BUCKINGHAM. 



lie soon after made him a duke. The event was 

 what James had anticipated. While the young 

 prince delighted the royal family mid the whole na- 

 tion by the gentleness and modesty of his manners, 

 B., who accompanied him, ott'ended them by his ar- 

 rogance and licentiousness. He attained his purpose : 

 the negotiation, which was far advanced by means of 

 Bristol, was broken off; and, that no one else might 

 afterwards complete it witli success, he indulged 

 himself in the grossest insults against the Spanish 

 ministry, speedily left the kingdom with the prince, 

 deceived James by false reports, and instigated the 

 parliament to declare, tliat, instead of forming a 

 connexion witli Spain, it was necessary to make war 

 against it, which was accordingly done by James. 

 The house of commons peremptorily refused the re- 

 quisite supplies, although they had consented to the 

 war. B. connected himself with the puritan party, 

 and formed the project of abolishing the episcopal 

 dignity, selling the possessions of the church, and con - 

 turning the war with the money raised in this way. 

 Thus the policy, the feelings, and conscience of James 

 were betrayed by his favourite, and in the midst of 

 these disorders he died. He had succeeded, indeed, 

 in concluding a treaty for the marriage of his son with 

 Henrietta ot France ; but had the grief of seeing an 

 English army, which was intended to recover the here- 

 ditary dominions of his son-in-law, the unhappy elector 

 palatine Frederic V., ruined by the mismanagement of 

 B., while a union with Spain might have effected a 

 peaceful restoration of the territories. After the 

 death of James, B. continued to be the arbitrary mi- 

 nister of Charles I. ; but the time had now come for 

 the fulfilment of the prophecy of his former king. 

 After having been declared the saviour of the prince 

 and the nation, in the house of commons of the last 

 parliament, B. was declared by the new one a seducer 

 of the king, a traitor to the liberty of his country, and 

 a public enemy. This took place during a war which 

 required more than ever, the fullest harmony with the 

 house of commons. Hence the dissolution of two 

 parliaments, the imprisonment of the members who 

 Had been most distinguished for their zeal, illegal 

 taxes and forced loans; instead of supplies granted by 

 parliament, the arbitrary imprisonment of those who 

 refused to pay them ; in short, every thing that could 

 conspire to bring a virtuous king to the most fearful 

 end. But B., who had learned, by his disgraceful 

 attempt on Cadiz, that he was unequal to a war 

 against Spain, did not hesitate to engage in a war 

 against France. He had gone to Paris to solemnize, 

 in the name of the king, his marriage with the daughter 

 of Henry IV. Here he dared to raise his eyes to the 

 queen of France. As this princess dismissed him with 

 indulgence rather than indignation, he desired to re- 

 turn to the French court as English ambassador. 

 His rashness, however, did not remain unobserved ; 

 and Louis XIII. wrote to him to forbid his cherishing 

 the thought of this journey. In order to avenge him- 

 self for this prohibition, B. engaged with the Protes- 

 tants of Rochelle in a war against France. This 

 enterprise, and the assault of the island Rhe (1627), 

 was more disgracefully conducted than the attempt 

 on Cadiz. B., at the same time minister, admiral, and 

 general, seemed to make it his object to dishonour 

 himself in all three capacities. After having excited 

 the people of Rochelle to a sedition, only to deliver 

 them to the vengeance of Richelieu, and after having 

 sacrificed a third of the British army, he returned to 

 England, despised and execrated as much by his fel- 

 low citizens as by his enemies. Pecuniary necessity 

 compelled him to call a new parliament. B. opened 

 it with the declaration, that the king might have done 

 without it, and that, if money was refused, his majes- 

 ty would find other means to supply his wants. Thus 



he scattered the seeds of discord between the king 

 and people. In the course of the debates, he 

 was obliged to hear himself called the author of 

 the public distress, while the king's heart was ac- 

 knowledged to be the sanctuary of all the virtues. 

 Without knowing when to yield and when to resist, 

 he contended most violently against the famous peti- 

 tion of rights ; but he suddenly ceased his resistance, 

 when he heard that an impeachment was preparing 

 against him in the house of commons. The com- 

 plaints against him, however, continued ; but the 

 house of commons contented itself, instead of a solemn 

 impeachment, with a petition, that the king would 

 remove him from his person and his council, as the 

 author of the public calamities. The only reply of 

 the monarch was a sudden dissolution of the parlia- 

 ment. Charles resolved to attempt anew the relief of 

 the Protestants of Rochelle. Count Denbigh was 

 appointed to command the expedition, but soon after 

 returned without accomplishing any tiling, after hav- 

 ing disgraced the banner of England by his ineffi- 

 ciency. The king now ordered B. to put himself at 

 the head of a new armament, which was fitted out 

 with incredible dispatch. The duke was obliged to 

 submit to the command, and was on the point of em- 

 barking at Portsmouth, when, in Aug., 1628, sur- 

 rounded by courtiers, guards, and soldiers, he fell 

 under the dagger of Felton, a subaltern officer. Thus 

 died a man, whose name suggests the idea of the most 

 unlimited power ; who had braved the denunciations 

 of the two houses of parliament, the hatred of Riche- 

 lieu and Olivarez, and even the displeasure of the two 

 kings in whose names he ruled. At the moment of 

 his death, he had regained the favour of his master 

 by the activity of his zeal, and, confiding in the im- 

 mense resources with which he was surrounded, was 

 looking forward to victory. 



BUCKINGHAM, George Villiers, duke of, son of the 

 preceding, was born at Wallingford-house, in West- 

 minster, Jan. 30, 1627. After studying at Trinity 

 college, Cambridge, he travelled abroad, and, on his 

 return home, after the commencement of the civil 

 war, he was presented to the king at Oxford. He 

 served in the royal army, under prince Rupert and 

 lord Gerard. His estate was seized by the parlia- 

 ment ; but, having obtained the restoration of it, he 

 travelled, with his brother, into France and Italy. In 

 1648, he returned to England, and was with Charles 

 II. in Scotland, and at the battle of Worcester. He 

 followed that prince abroad, and served, as a volun- 

 teer, in the French army in Flanders. He after- 

 wards returned to England, and, in 1657, married the 

 daughter of lord Fairfax, by which means he repaired 

 the ruin of his fortune in the royal cause. He, how- 

 ever, preserved the favour of Charles II., and, at the 

 restoration, was made master of the horse. He also 

 became one of the king's confidential ministers, who 

 were designated by the appellation of the cabal. His 

 political conduct was, like his general behaviour 

 characterized by unprincipled levity and imprudence. 

 In 1666, he engaged in a conspiracy to effect a 

 change of the government; notwithstanding which, 

 he recovered the favour of king Charles, which he 

 repeatedly abused. The profligacy of his private life 

 was notorious. He seduced the countess of Shrews- 

 bury, and killed her husband in a duel ; and he was 

 more than suspected of having been the instigator of 

 the infamous colonel Blood to his brutal outrage 

 against the duke of Ormond, whom he attempted, 

 with the assistance of other ruffians, to carry to Ty- 

 burn, and hang on the common gallows. In 1676, 

 he was, together with the earls of Shaftesbury and 

 Salisbury and lord Wharton, committed to the Tower 

 for a contempt, by order of the house of lords ; but, 

 on petitioning the king, they were released. Afier 



