -Yet the office was sometimes held by a Knight; -and, during the “princely pleasures of Kenilworth,” -of which bear-baiting formed a prominent -feature, by no less opulent a person -<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>than Edward Alleyn, the actor, and founder of -Dulwich College. Little but honour, therefore, -had accrued, in the time of Elizabeth, to poets and -play-writers; and the struggling authors were -obliged to have recourse to a more liberal patronage -than that of the Court--until James I., somewhat -“of a poet, but more of a scholar,” promoted, -with an extravagant zeal, the diversions which his -taste disposed him to enjoy. Plays, which his predecessor -had deemed likely to draw her younger -subjects from the manlier recreations of bear-baiting -and hunting, were patronized in high -quarters, and were henceforth the fashionable diversions -notwithstanding the invectives of the -Puritans, both of the Court, and in the provincial -castles of the nobility at a distance from London.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Independently of the delights of the masque, -which comprised both music, dancing, and poetry, -there were pleasures to be found in the drama -which accorded with the tendencies and failings -of that period.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was an age of personality, a disposition -to which existed as strongly in the unrefined -court of James, and even among his northern -retainers, as in the brilliant galleries of Versailles, -encouraged by Louis XIV., and led by the dangerous -and witty St. Simon. “The great eye of -the world,” says an able writer, “was not then, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>any more than now, so intent on things and -principles as not to have a corner for the infirmities -of individuals.”<a id='r178' /><a href='#f178' class='c013'><sup>[178]</sup></a> Wilson, Weldon, Winwood, -Osborne, Peyton, Sanderson, circulated what -were in many instances fabrications about the -higher classes; whilst the crimes and absurdities -of the lower orders were celebrated by the ballad-mongers, -or dramatized for the stage. Many of -those ballads transmitted to us, which were -exempted from the fate of “damn’d ditties,” were -founded on authentic domestic tragedies, the -actors in which have long since passed into -oblivion. The ballad, which afforded the multitude -a pleasing insight into the fact that their -superiors were no better than themselves, was the -most popular literature of the day. Sung to -doleful tunes, with a nasal twang, they called -forth the satire of the dramatist, who aimed at a -higher species of personality, and who deprecated -these, often scurrilous, productions; which were, -at length, checked in the time of Swift by the -imposition of a penny stamp on every loose sheet. -The ballad was a source of dread to the tavern -bully, whose iniquities it exposed.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“If I have not ballads made of you all, and -sung to filthy tunes, may this cup of sack be my -poison,” says Falstaff.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>“Now shall have we damnable ballads out against us,</div> - <div class='line'>Most wicked madrigals.”</div> - <div class='line in27'><cite>Humorous Lieutenant.</cite></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Whilst the attention of society was not altogether -fixed on exalted members only, it was found difficult -to restrain satire, and even calumny, from -introducing living characters on the stage, and -from depicting them with hateful qualities, and in -invidious situations.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In vain did the Master of the Revels, who was -under the peculiar influence of the Court, -endeavour to control the disposition to personality -which characterized even many of the plays -acted before James I. and his son. In these -compositions the public acquired that insight into -conduct and peculiarities which is now derived -from periodical papers, or from diaries, letters, -and autobiographies, in which our age is especially -fertile.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Amongst the dramatists of James and Charles’s -reigns, we may take, as the most remarkable, -Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and -Fletcher, and John Ford, the greater part of -whose works were produced during the life of -King James and of Charles I. and II.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The biography of each of these celebrated men -elucidates much of the manners and temper of the -times, and their history comprises that of this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>species of literature during the commencement -and middle of the seventeenth century.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Philip Massinger was the son of Arthur -Massinger, a retainer in the household of the -Earl of Pembroke. A retainer was often a -gentleman of good birth but small means, and -this was probably the condition of Arthur Massinger, -who, from his carrying letters from his -master, the Earl, to Queen Elizabeth, could -not have been a man of low origin, else he -would not have been admitted to the honour -of conveying any dispatch to one who placed so -much importance on lineage in those who entered -her presence. That custom was still in force, -which surrounded a nobleman, not with menials, -but with a middle-class of bondmen, who thought -service no degradation. It was esteemed a turn -of fortune when a youth of gentle birth could be -introduced into some noble house, to learn therein -politeness, chivalrous attention to ladies, and to -imbibe, from example and precept, that loyalty -which was then considered a sort of virtue. The -education and training of a page is now confined -to royal courts; but there were, in England, in -those days of the Tudors and Stuarts, many -minor courts, which exacted, in miniature, the -duties and service that existed in the palaces -of the monarch. And of those stately and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>wealthy patrons, none were more respected than -the Herberts, Earls of Pembroke, to whom -Arthur Massinger wrote himself “Bondman.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>That wholesome discipline which it is difficult -in our own time for a parent to preserve over his -family was maintained to the advantage of a -page who rose from a lowly to a confidential -situation. Massinger’s lines in the “New Way -to Pay Old Debts” refer to the subjection under -which the youth groaned, but to which the matured -actors on this world’s stage looked back -with gratitude:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Art thou scarce manumised from the porter’s lodge,</div> - <div class='line'>And now sworn servant to the pantofle,</div> - <div class='line'>And darest thou dream of marriage?”</div> - <div class='line in21'><cite>New Way to Pay Old Debts.</cite></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Yet in this servitude the father of Philip Massinger -lived and died. These grand establishments, -in which the noble head saw around him -none but persons of gentle blood and breeding, -would long since have ceased to be congenial, even -if they still existed, to the English notions of independence, -by which servitude is confounded with -slavery. But they had this advantage--the son of -a retainer was supposed to have a claim on the illustrious -noble, who estimated his father’s fidelity -and offices; and that this was the case with Philip -Massinger, might seem probable from the advantages -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>of education which he was enabled to derive; -and the value of which he had learned to appreciate, -in the proximity to the really noble and intellectual -family of Herbert. It appears from -Philip Massinger’s dedication of the “Bondman,” -that he never had any personal communication -with Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery; -but that is no proof that he may not have been indebted -for the advantage of a university education -to the far more intellectual and estimable -Henry, Earl of Pembroke, his father’s patron, as -appears from the following passage in the dedication -of the “Bondman” to the Earl of Montgomery:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>“However, I could never arrive at the happiness -to be made known to your lordship; yet a -desire born with me, to make a tender of all -duties and service to the noble family of the -Herberts, descended to me as an inheritance -from my dead father, Arthur Massinger. Many -years he happily spent in the service of your -honourable house, and died a servant in it, leaving -his to be ever most glad and ready to be at the -command of all such as derive themselves from -his most honoured master, your lordship’s most -honoured father.”<a id='r179' /><a href='#f179' class='c013'><sup>[179]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>It would be agreeable to reflect that Massinger -<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>had passed his childhood and youth, -partly at all events, in the classical region of -Wilton Castle, which Sir Philip Sidney had -almost sanctified to the Muses by his presence, -and whence he had issued forth on that expedition -in which he died a hero’s death. But -those were not the days in which the childhood -and youth of celebrated men were recorded, -and of Massinger’s not a trace remained. -We only guess at the early influences which -formed his imaginative, yet vigorous mind. We -only conjecture that his taste was directed to -poetry by the taste of those whom he must have -learned first to respect. We are not sure, yet -we are glad to believe, that whilst his mind took -on afterwards the impressions of the age in which -he lived, it was in earliest youth incited by the -author of the “Arcadia,” and by the acquirements -of her to whom that poem was dedicated, to -culture and exercise, until circumstances brought -its powers into full activity.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The dedication of the “Bondman” was written in -1624; and whilst it shews that the poet had never -seen Philip, Earl of Montgomery, it does not follow, -as has been stated, that he was <em>not</em> reared at -Wilton during the life-time of Henry, Earl of -Pembroke, the “noble father” of Philip, who, as -a younger son, was created Earl of Montgomery, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>and long known by that title only. Henry, who -was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl of -Pembroke, died in 1600; and since Massinger -was born in 1584, it is extremely probable that -he passed his childhood at Wilton, although, in -compliance with the custom of the age, he was -probably sent out to nurse. Even the name of -his mother is unknown. Few authors of so much -merit as Massinger have been, as Hartley Coleridge -observes, “so little noticed by contemporaries;” -and none so soon forgotten by succeeding times.</p> - -<p class='c019'>There can, however, be but little doubt that -Philip Massinger imbibed at Wilton that value -for letters which is so soon caught by children -from the society of the intellectual; and that a -gentler influence than that of Earl Henry stimulated -the natural inclinations of his mind. A -learned education for women of rank was in -vogue for nearly a century after the Reformation: -with Protestantism came in the notion that the -female understanding was worthy of high cultivation; -and our earliest and most superior -women, in those times, were prepared for their -important part in life by a sound and almost -masculine training. Witness the learning of Lady -Jane Grey, of Queen Elizabeth, of Joanna, -Lady Abergavenny, whom Walpole believes to -have been the “foundress of that noble school of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>female learning, of which (with herself) there were,” -he says, “no less than four authoresses in the three -descents.”<a id='r180' /><a href='#f180' class='c013'><sup>[180]</sup></a> Among the learned and the virtuous -none was more esteemed in her time than Mary, the -sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and the third wife of -Henry, Earl of Pembroke, the son of Arthur Massinger’s -patron. She was one of those ornaments of -her age who added lustre to her station without forfeiting -one feminine attribute. What was then -called a “polite education” comprised not only the -acquisition of light literature, but that also of classical -learning. From her mother, Lady Mary Dudley, -this admirable woman inherited a noble and congenial -spirit; from her father, Sir Henry Sidney, surpassing -abilities, moral excellencies, enlarged views, -generous motives. That father, superior to the -venal courtiers of his time, spent his whole fortune -in his endeavours to benefit Ireland and Wales, -of the affairs of which he held the administration. -In her brother, Sir Philip Sidney, the Countess of -Pembroke found a companion in all her pursuits, -as well as in affection. Hence, as Spenser wrote, -their minds grew in unison:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The gentlest shepherdess that liv’d that day,</div> - <div class='line'>And most resembling, both in shape and spirit,</div> - <div class='line'>Her brother dear.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c027'><span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>In conjunction with him, this gifted woman is -said to have translated the Psalms;<a id='r181' /><a href='#f181' class='c013'><sup>[181]</sup></a> of which -effort Daniel says:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Those hymns which thou dost consecrate to Heaven,</div> - <div class='line'>Which Israel’s singer to his God did frame,</div> - <div class='line'>Unto thy voyage eternity hath given,</div> - <div class='line'>And makes thee dear to Him from whence they came.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Several of these are extant; one of them was -published in the <cite>Guardian</cite>;<a id='r182' /><a href='#f182' class='c013'><sup>[182]</sup></a> and it corresponds -with a Psalm printed in the “<cite>Nugæ Antiquæ</cite>” as -the Countess of Pembroke’s.<a id='r183' /><a href='#f183' class='c013'><sup>[183]</sup></a> It has been regretted -that these productions are not authorized -to be sung in churches; for the present version, -Mr. Hartley Coleridge remarks, “is a disgrace -and a mischief to the establishment.” These -translations are preserved in the library at -Wilton.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Countess was residing there when the -“Discourse of Life and Death,” by Mornay, which -she translated from the French, was printed. -This was in 1590, when Philip Massinger was -six years of age. She survived until 1621; and, -since she extended her patronage both to arts -and letters, it is probable that she not only -befriended Ben Jonson, but that she encouraged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>and assisted the struggling dramatist, whose -father had been so favoured or retained in her -husband’s house. Ben Jonson’s well-known lines -on her tomb have challenged various criticisms. -Whilst by some they are deemed a tribute “which -have never been exceeded in the records of -monumental praise,”<a id='r184' /><a href='#f184' class='c013'><sup>[184]</sup></a> by another critic they -are considered “too hyperbolical, too clever, and -too conceited to be inscribed on a Christian’s -tomb.”<a id='r185' /><a href='#f185' class='c013'><sup>[185]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Underneath this marble hearse</div> - <div class='line'>Lies the subject of all verse--</div> - <div class='line'>Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother;</div> - <div class='line'>Death, ere thou canst find another,</div> - <div class='line'>Learned, and fair, and good as she,</div> - <div class='line'>Time shall throw a dart at thee.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>At all events, Massinger imbibed from his -father’s connection with the Herbert family, one -taste--that for theatricals. Amongst the retinue of -the great peer, was a company of itinerant performers, -“the Earl of Pembroke’s players;” and -though the childhood of Massinger is indeed a -blank, it maybe inferred that the attractions of the -theatre, or rather of the hall, in which that portion -of the Earl’s household must have been frequently -occupied, were such as to fascinate a boy of an -imaginative turn of mind. He is stated to have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>been shy, melancholy, retiring, and studious; -that he received a classical education, as a -boy, is also stated; but when that education -was received, who directed that thoughtful and -dreamy mind to poetry, or how he, who was -evidently designed for a scholastic career, should -have devoted himself to the profession of a play-writer, -does not appear to have been ascertained, -even by the indefatigable Gilford.</p> - -<p class='c019'>But it was an age of great mental energy, and -there was sufficient in the rich harvest won by -Shakspeare, or in the rare delights afforded by -his works, to account for the direction of young -Massinger’s genius.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It has been conjectured, also, that he acted occasionally -in those plays the parts of which were -then usually sustained by boys: of this there -remains not a single proof, and nothing is <em>certain</em>, -in so far as the events of his youth are concerned, -except that he was entered at St. Alban’s Hall, -Oxford, in 1601-2.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It must not be supposed that this fact at all implied -what in the present day it might appear to -indicate. It did not follow that Massinger was -to enter one of the learned professions, because -he became a commoner in that small, ancient -society of St. Alban’s Hall; nor was it a proof -that the young man had parents who were in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>affluent circumstances, as a University career now -seems to imply. Oxford was then a place for -cheap education, and many of the “poor scholars” -at the various colleges underwent, as Strype -shews us, great hardships. On the other hand, it -was not uncommon for the profession of letters -to be in those days a man’s only calling; and an -academical training was his best commencement -in that arduous course, since a certain display of -erudition was undoubtedly one of the characteristics -of the period.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The exhibition to college was, according to -Anthony Wood, given to Massinger by the Earl -of Pembroke; but others allege that Massinger -derived the means of subsistence at Oxford from -his father.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In those schools, where a man for the first, -and perhaps for the only, time in his existence, -frames his own success, independently of the patronage -of others--in those schools, famed for -strict impartiality, and where the battle is really -to the strong--Massinger, nevertheless, did not -appear. He left Oxford without taking his degree; -for he had made the mistake, fatal to a -poor man, who has to rest upon the endowments -of that grand old university for his support, of -not adopting the studies which the university prescribes -to the exclusion of others. It was, indeed, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>a sin in the eyes of that zealous antiquary, -whose tomb, in a corner of the anti-chapel of -Merton College, is so often overlooked, save by -those who honour his labours, and who view his -merits, thus enshrined, with regretful reverence--that -he gave his mind, as Anthony Wood tells -us, “more to poetry or romance, for about four -years or more, than to logic and philosophy, which -he ought to have done, as he was patronized <em>to -that end</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>He adds, without further comment than this, -“that, being sufficiently famed for several specimens -of wit, he betook himself to writing plays.” -Massinger left Oxford in 1606--he was then -twenty-two years of age.</p> - -<p class='c019'>For some time his history is again a blank, and -his exertions and struggles, whatever they may -have been, fell upon a serious, religious, thoughtful -temperament, devoid of the elasticity with -which Shakespeare fought and conquered the -trials of fate. Play-writing was, at that time, almost -the only means by which ready money -could be obtained, and had the patronage of the -Court in full activity, when Massinger cast himself -into his future and only career. James I., -soon after his accession, licensed the company of -players who had hitherto been styled the “Lord -Chamberlain’s,” but who were henceforth to be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>called "the King’s servants"--amongst whom -were Shakspeare, Burbage, Heminge, and others. -Queen Anne adopted the “Earl of Worcester’s -company,” and Prince Henry that of the Earl of -Nottingham, the hero of the “Armada.” The -Court, and even provincial nobles and gentry, -although Protestantized, kept, with as scrupulous -attention as ever, the great feasts of the Church; -and on these, as in former times a mystery or -morality was given, so now a play was often performed. -“The stage,” says Hartley Coleridge, -“was evoking and realizing the finest imaginations -of the strongest intellects.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whether Massinger ever acted or not, is as -doubtful as every other incident of his early life. -It was not until 1614 that a glimmering of his -actual condition in life is seen through the darkness, -and the disclosure is melancholy and discouraging. -There is something touching, as well as -dreary, in the gloom that one can only diversify -with scenes of penury and imprisonment for debt. -At last the light breaks out; and, in the words of -the following appeal, the history of some years of -disappointment is disclosed:--<a id='r186' /><a href='#f186' class='c013'><sup>[186]</sup></a></p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span></div> -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c028'>"To our most loving friend, Mr. Philip Hinchlow, Esquire, these,--</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Mr. Hinchlow--You understand our unfortunate -extremitye, and I doe not thinke you so -void of cristianitee but that you would throw -so much money into the Thames as wee request -now of you, rather than endanger so many innocent -lives. You know there is X<em>l.</em> more at least -to be receaved of you for the play. We desire -you to lend us V<em>l.</em> of that; which shall be allowed -to you, without which we cannot be bayled nor I -play any more till this be dispatch’d. It will lose -you XX<em>l.</em> ere the end of the next weeke, besides -the hindrance of the next new play. Pray, sir, -consider our cases with humanity, and now give -us cause to acknowledge you our true friend in -time of neede. Wee have entreated Mr. Davison -to deliver this note, as well as witness your love -as our promises and always acknowledgement to -be ever your most thankful and loving friends,<a id='r187' /><a href='#f187' class='c013'><sup>[187]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>”<span class='sc'>Philip Massinger</span>.</div> - <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>R. Davison.</span></div> - <div class='line'>”<span class='sc'>Nat. Field.</span>"</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>This letter is the only one with the signature of -Philip Massinger extant. It was addressed to a -pawnbroker--such was Philip Hinchlow, who, -besides exercising that ancient profession, was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>also engaged in theatrical speculations, his advances -being chiefly made upon the wearing -apparel and properties, of which he acquired a -large portion in this way. “A comfortable sort -of person,” remarks Hartley Coleridge, “for -three poets to be obliged to.” Especially when -they, as it were, pledged to him the labour of -their brains; and that when they were either -already in prison, or afraid of that crisis in their -miserable destiny. Nathaniel Field, the writer -of this letter, was Massinger’s partner in the production -of the “Fatal Dowry;” he had a share -in the Globe and Blackfriar’s Theatres, in conjunction -with Burbage, the original <cite>Richard III.</cite>, -<cite>Hamlet</cite>, and <cite>Othello</cite>; and with Lowin, the -original <cite>Falstaff</cite>. Field was also an actor, -and he performed in Ben Jonson’s masque, -“Cynthia’s Revels,” in 1600, when he appeared -as one of the children of the Queen’s chapel. -Robert Daborne was a man of good descent, a -scholar and a clergyman, although the author of -several plays; nor was he the only clerical dramatist -in an age which was, indeed, "not an -innocent one"--for Cartwright, also a play-writer, -was a divine, and, as Fuller states, “a -florid and seraphical preacher.”<a id='r188' /><a href='#f188' class='c013'><sup>[188]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>It has been remarked that the “Fatal Dowry” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>was like the production of a man in debt. Massinger -might refer to his own case when he -wrote:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>“I will not take</div> - <div class='line'>One single piece of this great heap. Why should I</div> - <div class='line'>Borrow that I have no means to pay; nay, am</div> - <div class='line'>A very bankrupt, even in flattering hope,</div> - <div class='line'>Of ever raising any.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c027'>In addition to his poverty, to hard work, and the -degradation of debt, Massinger was fully conscious -that he had not, in giving up the certainty -of a profession, attained a position in society. -The dramatist’s occupation was scarcely, in those -times, considered a creditable employment.<a id='r189' /><a href='#f189' class='c013'><sup>[189]</sup></a> By -the Puritans it was deemed sinful--by learned -men, idle and trifling; and although lawyers and -academicians, courtiers and ladies, and even the -Queen and Princes of the blood, took the conspicuous -parts, there was still a certain disrepute -attached to the very instruments by means of -which the stage was brought into what is justly -called its “palmiest state.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>There were perhaps various reasons for the -slow success of Massinger as a dramatist, and for -that adverse fate the bitterness of which breaks -forth in all his works. The age was Puritan; -and he was supposed to have exchanged the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>Protestant principles with which he had entered -Oxford for Romanist opinions--or rather, what -we should now term Tractarian. That he may -have been, as Mr. Gifford infers, from his leaving -Oxford without a degree, a Roman Catholic, is -borne out by no fact, although seemingly attested -by the subjects of his plays--the “Virgin -Martyr,” the “Renegade,” and the “Maid of -Honour,” and from some passages in his other -dramas. The bare suspicion was enough to make -an author unfashionable at the time when the -religion of the poet’s ancestors was the object of -hatred and terror, and the laws against recusants -were in all their hateful force. The plots of -Massinger’s plays were, however, almost invariably -taken from French or Italian novels, or -from old legends, which embodied Romanism, -and must, if Protestantized, have assumed the -form of satire. Another drawback to Massinger’s -popularity was the strong Whiggism -which manifested itself in his plays, and which -was so greatly at variance with the tone of the -Court and of the higher classes during the early -part of the reign of James I. He had not the -reverence for constituted authority which marked -the sentiments of Shakspeare, whilst his devotion -to birth (not to <em>rank</em> alone) savoured of the son -of the retainer in a great house, where the servant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>generally is a far greater worshipper of the -old descent than the real possessor of the ancient -pedigree.<a id='r190' /><a href='#f190' class='c013'><sup>[190]</sup></a> Thus, whilst this ill-fated man, full of -genius, full of virtue, and of a deep sense of -religion, was always tempting the slings and -arrows of fortune, he was distrusted by the Puritans -as a favourer of the Romish faith; he was -avoided by the loyal as an enemy to passive -obedience; and he must have been regarded with -disgust by the rich city merchants and traders, -for his contempt for newly-acquired wealth, and -his merciless exposition of their assumption, in his -dramas.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Massinger, therefore, lived and died in poverty. -The language of complaint became -habitual to him; he spoke of his despised state -with agony--yet his patrons were many and -honourable; but he addressed each successively -in dedications which were masterpieces of pure -English, as his last hope--his dependence on -whom “ate into his very soul.” To Sir Robert -Wiseman, of Thorrell’s Hall, in Essex, he “freely, -and with a zealous thankfulness, acknowledges -that for many years he had but <em>faintly subsisted</em>, -had he not often tasted of his great bounty.”<a id='r191' /><a href='#f191' class='c013'><sup>[191]</sup></a> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>In his dedication of “The Picture” to the noble -Society of the Inner Temple, he thanks them, -“his honoured and selected friends,” for their -“frequent bounties.” He lived upon presents; -and of the comforts of a certain income he had not, -probably, even one year’s experience. It is impossible -to think of such a career without pain--starving -one day, repulsed with condescension -from the halls of the rich, another. He has depicted -feelingly, indeed, the gentleman reduced to -penury, in the “New Way to Pay Old Debts,” -and the insults heaped on him by over-fed -sycophants.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<em>Overreach</em> (to <em>Wellborn</em>)--</div> - <div class='line in26'>Avaunt, thou beggar!</div> - <div class='line in10'>If ever thou presume to own me more,</div> - <div class='line in10'>I’ll have thee caged and whipp’d.</div> - <div class='line'>“<em>Amble</em> (to <em>Wellborn</em>)--</div> - <div class='line in4'>Cannot you stay, to be serv’d among your fellows</div> - <div class='line in4'>From the basket, but you must press into the hall?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>The “basket” contained broken meat, which -was placed in the porter’s lodge of great houses, -to be distributed to the poor.</p> - -<p class='c019'>So, in the “Fatal Dowry,” <em>Pontalier</em> says to -<em>Liladum</em>:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Go to the basket, and repent.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>It is with true feeling that Massinger put -into the mouth of <em>Wellborn</em> these pleading -lines:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>“Scorn me not, good lady!</div> - <div class='line'>But, as in form you are angelical,</div> - <div class='line'>Imitate the heavenly natures, and vouchsafe</div> - <div class='line'>At the least awhile to hear me. You will grant</div> - <div class='line'>The blood that runs in this arm is as noble</div> - <div class='line'>As that which fills your veins; those costly jewels</div> - <div class='line'>And those rich clothes you wear, your men’s observance</div> - <div class='line'>And women’s flattery, are in you no virtues;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor these rags, with my poverty, in me vices.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>His life, however, was not without its solace. -Happily for the literary men of the age, Ralegh -had comprehended what is most essential both to -mind and body, and in founding the meetings at -the Mermaid had provided for the dramatist, -poet, and philosopher, suitable relaxation. The -place of meeting was at the Mermaid, in Bread -Street, Cheapside. Here Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, -Beaumont, Fletcher, and many others, enjoyed -the rare companionship of Ralegh, during the -brief intervals in which he was not either engaged -at the Court, or in distant expeditions. Here -wit was the current coin of the company; toil was -cast aside; “away with melancholy,” was the -burden of the guests, who had probably many a -care hidden in the core of their hearts. To -Shakspeare’s joyous nature, and to the sanguine -and then unbroken spirit of Ralegh, the sorrows -of the past, the terrors of the future, might easily -be forgotten, or suspended over a cup of rich -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>Canary; or, as night drew on, after a beaker of -sack-posset. But one may picture to oneself the -diffident, yet proud Philip Massinger, in his black -doublet and plain white linen collar, with shabby -tassels hanging from it, feasting, perhaps, at another -man’s expense--trying to shine in these -"wit-combats"--trying to forget “the basket,” -and to seem prosperous; but, with the remembrance -of the five pounds borrowed upon the -security of his capital of brains, with a heavy -sigh, as the delightful bard of Avon talked of retiring, -on his fortune of two hundred a-year, to the -quaint old town, his birth-place.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It must, however, have been a delicious opportunity -of looking into minds as various as they -were original. Beaumont has described the surface:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in18'>“What things have we seen</div> - <div class='line'>Done at the Mermaid!--heard words that have been</div> - <div class='line'>So nimble and so full of subtle flame,</div> - <div class='line'>As if that every one from whence they came</div> - <div class='line'>Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,</div> - <div class='line'>And had resolved to live a fool the rest</div> - <div class='line'>Of his dull life ...</div> - <div class='line in14'>... and when that was gone,</div> - <div class='line'>We left an air behind us, which alone</div> - <div class='line'>Was able to make the two next companies</div> - <div class='line'>(Right witty, though but downright fools) more wise.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>A modern writer has compared these meetings -<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>to the “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Noctes Ambrosianæ</cite></span>.” Happier far the wits -of modern days, than the gifted men who, in the -time of the Stuarts, were fain to cringe to patrons -for their subsistence. None but unsuccessful -authors will rail at modern publishers, when they -remember the infinite miseries, with few signal -exceptions, of those who were unhappy enough to -depend on individuals and not on the public, -whose will and taste the publisher alone studies.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Intemperance was, in those days, not only the -sin of the middle-classes, but that of the Court; -and both James and his Queen are said to have -indulged in it. Massinger seems to have held -what were rare opinions in his time, and to have -been an advocate for total abstinence:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>"O take care of wine!</div> - <div class='line'>Cold water is far better for your healths,</div> - <div class='line'>Of which I am very tender."--<cite>The Picture.</cite></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>He wrote rapidly, and his pen was never idle; -yet he lived in miserable poverty. There is no -record either that he was married--no indication -that, like every other poet, he had an unfortunate -or unrequited attachment. His pilgrimage had -one solace, that of a fervent religion; which had, -probably, much of the superstitions which were -mingled, in those early days of Protestantism, -with the reformed faith. The Church of England -was then “an untrimmed vessel, lurching -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>now towards Rome, and now towards Geneva;” -it is therefore no wonder if many of the young, -the impassioned, the imaginative, inclined to that -form of faith and of worship which wore at least -the semblance of venerable seniority.<a id='r192' /><a href='#f192' class='c013'><sup>[192]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>There is not a line in Massinger’s works that can -either convict him of Romanism, or stamp him as -a Protestant. Like many of his contemporaries, -his romantic fancy was captivated by the picturesque -ceremonial, the saintly observances, the -<em>dramatic</em> services of the Romish Church; and to -this was probably added a disgust to that puritanic -fervour by which not only the drama--to -which there were, in fact, many just exceptions to -be made--but all that was enchanting in life, -poetry, secular music, revelry (not necessarily -corrupting), was condemned as sinful, and all -intellectual luxury prohibited and anathematized.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Herbert family continued to be friends to -Massinger--at all events, to lend him the support of -their name. He dedicated “The New Way to Pay -Old Debts,” the most celebrated of his plays, to -Robert, Earl of Carnarvon. “I was born,” he -says, “a most devoted servant to the thrice noble -family of your incomparable lady, and am most -ambitious, though at a proper distance, to be -known to your lordship.” Robert, Earl of Carnarvon, -who had married the Lady Katherine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>Herbert, although a friend and favourer of the -Muses, and also Grand Falconer of England, is -long since forgotten--whilst the poet, who addressed -him “at a proper distance,” is remembered -with pride and interest.</p> - -<p class='c019'>There was so close an intimacy at one time -between the Earl of Pembroke’s family and that -of the Duke of Buckingham, that it seems strange -that no trace of Massinger’s having been patronized -by him are to be discovered. In fact, -the annals of Massinger’s life present little except -the dates of his works. The eldest son of the unworthy -Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, -the poet’s chief patron, was married in 1634 -to Lady Mary Villiers, then a mere girl. It is -true that this alliance was formed six years after -Buckingham’s death; but it was probably concerted -before that event, after the fashion of the -day, in which the infant in the cradle was often -affianced by ambitious parents, and the nuptials -solemnized at ten or twelve years of age. Charles, -Lord Herbert set out on his travels directly -after he had married his young wife, and died of -small-pox at Florence in 1636. Massinger wrote -a poem on his loss, among others, to his little -bride:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in18'>“True sorrow fell</div> - <div class='line'>With showers of tears--still bathe the widowed bed</div> - <div class='line'>Of his dear spouse.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>The elegy, as it has been observed, had better -not have been written; and his “dear spouse” -very likely at that time preferred balls and -revelries to her husband.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was, however, not impossible that Villiers, -to please the Herbert family, may have been the -means of introducing Massinger to Charles I., -who justly estimated his great merits, and proved -a more generous as well as a worthier patron than -the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The political tenets of Massinger brought him -on one occasion into considerable danger. They -were, nevertheless, such as we should now term -moderate; but they were irrelevantly introduced -into his dramas, at a time when liberalism was -almost regarded as next to treason. In 1631, -Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, refused -to receive a play of Massinger’s because it -contained what that functionary called “dangerous -matters,” as to the deposing of Sebastian, -King of Portugal, and “thereby reflected upon -Spain.” Even the name of that piece is unknown, -although the Master of the Revels took care that -the fee of twenty shillings for reading it over was -paid to him. In 1638, when the question of the -Ship-money was dividing the nation from the -Court, Massinger, unable to control his indignation -at the oppressive measures of Charles I., produced -<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>another play, called “The King and the -Subject,” founded on the history of Don Pedro -the Cruel. It contained, amongst other free and -bold passages, these lines:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Monies? We’ll raise supplies which way we please,</div> - <div class='line'>And force you to subscribe to blanks, in which</div> - <div class='line'>We’ll mulct you as we shall think fit. The Cæsars</div> - <div class='line'>In Rome were wise, acknowledging no laws</div> - <div class='line'>But what their swords did ratify--the wives</div> - <div class='line'>And daughters of the senators bowing to</div> - <div class='line'>Their will as deities----”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>It was evident to all who had occasion to -peruse the play in manuscript, that Don Pedro -was intended for the King. It was submitted, -however, to Charles, who was at Newmarket; he -read it, and then, in his own hand, marked the -objectionable passage, and wrote underneath these -words, “This is too insolent; note that the poet -make it the speech of a King, Don Pedro, to his -subjects.” This is one instance of the kind nature -of the often mistaken King, who avoided condemning -the play to oblivion.<a id='r193' /><a href='#f193' class='c013'><sup>[193]</sup></a> That he encouraged Massinger--that -he perceived, beneath the bitterness -of a struggling man, a noble independence of -character, is evident from Massinger’s plays being, -in the commencement of that reign, the fashionable -representations at Court. A bespeak at -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>Court was the most signal proof of success, and -was all that could be desired by an author; and -Charles took an opportunity of conferring this -benefit on Massinger, when the poet’s feelings -had been grievously wounded by the opposition -made to “The Emperor of the East,” on its first -performance by bespeaking that play.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Massinger recorded his gratitude for the bespeak -in a prologue, in which he affirms his chief -aim had been to please the King, and the fair -Henrietta Maria, in this production:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“What we now present,</div> - <div class='line'>When first conceived in his vote and intent,</div> - <div class='line'>Was sacred to your pleasure; in each part</div> - <div class='line'>With his best of fancy, judgment, language, art,</div> - <div class='line'>Fashioned and formed so as might well, and may,</div> - <div class='line'>Deserve a welcome, and no vulgar way.</div> - <div class='line'>He durst not, sir, at such a solemn feast,</div> - <div class='line'>Lard his grave matter with one scurrilous jest,</div> - <div class='line'>But laboured that no passage might appear</div> - <div class='line'>But what the Queen, without a blush, might hear.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>In 1633, just after the appearance of Prynne’s -“Histriomastix,” Charles ordered the representation -of Massinger’s “Guardian” at Whitehall, on -Sunday--an unwise act, in the eyes of all; a -wrong one in those of most persons, who, without -undue prejudice, view the Sabbath not only as a -day of holy rest, but as one in which the thoughts -and actions should be eminently pure, serene, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>devout. We cannot but allow that the Puritans -had much reason on their side in condemning this -profanation, which was, one can scarcely doubt, -instigated by Queen Henrietta, or intended to -please her. The plays of Massinger were peculiarly -unsuited to the Sabbath, from their -grossness.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It is not easy to say what amount of indelicacy -the ladies of that period could listen -to “without a blush.” Their confusion was, -indeed, hidden beneath a black velvet mask. -Even eighty or ninety years afterwards, the -incomparable Queen Mary, the consort of William -III., and her maids of honour, listened, under -that protection, to the comedies of an age, perhaps, -if possible, still more licentious in its plays -than that in which Massinger wrote. Nor was it -until the mask was abolished by law that the -presence of women was recognized as controlling -impropriety. In the reign of Anne, influenced by -the correctness of the Court, as well as by -the presence of ladies, unexceptionable plays, of -loftier tone, by Steele and Addison, were placed -on the stage. It is to be hoped that Queen -Henrietta scarcely comprehended what she heard -in a language of which she knew but little before -her arrival in England; or perhaps, with the -French notions, that a married woman, however -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>young, may go everywhere and hear everything, -even if only just emancipated from a convent or -the nursery, she may not have thought herself -and her attendants degraded by what they -heard.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Queen’s partiality for Massinger was soon -known by another demonstration on her part. -On the site of the old Monastery of Blackfriars, -which had been signalized by the sitting of the -Black Parliament, in the reign of Henry VIII., -by the trial of Katharine of Arragon in its hall, -and by the condemnation of Wolsey, James -Burbage, and his company, known as the Earl of -Leicester’s players, had erected a theatre. It was -within the precincts, but not the jurisdiction, of -the City; and the Lord Mayor, after ejecting -Burbage from the City, tried in vain to drive -them out of Blackfriars. The Puritan inhabitants -of the precincts were also inimical to the playhouse, -and petitioned the Lords and Council -against its continuance there.<a id='r194' /><a href='#f194' class='c013'><sup>[194]</sup></a> Nevertheless, -Queen Henrietta bespoke “Cleander,” a lost -play of Massinger’s, and went to see it acted -at Blackfriars. She was justly censured -for this imprudence--not, indeed, for her inconsistent -patronage of dramas unfit for women to -hear or read--a sin which that age perceived -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>not--but for a public attendance at a theatre, on -the stage of which the young gallants of the -time chose to sit, perched on stools, with tobacco -pipes in their mouths--or congregated in twopenny -refreshment-rooms, where ale and tobacco -were sold.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It does not appear that the patronage of the -Court gave permanent independence to Massinger. -After the production of his last drama, -“The Fair Anchoress of Pausilippo,” his career -was over. He latterly lived at the Bankside, -a residence probably chosen by him -from its vicinity to various theatres--to -Blackfriars, from its proximity to Blackfriars -Road; to the Globe Theatre, in which <a id='corr217.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Shaksspeare'>Shakespeare</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_217.15'><ins class='correction' title='Shaksspeare'>Shakespeare</ins></a></span> -had a share; to Paris Garden, to the Rose, -to the Hope, and the Swan. The Chirk, near -the Church of St. Saviour’s, even in the time of -Charles I., was the seat of all manner of low dissipation--bear-baiting, -among the rest--and consequently -of misery and vice. The district was -not sanctified even by the holy edifice of St. -Saviour’s; that noble church, the finest specimen -of the early English style in London, the crypt of -which is one of the un-seen sights of the metropolis, -having, happily, escaped the restoring hand -of some reprehensible churchwardens, who have -done their best to spoil the nave, and to reduce it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>to the level of their own ideas. To his obscure -home, near St. Saviour’s, Philip Massinger retired -on the evening of the 16th of March, 1639-40, -to rest, in his usual health. He was found dead -in the morning in his bed. No friendly hand -closed his eyes--no kind voice whispered into his -ear words of hope and peace in Heaven, of which -he had known so little on earth: no record of the -mortal disease which thus struck him down--what -would be called, in our time, prematurely--has -been found. His death was, like his life, a -blank. The parish register tells us all that can be -told: “March 16, 1639-40.--Buried Philip Massinger, -<em>a stranger</em>.” He was followed to the -grave by actors, and buried in the churchyard of -St. Saviour’s, then called St. Mary Overie, from -an old suppressed priory. No stone marked his -grave. His funeral was too poor for his remains -to be interred within the church, where -Lancelot Andrews and Henry Sacheverell -preached, and where their bones repose; and -where the poet Gower founded a chantry, and -erected a tomb. Massinger was interred among -the poor and the humble; perhaps his old companions -of the playhouse, in after-days, slept, -also, near his nameless grave.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His burial cost 2<em>l.</em>--a sum large enough, in -those days, to ensure it, in Mr. Gifford’s eyes, a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>considerable amount of state and ceremony; -and the word “stranger,” which grates so -painfully on the feelings of those who reverence -genius, is said by that authority to be -usually affixed to the name of any one not belonging -to the parish of St. Saviour. Yet, that his -contemporaries put no epitaph on his tomb, that -there was nothing but the sod over the cold -clay, that no tradition even exists to show where -he once lay, seems to prove that the Puritans -were in the ascendancy on that sad day when the -“stranger” was conveyed to his last home; and -that they were meet ancestors of those who have -since “restored” the old church, and have cleverly -concealed the beauties of its interior.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Massinger had great qualities. He was religious, -and of rare honesty and independence; -yet his religion did not purify his thoughts, nor -tend, consequently, to chasten his productions--and -his circumstances wore away his real independence, -as his dedications testify. His -conceptions of what was noble, of what was -virtuous, are beautifully expressed in those -plays, which are yet so full of coarseness -as to be unpresentable; and whilst he never -loses any opportunity of exalting virtue, he -seizes every occasion of depraving the taste, if -not the mind. In this respect he is far more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>culpable than Shakspeare; the age had deteriorated: -James I. was coarse, and liked coarseness -in others; his Court and his amusements all partook -of that characteristic, which increased after the old -chivalric style had declined. The elegance and -purity in the works of Sir Philip Sidney and Spenser -were succeeded by coarseness in those of Massinger, -Ford, and Ben Jonson. When Massinger ceased -to write freely--and, in so doing, to indulge every -fancy, fair or foul--he wrote feebly. Of this “The -Roman Actor,” to play which he “held to be the -most perfect birth of his Minerva,” affords an example. -It is free from indelicacy, but presents few -of Massinger’s striking excellencies. The plot is -bad; the scene in which the character of <em>Paris</em> -might have been so powerfully developed, when -tempted by <em>Domitian</em>, is poor. The tortures of -the senators on the stage, and the appearance of -their ghosts afterwards, savours of the love which -Massinger had for the horrible--with the delineation -of which he seems to have consoled himself -for his forbearance in other points. Nevertheless, -whilst the secondary characters in “The -Roman Actor” are poor and indistinct--whilst -those of the primary actors are striking and -truthful--the timid tyranny of <em>Domitian</em>, and -the ambition of <em>Donitia</em>, are admirably worked -out.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>The inordinate taste for revolting incidents on -the stage was a great feature of the times; the -contemporaries of Somerset and his wife were -habituated to the excitement of fearful mysteries, -of crimes, and sins half-disclosed, yet awful in the -dimness of partial discovery. The frequent occurrence -of murders, sometimes designedly, “but -more often in hasty broils,” in that day, presented -subjects which, to us, seem extravagant, but -which were highly acceptable to the bravadoes, -who, smoking on the stage, brandished their -rapiers, and were ready to avenge a quarrel at the -sword’s point. In nothing is the difference -of manners so marked between those days and -these as in the matter of <em>honour</em>. In those -times, honour was perpetually in every man’s -mouth--personal courage was prominently brought -forward; and hence, every play had its braggart -or its coward; and, as we see in the works of -Beaumont and Fletcher,<a id='r195' /><a href='#f195' class='c013'><sup>[195]</sup></a> honour had its code, its -professional counsel, and its practical paid supporters. -But, with this code, this practice, moral -courage had little to do; the code of honour -drew the main limit of caste, and the burgher -and the tradesman were beneath it. So important -was it, however, to observe the new code <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>aux -ongles</em></span>, that a manual or grammar of its rules was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>applied to satisfy the captious on nice points. -Thus, when <em>Adorio</em>, in Massinger’s “Maid of -Honour,” laments that his honour and reputation -should suffer from having taken a blow in -public from <em>Caldoro</em>, accompanied with the infamous -“mark of coward,” he is referred by -<em>Camillo</em>, to whom he pours forth his vexation, to -Caranza’s “Grammar” for directions, in much the -same manner as a lawyer would quote Lord St. -Leonards on a point of law--or travellers call on -Murray as their authority.</p> - -<p class='c019'>When <em>Adorio</em> talks of what he “would do” in -the matter, <em>Camillo</em> answers:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in1'>“Never think on’t,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Till fitter time and place invite you to it.</div> - <div class='line in2'>I have read Caranza, and find not in his Grammar</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of quarrels that the injured man be bound</div> - <div class='line in2'>To seek for reparation at an hour;</div> - <div class='line in2'>But may, and without loss, till he hath settl’d</div> - <div class='line in2'>More serious occasions that import him.</div> - <div class='line in2'>For a day or two defer it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Adorio.</em>--You’ll subscribe</div> - <div class='line in2'>Your hand to this?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Camillo.</em>--And justify’t with my life.</div> - <div class='line in2'>Presume upon’t.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Adorio.</em>--On then; you shall o’errule me.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Women were not let off so easily; happily for -them, more was expected from them than from -men. Without referring to Caranza, their -honour consisted not only in chastity, but in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>constancy to vows, and resistance to the temptations -of wealth; and these attributes were sufficiently -rare to make the “Maid of Honour” an -exceptional character.<a id='r196' /><a href='#f196' class='c013'><sup>[196]</sup></a> Massinger, however, -assures us that English women, even in those days, -asserted a superiority in intellect and character: -it is true, they had no opportunity of travelling, -and stayed at home; but they learned -from their lovers and brothers the customs of those -foreign countries which it was then dangerous to -traverse.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Most men of rank or fortune, nevertheless, -made the “grand tour” before marrying; or left -their young betrothed mistresses in their native -counties. In the “Guardian,” <em>Calipso</em> says:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'>“Why, sir, do gallants travel?</div> - <div class='line'>Answer that question; but at their return</div> - <div class='line'>With wonder to the hearers to discourse of</div> - <div class='line'>The garb and difference in foreign females--</div> - <div class='line'>As the lusty girl of France, the sober German,</div> - <div class='line'>The plump Dutch frow, the stately dame of Spain.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>It has been asked whether Massinger and -Shakspeare ever met?--whether, as Hartley -Coleridge inquires, they ever “took a cup of sack -together at the Mitre or the Mermaid;” and -whether Massinger was ever umpire or bottle-holder -in the “wit-combats” described by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>Fuller? But upon this, as well as on many other -points, there is no light. We know not whom -Massinger loved, nor whom he hated; we would -fain believe, with Coleridge, that his life was not -passed without some true affection--a link between -passion and virtue; we would willingly -believe that, like Tasso, he loved one above -him in rank--or one below him--rather -than that he had never loved at all. But his -works repel the surmise. True love is vehement--but -it is delicate; and it would have elevated his -thoughts, and purified his expressions. Massinger -may have done justice to the intellect and -companionship of his countrywomen, but he had -no reverence for the most beautiful part of their -nature; and in this, as in other respects, is far -below Shakspeare.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The obscurity which overshadowed all Massinger’s -career has rendered any communication, -as we have seen, between him and Buckingham, -doubtful; but it was far otherwise in respect to -Ben Jonson--whose works are so replete with -allusions to the Villiers family, and to their -attributes, amusements, and bounties, that no -biography of George Villiers can be complete -without a more copious reference to the works of -this dramatist than can be conveyed in the -passing notices which have been given of his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>masques, in the course of the preceding narrative.<a id='r197' /><a href='#f197' class='c013'><sup>[197]</sup></a> -Ben Jonson was ten years older than Massinger; -and was born in 1574. Whether from his -surname, or his Christian name, or from his after-life, -it is not easy to say, but one generally looks -upon Ben Jonson as a man of low birth. But -such was not the fact. His grandfather, a man -of some family and fortune, was a gentleman in -the service of Henry VIII.; his father was in -holy orders, “a grave minister of the Gospel.”<a id='r198' /><a href='#f198' class='c013'><sup>[198]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>The family had originally settled at Annandale, -in Scotland; but Ben Jonson was born in -Westminster. He had the misfortune to come -into the world a month after his father’s death. -It was, perhaps, a less adverse circumstance that -his mother, two years afterwards, married again. -Her views were not exalted, and she took for her -second husband--tired, it might seem, of the -genteel poverty of the cloth--a master-bricklayer. -Not even has Fuller, not even has -Gifford, been able to ascertain in what part of -the suburb of Westminster “Ben” was born. -Fuller, however, consoles us; he could not trace -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>the poet in his <em>cradle</em>, but he could “fetch him,” -as he observes, in his “short coats.” About two -years old, Ben was <em>discovered</em>--that is to say, the -haunts of his infancy were--“a little child in -Hartshorn Lane, near Charing Cross.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>This neighbourhood was as poor as that of -Westminster Abbey; and the parish of St. -Martin’s-in-the-Fields, which then extended to -Whitehall on the south, to Marylebone on the -north, to the Savoy on the east, and to Chelsea and -Kensington on the west, when first rated to the -poor in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, contained only -two hundred persons sufficiently wealthy to pay -those rates.<a id='r199' /><a href='#f199' class='c013'><sup>[199]</sup></a> It afterwards became the greatest -cure in England, until several of its parishes -were separated from the patron saint, St. Martin’s.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Here, however, Ben Jonson was brought up--getting -such education as he might from a school -in the church of St Martin’s. It is stated, however, -by Gifford, to have been a “private school.” -He might possibly have been one of the private -pupils on a foundation school. Some unknown -benefactor, however, removed the future poet -from St Martin’s, and placed him at St. Peter’s -College, Westminster, which was founded by -Queen Elizabeth, in 1660--“a public school for -grammar, rhetorick,--<em>poetry</em> (which the maiden -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>Queen was too wise to despise) and for the Latin -and Greek languages.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>This removal was the visible cause of all Ben -Jonson’s eminence. Camden, the historian, was -then one of the masters of that school, from -whose ranks issued Cowley, George Herbert, -Dryden, Churchill, Cowper, Southey, and many -others less celebrated. Ben Jonson always retained -an affectionate remembrance of Camden’s -instructions:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Camden, most reverend head, to whom I owe</div> - <div class='line'>All that in wits I am, and all I know.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>He dedicated his best play, “Every Man in -his Humour,” to Master Camden, “Clarencieux,” -ending his dedication thus:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Now, I pray you to accept this; such -wherein neither the confession of my manners -shall make you blush--nor of my studies repent -you to have been the instructor; and for the -profession of any thankfulness, I am sure it will, -with good men, find either praise or excuse, -from your true lover, Ben Jonson.”<a id='r200' /><a href='#f200' class='c013'><sup>[200]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>From Westminster, Jonson went to Cambridge, -probably to St. John’s; but even of this important -fact no certainty exists, for the university -register is imperfect, and from 1600 to 1602 -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>there is an hiatus. It is merely conjectured, from -there being several books containing the name of -Ben Jonson in the library of St. John’s, that -he entered that College. Here, however, he -only stayed, according to Fuller, some weeks; -funds were wanting for his support--a circumstance -which seems to shew that he was not -sent up to Trinity College on the foundation, -as otherwise he would have had an exhibition -at Westminster. His parents were unable to -supply means; and the young student, thirsting -for distinction, was obliged to return and follow -his step-father’s calling. Never was there a situation -so pitiable, and the condition of this aspiring -scholar was compassionated by other scholars of -happier fortunes than himself. Camden generously -relieved him; Thomas Sutton, who, having -bought the Charter House from Lord Suffolk, -nobly devoted it to an hospital and school, “the -master-piece of Protestant charity,” as Lord -Bacon styled it,--also, according to some accounts, -consoled, and compassionated, and assisted Jonson. -It has even been said that “Ben” was -engaged to attend the eldest son of Sir Walter -Ralegh, as a tutor; but of this no certainty -exists. All that is absolutely known is, that he -was sick of the trowel and the hod, whilst his -mind was running on Horace and Virgil; and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>that to escape what he deemed degradation, he -enlisted, went off to the Low Countries, and -served a campaign in that scene of war, which -was a sort of school to the young English soldier.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His heart went, to a certain extent, along with -this new profession. “Let not those blush that -have, but those that have not, a lawful calling,” -says Fuller,--and Jonson seems to have thought -so likewise. He returned, however, at nineteen, -poor as ever, with the same scholastic tastes; and -the master-bricklayer being dead, he repaired to -his mother’s house.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He next tried the stage. It has been, in all -times, the refuge of the unthrifty. But Jonson’s -appearance was unfavourable to that attempt. -His very ugliness, one would have thought, might -have been an advantage. Mr. Gifford repels with -fury the imputation on Jonson, that his hero was -frightful; yet the description he gives himself of -Ben Jonson is by no means attractive. His complexion, -which had been clear and smooth in boyhood, -was disfigured by a scorbutic humour, and -ultimately by scars, from what the Germans are -pleased to call the “Englische Krankheit.” His -features are said not to have been irregular or -unpleasing, but appear in his portraits to be large -and coarse. One eye looked askance; his forehead -was, however, noble; his person was broad -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>and corpulent--after forty it became unwieldy; -and his gait, he himself owned, “ungracious.” -In early youth his worst points were not, probably, -prominent; he had a delightful voice and -emphasis. “I never,” said the Duchess of Newcastle, -"heard any man read well but my husband; -and I have heard him say, 'he never heard -any man read well but Ben Jonson, and yet he -hath heard many in his time.’"<a id='r201' /><a href='#f201' class='c013'><sup>[201]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Nevertheless, “Ben” was not a good actor. -Critics differ as to the nature and duration of his -theatrical employ. And Gifford, who takes every -question relative to his hero as a personal matter, -is indignant at the statement that he was a strolling -player, or ambled by the side of a waggon, -and took <em>mad Jeronymo’s</em> part; but, as most companies -were then itinerant, and, as even now, first-rate -actors and actresses make provincial tours, -there seems little call for the venom and wrath -poured out by the indefatigable biographer, who -points, with satisfaction, to the bulky figure of -Jonson, and asks how he could possibly act “little -<em>Jeronymo</em>,” that "inch of Spain"?<a id='r202' /><a href='#f202' class='c013'><sup>[202]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Whatever was his position--whether, as Anthony -Wood says, “he did recede to a nursery or obscure -playhouse, called the <em>Green Curtain</em>,” in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>Shoreditch; or whether, as Gifford declares, that -statement is a mere fable, and that his aims were -higher--seemed now of little moment, perhaps, to -Jonson himself; for his efforts were interrupted -by a duel. His antagonist is supposed to have -been a brother-player, who brought to the field a -sword ten inches longer than poor Ben’s. They -fought, and Ben killed the gentleman with the -long sword, but was himself severely wounded in -the arm; he was sent to prison, and brought, as -he described it, “near to the gallows.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Poor Ben was now, probably, fain to cry out -with <em>Antonio</em> in the “Maid of Honour”:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in20'>“But redeem me</div> - <div class='line'>From this captivity, and I’ll vow</div> - <div class='line'>Never to draw a sword, or cut my meat hereafter</div> - <div class='line'>With a knife that has an edge or point; I’ll starve first.”<a id='r203' /><a href='#f203' class='c013'><sup>[203]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>This imprisonment had a signal effect on Jonson’s -destiny; he fell into melancholy, and was visited -in his despondency by a Romanist priest, who -applied himself to his consolation first, and to his -conversion afterwards. Jonson had been religiously -brought up, and it was not from indifference -that he renounced the faith of his parents -and entered the Romish Church. Such conversions -were frequent in the early days of the Reformation. -Jonson was no controversialist; wiser -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>men than he fell into the same error, and, like -such, atoned for it. The great light of our Church, -Jeremy Taylor, became for some time a Romanist, -but returned to the Anglican faith; Chillingworth -and others wandered also, and also returned. -The readiest converts are often those of deep and -earnest feelings, which act on excitable minds, -only superficially informed on the great doctrines -of Scripture.<a id='r204' /><a href='#f204' class='c013'><sup>[204]</sup></a> Jonson’s imprisonment was aggravated -in its misery by a system of espionage -which the necessities of the times induced. The -plots against Elizabeth’s life usually originated in -the seminaries of the priests. Jonson was warned -by his gaoler that he was watched.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He was eventually released, but by what agency -does not appear.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He quitted prison, and married a young woman -of his new persuasion; and there appears to have -been no great reason to repent his choice. His -wife was shrewish, but respectable; and the -poet’s prosperity commenced with his marriage.</p> - -<p class='c019'>From this time until the period when the Court -festivities brought him into frequent collision with -Villiers, Jonson’s productions were successive -occasions of triumph. Nevertheless, money did -not flow into his coffers; and he was continually -obliged to pledge, as Massinger did, the labour of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>his brain--two sums of four pounds, and twenty -shillings, being advanced to him by Henslowe, the -father-in-law of Alleyn, the player, upon the plots -of two plays being presented and approved. -Still poor Jonson had his enemies and traducers. -The scene of “Every Man in his Humour” was -originally laid in Thrace; the names were Italian, -but wishing still further to ensure its success, -Jonson changed them, and brought the scenes -to London. Nevertheless, he was still attacked -about his Italian story. There seems, then, to -have been as great an objection to works of -imagination based on foreign plots as in the present -day. In “Volpone,” Jonson carefully avoided -introducing any material not purely English.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He was still a struggling author, with few friends -except players and playwrights, and with many -enemies, owing to his vehemence of temper and -imprudence of speech. But of his animosity to -Shakspeare, and of the poet’s alienation from him, -there seems no proof; and indeed Shakspeare is -reported to have stood godfather to one of his -children--although the improbable anecdote connected -with that act is discredited by Gifford.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Jonson’s acquaintance with Shakspeare is stated -by Rowe to have begun with “a remarkable piece -of humanity and good-nature on the part of the immortal -bard.” Jonson, who was then, as Rowe observes, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>“entirely unknown to the world,” had offered -“Every Man in his Humour” for representation; -it was carelessly looked over, and returned in a -supercilious manner by the person who had read -it, with the uncourteous answer “that it would -be of no use to the company.” Happily, however, -Shakspeare chanced to cast his eyes on the -manuscript, and found in the play something that -powerfully engaged his attention. Generous, as -well as gifted, he recommended both Jonson and -his drama to the attention of the actors, and to -that of the public also.<a id='r205' /><a href='#f205' class='c013'><sup>[205]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>The old play, with the Italian names, the scene -laid at Florence, had been first brought out at -the Rose Theatre; and it was, apparently, the -amended drama, which, from the numerous alterations, -had become again Jonson’s property, according -to the custom of the time, that attracted -the notice of Shakspeare.<a id='r206' /><a href='#f206' class='c013'><sup>[206]</sup></a> Be that as it may, -“Every Man in his Humour” was acted at Blackfriars -in 1598, and Shakspeare’s name appears at -the head of it as one of the performers. This was -about sixteen years before the Bard of Avon -sought for repose on the banks of his beloved -river, and in his native town.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Henceforth the literary world was divided by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>the factions which penetrate even into the studies -of the lettered; and a sort of rivalship was set -up, in which, it appears, the partisans of the two -great dramatists were far more rife than the -parties concerned.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The contending critics endeavoured to exalt the -one at the expense of the other. Pope observes, -“It is ever the nature of parties to be in extremes; -and nothing is so probable as that, because Ben -Jonson had much the more learning, it was said on -the one hand that Shakspeare had none at all; and -because Shakspeare had much the most wit and -fancy, it was retorted on the other that Jonson -wanted both; because Shakspeare borrowed -nothing, it was said that Ben Jonson borrowed -everything; because Jonson did not write extempore, -he was reproached with being a year -about every piece; and because Shakspeare wrote -with ease and facility, they cry’d he never once -made a blot.”<a id='r207' /><a href='#f207' class='c013'><sup>[207]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Yet, without attempting to enter into a -controversy long since passed away, and doubtful -in origin and extent, it is satisfactory to find -Jonson’s vindication from unworthy motives in -his famous lines, “To the Memory of my Beloved, -the Author, Mr. William Shakespere, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>what he hath left us:” in which he truly calls him -the “Soul of the Age.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Jonson’s “Every Man in his Humour” was -honoured, after it had been played several -times, by the presence of Queen Elizabeth, -who was one of Jonson’s earliest patrons. Nevertheless, -in “Cynthia’s Revels,” which was brought -out during the following year, the poet satirized -the formal and affected manners of the Court.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Whitehall was never gay after the execution of -Mary Queen of Scots; the joyousness of Elizabeth’s -nature, which she had inherited from her -father, was gone.</p> - -<p class='c019'>When mirth went out, pedantry came in. -Euphüism was for a time in vogue; the Queen, -pensive one hour, fretful the next, looked passively -on the change; but to her courtiers--among -whom Jonson now began to mix--the -satire in “Cynthia’s Revels” was, probably, -highly acceptable. Among the most reprehensible -usages of the day was that of bringing up -children to perform on the public stage, as well -as in the Court. In 1609 authority was given to -“William Shakespeare, Robert Daborne, Nathaniel -Field, and Robert Kirkham,” to provide and instruct -a certain number of children to perform -in tragedies, comedies, or masques, within the -Blackfriars, or in “the realm of England.” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>Shakspeare, who soon withdrew from the superintendence -of this juvenile company, has referred to -them in “Hamlet,” thus marking his disapprobation -of the system.<a id='r208' /><a href='#f208' class='c013'><sup>[208]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>“But there is, sir, an aviary of children, little eyases -that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically -clapp’d for it. These are now the fashion, and so besottle -the common stages (so they call them) that many wearing -rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and scarce dare come -thither.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>These children were, in some respects, well -cared for. They were selected from the young -choristers in the Royal Chapel, and, by an -order, so early as the reign of Edward IV., they -were to be sent to Oxford or Cambridge, on the -King’s foundation, at the age of eighteen, should -their voices be changed, or the number of choristers -be over-full. “Many good people,” observes -Hartley Coleridge,<a id='r209' /><a href='#f209' class='c013'><sup>[209]</sup></a> “who are scandalized at the -Latin plays of Westminster, will be surprised -that in the pious days of England, in the glorious -morning of the Reformation, in ‘great Eliza’s -golden time,’ under Kings and Queens that -were the nursing fathers and nursing mothers, -the public acting of plays should be, not the -permitted recreation, but the compulsory employment -of children devoted to sing the praises -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>of God--of plays too, the best of which children -may now only read in a ‘family’ edition of some, -whose very titles a modern father would scruple -to pronounce before a woman or a child.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>These children were first impressed from the -cathedrals by Richard III.; and even Queen -Elizabeth issued a warrant, under the sign-manual, -“authorizing Thomas <a id='corr238.8'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Gyles,'>Gyles,”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_238.8'><ins class='correction' title='Gyles,'>Gyles,”</ins></a></span> the master -of the children of Paul’s, “to bring up any -boys in cathedrals or collegiate churches, in order -to be instructed for the entertainment of the -Court.” The children of the Queen’s Chapel -must, therefore, henceforth form a principal -feature in the representations of Ben Jonson’s -masques, as we picture them to our minds, either -in Whitehall--consumed by fire long since--or -at Althorpe, or at Burleigh-on-the-Hill, or in -the stately Castle of Belvoir. Under those -vaulted roofs their young voices warbled the -exquisite poetry of Jonson to the music of -Lawes, or--be it not recorded without shame, -nevertheless--were obliged to utter words of raillery, -bitterness, and indelicacy, which were usually, -as Heywood in his apology for actors confesses, -allotted to the unconscious children to deliver.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Greatly as Ben Jonson hailed the accession -of James I., he had soon reason to regret the -wise though parsimonious Queen Elizabeth. In -<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>conjunction with Chapman and Marston, he had -written a play called "Eastward Hoe." It was -well received; but there was a passage in it -reflecting on the Scotch. The two authors were -arrested; Jonson had not any share in writing the -piece, but, being accessory to its production, he -honourably and “voluntarily” accompanied his -two friends to prison, thus surrendering himself -to justice. No very severe punishment was ever -contemplated, but a report prevailed that the -three delinquents were to have their ears and -noses cut. Jonson is said to have been released -owing to the intercession of Camden and Selden; -and they are declared to have been present when, -after his liberation, he gave an entertainment. On -that occasion his mother “drank to him, and -showed him a paper which she designed, if the -sentence had taken effect, to have been mixed -with his drink, and it was a strong and hasty -poison.” To show “that she was no churl,” -Jonson, in relating this story, added, “she designed -to have first drank of it <a id='corr240.22'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='herself'>herself.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_240.22'><ins class='correction' title='herself'>herself.</ins></a></span>”</p> - -<p class='c019'>He escaped from some other personal attack -which, in common with Chapman, he made -on some individual, with only a second and -also temporary imprisonment;<a id='r210' /><a href='#f210' class='c013'><sup>[210]</sup></a> and from this -time was in such constant requisition by the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>Court, that his imprudence went unnoticed. The -“Masque of Darkness” was composed by the express -command of Anne of Denmark, who appeared -in it as a negress, surrounded with the dark -beauties of her supposed African Court. The -Queen, and the “Daughters of Night,” as the -noble dames who acted in that pageant were -called, were placed in a concave shell, seated one -above another in tiers; from the top of the shell, -which represented mother-of-pearl, hung a cheveron -of light, which cast a bright beam on these ladies; -the shell was moving up and down upon the -sea, and in the billows appeared varied forms -of sea-monsters, twelve in number, each bearing -a torch on his back. The Queen was attired in -azure and silver, with a curious head-dress of -feathers, fastened with ropes of pearl, which -showed well as the loops fell on the blackened -throats of the masquers, who also wore ropes of -pearl on their arms and wrists. Inigo Jones is -conjectured to have written the directions for the -costume of this masque.<a id='r211' /><a href='#f211' class='c013'><sup>[211]</sup></a> Jonson now received -periodical sums, not only from the Court, but -from public bodies and private patrons. A year -seldom passed without a Royal progress; and we -have seen how essential the poet had become to -the often impromptu revelries in which James I. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>continually indulged. Yet Jonson wrote his plays -and masques slowly. The “Fox” took him a -year to complete. His notion was that “a good -poet’s made as well as born.”<a id='r212' /><a href='#f212' class='c013'><sup>[212]</sup></a> He worked out -his own success, and his labours were incessant. -He had a practice of committing to his commonplace -book remarkable passages that struck him. -Lord Falkland, one of the most accomplished of -the cavaliers, expressed his astonishment at the -variety and extreme copiousness of Jonson’s -knowledge. If a pedantic display of learning be -imputed to Jonson, it must be remembered that -it was, probably, in compliance with the taste of -his royal patron, James, who delighted in exhibiting -his classical proficiency; and who, even -on his death-bed, as we have seen, answered the -learned Prelate near him in Latin. It was during -the first years of King James’s reign that Jonson -justified these classic allusions in his “Masque -and Barriers,” at the nuptials of the Earl of -Essex to the faithless bride, also married afterwards -to Somerset. “Some,” he says, “may -squeamishly cry out, that all endeavours of learning -and sharpness in these transitory devises, -where it steps beyond their little (or let me not -wrong them) no brain at all, is superfluous. -I am contented these fastidious stomachs should -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>leave my full tables, and enjoy at home their clean -empty trenchers, fitted for such airy tastes, where -perhaps a few Italian herbs, picked up, and made -into a sallad, may find sweeter acceptance than -all the sound meat of the world.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>These beautiful masques had the great advantage -of being set to music by Henry Lawes, the -composer who secured immortality to his name -by the music of “Comus,” composed by him. -Lawes was beginning his career of fame when -Buckingham first entered the Court. The son of -a vicar choral in Salisbury Cathedral, he rose to -be first a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and -afterwards Clerk of the Chapel, and conductor of -the private music of Charles I. Henry Lawes -sometimes took a part in the masques which he -composed; and acted the attendant spirit in -“Comus.” His “ayres” and dialogues have disappointed -posterity. Yet he appears to have been -almost the father of English vocal music; and, as -Milton declares--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>“Taught our English music how to space</div> - <div class='line'>Word with just note and accent.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c027'>Music, like all the other delights of peace, languished -during the troublous times of the Rebellion, -or flourished only on the battle-field. -Lawes was obliged to teach singing during that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>period; but he lived to compose the coronation -anthem for Charles II., and to have a place of -interment assigned to him in Westminster -Abbey. His brother, less happy, though a -skilful musician also, and often employed in conjunction -with Henry Lawes, took up arms for -Charles I., in whose service he also lived, and to -whom he was devoted, and fell, fighting for his -sovereign, at the siege of Chester.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was then the custom for certain great -families to receive musicians, as well as men of -letters, in their houses, and to employ them in -their especial line--sometimes in hymeneal festivities, -sometimes in composing requiems. Thus the -arts and sciences, poetry, music, painting, and scenic -decoration, were united, during the life-time of -George Villiers, in a degree never before or since -known in this country. Massinger, Ben Jonson, -Lawes, Inigo Jones, were at the service of the -rich and noble, and awaited their bidding. -Shakspeare died just after George Villiers had -received the first public proof of Royal favour--the -honour of knighthood;<a id='r213' /><a href='#f213' class='c013'><sup>[213]</sup></a> and the era of -masques and revels began. Still, “a craving for -mental enjoyment,”<a id='r214' /><a href='#f214' class='c013'><sup>[214]</sup></a> as well as that derived from -the senses, was diffused.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>The religious changes and controversies in the -preceding reigns had improved the intellect of -the higher orders in England, by making some -portion of learning necessary to those either -engaged in polemical disputes, or who, conscientious, -though unassuming, wished to form -their own opinions. There was an earnestness -in the awakened minds of that period. -“It was a time of much vice, much folly, -much trouble--but it was an age of much -energy.”<a id='r215' /><a href='#f215' class='c013'><sup>[215]</sup></a> When, after the middle of Elizabeth’s -reign, the thirst for controversy abated, the -desire for cultivation, the love of poetry, and the -taste for art remained, took another direction, -and tended to the improvement and enlightenment -of social life. The higher classes did much -to exalt these dawning predilections, until the -rebellion came; after that fearful convulsion, -the diversions of the great were henceforth -debased in character, and their minds in -taste.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Mary Countess of Pembroke was one of the -earliest and most admired of Ben Jonson’s friends. -To her son William, the early adviser of the -Duke of Buckingham, Ben Jonson dedicated his -“Book of Epigrams.” It is therefore almost certain -that, before Jonson had appeared in public, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>as the composer of masques for the express entertainment -of the great favourite at Burleigh, he -had met Villiers at Wilton, in the society of their -common friend, Lord Pembroke--“a man,” -Lord Clarendon writes, “very well-bred, and of -excellent parts, and a graceful speaker upon any -subject, having a good proportion of learning, -and a ready wit to apply and enlarge upon it.” -When we add to this that the Earl was no cold, -haughty, and pompous host, but facetious, -affable, generous, magnificent, as disinterested -and independent with the rich and great as he -was unaffected and courteous to the humble; -when we remember what Wilton even then was--the -pride of the nation; when we reflect what -and who were the men who were welcomed to its -hospitality--men, as Clarendon observes, “of the -most pregnant parts and understanding;” when -we think of Ben Jonson there--probably received -as a guest--whilst Massinger was still only the -son of a retainer; when we picture Inigo Jones -with his pencil--the sketches which he drew, -praised by Vandyck; or hear the voices of the -two brothers Henry and William Lawes, singing -to soft airs the verses of Ben Jonson--we must -believe that George Villiers had in such scenes, -before he lost the friendship of Pembroke, many -delights greater than the wearisome partiality of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>James, or even a communion with the then unformed -mind of Charles.</p> - -<p class='c019'>A Platonic admiration for Christian, Countess -of Devonshire, called forth in verses the romantic -gallantry of the Earl of Pembroke. One cannot -help rejoicing that Lawes set to music what Pembroke -wrote:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>"Wrong not, dear Empress of my heart,</div> - <div class='line'>The merits of true passion,</div> - <div class='line'>With thinking that he feels no smart</div> - <div class='line'>Who sues for no compassion.</div> - <div class='c007'>. . . . . . Silence in love betrays more woe</div> - <div class='line'>Than words, though ne’er so witty.</div> - <div class='line'>The beggar that is dumb, you know,</div> - <div class='line'>May challenge double pity."<a id='r216' /><a href='#f216' class='c013'><sup>[216]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>From the society of Wilton, Villiers went -forth imbued with those tastes which never -yielded wholly to the grosser diversions in which -his Royal patron indulged. Whilst he retained the -friendship of Lord Pembroke, Villiers was, in all -probability, learning to estimate the conversation -and works of Ben Jonson; and henceforth, the -efforts of the dramatist must, to a certain degree, -be associated with the influence and protection of -the favourite.</p> - -<p class='c019'>London, in spite of the repeated proclamations of -King James, tending to restrain its extent, and to -keep the provincial gentry in their homes, was now -<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>generally crowded at certain seasons. A number -of small theatres were erected in various parts of -the city, in order to supply entertainments to -those who would have turned with disgust, since a -finer taste had been introduced by the Reformation, -from the old moralities. Shakspeare, happily, -formed an engagement to produce his pieces at -one theatre, but Jonson was obliged to carry his -productions to various minor houses, until the -success of his masques enabled him to form a -higher estimate of the value of his powers. His -lighter pieces are marked by grace and sweetness; -but these characteristics he “laid aside,” says Mr. -Gifford, “whenever he approached the stage, and -put on the censor with the sock.”<a id='r217' /><a href='#f217' class='c013'><sup>[217]</sup></a> The excellence -of the masque in Ben Jonson’s time, the -great and gifted actors by whom it was performed, -the fancy which was suffered to expand itself in -these pieces, the scenic effect to which so vast an -expense was devoted, incline us to think, with -Gifford, “that all our ‘most splendid shows are -at best but beggarly parodies,’ in comparison with -those in which the Cliffords and Arundels, the -Stanleys, the Russells, the Veres, and the Wroths; -‘danced in the fairy rings, in the gay and gallant -circles of those enchanting devices.’”<a id='r218' /><a href='#f218' class='c013'><sup>[218]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>After the death of Shakspeare, Jonson received, -by patent, a pension of a hundred marks a-year -from James. It is supposed that the honour -of the laureateship chiefly or solely belonged -to him. Hitherto the title seems to have -been merely honorary, adopted at pleasure by any -poet who was appointed to write for the Court. -It had been borne by Daniel in the time of Elizabeth. -It was on this occasion that Jonson applied -to Selden for information concerning the origin of -the title of laureate; and that Selden drew up -expressly, and introduced into the second part of -his “Titles of Honours,” a long chapter on the -custom of giving crowns of laurel to poets; at the -conclusion of which he says, “Thus have I, by -no unseasonable digression, performed a promise -to you, my beloved Ben Jonson--your curious -learning and judgment may correct where I have -erred;” and adds, “where my notes and memory -have left me short.” A graceful and enviable compliment -from such a man.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The triumphs of Jonson’s genius were interrupted -by his journey to Edinburgh in 1618--a -journey which he performed <em>on foot</em>. Here he -was the guest of Drummond, the poet of Hawthornden--under -whose roof he passed the April -of 1619. This journey was regarded as the -greatest misfortune of Jonson’s life; not only -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>because during his stay in Scotland his wife died, -but because Drummond, amongst other injuries, -gave the following character of Ben Jonson to the -world:--<a id='r219' /><a href='#f219' class='c013'><sup>[219]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>“For,” he says, “Ben Jonson was a great -lover and praiser of himself, a contemner and -scorner of others, given rather to lose a friend -than a jest, jealous of every word and action of -those about him, especially after drink, which is -one of the elements in which he lived; a dissembler -of the parts which reigned in him, a bragger -of some good that he wanted, thinketh nothing -well done but what either he himself or some of -his friends have said or done. He is passionately -kind or angry, careless either to gain or keep; -vindictive, if he be well answered as himself; interprets -best sayings and deeds often to the worst. -He was for any religion, as being versed in -both.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The conduct of Drummond, styled by Mr. -Gifford, “a cankered hypocrite,”<a id='r220' /><a href='#f220' class='c013'><sup>[220]</sup></a> has been justified -by others; his very hospitality to Jonson is -termed by the infuriated biographer, “decoying -him into his house.” Drummond acted, in a very -slight degree, in the same capacity to Jonson as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>that which Boswell, a century and a half afterwards, -undertook in regard to the more fortunate -Samuel Johnson, who found in <em>his</em> listener an admirer, -and not a foe. Both these great men had -the calamity of having every idle expression set -down for the curiosity of an after-age; and “old -Ben,” as his contemporaries called him in their -jovial meetings at the Mermaid, did not stand -the test so well as “Old Samuel.” We cannot, -however, regard the visit to Scotland as the great -misfortune of Ben Jonson’s life, as the impassioned -Gifford pronounces it.<a id='r221' /><a href='#f221' class='c013'><sup>[221]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Jonson, however, returned to London, unconscious -of all that after his death so agitated -the literary world in the eighteenth century -on his account. He met, as he wrote to -Drummond, with a “most Catholic welcome from -King James,” who was then, like Jonson, a not -disconsolate widower. The poet was writing a -poem for the funeral of Queen Anne, who had -just died, but was unburied. He was very keenly -engaged in beginning the “Discovery,” which -was to contain a description of Scotland; and he -signed himself Drummond’s “true friend and -lover.” He received, in return, two letters full of -kindness and compliment from Drummond, whom -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>Gifford himself, incapable of an act of insincerity, -styles thereupon, “hypocrite to the last.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Ben Jonson was now invited by Bishop Corbet -to Christ Church, Oxford, where he was created -Master of Arts. Thence he passed to Burleigh-on-the-Hill -and to Windsor, to see the performance -of his "Gypsies Metamorphosed"--and to -introduce little compliments in each piece, as the -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>dramatis personnæ</em></span> were varied or augmented by -the accession of fresh actors and actresses. About -this time he wrote his poem on the “Ladies of -England.” It was lost--a mischance which, in -the weakness of one’s nature, one is apt to regret -more than the destruction of a vast body of philological -notes, the fruit of twenty years’ labour, for -which Mr. Gifford calls for especial sympathy.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Jonson was now made “Master of the Revells,” -and was nearly being knighted. He passed his -time in going from one country seat to another; -every Twelfth-day he was ordered to produce, or -to repeat a masque. Charles I. was now rising -to maturity, and, like his deceased brother, Henry, -he loved the poetry of Jonson, and the fancy of -Inigo Jones. The match-making propensities of -King James were as yet undeveloped, and had -neither troubled his repose nor maddened the -nation into a dread of his mistakes. Villiers was -young, gay, and unmarried; and the world was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>at peace. Those were happy and busy days for -Jonson--yet, amid all his labours, he found time to -collect an excellent library. He was not only a collector, -but a lender of his books--an unusual combination; -a man must be generous, indeed, to -unite the two characters; nay, he gave them also, -liberally, to those qualified to value the rare -editions which he bought. “I am fully warranted -in saying,” Mr. Gifford writes, “that more -valuable books given to individuals by Jonson are -yet to be met with than by any person of that -age. Scores of them have fallen under my own -observation, and I have heard of abundance of -others.”<a id='r222' /><a href='#f222' class='c013'><sup>[222]</sup></a> This is rare praise. Nevertheless, since -brilliant success always has its alloy, it was the -lot of Jonson to suffer from the ingratitude of his -coadjutor, Inigo Jones; and the excuse, perhaps, -of Inigo was, that he was tried and tempted by -the temper and irony of Jonson. Their quarrel -was inconvenient, and must have caused some -trouble in the representation of those masques -and revels over which Jonson presided.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Whoever was the aggressor,” says Horace -Walpole, “the turbulence and brutality of Jonson -was sure to place him most in the wrong.” This -is a hard judgment. Let it be remembered that -the circumstances of the two men were different. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>Jonson was poor, diseased, and in that miserable -plight when a generous temper is continually -checked by pecuniary difficulties. Inigo Jones -had realized a handsome fortune, and was then -in the full enjoyment of wealth and reputation. -Unfortunately he was a poet; some of the masques -printed had their joint names as the composers. -Jealousies arose, which ought to have soon subsided, -had either of these celebrated men known -how to curb his wrath. In Jonson’s case, his -temper was his worst enemy; but for this defect -he had an excuse which might have pleaded for -him even with Inigo. In 1625, Jonson composed -for King James “Pan’s Anniversary,” the last -piece that he presented to that monarch; towards -the end of that year he was attacked with palsy, -and a threatening of dropsy added to his accumulated -trials. Poverty and ill-health are pleas for -indulgence. For the first evil, Jonson’s improvidence, -his hospitality, his utter want of prudence -in his affairs, may justly be blamed. The last was -also partially his own fault, for his habits were -intemperate--and partly ascribable to an hereditarily -diseased constitution. Nature, which had -endowed him with that wonderful intellect, that -indomitable energy, had modified her gift by the -infliction of a cruel malady, which, being in the -blood, was aggravated by the weakness of approaching -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>age. The suppers at the Mermaid -were now finally abandoned; and the club at the -Devil Tavern, near Temple Bar, was no longer -enlivened by his wit. His intellect was affected -to some extent, but he recovered sufficiently to -write the anti-masque of “Jophiel” for the Court; -after which, none of his productions were commanded -by the King during the space of three -years. In his necessities, unable to leave his -room, or to move without assistance, the poor -invalid turned to the theatre as a source of revenue, -and produced “The New Inn.” It was -hissed from the stage; and, notwithstanding the -dramatist’s plea in his epilogue that he was “sick -and sad,” he was persecuted with contemptuous -verses, and pursued with remorseless cruelty by -the many enemies that his rough manners had -excited--among them, Inigo was the most inveterate.</p> - -<p class='c019'>There was, however, one kind heart that pitied -him--that of Charles I. The monarch was touched -by the lines which the hard critics in the theatre -could hear without compassion:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“If you expect more than you had to-night,</div> - <div class='line'>The Maker is sick and sad; he sent things fit</div> - <div class='line'>In all the numbers both of verse and wit,</div> - <div class='line'>If they have not miscarried: if they have,</div> - <div class='line'>All that his faint and faltering tongue doth crave</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>Is, that you not impute it to his brain--</div> - <div class='line'>That’s yet unhurt, although set round with pain.</div> - <div class='line'>It cannot long hold out: all strength must yield;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet judgment would the last be in the field</div> - <div class='line'>With the true poet.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Charles sent him a hundred pounds: the poet, -in the fulness of gratitude, wrote "A petition -from poor Ben to the best of monarchs, masters, and -men"--full of gaiety and good-humour, yet touching, -even in its sparkling wit. The petition -prayed that His Majesty would make his father’s -“hundred marks a hundred pounds,” alluding to -the pension granted by King James. The petition -was granted, and in the patent by which the -annuity was confirmed, it was said, “especially -to encourage Jonson to proceed in those services -of his wit and penn, which we have enjoined unto -him.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>A tierce of Canary accompanied this act of -bounty. It was Jonson’s favourite wine, and the -King, from his private bounty, sent it to the -sick poet. It was to be a yearly gift, not only to -Jonson, but to his successors; and the wine--Spanish -Canary--was to be taken from his -Majesty’s cellars at Whitehall, out of the stores of -wine “remaining therein.” Charles little anticipated -that even his love of the drama should be -made a cause of reproach to him at his trial. -“Had the King but studied Scripture half as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>much as he studied Ben Jonson or Shakspeare!” -was the cry of the Puritans.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Jonson might now have been tolerably happy, -had not his former coadjutor, Inigo, still borne -him enmity for having, during the preceding -year, placed his own name before that of the -royal architect. The conduct of Jones in this -respect has been placed in its true light by a letter -from a Mr. Perry to Sir Thomas Pickering.<a id='r223' /><a href='#f223' class='c013'><sup>[223]</sup></a> -In that letter it is stated that Inigo used his -“predominant power” at Court to injure Jonson, -then bed-ridden and impoverished, as the poet -was. Henceforth, Aurelian Townshend, a poet -scarcely known, was employed to invent the -masques represented at Court, in conjunction -with Inigo Jones.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The same year that was marked by the death -of Buckingham witnessed poor Jonson’s “fatal -stroke,” as he termed it, of palsy. He never -recovered this attack of 1628, and his days -were overclouded by successive mortifications. -Hitherto the city of London had given him a -pension for his services. At the very time when -it was most needed by the forlorn dramatist, it -was withdrawn, but restored three years afterwards. -The office for which he received this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>annuity was that of City Chronologer. The plea -made for its cessation was that there had been -“no fruits of his labours in that his place,” -which place was to commemorate signal events; -other sources of emolument were also withheld, -on the plea that the fruits of that now exhausted -brain were no longer forthcoming.</p> - -<p class='c019'>But bright instances of compassion and generosity -stood forth amid all this gloom. Amongst -the great patrons of the drama was William -Cavendish, the first Earl of Newcastle, declared -by Cibber to be “one of the most finished gentlemen -and distinguished patriots of his time.” -He had been constituted governor to Prince -Charles, for whom he ever retained the most -loyal affection. Of this nobleman it was said -that he understood horsemanship, music, and -poetry; but that he was a better horseman than -a musician, a better musician than a poet. His -wife, the eccentric Margaret Lucas, wrote of him -that “his mind was above his fortune, his generosity -above his purse, his courage above danger, -his justice above bribers, his friendship above -self-interest, his truth too firm for falsehood, his -temperance beyond temptation.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was by no means prejudicial to the popularity -of this fine specimen of an English nobleman -that “he was fitter to break Pegasus for a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>manège</em></span> than to mount him on the steps of -Parnassus.” He wrote a work entitled, “A new -Method and Extraordinary Invention to Dress -Horses and Work them according to Nature, as also -to Perfect Nature by the Subtlety of Art.” The -work, a folio, was succeeded by various comedies, -several of them written when Lord Newcastle was -in banishment, and acted, after his return to England, -at Blackfriars. He wrote, it is said, in the manner -of Ben Jonson, to whom he was a kind patron. -The Earl was a singular compound of military -skill and ardour with literary tastes; by him Sir -William Davenant, poet-laureate after Jonson’s -death, was made Lieutenant-General of the -Ordnance.<a id='r224' /><a href='#f224' class='c013'><sup>[224]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>His wife, who at the time Ben Jonson knew -her was Countess of Newcastle, and afterwards -Duchess, is one of the most voluminous of writers -among the (now) long catalogue of literary ladies -in this country. She was at once ridiculous and -estimable--a combination of qualities painful to -friends, but never acknowledged by her husband, -who revered her talents, and tried to defend -what was incomprehensible to the learned--her -philosophy. In private life she was reserved, -living almost entirely among her books, or in -contemplation, or writing indefatigably. Even -<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>during the night, one of the Duke’s secretaries is -said to have slept on a truckle bed in a closet in -her bedroom, in order to be ready to answer any -sudden bursts of inspiration that might occur; -and the summonses to John, “to get up and write -down her Grace’s suggestions,” were frequent and -wearisome. Kind, pious, charitable, generous, -and really gifted, though romantic and visionary, -this excellent lady’s peculiarities might have furnished -Molière with a model for his “Precieuses -Ridicules;” but, to Ben Jonson, they were -lessened by the vast amount of amiability that -welcomed the poet to her stately abode, or, better -still, relieved him in his poverty and want.</p> - -<p class='c019'>When the Earl and Countess of Newcastle -heard of the poet’s play being condemned--when -they learned that various copies of complimentary -verses had been addressed to him by admirers, -pitying his humiliation--the Earl, worthy of the -name of Cavendish (so dear to England), <a id='corr259.20'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='sent'>sent to</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_259.20'><ins class='correction' title='sent'>sent to</ins></a></span> -request a transcript of them. The reply is very -touching:--<a id='r225' /><a href='#f225' class='c013'><sup>[225]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>"<span class='sc'>My Noblest Lord</span>, and my Patron by -Excellence--I have here obeyed your commands, -and sent you a packet of my own praises, which -I should not have done if I had any stock of -modesty in store; but ‘obedience is better than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>sacrifice,’ and you command it. I am now like -an old bankrupt in wit, that am driven to pay -debts on my friends’ credit; and, for want of -satisfying letters, to subscribe bills of exchange.</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Your devoted</div> - <div class='line in8'>“<span class='sc'>Ben Jonson</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c029'>"4th February, 1632.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“To the Right Hon. the Earl of Newcastle.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>Also note, same page:--</p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>"<span class='sc'>My Noblest Lord and best Patron</span>--I -send no borrowing epistle to provoke your lordship, -for I have neither fortune to repay, nor -security to engage, that will be taken; but I -make a most humble petition to your lordship’s -bounty to succour my present necessities this -good time of Easter; and it shall conclude a -begging request hereafter on behalf of</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>"Your truest bondsman and</div> - <div class='line in9'>"Most thankful servant,</div> - <div class='line in28'>“B. J.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>One of these complimentary poems was written -by Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland--a patriot, a -soldier, and a poet, the very model of that refined -spirit of chivalry which never recovered itself -after the Rebellion. There must have been consolation -in such a strain, from such a man; but -poor “old Ben,” as he was now called, was almost -<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>past consolation. He was engaged on another -play, “The Majestic Lady.” The world, who -had then deemed the old man dead,<a id='r226' /><a href='#f226' class='c013'><sup>[226]</sup></a> received it -as the injudicious effort of a mind enfeebled. -Dryden, even, who should have forborne from the -poor triumph over him whom he wrongly considered -a “driveller and a show,” called these last -plays “Ben’s dotages;” but, though feebler than -his former dramas, they exhibit no traces of -<em>dotage</em>--that invidious and almost cruel expression.<a id='r227' /><a href='#f227' class='c013'><sup>[227]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Sustained by the Earl of Newcastle, praised by -the noble Falkland, pensioned by the King, one -might have supposed that Jonson’s last days -would have been peaceful, though no longer -cheerful. But he had debts; and he was forced--bed-ridden, -shaken in body and mind--to write on -to the very last. His latest effort was an interlude -welcome of King Charles to Welbeck, on his way -to Scotland; for which a tribute from Jonson’s -muse was commanded by the ever-friendly and -munificent Newcastle.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The timely gratuity sent to the poet, when the -interlude was ordered, “fell,” he wrote, “like the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>dew of Heaven on his necessities.” He wrote to -his patron in terms of gratitude, warm and expressive, -and creditable to himself and that -benefactor.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He continued at his desk; and a fragment of -the “Last Shepherd,” one of his last efforts -which is preserved, proves that his fancy was unclouded. -Hitherto it has been painful to trace -his decay--to record his distress; but now light -came to his death-bed, and came from on high. -Penitence, prayer, conviction of the true faith in -our Holy Apostolic Church, confession of sins, -hope, and rest--these were the Heavenly lights -that broke over the gloom of his latter hours.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Happily--and let the fact he impressively -recorded--his parents had carefully impressed on -his infancy deep religious convictions.</p> - -<p class='c019'>As he lay, neglected by his former associates, -and even believed by the worldly to be dead--and -dead, indeed, was he to them--the impressions -of his duty to his Maker grew more frequent -and stronger in his affection.<a id='r228' /><a href='#f228' class='c013'><sup>[228]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>To the Bishop of Winchester, who visited him -during his long illness, he expressed the deepest -contrition for having profaned the sacred name of -his Creator in his plays. His “remorse was -poignant;” and doubtless this sense of the responsibility -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>which is devolved on great talents, which -comes to many too late, was the foundation of his -heartfelt penitence and sorrow. He died on the -5th of April, 1637--and on the 9th his remains -were entombed in Westminster Abbey, on the -north side, just opposite the escutcheon of -Robertus de Ros. A common pavement stone -was placed over his grave; but Sir John Young, -of Great Milton, Oxfordshire, passing through -the Abbey, noticed that the stone was without -any inscription to mark where the great poet lay. -Sir John, or, as Aubrey calls him, “Jack” -Young, gave one of the workmen eighteen-pence -to cut an inscription; and the words, “O rare -Ben Jonson!” were carved as a temporary distinction. -Meantime, the admirers of the deceased -poet were collecting a subscription to defray the -expense of a suitable<a id='r229' /><a href='#f229' class='c013'><sup>[229]</sup></a> monument to “poor Ben;” -but the Rebellion breaking out, the project was -abandoned, and the money returned to the -subscribers.</p> - -<p class='c019'>No fewer than thirty-four elegies on Ben -Jonson were collected by Dr. Duppa, the Bishop -of Winchester, and published under the title of -“Jonson’s Verbius;” and amongst the authors -were Lord Falkland, Ford, Waller, George -Donne, Lord Buckhurst, and other illustrious -<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>names. But perhaps there is no tribute more -gratifying to the admirers of Ben Jonson than -that of Taylor, the water-poet, who had met him -at Leith. Jonson, be it remembered, had walked -to Edinburgh, yet he could not see the humble -poet without giving him what he could ill afford -to bestow.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“At Leith,” says Taylor, “I found my long-approved -and assured good friend, Master Benjamin -Jonson, at one Master John Stuart’s house. -I thank him for his great kindness; for at my taking -leave of him, he give me a piece of gold, of -two-and-twenty shillings value, to drink his health -in England; and withall willed me to remember -his kind commendations to all his friends. So, -with a friendly farewell, I left him as well as I -hope never to see him in a worse state; for he is -among noblemen and gentlemen that know his -true worth, and their own honours, where with -much respective love he is entertained.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The sum, as Gifford remarks, was not, in those -days, an inconsiderable one; and there was something -graceful and touching in the kindness of -one placed so high, as Jonson was in literary fame, -to the humbler poet.</p> - -<p class='c019'>This sketch of Ben Jonson’s life and writings -may serve to illustrate the manners of those -times, and the nature of that society in which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>George Villiers lived. In every revel Buckingham -was the most distinguished courtier. In every -masque, during King James’s life, he played a -part. He knew the poet at Wilton; there can -be little doubt that the friends of Villiers were the -patrons of poor Ben. The panegyrist of the -Duke, Lord Clarendon, lived, as he has himself -declared, “many years on terms of the most -friendly intercourse with Jonson.” In that conversation, -praised by this historian “as very good, -with men of most note,” Villiers must have -borne a part; whilst Camden and Selden mingled -with poor Ben, with the Sackvilles, the Sidneys, -the Herberts, and the numerous family of -Villiers. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span></p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VI.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER--THEIR ORIGIN--THEIR JOINT PRODUCTIONS--CHARACTER OF BISHOP FLETCHER--ANECDOTES ABOUT THE USE OF TOBACCO--FORD, THE DRAMATIST--HOWELL--SIR HENRY WOTTON--THE CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM CONSIDERED.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c023'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span><span class='large'>CHAPTER VI.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c022'>Among the young Templars who devoted themselves -to the drama during the times of George -Villiers, was Francis Beaumont. Born in the -same county as that in which Buckingham’s -family were settled, and bearing the same name -as the Duke’s mother, there is every probability -of there being some tie of consanguinity between -the poet and the peer.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Beaumont, like his colleague Fletcher, was one -of ancient and honourable family; and, as such, -entitled to be called to the Bar. It might be -satisfactory to some of the lovers of literature to -find that its pursuit, in the days of the Stuart -Kings, was most frequently the choice of men -of high connections, and by them considered -as equal in position to the calling of the Bar, and -far superior to that of the Church, or of medicine. -The personal tastes of James, the passionate love -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>of the drama evinced by Charles, by Henrietta -Maria, and by Villiers, encouraged aspiring men -to a display of genius which might have long -been hidden in a lawyer’s wig, or extinguished -for ever beneath the coif. Men were less shackled -then by conventionalities than in the present day.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The father of Francis Beaumont was one of -the judges of the Court of Common Pleas during -the reign of Elizabeth, and the family seat was -Grace-Dieu, in Leicestershire. Two gifted sons -emerged from this ancient Manor-house to the -universities--John Beaumont,<a id='r230' /><a href='#f230' class='c013'><sup>[230]</sup></a> who became a -Gentleman Commoner at Broad-gate Hall, Oxford; -and Francis, who was educated at Cambridge. -Both were entered at the Inns of Court: -Francis at the Inner Temple, the popular resort -of Cambridge men; John, however, retired to -Grace-Dieu, married into the family of Fortescue, -and devoted his peaceful days to translations of -the classics, and to religious poems, which even -Ben Jonson eulogized. Amongst them is the -“Crown of Thorns,” a poem in eight books. -Whether from Buckingham’s influence, or from -his own merit, or from both conjoined, is not -known, but he was knighted by Charles in 1626. -He survived that honour only two years, dying -in the same year in which Buckingham was killed.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>His brother, Francis Beaumont, born in 1586, -had a less peaceful career. Endowed with no -ordinary abilities, he became acquainted with -those whose example was not calculated to promote -the due attention to legal studies. Ben -Jonson and John Fletcher were then in favour -with the public. Jonson in the decline of life, -Fletcher almost in the dawn of his celebrity.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Fletchers, like the Beaumonts, were a family -of talent; and the famous friendship, or partnership, -which produced so much, and to which we owe some -of the most beautiful passages of poetry, linked to -the most unreadable, was the result of that community -of tastes and studies which is promoted -by the education at an English university.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Fletcher, as well as Beaumont, had been at -Cambridge; and his father, Dr. Richard Fletcher, -Bishop of London, having been a benefactor to -Benet College, that society was chosen for his -matriculation. He came to London, and meeting, -at some one or other of the clubs, with Francis -Beaumont, they wrote plays in concert. Fletcher, -who was ten years younger than his partner, had -the most wit, the greatest luxuriance of fancy, the -most extended conception, and lavish prodigality -of improprieties. Beaumont had the soundest -judgment, and employed it in cutting down young -Fletcher’s daring flights of fancy. Both assisted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>in forming the plots; since Beaumont happened -to be the elder of the two, his name appears first -in the literary firm, but it ought, in strict propriety, -to be Fletcher and Beaumont, instead -of Beaumont and Fletcher.</p> - -<p class='c019'>They worked out the plots together; and one -night, as they sat in a tavern, concocting a play, -Fletcher undertook “To kill the King.” He was -overheard by a waiter, who gave information of -their traitorous designs; instantly the two young -men were apprehended, and all the terrors of the -law were before them--until they succeeded in justifying -themselves, when the affair ended in mirth.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Beaumont, meantime, was gaining the confidence -even of the formidable Ben Jonson, who -submitted some of his works to his criticism before -publication. The young lawyer had that skill in -forming plots which seems like a natural gift, -and which even good writers are unable to acquire; -and he is said to have concocted some of -those on which Jonson’s plays are founded.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Meantime, he wrote a little drama called “A -Mask of Gray’s Inn Gentleman,” and a poem entitled -“The Inner Temple.” Jonson, grateful -for his aid, and admiring his talents, poured forth -his delight in these lines:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“How I do love thee, Beaumont, and thy muse,</div> - <div class='line'>That unto me do’st such religion use</div> - <div class='line'>How I do fear myself that am not worth</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>The least indulgent thought thy pen drops forth;</div> - <div class='line'>At once thou mak’st me happy, and unmak’st;</div> - <div class='line'>And giving largely to me more than tak’st.</div> - <div class='line'>What fate is mine that so itself bereaves?</div> - <div class='line'>What fate is thine, that so thy friend deceives?</div> - <div class='line'>When, even there when most thou praisest me,</div> - <div class='line'>For writing better I must envy thee.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>But, unhappily, Beaumont’s career was ended -before he had attained the age of thirty. He was -buried in St. Benedict’s within St. Peter’s, Westminster. -No inscription on his tomb recalls the -merits so soon closed in death; but Bishop Corbet, -the author of the “Grave Poem,” and Sir John -Beaumont, commemorated them in epitaphs -which are to be found in their works. Frances -Beaumont, the poet’s only daughter, survived -him many years; but lost some of her father’s -manuscript poems as she went to Ireland by sea. -Beaumont died in 1615, just at the crisis of -Villiers’ early career, when he became first the -subject of King James’s notice. Notwithstanding -his premature death, his plays attained an almost -unrivalled popularity. Dryden tells us that they -were the most popular entertainments of the -time--two of them being acted through the year -for one of Shakspeare’s or Jonson’s; there -being, he adds, a certain gaiety in the comedies -of Beaumont and Fletcher, and a pathos in -their serious plays, which accorded with the taste -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>or humour of all men. Posterity, however, does -not admit of the comparison; but it is impossible -to say whether, if the lives of these two dramatists -had been spared, their powers might not have enabled -them far to exceed even the fanciful and poetical -works which they found time to accomplish.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Fletcher died of the plague, in 1625, at the -age of forty-five, and his remains were carried to the -church of St. Mary Overie, where those of Massinger -were deposited--and it has been said that -they were both interred in the same tomb; but -of this there is no certainty.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It is, perhaps, the greatest compliment we -can pay to the present state of society to say -that the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher can -never be listened to by an English audience, as -long as Englishwomen have one principle of delicacy, -or Englishmen any respect for virtue, remaining. -Those, however, who desire to judge -of the poetical power of Fletcher will delight in -his poem of the “Faithful Shepherdess,” which -Milton thought worthy of imitation in his mask -of “Comus.” Little is known of John Fletcher -personally; but he lived in times when every -nerve was touched by stirring events, and when -many of the old memories which clung to men’s -minds were dramatic and tragical. His father, -when Dean of Peterborough, had attended Mary, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>Queen of Scots, to her execution. The good -man, looking, perhaps, for that preferment which -followed, and forgetting the peril, the misery of -sudden conversions, had urged the heroic Queen -to change her religion, even at that solemn hour -when the heart clings the most closely to the impressions -of youth. He repeated his arguments; -then she begged him three or four times to desist. -“I was born,” she said, “in this religion--I -have lived in this religion--and am resolved to -die in this religion.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>In spite of his vehement Protestantism, the -Bishop had some small and great failings; he was -an inveterate taker of tobacco, which was then -not only imported, but reared in Ireland and -England. The Bishop probably considered tobacco -to be, as Burton, in his “Anatomy of Melancholy,” -describes it, “a vertuous herbe, if it be well -qualified, opportunely taken, and medecinally -used;” but he did not follow the advice of that -admirable writer in the moderation with which -the snuff-box and the pipe should be indulged in. -The prelate fell into an excess in the use of tobacco, -to which Camden, in his History of England, -imputed his death. The narcotic weed was -indeed one of those luxuries of the age, which was -most abused in the time of Buckingham. Burton -anathematizes it--“as it is commonly used by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>most men, who take it as tinkers do ale; ’tis a -plague, a mischiefe, a violent purger of goods, -lands, healthe, hellish, devilish, damned tobacco, -the ruin and overthrow of bodye and soule.”<a id='r231' /><a href='#f231' class='c013'><sup>[231]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>But no considerations of this nature could -either restrain Bishop Fletcher, or convince the -gallants of the day that they were ruining either -body or soul in their love of tobacco. It was very -generally employed in the form of snuff by both -sexes in the seventeenth century, and was allowed -even in the royal presence.<a id='r232' /><a href='#f232' class='c013'><sup>[232]</sup></a> “Before the meat -came smoking to the board,” says Dekker, “our -gallant must draw out his tobacco-box, and the -ladle for the cold snuff into the nostril, all which -artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can reach -his several tricks in taking it, as the whiff, the -ring, &c., for these are complements that gain -gentlemen no mean respect.”<a id='r233' /><a href='#f233' class='c013'><sup>[233]</sup></a> It was the custom -to raise the snuff with a spoon to the nose; the -snuff or pouncet-box having been long in vogue, -charged, before the discovery of Ralegh, with -cephalic powder, known since the time of Herodotus:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“He was perfumed like a milliner,</div> - <div class='line'>And ’twixt his finger and his thumb he held</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>A pouncet-box, which ever and anon</div> - <div class='line'>He gave his nose.”<a id='r234' /><a href='#f234' class='c013'><sup>[234]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>It was in vain that every power was combined -to crush the practice of smoking, of the inveteracy -of which Bishop Fletcher affords a memorable example. -Monarchs united to oppose it, and it was -even condemned on religious grounds; but that plea -made no impression on Bishop Fletcher. Elizabeth -had published an edict against it, assigning as a reason -that her subjects, by employing the same -luxuries as barbarians, would become barbarous. -James I. published his famous counterblast to -tobacco, comparing it to the “horrible Stygian -smoake of the pit that is bottomless;” and imposed -on it a prohibitory duty of six shillings and -eight-pence per pound on its importation--an impost -which Charles continued, making tobacco a -royal monopoly, as it still is in France and the -Netherlands--the duty having been only twopence -a pound in the reign of Elizabeth. Still -smoking prevailed; Ralegh had introduced it after -the return of Sir Francis Drake from America, -and all fashionable men practised it. Villiers, -more especially, was probably among the most -inveterate, after his residence in Spain; a pipe, -a mug of ale, and a nutmeg were the right style -at the Mitre and the Mermaid; and probably -<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>found toleration even in the hall of Burleigh, or -at New-hall.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It seems hard to challenge the self-indulgence -of Bishop Fletcher, or to grudge him a luxury -which assisted Sir Isaac Newton in his contemplative -mood, and soothed Hooker when a shrewish -wife nearly drove him mad with vexation. -Nevertheless, smoking, or taking snuff, is said -to have ended Dr. Fletcher’s days. He had also -trials of another kind to his health. He was the -bishop who offended Elizabeth by taking a second -wife, and that wife a handsome widow, Lady -Baker, of Kent. The Queen, thinking that one -wife was enough for a bishop, forbade him her -presence, and ordered Archbishop Whitgift to -suspend him, and whether from her Majesty’s -displeasure, or from the effects of tobacco, he died -suddenly in his chair; “being well, sick, and dead -in one quarter of an hour.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The family of Fletcher were largely imbued -with poetic fervour. Giles, the bishop’s brother, -was a man of great learning; and his two -sons, John and Phineas, were conspicuous -during the reign of James I. for their learning -and poetry. Phineas, whose name occurs in the -biography of Villiers, wrote “The Purple Island,” -an allegorical description of man--a much extended -version of “Spenser’s Allegory” in his second -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>book. He also composed “Piscatory Eclogues -and Miscellanies;” and his time was divided between -the duties of his calling (for he was a -clergyman) and the delight of composition. His -brother Giles was, says Anthony Wood, equally -“beloved of the muses and the graces.” The -Fletchers were, indeed, remarkable for their gifts. -Benlowes, in his verses to Phineas, thus expresses -his sense of their family attributes:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“For ’twere a stain, Nature’s, not thy own;</div> - <div class='line'>For thou art poet born; who know thee know it;</div> - <div class='line'>Thy brother, sire--thy very name’s a poet.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>The fame of Giles Fletcher rests chiefly on his -poem called “Christ’s Victory,” which is printed -with the “Purple Island” by his brother Phineas.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Another of the young lawyers whose genius -irradiated the drama in the time of Villiers--was -John Ford, a great genius, and a prudent man, -as far as we can judge by the close of his career. -Like Fletcher and Beaumont, Ford was well-born, -and had a great advantage in being descended, -on his mother’s side, from the Chief -Justice Popham. He came to London and entered -at Gray’s Inn, then, as Stowe tells us, “a -goodly house,” now the very <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>acmé</em></span> of dismal and -decaying dinginess. It was illumined by the -presence of Lord Bacon, as it had recently been -by that of Lord Burleigh; and when Ford took -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>chambers in the Inn, there were pleasant gardens -for the gay young students, in which they could -walk and ruminate at their leisure; whilst Gray’s -Inn Lane, furnished with fair buildings and many -tenements, as Stowe also tells us, opened on the -north with a view of the fields leading to Highgate -and Hampstead; and there, too, dwelt -Hampden and Pym, the vicinity of whom must -have stirred up the spirits of the young disputants, -whose ardour for liberty was excited during the -days of the Remonstrance--the time of Buckingham’s -impeachment--and in those when the first -tax for the navy was levied.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Ford, however, cared little, it appears, for those -stormy questions, but much for the drama, and -more for the law, to which he was brought up, -and in the practice of which he was wise enough -to continue. A young man of a dramatic turn had -many temptations, in those days, to sacrifice the -hopes of a slow advancement for the brilliant -success of a poet’s career. Ford, however, had -a staid cousin at Gray’s Inn, at the time when he -became a member of the Middle Temple, in 1602. -This relative, also a John Ford, persuaded him “to -stick to the law;” and Ford, in after-life, recorded -the obligation with gratitude.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Ford’s first production was not dramatic. -When only seventeen years of age, he wrote -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>“Fame’s Memorial,” a tribute to one of the most -popular, and at the same time one of the most -unfortunate, noblemen of the day. The fate of -the ill-starred Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy--afterwards -Earl of Devonshire--impressed the -young poet so forcibly as to impel him, without -any personal knowledge of this hero, to write -this <cite>In Memoriam</cite>. “The life of Lord Mountjoy,” -remarks Hartley Coleridge, “is the finest subject -of biography unoccupied.” He was the generous -rival of Essex, with whom, nevertheless, he had -in early life fought a duel. Blount being “a -very comely man,” attracted the attention of -Queen Elizabeth. He distinguished himself at a -tilt, and she sent him a chess-queen of gold, -enamelled, which he tied on his arm with a -crimson ribbon. Essex, on seeing this, laughed -scornfully, and said, “Now I perceive every fool -must have a favour!” Blount challenged him, -and they fought at Marylebone, where the Earl -was disarmed and wounded. Nevertheless, the -combatants became firm friends even in early life, -and, in their later days, generous rivals.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Unhappily, an attachment was formed between -the handsome Charles Blount and the Lady -Penelope, the sister of Essex. She was, however, -under the guardianship of what was then -called the Court of Wards. She was, therefore, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>forced to marry Lord Rich. The result was -melancholy; and she became henceforth the -mistress of the brave, but unhappy, Blount, now -Lord Mountjoy, and their connection was well -known. On the death of Rich, the guilty pair were -married by Laud, then Bishop of London. -King James, on that occasion, said to Mountjoy, -“You have married a fair woman with a foul -heart.” Perhaps he was too severe in his judgment, -yet the gallant Mountjoy felt the opprobrium. -His worldly prospects were marred by -the union; so long as the attachment with Lady -Penelope had been merely understood, the world -had received her, and honoured him; but, when -they were married, the guilty pair were slighted -and contemned. “However bitter the cup of -duty may be, duty commands us to drink it even -to the dregs.”<a id='r235' /><a href='#f235' class='c013'><sup>[235]</sup></a> The sentiment is just, and Mountjoy -felt it so. His error was redeemed by suffering. -He died, it is said, of a broken heart, having -long pined away under neglect and mortification.<a id='r236' /><a href='#f236' class='c013'><sup>[236]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>To the Lady Penelope, the survivor of this -sad romance, Ford addressed his “Fame’s Memorial.” -Mountjoy’s great valour in Ireland--of -which he was the true conqueror--had won him -undying renown. His domestic life touched the -young poet’s feelings; and upon it he wrote his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>tragedy of the “Broken Heart.” <em>Penthea’s</em> lamentation -for her “enforced marriage” recalls, in that -exquisite play, poor Lady Penelope’s story:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>"<em>Penthea.</em>--How, Orgilus, by promise I was thine</div> - <div class='line'>The heavens do witness!</div> - <div class='line'>. . . . . How I do love thee</div> - <div class='line'>Yet, Orgilus, and yet, must best appear</div> - <div class='line'>In tendering thy freedom.</div> - <div class='line'>. . . . . Live, live happy--</div> - <div class='line'>Happy in thy next choice.</div> - <div class='line'>And oh! when thou art married, think on me</div> - <div class='line'>With mercy, not contempt! I hope thy wife,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing my story, will not scorn my fall.</div> - <div class='line'>Now let us part."</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>For some time Ford merely assisted other -dramatists in their compositions; it was not until -1628 that he produced “The Lover’s Melancholy,” -which he dedicated to the “Noble Society -of Gray’s Inn.” This play was suggested by -Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” from which -Ford, as well as Sterne, freely borrowed. After -describing the rapidity, the impelling necessity -with which the works of Massinger and Jonson -were produced, it is agreeable to think of an -author who was able “to write up to his own -ideal.” Ford not only disdained all pandering to -the public taste, but even regarded the emolument -arising from his plays as a secondary consideration, -after he was once fairly established in his profession. -Nor was it then thought incompatible -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>to unite the character of a play-writer with that -of a lawyer. The Templars, and other learned -societies, were the great patrons of the drama. -Often were the quaint halls of the Temple and -of Gray’s Inn formed into temporary theatres for -some favourite piece; and the talk of the young -Templar was always of Blackfriars, the Curtain, -or the Rose--of Will Shakespeare, and Ben -Jonson, and Ford.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Ford conceived that his powers lay in the -delineation of dark and horrible crimes; in -the exhibition of a mysterious and hopeless -melancholy. The moral of his dramas, whatever -aspect it may bear in our days, was intended to -be good; but the grossness of the times marred -that intention, and his works show how impossible -it is to be at once moral and indelicate. Even -<em>Penthea</em> in the “Broken Heart,” exquisitely as -her character is drawn, lessens our sympathy by -expressions which no woman of the present day -would utter in the presence of a lover, and that -lover for ever severed from her by her indissoluble -bonds with another man.</p> - -<p class='c019'>But Ford wrote in the spirit and language of -his time, with a high purpose, and a coarse taste. -“His genius,” it has been well remarked, “is as -a telescope, ill-adapted for neighbouring objects, -but powerful to bring within the sphere of vision -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>what nature has wisely placed at an unsociable -distance.”<a id='r237' /><a href='#f237' class='c013'><sup>[237]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>He chose for the subject of his historical play -the story of “Perkin Warbeck.” With great -skill he made this hero believe in his own royalty; -and he has left in this play, according to the -opinion of good judges, the best specimen of an -historical tragedy after Shakspeare.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Ford resembled Shakspeare in some particulars -of his fate. Happier in that than his associates, -he was able to retire, at an early age, to his -native Devonshire, where, tradition says, he lived -to old age. It is stated that he married, and had -children; but even of this there is no certainty. -One thing alone is clearly shown, even in Ford’s -dim history, that he regarded literature as the relaxation, -and not the labour of his life; that he -steadily pursued the profession in which untiring -work, honourable conduct, and fair talents generally -find an ultimate reward; that he was independent -of patronage; that he could treat those -to whom he addressed his dedications as men -whom he was complimenting, not benefactors -whom he was suing; and lastly, that he was able -to leave the world of law and letters before that -world’s enjoyments had been exhausted, or its -disappointments had soured and wearied his spirit.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>His last play was the “Lady’s Trial;” but his -fame chiefly rests on “Perkin Warbeck” and the -“Broken Heart.” It is a proof of the great esteem -entertained for genius by the Earl of Newcastle, -“poor Ben’s” patron, that he was also -friendly to Ford, who dedicated “Perkin Warbeck” -to that nobleman.</p> - -<p class='c019'>It was not only by necessitous men of obscure extraction -that poetry was cultivated in those times; -on the contrary, some acquaintance with the Muses, -although not thought essential in those who would -fain rise to distinction as courtiers, was, at all -events, deemed ornamental and advantageous. -The name of Thomas Carew was distinguished in -the reign of Charles I., as one of the most intellectual -of his young courtiers.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He was a man of an ancient Gloucestershire -family; a branch of that race settled in Devonshire, -and his education was that usually assigned -to youths of good birth and expectations. He -was entered at Corpus Christi College, in Oxford, -and his academical career was succeeded, as was -customary in those times, by travelling. From -the grand tour, Carew returned replete with -wit, fancy, and with a high reputation for accomplishments.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He was, therefore, almost instantly noticed by -Charles I., and, it is evident, enjoyed the favour -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>of Buckingham, to whom he addressed “Lines -on the Lord Admiral’s recovery from sickness.” -Charles made him one of his gentlemen of the -Bedchamber, and Sewer in ordinary--appointments -which brought the poet into an immediate -contact with the principal characters of the Court; -and he became the intimate associate of Lord -Clarendon, the eulogist of Villiers, and the friend of -Ben Jonson. As a writer of love sonnets, Carew has -had few equals; and he may be termed, in that -respect, the Moore of his age. His charming -qualities as a companion, and the elegance of his -verses, are praised by Clarendon; whilst his contemporaries--even -those less happy than himself--saw -in him, whom they declared to be one of a -“mob of gentlemen,” who aspired to be eminent -in polite literature, one whose career added lustre -to the pursuits of literature. Strange to say, -Carew was beloved and extolled by his less fortunate -contemporaries; and even Ben Jonson gave -him his meed of praise, which Carew returned -with sympathy and admiration.</p> - -<p class='c019'>After Jonson’s unlucky play, “The New Inn,” -had been hissed off the stage, and Jonson had vented -his rage in an ode, Carew addressed the angry -poet in lines full of good sense, wit, and good -feeling; and yet, he hints, with a sincerity -as rare as it is fearless, that his powers were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>somewhat weakened since poor Ben had brought -out the “Alchemist.”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in18'>“And yet ’tis true</div> - <div class='line'>Thy cousin muse from the exalted line,</div> - <div class='line'>Touched by the alchemist, doth since decline</div> - <div class='line'>From that her zenith, and foretells a red</div> - <div class='line'>And blushing evening when she goes to bed;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet such as shall outshine the glimmering light</div> - <div class='line'>With which all stars shall gild the following night.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Again he adds:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Let others glut on the extorted praise</div> - <div class='line'>Of vulgar breath, trust thou to after-days:</div> - <div class='line'>Thy laboured works shall live when Time devours</div> - <div class='line'>The abortive offering of their hasty hours.</div> - <div class='line'>Thou art not of their rank--the quarrel lies</div> - <div class='line'>Within thine own verge; then let this suffice</div> - <div class='line'>The wiser world doth greater thee confess</div> - <div class='line'>Than all men else, than thyself only less.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Carew, notwithstanding the highly virtuous -tone of the Court in which he lived, led an irregular -life; and lived to mourn, in deep repentance, -for that more than wasted portion of his existence, -in which he gave way to the worst parts of -his otherwise fine nature. When Ben Jonson -had ceased to write, Carew was selected as the -poet most calculated to supply the place of that -great genius in providing masques for the Court. -Only one, however, produced by him, remains. -It is called “Cœlum Britannicum.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Inigo Jones was again summoned to be one of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>the “Inventors,” to place the masque on the stage, -and Henry Lawes composed the airs, and superintended -the musical performance; but those to -whose splendour and genius the perfection of this -species of entertainment was owing, were no -longer there. Villiers was gone; Ben Jonson had -virtually quitted “the detracting world,” which -he had once defied from his proud pre-eminence. -The country was even then split up into factions. -Happily for himself, Carew escaped their outbreak. -He died in 1639, expressing heartfelt religious -convictions and penitence.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Amongst the gentlemen writers, as they were -styled, was Edmund Waller, who, at the time of -Buckingham’s death, was a young man of twenty-three -years of age. The lines addressed by him to -Charles I., on the extraordinary composure which -the King showed on hearing of that event, are -well known. Even then Waller had been a member -of Parliament, and had been elected to sit in that -assembly whilst he was in his seventeenth year. -Waller’s circumstances, his destiny, his views of -life, his genius, his disposition, were as opposite to -those of Massinger and Ben Jonson as can possibly -be conceived. He seemed born a courtier; -and every effort he made was to advance himself -at first in that career, and afterwards as a politician. -His first appearance as a poet, in his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>eighteenth year, was to congratulate King James -on the escape of Prince Charles at St. Audera, -when returning from Spain; and in this poem his -polished verses, perfected, he alleged, by the study -of Fairfax’s “Tasso,” were so turned as to excite -the admiration of the literary world, by whom he -was deemed the model of English versifiers. But, -in spite of his alleged devotion to Charles, and -notwithstanding his continuing to sit in Parliament, -Waller sheltered himself during the storm -that ensued, and went to study chemistry under -the guidance of his kinsman, Bishop Morley--emerging -only from his retreat at Beaconsfield to -mingle in the delightful circle of wits and incipient -heroes of whom the noble Falkland was the -centre.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He married early; having, with a fortune of nearly -four thousand a-year, espoused a city heiress, -who died and left him a widower at the age of -twenty-five. Then this accomplished man of the -world looked out for rank, and paid his addresses, -poetically at all events, to the lovely Dorothy Sidney, -the eldest daughter of the Earl of Sidney. He -apostrophized her as Saccharissa. She was, or he -made her out to be, a proud and scornful beauty, -and he turned to his "Amoret"--Lady Sophia -Murray; but, though well-born, rich, favoured -by Charles, and nephew of John Hampden by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>his mother’s side, so that he seemed secure of -rising under any faction, Waller’s loves did not -prosper in the direction to which he at first guided -them; for he was wise in his generation, and could -control his fancies by views of interest.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He married, therefore, a second time, “loving, -doubtless, wisely and not too well;” but neither -the name, condition, nor fortune of his second -wife is mentioned by his biographers.</p> - -<p class='c019'>From this time Edmund Waller’s career was despicable. -In his heart a Royalist, he absented himself -from the House of Commons whenever there -was a chance of his being of service to the King, -or of his committing himself. Yet he sent Charles -a thousand gold pieces when the Royal standard -at Nottingham was set up--and concocted, with -a conspirator named Tomkyns, a plot for delivering -the City and the Parliament into the hands -of the Royalists. Nevertheless, he had been seconding -“my Uncle Hampden” in the House, in -his censure of Ship-money. When his plot--still -called in history Waller’s plot, for he had -the chief blame--when this base conspiracy, unworthy -of any cause, was discovered, Waller confessed -everything, and criminated everybody. -Confounded with fear, he had yet the consummate -hypocrisy to talk of his “remorse of conscience,” -adding one to the long list of crimes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>which that abused word is called to sanction or -excuse. It is a satisfaction to know that he was -nearly being hanged--that he was expelled the -House--fined ten thousand pounds--and then -“contemptuously suffered to go into exile.” Never -was that party more fortunate than in getting rid -of such a man.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He took refuge at Rouen, and lived there -and in Paris until all his wife’s jewels were sold--for -on them he lived. He was, however, at -last allowed to return home, and again he sullied -Beaconsfield with his presence. He hastened to -flatter Cromwell, and even to propose, in his -smooth and flattering verses, the substitution of a -crown of gold for bays:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“His conquering head has no more room for bays,</div> - <div class='line'>Then let it be as the glad nation prays;</div> - <div class='line'>Let the rich ore be melted down,</div> - <div class='line'>And the State fix’d by making him a crown:</div> - <div class='line'>With ermine clad and purple, let him hold</div> - <div class='line'>A royal sceptre made of Spanish gold!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Cromwell, however, was far too wise to take -the bait. The sycophant thought it expedient to -write an ode on his death--for he was not certain -that the great man’s power might not be perpetuated -by his son. The instant, however, that -the Restoration placed Charles II. on the throne, -Waller was ready with his congratulatory ode. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>He dwelt on the guilt of the Rebellion; and, except -that the flavour of spicy flattery was so -poor as to provoke a <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>bon mot</em></span> from Charles II. -he might have succeeded. “Poets,” said the -witty monarch, “succeed better in fiction than in -truth.” But with Waller it was all fiction.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He was soon a favourite at that easy, merry -court; his poetry caused his unconquerable -duplicity to be forgotten--or, if not forgotten, -looked on even complacently by courtiers who -held all virtue to be hypocrisy. He managed to -please everybody; though a water-drinker, he -was the life of Bacchanalian parties. It is owing -to Clarendon that the renegade was not made -Provost of Eton--a post for which he had actually -the audacity to ask. He thence became the -friend and ally of George Villiers, the second -Duke of Buckingham, to whose age and time, -rather than that of the subject of this memoir, -one would gladly consign the apostate poet.</p> - -<p class='c019'>One of his worst acts was to vote for the impeachment -of Lord Clarendon; and here one would -gladly end the record of the misdeeds of an able and -accomplished man, distinguished almost as much -for his eloquence as for his poetic productions. -But Waller lived on; he was favoured by -James II., who seems to have been cajoled by -the flatteries which his royal brother had detected. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>Waller again in parliament, and now eighty years -old, was permitted to speak jocularly with the -monarch. One day he called Queen Elizabeth, -in James’s presence, the “greatest woman in the -world.” "I wonder," answered his Majesty, -“you should think so; but it must be allowed -she had a wise council.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>"And when, sire," cried Waller, “did you ever -hear of a fool choosing a wise one?”</p> - -<p class='c019'>When it was known that the veteran courtier -was going to marry his daughter to Dr. Birch, a -clergyman, James sent a French gentleman to -ask him how he could think of marrying his -daughter to a falling church.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“The King does me great honour,” was the -reply, “to concern himself about my affairs; but I -have lived long enough to observe that this -falling church has got a trick of rising again.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>He foresaw the coming crisis, but lived not to -have an opportunity of writing odes to William -III. and his Queen. He now composed “Divine -Poems,” and began to think, at the age of eighty-three, -that possibly this world, and the courts of -the Charles’s and James’s, were not everything -that there was to value in life. When he found -himself sinking, he said, “Take me to Coleshill” -(his native place); “I should be glad to die, like -the stag, where I was roused.”</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>He was, however, too near death to be removed; -and he expired at Beaconsfield, in October, 1678, -and thus escaped being the witness of another -revolution.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Such were some of the eminent contemporaries -of George Villiers, in an age so rich in intellectual -force as to constitute it, in that respect alone, one -of the most remarkable periods of English history.</p> - -<p class='c019'>But there were, among the <em>literati</em> of that day, -two men whose observations were peculiarly -directed towards the career of Villiers--these -were James Howell, the letter-writer, and Sir -Henry Wotton.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Howell’s well-known name is mixed up repeatedly -in the various passages of the Duke of Buckingham’s -foreign life. Howell was the son of a -clergyman, at Abernant, in Carmarthenshire; was -accordingly entered at Jesus College, Oxford, the -great emporium of the Jones’s, Williams’s, Morgans, -and Howells.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He was, like many of his countrymen, “a true -cosmopolite,” born, says Anthony Wood, neither -to “house, land, lease, or office.” He had not the -misfortune of having a position in life to lose, so -he went to London, and became, through the -interest of Sir Robert Mansel, steward to a glass-house -in Bond Street, glass being a monopoly; -whilst his elder brother rose to be Bishop of Bristol.</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>Glass being by no means in its perfection, the -proprietors of the work sent James Howell -abroad, in order to hire foreign workmen, and to -buy the best materials for a manufacture which -they wished to improve; and James Howell -joyfully accepted the mission. He travelled -into France, Holland, Flanders, Spain, and -Italy; and, setting off in 1619, encountered -George Villiers in his French tour, came across -him in Spain, and heard of him all the good -and bad that he has detailed in his letters to -England.</p> - -<p class='c019'>He gave up his stewardship, and posted again -into Spain, in 1623, and was in that country -when Charles I. and Buckingham were at Madrid. -Like persons in the pit of a great theatre, Howell, -in his half-commercial, half-diplomatic capacity, -saw a great deal which the actors in that brilliant -scene overlooked.</p> - -<p class='c019'>His ostensible reason for going to Spain was to -reclaim a rich English ship which had been -seized by the Viceroy of Sardinia; his real occupation -was that of watching the Royal “wooer,” and -his scarcely less conspicuous companion, Buckingham. -Meantime, Howell was made a Fellow of -Jesus College; and, in accepting this honour, he -said he “should reserve his Fellowship, and lay it -by as a warm garment against rough weather, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>should any fall on him.” And certainly he was -destined to experience the changes and chances of -fortune in no ordinary degree. He returned to -London, and was appointed secretary to Lord -Scrope, who was made Lord-President of the -North. Howell, therefore, was transplanted to -York; and, whilst there, was chosen member for -Richmond, an honour for which he had not canvassed. -He sat, therefore, in the parliament which -opened in 1627--a session so important to Buckingham, -and so fraught with consequences to the -country.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Still, the apparently fortunate man was without -any fixed employment. He had, however, talents -which were then rare in this country; he spoke -seven modern languages--and, without recording -his own remark, which borders on levity, on that -score, it must be admitted that few Englishmen -either in that age or this can do the same. -His merits were, in this respect, estimated by -Charles I., who sent him in the quality of secretary -to Robert, Earl of Leicester, to Denmark, -when it became necessary to condole with the -King of that State on the death of his consort, -Charles’s Danish grandmother. Next, Howell -was despatched to France, and subsequently to -Ireland, where the Earl of Strafford appreciated -his wonderful industry, and welcomed him kindly; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>he was intrusted by that ill-fated nobleman with -business, first in Edinburgh and then in London; -but his hopes of rising were crushed by the ruin -of Strafford, and by the crash which ensued.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Charles, however, again despatched him to -France, and made him, on his return, Clerk of -the Council.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Poor Howell now believed that he had secured -a permanent post, a fixed income, and a most -agreeable residence, an apartment being allotted -to him in Whitehall. The greater part of the -old Tudor palace was then still standing; the -noble gates built by Henry VIII. remained; the -Banqueting-house was partially finished; all but -the paintings by Vandyck, who was to have -adorned the sides of that room, now used as a -chapel, with paintings of all the history and procession -of the Order of the Garter, were completed--that -symmetrical fragment stood then as -it now stands. Charles I. could as little have -anticipated that George of Hanover would have -made the room he destined for Ben Jonson’s -masques into a chapel, with the apotheosis of -James I. upon the ceiling, as he could have -foreseen that one day he should be led out from -one of the windows of the Banqueting-house to -Whitehall-gate, where “cords to tie him down to -the block had been prepared, had he made -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>any resistance to that cruel and bloody stroke.”<a id='r238' /><a href='#f238' class='c013'><sup>[238]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Equally unconscious of his royal patron’s doom -as of his own fate, Howell established himself in -that palace, the only danger of which seemed to -be the frequent inundations of the Thames, by -which Whitehall was often half submerged. But -shortly afterwards the King left that palace to -which he never returned but as a captive; and -Howell also departed. But, coming back to -London on private business, he was, in 1643, -thrown into prison, his papers were seized, and he -was committed in close custody to the Fleet.</p> - -<p class='c019'>This ancient prison had been, until that time, a -place of durance for persons sentenced by the -Council Table, then called the Court of the Star -Chamber--so that Howell had the additional vexation -of being apprehended by one of the warrants -which he would himself have issued had the troubles -of the Rebellion never commenced;--had -things remained as they were when Lord Surrey -suffered from its pestilent atmosphere, and when -the importunate Lady Dorset was silenced in what -was truly called by Surrey, “that noisome place.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The Star Chamber was, however, it appears, -abolished before the time when James Howell, -descending Whitehall stairs, was rowed up the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>river Fleet, to a gate as portentous in its aspect -and associations as the Traitor’s-gate at the -Tower; and thence conducted to what was afterwards -called the Common side of the prison.<a id='r239' /><a href='#f239' class='c013'><sup>[239]</sup></a> -When the letter-writer entered its miserable -courts, the Fleet had lost the dignity of a state -prison for minor political offences, and was a place -for debtors, and divided into two sides, the Master’s -side and the Common side. In the Common -side, to complete the horrors, was a strong-room, -or vault, which has been described “to be like -those in which the dead are interred, and wherein -the bodies of persons dying are usually deposited -till the coroner’s inquest has passed them.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Howell, as he entered the Common side, probably -thought that he might live to be one of the -mute inhabitants of that ghastly chamber--for he -was not only suspected by the Parliament, but in -debt. Wood, indeed, ascribes his captivity -wholly to the curse of debt, brought on by his -own extravagance; and since Howell, like many -public men of the day, had no “income but such -as he scrambled for,” and since it was an age of -careless expenditure, Wood is, perhaps, in this -statement, as he generally is, correct.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The character of the man of desultory life rose -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>under the trial. During five years the once free -and happy James Howell lay in that den of -misery--rendered more miserable by all that was -going on in the world, of which he heard enough -in his durance, perhaps too much. During that -period Charles was beheaded; the gay precincts -of Whitehall were stained with the blood of one -whom Howell had reverenced as a royalist, but -whose advisers, Buckingham, Laud, and Strafford, -he had censured, as a man of the world, of -sense and candour, could not fail to do. Whilst -he lay in the place where Falkland had been sent -for sending a challenge--where Prynne had paid -the penalty for his “Histriomastix,” Howell’s -thoughts no doubt reverted to the pleasant days of -Charles’s youth, in the fields near Madrid, where -plumed knights ran a course--or to the arena of -the bull-fight. He dreamed, perhaps, of the incomparable -Infanta, or of the stately Philip, -and his gallant, flattered, sanguine English -guests.</p> - -<p class='c019'>But he did better. Howell is not the only -writer who has tried to bind up the wounds of a -broken heart by authorship; or has succeeded in -dissipating the hours of a long imprisonment by -communicating not only with the world of letters, -which was nearly extinct in general literature -during the first year of the Protectorate, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>with those among the free, the sympathetic, and -the celebrated who remembered the poor debtor -in his cell. One of his most notable efforts was -his own epitaph, beginning--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Here lies entomb’d a walking thing,</div> - <div class='line'>Whom Fortune with the Fates did fling</div> - <div class='line'>Between these walls.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>He wrote now his “Familiar Letters, Domestic -and Foreign,” wisely putting no date on the -epistles as to place. He composed also "Casual -Discourses and Interlocutions between Patricius -and Peregrin, touching the Distractions of the -Times"--this work was the result of the Battle of -Edge Hill--“Parables reflecting on the Times;” -"England’s Tears for the Present War;" “Vindications -of some Passages reflecting upon himself -in Mr. Prynne’s book called the ‘Popish Royal -Favourite,’” a work which coupled his name with -that of Buckingham; and his “Epistolæ-Hoelianæ.” -These works came out year after year. It is said -by Wood that most of Howell’s letters were written -in the Fleet, though some of them purported to -have been sent from Madrid and other places. -The fact is, he wrote for subsistence; and his -works were popular and productive. His statements -may, indeed, have been made so long after -the events they relate occurred, as to render them -doubtful; yet it is acknowledged that they contain -<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>a good view of the actors in those stirring -times--whilst they are almost the only letters that -still preserve the memory of the writer among -us.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Most of his other writings were political; one of -his imaginative flights recalls, in the idea that originated -it, the title of the pleasant brochure, -“<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>Voyage autour de ma chambre</em></span>,” in our own times. -Howell’s composition is styled, “A Nocturnal -Progress; or, a perambulation of such Countries -in Christendom performed in one night by -strength of imagination.” All the titles of his -works are striking: “Winter Dream,” "A Trance, -or News from Hell, brought first to town by -Mercurius Acheronticus;"--this was published in -1649, after the King’s death. He still, Royalist -as he was, bore his misfortunes cheerfully; -yet his loyalty sank at last beneath the pressure -of starvation, and he yielded to expediency. It -was not, however, until 1653 that his constancy -broke down, and that he addressed to Oliver -Cromwell his “Sober’s Inspections made into the -carriage and consult of the late Long Parliament.” -One may know the views he took from the title; -but when he compliments the Lord Protector, -compares him to Charles Martel, and descends to -flattery, Howell loses our respect. Neither does -he regain it by his “Cordial for the Cavaliers,” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>published in 1660, and answered by the “Caveat -for the Cavaliers” of Sir Roger L’Estrange.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Payne Fisher, who had been poet-laureate to -Cromwell, edited “Howell’s Works,” in which he -calls the author the “prodigy of the age for the -variety of his writings.” These were forty in -number, and in “them all,” says Fisher, “there is -something still new, either in the matter, method, -or fancy, and in an untrodden tract.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>For the change of politics in the famous letter-writer -his friends were prepared, when, after the -King’s death, he wrote with what some call prudence, -others pusillanimity, these words:--“I will -attend with patience how England will thrive, -now that she is let blood in the Basilican vein, -and cured, as they say, of the King’s evil.” -Nevertheless, Howell was made Historiographer-Royal -in England by Charles II., who was so -lenient to his enemies, so ungrateful to his -friends. The place was even created for him; -but death soon caused him to vacate it. He -ended his chequered life in 1660, and-was buried -in the Temple Church.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Among the few who remembered George -Villiers with gratitude, or who endeavoured to -rescue his memory from opprobrium, Henry -Wotton, his biographer, appears in a conspicuous -and favourable light. Most of the eminent men -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>of the time had been reared, and even trained, to -public service, during the reign of Elizabeth, -when strength of purpose, honesty, ability, and -learning were the grounds of promotion in all the -minor, as well as in the superior departments of -the State. Henry Wotton, born in 1568, at -Bocton Hall,<a id='r240' /><a href='#f240' class='c013'><sup>[240]</sup></a> in Kent, and descended from an -ancient family, was a thoroughly-educated -English gentleman. After some years’ instruction -at Winchester School, he was entered at -New College, Oxford. Close to that grand old -college was Hart Hall, a sort of subsidiary -establishment; and Wotton, perhaps from -being a freshman, had his rooms in Hart -Hall Lane. Here his chamber-fellow, as he -was then called, was Richard Baker, the historian, -who was entered at the same time, -and born the same year, and whose predilections -for letters resembled those of young Henry -Wotton. The inestimable advantage of a companionship -of such a nature cannot be too highly -appreciated by those who watch the dawning -mind of youth, and who desire them to have -recourse to the only sure preventive of dissipation--employment. -Baker, well known for his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>Chronicle, was also a writer on theological subjects, -and a young man of sincere piety. His -friend Wotton was then less distinguished for -historical studies than for his wit and learning. -For some reason, not explained, he left New -College, and established himself in the then old-fashioned -tenement of Queen’s College, in the High -Street, where he was soon complimented by -being selected to write a play for the inmates of -that house to perform. He produced a tragedy -called “Tancredo,” which was declared to manifest, -in a very striking manner, his abilities for -composition, his wit, and knowledge. Thus, -like the gay Templar, or the student of Gray’s -Inn, did the young Oxonian delight in the -drama--which formed, to borrow a French expression, -a sort of <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>debût</em></span> for wits; nor did Baker, -though serious and plodding, despise the drama; -and even when, in after life, he had been knighted -at Theobald’s by King James, and Baker’s reputation -stood high, he vindicated the stage against -Prynne, in a work entitled “Theatrum Redivivum.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Wotton, after proceeding Master of Arts in his -twentieth year, left Oxford, and passed a year in -France; and then going on to Geneva, formed -there the friendship of Casaubon and of Beza. -He remained nine years in Germany and Italy, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>and returned to England an accomplished and enlightened, -as well as a learned man; being, says his -biographer, “a dear lover of painting, sculpture, -chemistry, and architecture.” He was soon appreciated -by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, then -high in favour with Elizabeth; and became one -of that nobleman’s secretaries, and the most devoted -of his friends. The parallel which he has -left the world between Essex and Buckingham, -and which Lord Clarendon answered, is written -with an enthusiasm for the character of Wotton’s -first patron, which can only have sprung from -intimate acquaintance, and from that true affection -which generous, impulsive natures, such as that -of Essex, are likely to inspire.</p> - -<p class='c019'>With Essex, Wotton remained until his patron -was apprehended and attainted of treason; then -he fled to France, and scarcely had he landed -there when he heard that the Earl had been beheaded. -He took refuge from solitude, and perhaps -peril, in Florence, where the Grand Duke<a id='r241' /><a href='#f241' class='c013'><sup>[241]</sup></a> -of Tuscany received him cordially. James I. -was then reigning over Scotland; a plot threatened -his life, and the Grand Duke having become -aware of this, by some intercepted letters, -sent Wotton, in disguise, to warn James of his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>danger. Wotton spoke Italian perfectly; he, -therefore, assumed the name and dress of an -Italian, and, thus disguised, set off on his hazardous -journey. Having been so deeply concerned in the -affairs of Essex, he did not venture to pass into -England. He travelled, therefore, into Norway, -and, by that route, reached Scotland. He found -the King at Stirling, and was introduced into his -presence under the name of Octavio Baldi. He -soon found an opportunity of disclosing himself -to the King, and, after remaining three months -in Scotland, he returned to Florence.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Queen Elizabeth’s death brought him back to -England, where his favour with the new King -was ensured. When James I. saw Sir Edward -Wotton, he inquired if “he knew not Henry -Wotton?”</p> - -<p class='c019'>"I know him well," was the reply, “for he is -my brother.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The King then asked where he was, and -ordered him to be sent for. When Wotton first -saw his Majesty, James took him into his arms, and -saluted him by the name of Octavio Baldi; then -he knighted him, and nominated him Ambassador -to Venice. But it was not easy, in those days, -to avoid giving offence. The new Ambassador, -passing through Augsburg, met there, amongst -other learned men, his old friend, one Christopher -<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>Flecamore, who requested him to write something -in his Album, a book which even then -Germans usually carried about with them; Sir -Henry, complying, wrote a definition of an Ambassador -in the Album. The sentence was given -in Latin, as being a language common to all that -erudite company, but the definition was, in -English, this--“An Ambassador is an honest -man sent to <em>lie</em> abroad for the good of his -country.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>This sentence was imparted, eight years afterwards, -to one of King James’s literary opponents, -a jealous Romanist priest, named Scioppius, who -printed it in a work directed against the royal -polemic, and which pretended to show upon what -a degraded principle a Protestant acted. The -book reached King James, who had the mortification -of hearing that this definition of an ambassador, -which happened to be then the correct -one, whatever may now be the case, was exhibited -in glass windows at Venice. For some time James -was displeased, but on receiving Sir Henry’s -explanation, he forgave him, saying that the -delinquent “had commuted sufficiently for a -greater offence.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>The various embassies in which Sir Henry -Wotton was engaged detained him abroad until -1623, when he came home finally. A great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>piece of preferment was then vacant; and, by -the influence of the Duke of Buckingham, it was -bestowed on Wotton. This was the post of -Provost of Eton; but one great obstacle presented -itself--Wotton had been everything that -was useful and important, but he was not in -orders; nevertheless, anything could be accomplished -in those days--he was made a deacon, and -held the Provostship from 1623 to 1639, when -he died. The appointment did no discredit to -him who procured it, for Wotton was an able, -honest man, singularly liberal in his religious -tenets for his time. He ordered that upon his -grave, in the Chapel of Eton College, there -should be a sentence, in Latin, decrying the -itch for disputation as the real disease of the -Church. He was a great enemy to disputation. -On being asked, “Do you believe that a Papist -can be saved?” he answered, “<em>You</em> may be -saved without knowing that; look to yourself.” -When he heard some one railing at the Romanists -with stupid rancour, he said:--“Pray, -sir, forbear, till you have studied these points -better. There is an Italian proverb which says, -‘he that understands amiss concludes worse;’ -forbear of thinking that the farther you go from -the Church of Rome the nearer you are to -God.”</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>Nevertheless, he was, like most lenient judges of -the faith of others, a staunch adherent to his own. -“Where was your religion to be found before -Luther?” wrote a jocose Priest at Rome, seeing -Sir Henry in an obscure corner of a church, -listening to the beautiful service of the Vespers, -and enjoying the exquisite music of a faith which -appeals so much to the senses. “Where yours -is not to be found--in the written Word of -God,” was the answer, scribbled on a piece of -paper underneath the interrogation.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Another evening Sir Henry sent one of the -choir boys to his priestly friend with this question:--“Do -you believe those many thousands -of poor Austrians damned who were excommunicated -because the Pope and the Duke of -Venice could not agree about their temporalities?” -To which inquiry the priest wrote -in French underneath--"<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>Excusez moi, Monsieur.</em></span>"</p> - -<p class='c019'>Such was the man whom Buckingham favoured; -and who afterwards repaid the obligation by a -beautiful, somewhat florid, but authentic biographical -account of the Duke’s origin, his rise, -his dangers, his services, and his death. Quaint -but expressive language, genuine enthusiasm, -and personal acquaintance, render this sketch one -of the most delightful compositions of Sir -<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>Henry’s pen. In comparing him, in prosperity -and in adversity, to Essex, the master whom -he loved, Wotton pays the Duke of Buckingham -what he conceived to be the highest -compliment. He was commencing a life of -Martin Luther, and intending to interweave -in it a history of the Reformation in Germany, -when Charles I. prevailed on him to lay it -aside, and to begin a history of England. That -undertaking has something unfortunate associated -with it. Rapin and Hume never lived to -complete their works. Mackintosh died after -leaving a noble fragment to increase our sorrow -for his loss. Macaulay has expired before half -his glorious task has been given to the world. -Sir Henry Wotton had sketched out some short -characters as materials, when his intentions and -Charles’s commands were frustrated by death. -His “Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, or a collection of -Lives, Letters, and Poems, with characters of -sundry personages, and other incomparable -pieces of Language and Art, by the ever-memorable -Sir Henry Wotton,”<a id='r242' /><a href='#f242' class='c013'><sup>[242]</sup></a> is a small octavo -volume; yet large enough to create regret that -one of such rare powers and opportunities had -not written, with the candour of his nature, a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>history of the times in which he flourished. His -“State of Christendom, or a most exact and -curious discovery of many secret passages and -hidden mysteries of the times,” supplies in some -measure that deficiency.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Successful in life, Wotton was, in his death, -fortunate in being the subject of an elegy from -the pen of Cowley, then a young man of twenty-one, -at Trinity College, Cambridge.<a id='r243' /><a href='#f243' class='c013'><sup>[243]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>If we except the encouragement given by the -Duke of Buckingham to the masque, and the -preference evinced by him for literature as one of -the essential ingredients of civilized society, the -progress of letters, it must be avowed, has owed -little to his direct intervention.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Clarendon, though at the time of the Duke’s -death patronized by Laud, was then a young -lawyer, little more than twenty years of age.<a id='r244' /><a href='#f244' class='c013'><sup>[244]</sup></a> -Being brought into contact with Archbishop -Laud, during the course of a cause in which he -was even then retained by some London merchants, -Clarendon, at that time Edward Hyde, -must not only have heard much of Buckingham, -but have known him personally; but the public -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>career of the future historian did not commence -till 1640. As, however, Hyde then affected the -fine gentleman and the man of letters rather than -the lawyer, he probably, in those characters, had -opportunities of seeing Buckingham on the same -footing as that on which he became acquainted -with Falkland, Selden, Waller, Carew, and -others; but he owed nothing, as far as we can -trace, to the friendship of Villiers.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Ralegh and Bacon were above the patronage of -the favourite; the one was suffered to die in -prison, the other was long alienated from his -early admirer and sometime pupil, the Duke. -Nevertheless, there were not a few persons, as it -has been seen, eminent as writers, who were -indirectly assisted and protected by Buckingham, -and who paid him the tribute of their gratitude -or admiration. Still the aid he gave to -art was far more liberal than any that he afforded -to letters.</p> - -<hr class='c030' /> - -<p class='c019'>Such is the view taken of the redeeming services -performed to society by a man who had -much in his public career to be forgiven. With respect -to the acts to which he prompted Charles, to -screen himself, no defence can be offered: but for -the general bearing of that King’s conduct towards -his Parliament, he must be deemed irresponsible, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>since his death neither changed his Sovereign’s -line of principle, nor moderated his actions. -Buckingham was less a man of evil intentions -than of expediency; to get out of a difficulty, -he imperiled the freedom of the people, and the -safety of the Crown, when he might bravely have -courted inquiry, and profited by counsel. It was -one of his great misfortunes that he never made -a true and worthy friendship with any man so -nearly his equal as to be able frankly to advise -him against what Clarendon calls the “current, -or rather the torrent, of his passions.” He was -surrounded by needy brothers, and influenced by -an ambitious, unscrupulous mother. One faithful -friend would not only have saved him from -many perils, but might have prompted him to -do “as transcendant worthy actions” as any man -in his sphere. In spite of prosperity, he was of a -persuadable nature; he was naturally candid, just, -and generous; no record remains of the temptation -of money leading him to do any unkind -action. “If,” says Lord Clarendon, “he had an -immoderate ambition, it doth not appear that it -was in his nature, or that he brought it to the -Court, but rather found it there. He needed no -ambition, who was so seated in the hearts of two -such masters.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>No man was more vilified in his private life than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>Buckingham. Like all persons of weak principles -and impulsive nature, he was at once engaging -and disappointing; warm-hearted one instant, -selfish the next; the idol of his family, whom he -befriended unceasingly; the object, during his -life, of his young wife’s most devoted affection, -which he often forgot or betrayed. Nevertheless, -whilst his moral character was sullied by many -blemishes, it was free from the unblushing profligacy -of some of his predecessors, and superior -to the hypocritical sensuality of his contemporary, -Richelieu. Happily for the age, the almost -blameless early career of Charles enforced that -virtue should be respected, and that vice, where -it existed, should remain concealed. Buckingham -probably owed to this necessity much of what, at -all events, may be endowed with the praise of -decorum.</p> - -<p class='c019'>The popular error of many historians, who -depict him as an arrogant favourite, a remorseless -extortioner, a reckless invader of liberty, -the minion of his own King, and the instrument -of foreign Courts, yields before the more intimate -view of Buckingham’s character which -has been unfolded in the collections now laid -open to all readers of history. That he was impetuous, -but kind in nature--careless of forms, -but courteous in spirit--led widely astray by mad -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>passions, yet returning in love and penitence -to his home--is now confessed. No instances -have been found to substantiate against him -charges of corruption, such as that which was -commonly practised in those days; he was -loaded with presents of land, of money--he spent -freely what had been thus bestowed--and the -affection borne to him by his dependents is the -best earnest of his many good qualities as a -master and a patron.</p> - -<p class='c019'>In his liberality to all around him, he is said by -Wotton, who thoroughly understood the noble -nature which he compared to that of Essex, to -have been “cheerfully magnificent,” whilst he conferred -his favours with such a grace, that the -manner was as gratifying as the gift, “and men’s -understandings were as much puzzled as their -wits.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>His disposition was full of tenderness and -compassion. The man who fell by the assassin’s -hand had a horror of capital punishment, -“Those,” Lord Clarendon observes, “who think -the laws dead if they are not severely executed, censured -him for being too merciful; and he believed, -doubtless, hanging the worst use a man could be -put to.” Consistent with this sweetness of -character were his affability and gentleness to -men younger than himself, as well as his ready forgiveness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>of injuries, an “easiness to reconcilement,” -which caused him even too soon to forget -the circumstances of affronts and evil deeds, -and, therefore, exposed him to a repetition.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Of all the imputations which were fixed on -Buckingham, that of a desire to enrich himself, -from motives of avarice, is the most completely -refuted by facts. During the four years that he -enjoyed the unbounded confidence of Charles I. -he became every day poorer. His affairs were investigated, -and the result was proved. It is, -indeed, a question, and a very serious one,--how -far any man is justified in spending, even -on noble purposes, and certainly not in mere -show, largely beyond his income, as Buckingham -did; but his conduct is, at all events, more -pardonable than the mere desire to collect a -great fortune, from sources which he seems to -have considered should be expended either in -doing honour to his Sovereign abroad in his -embassies--a notion paramount in those days, -though out of date in ours--or by the encouragement -of arts and sciences, and the duties of -hospitality at home.</p> - -<p class='c019'>When we recapitulate the errors of this celebrated -man--his omissions, his sins, his want of -good faith, his overlooking the benefits he might -have conferred on his country, until it was almost -<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>too late for repentance, his sacrifice of his Sovereign’s -best interests to his own will--we must, at -the same time, admit great extenuation. No mercy -was shown to his faults by the historians of his time, -nor of the age succeeding; they wrote under a sense -of the deep injuries from which the Rebellion received -its first impulse. We must not look for -fairness in such a ferment. Even after the tomb -had long been closed over his remains, it was -scarcely safe, certainly scarcely prudent, to palliate -the faults, or to place the virtues of Buckingham -in a fair light. We have now, however, the satisfactory -assurance that Buckingham was conscious -of his faults; contrite for his misdeeds; and -earnest in his resolution to repair them, had his -life been spared.<a id='r245' /><a href='#f245' class='c013'><sup>[245]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c019'>Lord Clarendon closes his “Disparity” between -the Earl of Essex and the Duke of Buckingham -in these words:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>“He that shall continue this argument further -may haply begin his parallel after their deaths, -and not unfitly. He may say that they were -both as mighty in obligations as any subjects; -and both their memories and families as unrecompensed -by such as they had raised. He may tell -you of the clients that buried the pictures of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>the one, and defaced the arms of the other, lest -they might be too long suspected for their dependants, -and find disadvantage by being honest -to their memories. He may tell you of some that -drew strangers to their houses, lest they might -find the track of their own footsteps, that might -upbraid them with their former attendance. He -may say that both their memories shall have a -reverend fervour with all posterity, and all -nations. He may tell you many more particulars, -which I dare not do.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c023'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span><span class='xlarge'>APPENDIX.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span> - <h2 class='c005'>APPENDIX.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c022'>In the Calendar edited by Mr. Bruce (1859), -there are the following details, amongst other -curious particulars, of the state of affairs after the -Duke of Buckingham’s unfortunate expedition -to Rhé:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>"Lionel Sharp to Buckingham, reports his -sermon preached (at St Margaret’s, Westminster), -in which he had alluded to the censure -thrown upon the Duke for his late failure at Rhé, -and had declared that he who had ventured all -that was dearest in the world for a foreign church, -would, if he ‘had as many lives as hairs,’ venture -them all for his own, with other laudatory personal -allusions to the Duke. Is ready to ‘do the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>rest’ within two days, ‘if he may have the place -in Westminster, or on Sunday next.’"--<cite>Vol. cii., -Domestic, No. 76, April, 1628.</cite></p> - -<p class='c019'>This is a singular letter, not only as showing -the alarm which led the Duke to have recourse -to the Elizabeth plan of “tuning the pulpits,” but -also as an instance of the almost impious mixture -of political and worldly affairs with sacred subjects.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div><span class='sc'>Second attempt on La Rochelle.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'><i>Sir Henry Palmer to Secretary Nicholas, from -on board the “Garland,” before La Rochelle, -under the Earl of Denbigh</i>:--"In this letter Sir -Henry states that what was here given out to -be feasible they find directly impossible. On the -approach of the English Fleet, the French retreated -under their ordnance. The palisadoes -across the river described. The Council of War -determined that they should put out to sea, and -spend their victual abroad. Lord Denbigh cruising -between Ushant and Scilly. The writer -between Portsmouth and Cape La Hogue. No -man but looked back upon the poor town but -with eyes of pity, though not able to help -them."--<cite>Vol. ciii., No. 50, May 8, 1628.</cite></p> - -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'><cite>Letter from the Earl of Denbigh to the same.</cite>--"Men -have ever been the censure of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>world who are unsuccessful from public employments. -Misinformation has been the cause of -this misfortune. They found Rochelle so blocked -up, that in eight days’ stay they never heard from -them. The palisado is so strengthened with two -floats of ships, both within and without, moored -and fastened together from their ports to half-mast -high, that, lying in shoal water, it is impossible -to be forced."--<cite>Vol. ciii., No. 57, dated -May 9, at sea.</cite></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c019'>Various letters seem to clear Lord Denbigh of -cowardice in turning back. See letters from Rowland -Woodward to Francis Windebank. "The -report is, that Lord Denbigh was overruled by -Ned Clarke, that would not hazard the Fleet. -The King was never seen to be so much moved, -saying, ‘if the ships had been lost, he had timber -enough to build more.’"--<cite>Vol. civ., No. 47.</cite></p> - -<p class='c019'>In a letter from Sir Henry Hungate to William, -Earl of Denbigh, it is stated, "the King’s -pleasure is that not a single man should go -ashore."--<cite>Vol. civ., No. 69.</cite></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div><span class='sc'>Respecting the “Remonstrance.”</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>"Message on Wednesday from the King, that -he would not yield to any alteration in his answer, -but would close the Session on the 11th -inst. The house proceeded with the Remonstrance, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>until another message, which absolutely -forbade them to do so. Scene which ensued:--Most -part of the house <em>fell a-weeping</em>. Sir Robert -Philips could not speak for weeping. Others -blamed those that wept, and said they had swords -to cut the throats of the King’s enemies.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"That afternoon the King and the Lords were -in council from two to eight on the question -whether the Parliament should be dissolved. -The negative was resolved on. On the following -morning the Speaker explained away his message, -and the house proceeded with the Remonstrance. -The King agreed thereunto, and came that afternoon, -gave the customary royal assent, adding -other observations which are repeated. It is -impossible to express with what joy this was -heard, nor what joy it causes in the city, where -they are making bonfires at every door, such as -was never seen but upon his Majesty’s return from -Spain."--<cite>Letter from Sir Francis <a id='corr326.21'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Nethersote'>Nethersole</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_326.21'><ins class='correction' title='Nethersote'>Nethersole</ins></a></span> to the -Queen of Bohemia, vol. cvi., No. 55, dated June -5. The Strand.</cite></p> - -<p class='c019'>"Sends a copy of the Remonstrance of the -Commons. It was presented to the King on Tuesday -last. The Duke was present in the Banqueting-house -at the time, and on his Majesty -rising from his chair, kneeled down, with a purpose, -it was conceived, to have besought his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>Majesty to say something. But the King, saying -only ‘No,’ took him up with his hand, which -the Duke kissed, and so his Majesty retired. This -was all that passed at the time, and all that is -like to come of the Remonstrance. His Majesty’s -favour to the Duke is no way diminished, but -the ill-will of the people is like to be much increased."--<cite>The -same to the same, vol. cvii., No. 78, -June 19. The Strand.</cite></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div><span class='sc'>Death of Buckingham.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>Some further particulars of this event and its -effects are related in a letter from Sir Francis -Nethersole to James Earl of Carlisle.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“The King took the Duke’s death very heavily, -keeping his chamber that day, as is well to be -believed. But the base multitude in the town -drink healths to Felton, and these are infinitely -more cheerful than sad faces of better degrees.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div><span class='sc'>Felton.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'><em>Examination of Richard Harward</em>:--"George -Willoughby taught him to write. Saw Felton -at Willoughby’s within a month; Felton complained -of the Duke as a cause why he lost a -captain’s place, and the obstacle why he could -not get his pay, being four score and odd pounds. -Went together to the Windmill, where examinant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>read the Remonstrance to him, and Felton took -it and carried it away."--<cite>Vol. cxiv., No. 128.</cite></p> - -<p class='c019'>"Sir Robert Savage committed to the Tower -for saying that if Felton had not killed the Duke -he would have done it."--<cite>Vol. cxvi., No. 95, Sept. -10, 1628.</cite></p> - -<p class='c019'>Report by Dr. Brian Duppa of an interview -held by himself and others with John Felton in -the Tower. (Dr. Duppa was afterwards tutor -to Charles II.):--</p> - -<p class='c019'>"On stating to him that though he had no -mercy on the Duke, the King had so much compassion -on his soul as to give directions to send -divines to draw him to a feeling of the horror of -his sin, he fell on his knees with humble acknowledgment -of so great grace to him. Throughout -he confessed his offence to be a fearful and -crying sin; attributed it, “upon his soul, to -nothing but the Remonstrance.” Being asked -whether some dangerous propositions, found in his -handwriting, had not stimulated him, he denied, -saying they were gathered long ago out a book -called the “Soldier’s Epistles.” He denied that -any creature knew of his resolution but himself, and -requested that he might do some public penance -before his death, in sackcloth, with ashes on his -head, and ropes about his neck."--<cite>Vol. cxvi., No. -101, Sept. 2, 1628.</cite></p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>Felton, it appears, had two letters found in his -bag, perhaps duplicates. The knife was sewed -into his dress. It appears that Felton was, at -one time, puffed up by the popular applause. -The state of rabid enmity to the Duke existing -in the country, was exhibited in inhuman verses -on his death, such as these:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Make haste, I pray thee; launch out your ships with speed;</div> - <div class='line'>Our noble Duke had never greater need</div> - <div class='line'>Of sudden succour, and these vessels must</div> - <div class='line'>Be his main help, for there’s his only trust.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>Satire upon the Duke, beginning--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And art thou dead, who whilom thought’st thy state</div> - <div class='line'>To be exempted from the power of Fate?</div> - <div class='line'>Thou that but yesterday, illustrious, bright,</div> - <div class='line'>And like the sun, did’st with thy pregnant light</div> - <div class='line'>Illuminate other orbs?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>One of the poems of the day excited more -than ordinary attention. It was addressed by -the writer to “his confined friend, Mr. John -Felton!” Suspicion fell on Ben Jonson; and -even in the house of his friend, Sir Robert Cotton, -the belief that he had written the poem found -credence. Jonson was then paralytic, and his -mind may have been somewhat embittered, perhaps -enfeebled, but he was guiltless of this act of -ingratitude to his deceased patron, and to his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>living sovereign, King Charles. His examination -upon this charge is, as Mr. Bruce remarks -in his preface, p. 8, ix., a new incident in -Jonson’s life. The original examination before -the Attorney-General is to be found in the -Calendar before referred to, vol. cxix., No. 33. -See Preface by Mr. Bruce, p. 9.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"The examination of Benjamin Jonson, of -Westminster, gentleman, taken this 26th day of -October, 1628, by me, Sir Robert Heath, his -Majesty’s Attorney-General:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>"The said examinant being asked whether -he had ever seen certain verses beginning thus--‘Enjoy -thy bondage,‘ and ending thus--‘England’s -ransom here doth lie,’ and entitled thus--‘To -his confined friend,’ &c., and the papers of -these verses being showed unto him, he answereth -that he hath seen the like verses to -these. And being asked where he saw them, he -saith, at Sir Robert Cotton’s house, as he often -doth, the papers of these verses lying there -upon the table after dinner. This examinant was -asked concerning these verses as if himself had -been the author thereof; thereupon this examinant -read them, and condemned them, and with -deep protestations affirmed that they were not -made by him, nor did he know who made them, -or had ever seen or heard them before. And the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>like protestations he now maketh upon his Christianity -and hope of salvation. He saith he took -no copy of them, nor ever had copy of them. -He saith he hath heard of them since, but ever -with detestation. He being further asked whether -he doth know who made or hath heard who -made them, he answereth he doth not know, -but he hath heard by common fame that one Mr. -Townley should make them, but he confesseth -truly that he cannot name any one singular person -who hath reported it. Being asked of what -quality that Mr. Townley is, he saith his name is -Zouch Townley; he is a scholar, and a divine -by profession, and a preacher, but where he -liveth or abideth he knoweth not, but he is a -student of Christ Church in Oxford.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Being further asked whether he gave a -dagger to the said Mr. Townley, and upon what -occasion, and when, he answereth, that on a -Sunday after this examinant had heard the -said Mr. Townley preach at St. Margaret’s Church -in Westminster, Mr. Townley, taking a liking to -a dagger with a white haft which this examinant -ordinarily wore at his girdle, and was given to -this examinant, this examinant gave it to him -two nights after, being invited by Mr. Townley -to supper, but without any circumstance and -without any relation to those or any other verses; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>for this examinant is well assured this was so -done before he saw those verses, or had heard of -them; and this examinant doth not remember -that since he hath seen Mr. Townley.</p> - -<div class='c014'>”<span class='sc'>Ben Jonson.</span>"</div> -<p class='c025'>Zouch Townley, to whom the verses were -ascribed, was one of the Townleys of Cheshire. -He escaped a prosecution, with which he was -threatened in the Star-chamber, by taking refuge -at the Hague. He was evidently on terms of intimacy -with Jonson, to whom he addressed commendatory -verses, beginning--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in30'>“Ben,</div> - <div class='line'>The world is much in debt, and though it may</div> - <div class='line'>Some petty reckonings to small poets pay,</div> - <div class='line'>Pardon if at thy glorious sum they stick,</div> - <div class='line'>Being too large for their arithmetic.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>It is agreeable to find that Ben Jonson stands -wholly acquitted of the charge of being the writer -of the offensive and discreditable verses in question.</p> - -<hr class='c011' /> - -<p class='c019'>The following letter from Edmund Windham -to Dr. Plot, author of the history of Staffordshire, -relative to the ghost story related by Clarendon, -is taken from the “Biographia Britannica”:--</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span></div> -<div class='letter'> - -<p class='c019'>"<span class='sc'>Sir</span>--According to your desire and my promise, -I have written downe what I remember -(divers things being slipt out of my memory) of -the relation made me by Mr. Nicholas Towse, concerning -the apparition which visited him about -1627.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"I and my wife, upon occasion being in London, -lay at my brother’s, Pym’s, house, without -Bishopsgate, which was next house unto Mr. -Nicholas Towse’s, who was his kinsman and familiar -acquaintance--in consideration of whose -society and friendship he took a house in that -place; the said Towse being a very fine musician -and very good company--for aught I ever saw or -heard, a virtuous, religious, and well-disposed -gentleman. About that time, the said Mr Towse -told me that, one night being in bed and perfectly -waking, and a candle burning by him (as he -usually had), there came into his chamber, and -stood by his bed-side, an old gentleman, in such -a habit as was in use in Queen Elizabeth’s time; -at whose first appearance Mr. Towse was very much -troubled; but after a little while, recollecting himself, -he demanded of him in the name of God, <em>What -he was?--whether he were a man?</em> And the Apparition -replied, <em>Noe</em>. Then he asked him <em>if he were a -devil</em>? And the Apparition answered, <em>Noe</em>. Then -said Mr. Towse, <em>In the name of God, what art thou -<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>then</em>? And, as I remember, Mr. Towse told me -that the Apparition answered him that <em>he was the -ghost of Sir George Villiers, father to the then Duke -of Buckingham, whom he might very well remember, -since he went to schole at such a place in Leicestershire</em>--naming -the place, which I have forgotten. -And Mr. Towse told me that the Apparition had -perfectly the resemblance of the said Sir George -Villiers in all respects, and in the same habit that -he had often seen him wear in his lifetime. The -said Apparition also told him that he could not -but remember the much kindness that he, the -said Sir George Villiers, had expressed to him -whilst he was a scholar in Leicestershire, as -aforesaid; and that, out of that consideration, he -believed that he loved him, and that therefore he -made choice of him, the said Mr. Towse, to -deliver a message to his son, the Duke of Buckingham, -thereby to prevent such mischief as -would otherwise befall the said Duke, whereby he -would be inevitably ruined. And then, as I -remember Mr. Towse told me, that the Apparition -instructed him what message he should -deliver to the Duke; unto which Mr. Towse replied -that he should be very unwilling to go to the -Duke of Bucks upon such an errand, whereby he -should gaine nothing but reproach and contempt, -and be esteemed a madman, and therefore -<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>desired to be excused from the employment. But -the Apparition prest him with much earnestness -to undertake it, telling him that the circumstances -and secret discoveries (which he should be able -to make to the Duke of such passages in the -course of his life which were known to none -but himselfe) would make it appeare that his -message was not the fancy of a distempered -braine, but a reality. And so the Apparition -tooke his leave of him for that night, telling him -that he would give him leave to consider until -the next night, and then he would come to -receive his answer, whether he would undertake -his message to the Duke of Buckingham or noe. -Mr. Towse passed the next day with much -trouble and perplexity, debateing and reasoning -with himselfe whether he should deliver this -message to the Duke of Buckingham or not; but -in the conclusion he resolved to doe it. And the -next night, when the Apparition came, he gave -his answer accordingly, and then received full -instructions.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"After which Mr. Towse went and found out -Sir Thomas Bludder and Sir Ralph Freeman, by -whom he was brought to the Duke of Buckingham, -and had several private and long audiences -of him. I myselfe, by the favour of a friend, -was once admitted to see him in private conference -<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>with the Duke, where (although I heard -not their discourse) I observed much earnestness -in their actions and gestures. After which conference -Mr. Towse told me that the Duke would -not follow the advice that was given him, which -was (as I remember) that he intimated the -casting off and rejection of some men who had -great interest in him--and, as I take it, he named -Bishop Laud; and that he, the Duke, was to do -some popular acts in the ensueing parliament, of -which the Duke would have had Mr. Towse to -have been a Burgess, but he refused it, alledging -that, unless the Duke had followed his directions, -he must doe him hurt if he were of the parliament. -Mr. Towse also then told me that the -Duke confessed that he had told him those things -that no creature knew but himselfe, and that none -but God or the Divell could reveale to him. The -Duke offered Mr. Towse to have the King -knighte him, and to have given him preferment -(as he told me), but that he refused it, saying -that, unless he would follow his advice, he should -receive nothing from him. Mr. Towse, when he -made this relation, told me the Duke would inevitably -be destroyed before such a time (which -he then named), and accordingly the Duke’s death -happened before that time. He likewise told me -that he had written downe all the discourses he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>had had with the Apparition; and that <em>at last his -comeing to him was so familiar, that he was as little -troubled with it as if it had been a friend or acquaintance -that had come to visit him</em>. Mr. Towse -told me further, that the Archbishop (then -Bishop of London) Dr. Laud, should, by his -counsels, be the author of a very great trouble to -the kingdome, by which it should be reduced to -that extremity of disorder and confusion that it -should seem to be past all hope of recovery without -a miracle; but yet, when all people were in -despaire of happy days againe, the kingdome -should suddenly be reduced and resettled again -in a most happy condition.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"At this time my father Pym was in trouble, -and committed to the Gatehouse by the Lords of -the Councill, about a quarrel between him and -the Lord Pawlett, upon which one night I sayd -unto my cousin Towse, by way of jest, <em>I pray you -ask your Apparition what shall become of my father -Pym’s business</em>?--which he promised to doe; and -the next day told me that my father Pym’s enemies -were ashamed of their malicious prosecution, -and that he would be at liberty within a -weeke, or some few days, which happened accordingly.</p> - -<p class='c019'>"Mr. Towse’s wife (since his death) told me -that her husband and she, living in Windsor -<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>Castle, where he had an office, that summer the -Duke of Buckingham was killed, told her the very -day that the Duke was set upon by the mutinous -mariners in Portsmouth, saying the ... -would be his death, which accordingly fell out--and -that at the very instant the Duke was -killed (as upon strict enquiry they found afterwards) -Mr. Towse, sitting amongst some company, -suddenly started up and said, <em>The Duke of Buckingham -is slain</em>. Mr. Towse lived not long after; -which is as much as I can remember of this -Apparition, which, according to your desire, is -written by,</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Sir, yours, &c.,</div> - <div class='line in7'>“<span class='sc'>Edmund Windham</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'><span class='small'>“Boulogne, Aug. 5, 1652.”</span></p> - -</div> - -<hr class='c011' /> - -<p class='c019'>The following letter has been adduced as a -proof that Villiers owed his favour with Charles -to an incident in the Monarch’s early life--his -sole dereliction from propriety, as it is said. -Buckingham, it is said, was Charles’s confidant, -and mediator between him and King James:--</p> - -<p class='c019'>"Steenie, I have nothing now to wryte to you, -but to give you thankes bothe for the good counsell -ye gave me, and for the event of it. The King -gave mee a good sharpe potion, but you took -<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>away the working of it by the well-relished -comfites ye sent after. I have met with the -partie that must not be named, once alreddie, and -the cullor of wryting this letter shall make mee -meete with her on Saturday, although it is -written the day being Thursday. So assuring -you that this business goes safelie on, I rest</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Your constant loving friend,</div> - <div class='line in22'>“<span class='sc'>Charles</span>."<a id='r246' /><a href='#f246' class='c013'><sup>[246]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>“I hope ye will not shew the King this letter, -but put it in the safe custodie of Mister Vulcan.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div>THE END.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c031'> - <div>R. BORN, PRINTER, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT’S PARK.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c023'> - <div><span class='large'>Footnotes</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Brodie, vol. ii., p. 117.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Masters, 137.--Nichols’ “Leicestershire,” iii., p. 200.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f3'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. Brodie, from Rushworth.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f4'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. Hume.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f5'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, p. 212.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f6'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f7'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. He was the son of Lawrence Hyde, of Gussage St. -Michael, in the county of Dorset, and of a west country -branch of the ancient family of "Hyde of that Ilk."--<em>See -Lord Campbell.</em></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f8'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. iv., p. 381.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f9'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. Heylyn, 149.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f10'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. Lord Campbell, vol. vi., 322, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>passim</em></span>.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f11'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. Brodie, after Clarendon.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f12'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. Brodie, vol. ii., note, from Ayscough’s MSS. Brit. Mus., -4161, vol. ii.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f13'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f14'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. Brodie, from Hacket’s Life of Williams, part ii., -p. 96.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f15'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. Brodie, from Rushworth, vol. i., p. 424.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f16'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. Letter from Admiral Pennington to Buckingham, State -Paper Office, inedited.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f17'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. Letter from Admiral Pennington to Buckingham.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f18'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f19'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. A request which was quickly complied with, as we find -in the State Paper Office: “Orders given to impress men -for the fleet,” addressed to Admiral Pennington.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f20'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f21'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f22'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f23'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. Chamberlayne’s State of Great Britain in the seventeenth -century.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f24'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r24'>24</a>. State Papers, edited, 1626.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f25'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r25'>25</a>. State Papers, edited, 1626.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f26'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r26'>26</a>. Brodie (vol. ii., p. 147) says that only ten sail of the -hundred ships that formed Buckingham’s fleet were the -king’s ships; but it seems from these letters that the number -was much greater.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f27'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r27'>27</a>. State Papers, vol. lxvi., No. 19.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f28'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r28'>28</a>. Ibid., Domestic, vol. lxviii., No. 3; see also Preface to -Calendar, by Mr. Bruce, p. 11.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f29'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r29'>29</a>. Own.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f30'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r30'>30</a>. Action.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f31'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r31'>31</a>. Sir Sackville Crowe, who had been keeper of the Duke’s -privy purse, and was now treasurer of the Navy.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f32'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r32'>32</a>. The spelling of this original letter is preserved here: -the punctuation alone is altered.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f33'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r33'>33</a>. State Papers, vol. lxv., No. 3.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f34'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r34'>34</a>. Main business.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f35'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r35'>35</a>. Vol. xvii. No. 28.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f36'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r36'>36</a>. For the Duke’s creditors.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f37'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r37'>37</a>. State Papers, 2, vol. lxvii., date uncertain, No. 60.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f38'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r38'>38</a>. No. 96, Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f39'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r39'>39</a>. S. P., vol. lxvi., No. 14.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f40'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r40'>40</a>. State Papers, vol. lxvi., No. 33.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f41'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r41'>41</a>. Ibid., No. 35 and 67.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f42'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r42'>42</a>. State Papers, No. 71.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f43'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r43'>43</a>. Ibid., No. 76.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f44'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r44'>44</a>. Vol. 68, No. 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f45'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r45'>45</a>. Ibid., 105.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f46'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r46'>46</a>. State Papers, vol. lxviii., No. 25.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f47'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r47'>47</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxi., No. 43.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f48'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r48'>48</a>. Ibid., No. 36.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f49'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r49'>49</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxii., No 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f50'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r50'>50</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f51'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r51'>51</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxii., No. 28.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f52'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r52'>52</a>. Ibid., No. 29.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f53'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r53'>53</a>. This letter is dated July 28, which contradicts Hume’s -assertion that the Duke had given the Governor five days -respite.--See Hume, Life of Charles I., 1627.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f54'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r54'>54</a>. Brodie, vol. ii., p. 151.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f55'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r55'>55</a>. State Papers, lxxii., No. 87 and 90.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f56'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r56'>56</a>. Letter from Sir Allen Apsley to Secretary Nicholas.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f57'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r57'>57</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxv., No. 20.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f58'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r58'>58</a>. King James.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f59'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r59'>59</a>. Vol. lxxv., No. 22, State Paper Office, Conway Papers.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f60'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r60'>60</a>. Vol. lxvii., No. 60, Conway Papers.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f61'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r61'>61</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxv., No. 53 and 57.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f62'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r62'>62</a>. State Papers, 26.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f63'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r63'>63</a>. Ibid., 34.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f64'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r64'>64</a>. Ibid., lviiii., 65.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f65'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r65'>65</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxviii., No. 71.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f66'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r66'>66</a>. Edward Conway was the eldest son of the first Baron -Conway of Rugby, in the County of Warwick, and succeeded -his father, an eminent and popular Minister under -James I. and Charles I.--<cite>Burke’s Extinct Peerage.</cite></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f67'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r67'>67</a>. Probably Lady Hatton.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f68'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r68'>68</a>. The Governor of La Rochelle, whom the Duchess seems -to have mistrusted.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f69'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r69'>69</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxv., No. 7.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f70'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r70'>70</a>. Viscount Wilmot of Athlone, here referred to, was the -grandfather of John Wilmot, the dissolute, yet penitent, -Earl of Rochester, whose death has been described by -Bishop Burnet.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f71'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r71'>71</a>. Letter from Viscount Wilmot to Secretary Conway, -State Papers, vol. lxxx. No. 55.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f72'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r72'>72</a>. State Papers, lxxxii., vol. 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f73'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r73'>73</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxii. 39.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f74'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r74'>74</a>. Vol. lxxxiii, No. 3.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f75'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r75'>75</a>. Letter from Lord Wilmot to Secretary Conway, State -Papers, No. 45.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f76'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r76'>76</a>. State Papers, No. 3 and 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f77'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r77'>77</a>. State Papers,--Letter of Secretary Conway to the Earl -of Holland, vol. lxxxiii., No. 12.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f78'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r78'>78</a>. Ibid., No. 17.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f79'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r79'>79</a>. Ibid., No. 27.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f80'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r80'>80</a>. State Papers. The letter is dated Nov. 1, 1627. Vol. -lxxxiv., No. 1.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f81'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r81'>81</a>. State Papers, Ibid., Nov. 16. Dated London, Nov. 3.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f82'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r82'>82</a>. He was afterwards successively Baron Goring and -Earl of Norwich; his son, General Goring, whose character -is so ably drawn by Clarendon, pre-deceased his father -by two years; both titles became extinct in 1672.--<cite>Burke’s -Extinct Peerage.</cite></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f83'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r83'>83</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxiv., No. 20.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f84'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r84'>84</a>. Nov. 6.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f85'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r85'>85</a>. Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, p. 227.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f86'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r86'>86</a>. Letter of Denzil Holles to Sir Thomas Wentworth. -Strafford Letters, vol. i., p. 42.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f87'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r87'>87</a>. News Letter, State Papers, Ibid., No. 24.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f88'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r88'>88</a>. Strafford Letters.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f89'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r89'>89</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxv., No. 56 and 57.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f90'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r90'>90</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxv., No. 67.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f91'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r91'>91</a>. Ibid., No. 74.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f92'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r92'>92</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxvi., No. 80.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f93'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r93'>93</a>. State Papers, vol. lxxxvi., No. 93.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f94'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r94'>94</a>. State Papers, vol. lxvii., No. 96--Conway Papers.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f95'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r95'>95</a>. Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, p. 230.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f96'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r96'>96</a>. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 40-1.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f97'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r97'>97</a>. State Papers, vol lxxxv., No. 10 and 11.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f98'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r98'>98</a>. State Papers, vol. xc., No. 5.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f99'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r99'>99</a>. State Papers, vol. xc., No. 10.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f100'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r100'>100</a>. This event took place on or before the 2nd of February, -1628 (when Sir John Hippisley wished “the Duke joy of -his young son”), and not on the 30th of January, as is -usually stated.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f101'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r101'>101</a>. See State Papers, vol. xcii., No 88. The county of -Anglesea was to be charged 111<em>l.</em>; the money, as the King’s -letter intimated, was to be paid before the 1st of March.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f102'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r102'>102</a>. State Papers, xciv., No. 57.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f103'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r103'>103</a>. Ibid., 108.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f104'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r104'>104</a>. State Papers, vol. lxii., No. 7. Dated May 7, 1627.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f105'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r105'>105</a>. At the end of the session, Charles not only pardoned -Mainwaring, but gave him a valuable living.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f106'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r106'>106</a>. Brodie, p. 202. Hume’s “Charles I.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f107'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r107'>107</a>. Brodie, p. 170.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f108'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r108'>108</a>. State Papers, Domestic, 1625.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f109'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r109'>109</a>. Parallel between Essex and Buckingham--“Reliquiæ -Wottonianæ.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f110'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r110'>110</a>. Wottonianæ Reliquiæ, p. 233.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f111'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r111'>111</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f112'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r112'>112</a>. Brodie.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f113'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r113'>113</a>. Calendar, vol. xciv., No. 96.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f114'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r114'>114</a>. Brodie--Hume.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f115'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r115'>115</a>. Student.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f116'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r116'>116</a>. Balfour’s Annals, MSS., Advocate’s Library, quoted -from Brodie, vol. ii., p. 209.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f117'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r117'>117</a>. The letter from Edmund Wyndham, of Kattisford, -county Somerset, was addressed to Dr. Robert Plot, who -wished to have the story correctly stated, in order to correct -the false representations of William Lilly.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f118'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r118'>118</a>. “Biographia Britannica,” Art. “Villiers,” <em>Note</em>.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f119'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r119'>119</a>. See Appendix A.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f120'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r120'>120</a>. The original letter was in possession of the late Mr. -Upcott, by whom the author of this Memoir was presented -with a fac-simile. It is, however, given in all the histories -of this period.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f121'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r121'>121</a>. Sir Philip Warwick’s Memoirs, p. 35.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f122'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r122'>122</a>. See Brodie--Wotton--Hume.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f123'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r123'>123</a>. Reliq. Wotton., p. 234.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f124'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r124'>124</a>. It shows in what manner the Duchess was informed of -her husband’s death.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f125'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r125'>125</a>. Letters.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f126'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r126'>126</a>. Lady Anglesea, the sister-in-law -of Buckingham’s -mother, being the wife of his brother, Christopher, Earl -of Anglesea.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f127'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r127'>127</a>. There is an hiatus here in the MS.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f128'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r128'>128</a>. Domestic State Papers, August 27, 1628. No. 21.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f129'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r129'>129</a>. Clarendon.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f130'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r130'>130</a>. Expresses.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f131'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r131'>131</a>. Majesty’s.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f132'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r132'>132</a>. Domestic State Papers, Aug. 1628, No. 26.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f133'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r133'>133</a>. Biog. Brit.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f134'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r134'>134</a>. Domestic State Papers, August, 1628, No. 31.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f135'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r135'>135</a>. Brodie.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f136'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r136'>136</a>. </p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div>EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The Lady Mary Villiers lies</div> - <div class='line'>Under this stone: with weeping eyes</div> - <div class='line'>The parents that first gave her breath</div> - <div class='line'>And their sad friends laid her in earth.</div> - <div class='line'>If any of them, reader, were</div> - <div class='line'>Known unto thee, shed a tear;</div> - <div class='line'>Or if thyself possess a gem,</div> - <div class='line'>As dear to thee as this to them,</div> - <div class='line'>Though a stranger to this place,</div> - <div class='line'>Bewail in theirs thine own hard case:</div> - <div class='line'>For thou perhaps at thy return</div> - <div class='line'>May’st find thy darling in an urn.”</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in13'>ANOTHER.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The purest soul that e’er was sent</div> - <div class='line'>Into a clayey tenement</div> - <div class='line'>Informed this dust; but the weak mould</div> - <div class='line'>Could the great guest no longer hold:</div> - <div class='line'>The substance was too pure--the flame</div> - <div class='line'>Too glorious that thither came:</div> - <div class='line'>Ten thousand Cupids brought along</div> - <div class='line'>A grace on each wing that did throng</div> - <div class='line'>For place there--till they all opprest</div> - <div class='line'>The seat on which they sought to rest.</div> - <div class='line'>So the fair model broke for want</div> - <div class='line'>Of room to lodge th’ inhabitant.</div> - <div class='line'>When in the brazen leaves of Fame</div> - <div class='line'>The life, the death of Buckingham</div> - <div class='line'>Shall be recorded, if truth’s hand</div> - <div class='line'>Incise the story o’er our land,</div> - <div class='line'>Posterity shall see a fair</div> - <div class='line'>Structure by the studious care</div> - <div class='line'>Of two kings raised, that no less</div> - <div class='line'>Their wisdom than their power express;</div> - <div class='line'>By blinded zeal (whose doubtful light</div> - <div class='line'>Made murder’s scarlet robe seem white--</div> - <div class='line'>Whose vain deluding phantoms charmed</div> - <div class='line'>A clouded sullen soul, and arm’d</div> - <div class='line'>A desperate hand, thirsty of blood)</div> - <div class='line'>Torn from the fair earth where it stood!</div> - <div class='line'>So the majestic fabric fell.</div> - <div class='line'>His actions let our annals tell;</div> - <div class='line'>We write no chronicle; this pile</div> - <div class='line'>Wears only sorrow’s face and style;</div> - <div class='line'>Which e’en the envy that did wait</div> - <div class='line'>Upon his flourishing estate,</div> - <div class='line'>Turned to soft pity of his death,</div> - <div class='line'>Now pays his hearse; but that cheap breath</div> - <div class='line'>Shall not blow here, nor th’ impure brine</div> - <div class='line'>Puddle the streams that bathe this shrine.</div> - <div class='line'>These are the pious obsequies</div> - <div class='line'>Dropped from his chaste wife’s pregnant eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>In frequent showers, and were alone</div> - <div class='line'>By her congealing sighs made stone,</div> - <div class='line'>On which the carver did bestow</div> - <div class='line'>These forms and characters of woe:</div> - <div class='line'>So he the fashion only lent,</div> - <div class='line'>Whilst she wept all this monument.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f137'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r137'>137</a>. -"My Lord,--I was in hope, till very lately, that all -your displeasure taken against my lord had been past; but, -in letters sent me out of England, I was assuredly informed -your lordship was much disgusted still with him, which -news hath very much troubled me. I cannot be satisfied -without sending these expressly to you. And I beseech -you that, whatever you do conceive, you will deal clearly -with me, and let me know it, and withal direct me -how I may remove it. I must necessarily be included -in your lordship’s anger to him, for any misfortune -to my lord must be mine, and it will prove a great misfortune -to me to live under your frowns. Out of your -goodness you will not, I hope, make me a sufferer, who -have never deserved from you but as</p> -<div class='lg-container-r c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Your Lordship’s</div> - <div class='line in7'>“<span class='sc'>Katharine Buckingham</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>“Dunbere, this 2nd of September, 1639.”<a id='r138' /><a href='#f138' class='c013'><sup>[138]</sup></a></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f138'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r138'>138</a>. Strafford Letters, vol. ii., p. 386.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f139'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r139'>139</a>. Burke’s Extinct Peerage.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f140'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r140'>140</a>. "In the Earl of Cork’s chapel at Youghal, where he -was buried, there still remains the following hexastich to his -memory:--</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c024'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Munster may curse the time that Villiers came</div> - <div class='line'>To make us worse, by leaving such a name</div> - <div class='line'>Of noble parts as none can imitate,</div> - <div class='line'>But those whose hearts are married to the State;</div> - <div class='line'>But if they press to imitate his fame,</div> - <div class='line'>Munster may bless the time that Villiers came.”</div> - <div class='line in11'><cite>Biographia Britannica</cite>, vol. vi.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f141'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r141'>141</a>. Burke’s Extinct Peerage.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f142'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r142'>142</a>. Dr. Waagen--Life of Velasquez, p. 48.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f143'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r143'>143</a>. From the name of his country-seat.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f144'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r144'>144</a>. The infant Cardinal, the conqueror of Nordlingen, died -in 1641.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f145'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r145'>145</a>. Waagen, p. 62. From "Voyage en Espagne"--Cologne, -1662.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f146'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r146'>146</a>. Waagen; Life of Velasquez, p. 82.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f147'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r147'>147</a>. State Papers: Calendar, by Mr. Bruce.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f148'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r148'>148</a>. Waagen.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f149'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r149'>149</a>. Perichief.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f150'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r150'>150</a>. Walpole, p. 183, vol. v.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f151'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r151'>151</a>. Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f152'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r152'>152</a>. Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painters; Art. “Charles I.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f153'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r153'>153</a>. In the work styled “Art and Artists,” by Dr. Waagen, -there is a full and most interesting account of all Charles’s -collection.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f154'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r154'>154</a>. Note in Walpole, p. 189, vol. iii.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f155'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r155'>155</a>. Walpole, p. 192.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f156'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r156'>156</a>. Dr. Waagen says they were sequestrated; but it appears -only a portion of them were sold by the Parliament--the -rest fell into the hands of the second Duke of Buckingham.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f157'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r157'>157</a>. Biographia, Art. “George Villiers,” the second note.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f158'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r158'>158</a>. See Biographia Britannica.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f159'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r159'>159</a>. Walpole.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f160'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r160'>160</a>. Dr. Waagen says that some of the Duke’s pictures were -not genuine, and many of little worth; but this is not the -opinion of Horace Walpole.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f161'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r161'>161</a>. Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iii., p. 297--from -the Journals of the House of Commons.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f162'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r162'>162</a>. Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iii., p. 200.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f163'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r163'>163</a>. Ibid., p. 204.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f164'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r164'>164</a>. Dr. Waagen.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f165'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r165'>165</a>. Dr. Waagen.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f166'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r166'>166</a>. Walpole, p. 188.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f167'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r167'>167</a>. Walpole, p. 203.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f168'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r168'>168</a>. Walpole, p. 270.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f169'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r169'>169</a>. Walpole, p. 151, 152.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f170'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r170'>170</a>. Walpole, p. 206. Note. From Peacham’s “Complete -Gentleman.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f171'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r171'>171</a>. The fate of the Arundelian marbles is stated by Walpole -to have been as follows:--They came into the elder branch of -the family, the Dukes of Norfolk, and were sold by the -Duchess, who was divorced in the time of George II., to the -Earl of Pomfret for 300<em>l.</em> The Countess of Pomfret, great-grandmother -to the present Earl, gave them to the University</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f172'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r172'>172</a>. Walpole.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f173'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r173'>173</a>. Biograph. Brit., Art. “Villiers.” Note.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f174'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r174'>174</a>. Walpole, p. 149, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>passim</em></span>.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f175'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r175'>175</a>. Walpole, p. 166.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f176'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r176'>176</a>. There were five dials at Whitehall; a Mr. Gunter drew -the lines, and wrote a pamphlet on the use of them, in -1624. “One, too,” says Horace Walpole, “may still be -extant.” Vertue saw them at Buckingham House, from -whence they were sold.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f177'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r177'>177</a>. Note in Hartley Coleridge’s Introduction to Massinger’s -Plays, p. 32.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f178'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r178'>178</a>. Hartley Coleridge, p. 9.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f179'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r179'>179</a>. Massinger’s Works, edited by Hartley Coleridge, p. 74.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f180'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r180'>180</a>. Joanna, Lady Abergavenny, Mary Arundel, Catherine -Grey, Mary Duchess of Norfolk. See “Royal and Noble -Authors.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f181'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r181'>181</a>. Horace Walpole’s “Royal and Noble Authors,” vol. ii., -p. 308.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f182'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r182'>182</a>. No. 7.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f183'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r183'>183</a>. Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f184'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r184'>184</a>. Note in Parke’s edition of “Royal and Noble Authors.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f185'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r185'>185</a>. Hartley Coleridge.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f186'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r186'>186</a>. This letter was discovered by Malone, in Dulwich -College. There is no date on it, but Mr. Payne Collier -dates it in 1614, eight years before the publication of the -“Virgin Martyr.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f187'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r187'>187</a>. Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxiii.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f188'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r188'>188</a>. Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxv.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f189'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r189'>189</a>. Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xiv; from Dr. -Farmer’s “Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f190'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r190'>190</a>. Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxvii.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f191'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r191'>191</a>. Massinger’s Works, p. 167; in his Dedication of “The -Great Duke of Florence” to Sir Robert Wiseman.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f192'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r192'>192</a>. Hartley Coleridge’s “Introduction,” p. xxv.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f193'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r193'>193</a>. The play was acted, but not printed, and has never -been discovered.--See Coleridge, from Malone.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f194'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r194'>194</a>. Cunningham’s “London.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f195'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r195'>195</a>. See “Maid’s Tragedy.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f196'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r196'>196</a>. “The Guardian.” See Massinger’s Works, p. 351.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f197'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r197'>197</a>. From the State Papers, a new volume of which has -lately been published, it appears that Jonson was accused of -writing certain lines on Buckingham’s assassination.--See -Appendix.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f198'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r198'>198</a>. Gifford’s “Life of Ben Jonson,” p. 2; from Anthony -Wood.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f199'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r199'>199</a>. Cunningham’s London.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f200'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r200'>200</a>. Ben Johnson’s Works, p. i.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f201'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r201'>201</a>. Gifford, from the Duchess of Newcastle’s Letters.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f202'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r202'>202</a>. From the First Part of “Jeronymo,” a popular play.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f203'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r203'>203</a>. Massinger’s Works, p. 200.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f204'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r204'>204</a>. Gifford, p. 7, note.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f205'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r205'>205</a>. Rowe’s “Life of Shakspeare,” p. xxxiii.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f206'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r206'>206</a>. Gifford, p. 2.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f207'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r207'>207</a>. Pope’s “Essay on Shakespere,” prefixed to the Oxford -edition, p. xix., 1745.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f208'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r208'>208</a>. Introduction to Massinger’s Works, p. xxxiv.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f209'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r209'>209</a>. Page xxxvi.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f210'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r210'>210</a>. Gifford, p. 23. See note by Mr. Dyce, p. 23.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f211'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r211'>211</a>. Introduction to Massinger, p. xv.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f212'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r212'>212</a>. “Lines on Shakespere,” p. 552; Ben Jonson’s Works.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f213'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r213'>213</a>. In 1615. Shakspeare died in 1616.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f214'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r214'>214</a>. Hartley Coleridge’s “Life of Massinger.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f215'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r215'>215</a>. Gifford’s “Life of Ben <a id='corr244.215.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Jouson'>Jonson</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_244.215.1'><ins class='correction' title='Jouson'>Jonson</ins></a></span>,” p. 59.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f216'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r216'>216</a>. “Royal and Noble Authors,” vol. ii., p. 268.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f217'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r217'>217</a>. “Life of Ben Jonson,” p. 63.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f218'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r218'>218</a>. Ibid., p. 67.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f219'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r219'>219</a>. Gifford’s “Ben Jonson,” p. 37.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f220'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r220'>220</a>. In Laing’s Preface to notes of Ben Jonson’s Conversation.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f221'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r221'>221</a>. Note by Dyce; Gifford, p. 38.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f222'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r222'>222</a>. Life, p. 49.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f223'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r223'>223</a>. This was communicated to Gifford by the late Mr. -D’Israeli, to whom historical literature owes indeed much.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f224'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r224'>224</a>. Grainger, Biog. Hist., vol. i., p. 194.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f225'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r225'>225</a>. Gifford, p. 48.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f226'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r226'>226</a>. Gifford, p. 49.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f227'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r227'>227</a>. With a gentler feeling, Charles Lamb made numerous -extracts from “The New Inn,” to show that the mind that -produced the “Fox” was still there.--Ibid.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f228'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r228'>228</a>. Gifford, p. 48.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f229'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r229'>229</a>. Gifford.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f230'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r230'>230</a>. For some particulars of Sir John Beaumont, see Appendix.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f231'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r231'>231</a>. Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” vol i., p. 235.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f232'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r232'>232</a>. Stowe’s “Annals.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f233'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r233'>233</a>. Gull’s “Horn-book,” pp. 119, 120.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f234'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r234'>234</a>. Henry IV.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f235'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r235'>235</a>. Hartley Coleridge.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f236'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r236'>236</a>. Ibid--Note.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f237'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r237'>237</a>. Hartley Coleridge.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f238'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r238'>238</a>. See Cunningham’s “London,” Art. “Whitehall,” from -Dugdale’s “Troubles in England.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f239'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r239'>239</a>. See Cunningham, vol. i., p. 311. The Author cannot -avoid expressing obligations to this excellent work.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f240'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r240'>240</a>. Otherwise Bougton Place (or Palace). See Izaak -Walton’s “Life of Sir H. Wotton.”</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f241'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r241'>241</a>. Ferdinand I., of the House of Medici, who, in 1589, -succeeded his brother Francis.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f242'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r242'>242</a>. Collected and edited by Izaak Walton, in 1672.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f243'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r243'>243</a>. Cowley was born in 1618.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f244'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r244'>244</a>. He was born in 1608, and was only seventeen when he -began the study of the law under his uncle, Sir Nicholas -Hyde.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f245'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r245'>245</a>. State Papers, vol. cxiv., No. 17; August 27, 1627. -Calendar, edited by Mr. Bruce.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f246'> -<p class='c019'><a href='#r246'>246</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la">“Historia et vitae et regni Ricardi II.,”</span> p. 104, by Mr. T. -Hearne, who tells us the letter is said to have once belonged -to Archbishop Sancroft, and observes it is the only -intrigue he had ever heard this Prince was concerned in.</p> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<p class='c019'><a id='endnote'></a></p> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c017'> - <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>There are several anomolies in the footnoting. Footnotes were -numbered from 1 to 99, and then the sequence was repeated, starting -with ‘1’. There are also a number notes which are denoted only with -a traditional asterisk, etc. There is no apparent reason for the -dual system. There is one instance, on p. <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, where a numbered -footnote (<a href='#f138'>138</a>) is to be found referenced in a note (<a href='#f137'>137</a>) -indicated with an asterisk. For this text, all footnotes have been -re-sequenced numerically across the whole volume, to assure uniqueness.</p> - -<p class='c019'>At the bottom of p. <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, the letter opening ‘<span class='sc'>My dere Lord</span>’ is -prefixed by an apparent footnote anchor, for which there is no matching -note. This has been deemed a stray printer’s mark and removed.</p> - -<p class='c019'>On p. <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, the paragraph ending ‘bonds with another man.’ was -printed with, in the original, a footnote anchor ‘1’, but there -is no matching footnote. The ‘1’ anchor is repeated on the -following page, with the expected note. The anomolous anchor -has been removed.</p> - -<p class='c019'>Given the frequent quotations, it was inevitable that opening -and closing quotation marks would sometimes be lost or misplaced. -A sampling of these problematic passages reveals that -the author has a tendency to paraphrase and otherwise misquote. -They are placed here where the context or voice makes their position -obvious, or where an inspection of the original sources was possible -and allowed for the proper placement.</p> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='14%' /> -<col width='61%' /> -<col width='23%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_29.18'></a><a href='#corr29.18'>29.18</a></td> - <td class='c032'>to himself and all good men.[”]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_29.20'></a><a href='#corr29.20'>29.20</a></td> - <td class='c032'>[“]Sir George Goring, writing</td> - <td class='c033'>Removed.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_32.2'></a><a href='#corr32.2'>32.2</a></td> - <td class='c032'>than with his victuals.[”]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_45.5'></a><a href='#corr45.5'>45.5</a></td> - <td class='c032'>which were by the Duke so freely forgiven,[”]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_59.2'></a><a href='#corr59.2'>59.2</a></td> - <td class='c032'>[“]and then, when should they be paid?”</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_60.17'></a><a href='#corr60.17'>60.17</a></td> - <td class='c032'>were now content to forget him.[’]”</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_80.13'></a><a href='#corr80.13'>80.13</a></td> - <td class='c032'>on any minister of start[.]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_87.15'></a><a href='#corr87.15'>87.15</a></td> - <td class='c032'>says Lord Clarend[e/o]n</td> - <td class='c033'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_87.18'></a><a href='#corr87.18'>87.18</a></td> - <td class='c032'>for the pardon of his errors;[”]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_87.21'></a><a href='#corr87.21'>87.21</a></td> - <td class='c032'>even Lord Clarend[e/o]n observes</td> - <td class='c033'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_92.13'></a><a href='#corr92.13'>92.13</a></td> - <td class='c032'>apparently cau[ /s]eless melancholy</td> - <td class='c033'>Restored.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_114.2'></a><a href='#corr114.2'>114.2</a></td> - <td class='c032'>looking down into y[<sup>e</sup>] hall</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_118.25'></a><a href='#corr118.25'>118.25</a></td> - <td class='c032'>his end was upon Satterdau morning[.]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_217.15'></a><a href='#corr217.15'>217.15</a></td> - <td class='c032'>in which Shak[s/e]speare had a share</td> - <td class='c033'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_238.8'></a><a href='#corr238.8'>238.8</a></td> - <td class='c032'>“authorizing Thomas Gyles,[”]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_240.22'></a><a href='#corr240.22'>240.22</a></td> - <td class='c032'>to have first drank of it herself[.]</td> - <td class='c033'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_244.215.1'></a><a href='#corr244.215.1'>244.215.1</a></td> - <td class='c032'>Jo[u/n]son,” p. 59.</td> - <td class='c033'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_259.20'></a><a href='#corr259.20'>259.20</a></td> - <td class='c032'>sent [to ]request a transcript</td> - <td class='c033'>Restored.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c032'><a id='c_326.21'></a><a href='#corr326.21'>326.21</a></td> - <td class='c032'>Letter from Sir Francis Netherso[t/l]e</td> - <td class='c033'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The life and times of George Villiers, -duke of Buckingham, Volume 3 (of 3), by Katherine Thomson - 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