1680.] THE EARL OF ROCHESTER. 381 



principle. In the mean time he became one of the Gentlemen 

 of the Bed-chamber to the king, and comptroller of Wood- 

 stock Park. He also saw some service in the royal navy ; 

 and in the engagement with the Dutch at Bergen, in Norway, 

 he showed the greatest resolution, and gained a high reputation 

 for courage. 



The Earl of Rochester, before he made the grand tour, 

 had given somewhat into that disorderly and intemperate 

 way of living which the joy of the whole nation upon the 

 restoration of Charles II. had introduced ; yet during his 

 travels he had at least acquired a habit of sobriety. But 

 falling into court company, where excesses were continually 

 practised, he soon became intemperate, and the natural heat 

 of his fancy, being inflamed with wine, made him so extrava- 

 gantly pleasant, that many, to be more diverted by that 

 humour, strove to engage him deeper and deeper in intoxi- 

 cation. This at length so entirely subdued him, that, as he 

 told Bishop Burnet, he was for five years together continually 

 drunk ; not all the while under the visible effect of ardent 

 liquor, but so inflamed in his blood that he was never cool 

 enough to be master of himself Many of his escapades, 

 such as the Tower-street incident, are too well known to be 

 related here. There are, however, other adventures of the 

 earl, relating to our subject, which have escaped the notice of 

 most of his biographers. 



Soon after the celebrated epitaph upon the king became 

 known, Rochester was, as is well known, banished from the 

 court. About the same time it happened that the Duke of 

 Buckingham was in disgrace for an offence of a different 

 nature, and being disengaged from any particular attachment 

 in town, he and Rochester resolved to set out in quest of 

 adventures. After disguising themselves in a proper manner 

 for supporting the characters they intended to assume, they 

 jointly took an inn (said to be the Green Man at Six-Mile- 

 Bottom), which was to be let on the Newmarket road, where 

 each in his turn officiated as landlord. During the race- 

 meetings they were concerned in many ludicrous and still 

 more scandalous transactions at this hostelry. 



