THE SECOND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 9 



the first M;F.H. Had the superstitious women who nursed 

 and were about him at this period had his fortune told by 

 crystal gazing, by the stars, by wise men, or other means, 

 I wonder if it was predicted that he would be the favourite 

 of his king ? The most handsome of a court not a little 

 famed for its beautiful women and strikingly handsome men 

 I wonder if it was foretold that he would be possessed of an 

 inordinate amount of energy, which would not be directed 

 in the right channels till his name and a good part of his great 

 riches were dissipated ? I say, I wonder ! 



We are apt now-a-days to be very harsh in our criticisms 

 of those who lived before us, forgetting that they lived in a 

 fast age, ai?d that our code of morals was not theirs, and that 

 even we do not carry out our own code. His Grace the Duke 

 of Buckingham, the second of his line, lived in an epoch when 

 every other man kept his mistress more or less openly, when 

 it was a necessary qualification for a man to be able to drink 

 his one or two bottles of wine at table, even though lie had to 

 be carried to bed after his libations. It seems to me, that 

 His Grace was a prominent member of the court, and, there- 

 fore, his every action was criticised and noted down, as it 

 were, for future reference. With these few words in defence 

 of, or apology for, a character who, with all his faults and 

 failings, in many ways demands respect, let me proceed to 

 give an outline of his life in the gay court of Charles II., 

 whose favourite he was. One of the best sketches I have 

 read of him is that, appropriately enough, written by Miss 

 Katherine Duncombe, in her little book on Ryedale. She 

 says : — 



" He was the most prominent member of the celebrated Cabinet, 

 afterwards known as the Cabal, especially in later life. He was a man 

 of varied intellectual attainments, and was renowned as a wit, his gift 

 for mimicry affording constant amusement to Charles II. and his 

 courtiers. He was also one of the handsomest men of his day, and 

 excelled in all manly sports and exercises. He was an author, and 

 wrote farces, poems and plays, amongst the last a comedy called 

 ' The Chances,' which was given at the King's playhouse, the scene 

 of Nell Gwynn's theatrical triumphs ; Pepys went to see it, and remarks 

 that it was a good play, and pleased him well. But the best-known 

 of his writings is ' The Rehearsal,' a witty parody on Dryden and the 



