countrie.

"Sellengers, wher we faw old M'. went into the "Hicklin, wher he and his daugh"ter preferd William Pond to fearue my Lady. "To this place we came about 10 of y° clock "in the night, and I was fo wearie as I could not tell whether I fhould fleepe or eate first.

"The next day we went to North-hall, wher

we found my aunt of Warwick fomething ill "and melancholy; fhe hir felfe had not bin "ther paffinge a moneth, but lay at S' Moyle "Finches in Kent, by reafon of the great plague, "wch was then much about North-hall.

"Not longe after Michaellmas my unckle "Ruffell, my aunt Ruffell his wife, their fon, << my Lo; of Bedford, my mother, and I, gaue "all allowance to M'. Chambers, my aunts "Steward, in wh fort the houfe was kept du"ringe of being ther. I vsed to weare my haire"cullered veluet gowne.euerie day, and learned "to finge and play on the bafs viol of Jack "Jenkins, my aunts boye.

"Before Christmas my cozen Fraunces was "fent for from Nonefuch to North-hall, by rea"fon that hir grace was to goe from thence to "be brought vp wh the La: Harington in the ❝ cuntrie. All this tyme we wear merrie at "North

Q3

"North-hall, my coz: Fra: Bourcher and my ઃઃ cozen Frauncis Ruffell and I did vfe to walk "much in the garden, and weare great one wh "the other *

૬ * * * * *

"Now ther was much talk of a maske wch the "Queene had at Winchester, and how all the "Ladies about the Court had gotten fuch ill

..

names that it was growen a fcandalous place; "and the Queene hir felfe was much fallen "from hir former greatnes and reputation fhe "had in [the] world."

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GEORGE VILLIERS,

FIRST DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

"THE Duke," fays Sir Henry Wotton, was illiterate; yet had learned, at Court, "first to fift and queftion well, and to fupply "his own defects, by the drawing or flowing <6 unto him of the best inftruments of ex"perience and knowledge; from whom he

had a fweet and attractive manner, to fuck "what might be for the public or his own pro

..

per ufe; fo as the lefs he was favoured by the Mufes, he was the more fo by the "Graces."

"In point of drefs and luxury," fays Sir Henry Wotton, in his Parallel between the Earl of Effex and the Duke of Buckingham, cc they were both very inordinate in their appe"tites, especially the Earl, who was by nature "of fo indifferent a taste, that I must tell a rare "thing of him, though it be but homely, that "he would stop in the midft of any phyfical "potion, and, after he had licked his lips, he s would drink off the reft."

Lord Clarendon, in the "Difparity between "the Estates and Conditions of this Nobleman "and the Earl of Effex," obferves, after praifing the Duke's extreme affability and gentleness to all men, "He had befides fuch a tenderness and "compaffion in his nature, that fuch as think "the laws dead if they are not severely executed, "cenfured him for being too merciful; but his

charity was grounded upon a wifer maxim of "ftate: "Non minus turpe Principi multa fup"plicia quam Medico, multa funera :-and he "believed, doubtlefs, that hanging was the "worst use man could be put to."

The Duke, on his fatal journey to Portsmouth, was advertised by an old woman on the road, that she had heard fome desperate persons vow to kill him. His nephew Lord Fielding, riding in company

24

232 VILLIERS DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

company with him, desired him to exchange coats with him, and to let him have his blue ribbon, and undertook to muffle himself up in fuch a manner that he should be mistaken for the Duke, The Duke immediately caught him in his arms, saying, that he could not accept of such an offer from a nephew whose life he valued as highly as his own.

The following Letter from the Duke of Buckingham to James the First, I believe, is not in print. In most of his letters he appears an abject flatterer of the King, and fhews a childish affection expreffed in very low language; in this, however, he writes in a manly ftyle. He would have recommended a fervant of his to fome place, but the King had previously disposed of it.

"God forbid that for eyther me or anie of "mine your promis fhould be forced; my man "is not in miferie; his master by your favour is "in eftate not to let him want; he is younge, "yett patient, and your meanes manie to benefitt "him fome other way, an his honestie can de"ferve it; I will anfwere he will. So both I ❝ and he are humble futers that you please your "felfe, in which doeing you content all. So

66

cravinge your bleffings, I ende your humblę "flave and doge,

"STEENIE,"

LORD BACON.

THIS great man has been accused of deferting his friend and patron the Earl of Effex in his diftrefs. Fuller thus attempts to exculpate him:

"Lord Bacon," fays he, " was more true to "the Earl than the Earl was to himself; for "finding him prefer deftruction before difpleafing "counfel, he fairly forfook (not his perfon, whom "his pity attended to the grave, but) his prac"tices, and herein was not the worfe friend for "being the better fubject."

Lord Bacon's Effays, which, as he fays, will be more read than his other works, "coming "home to men's business and bofoms," have been the text-book of myriads of Effay-Writers, and comprehend fuch a condenfation of wifdom and learning, that they have very fairly been wire-drawn by his fucceffors. Dr. Rowley, his Chaplain, gives the following account of his method of study, and of fome of his domestic habits.

"He was," fays he, fays he, "no plodder upon "works; for though he read much, and that "with great judgment and rejection of imperti"nences incident to many authors, yet he would

ufe fome relaxation of mind with his ftudies;