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MEMOIRS

OF

THE COURT OF ENGLAND.

JOHN SHEFFIELD,

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

CHAPTER I.

The Duke's intellectual character defined. His birth. Early habits of study, and subsequent love of pleasure.A volunteer in the first naval war with the Dutch in 1666.-Attempts to take his seat in the House of Lords, but objected to, on account of his being under age.—Obtains the favour of Charles the Second and his Courtiers, and befriends the poet Dryden. -Appointed Gentleman of the Bed-chamber. Serves a campaign under Turenne.-Pays his addresses to Princess Anne. - Volunteers to command the forces despatched to the relief of Tangier.- Curious anecdote. Sworn of the Privy Council on the accession of James the Second.. Anecdote of the Duke and King William. The Duke's noble conduct during the London riots. Created Gives in his adhesion to King William.. Marquis of Normanby.-Created by Queen Anne Duke of Buckinghamshire. His vexation at the honours heaped on the Duke of Marlborough.-His infidelity and superstition.His character as a poet.-Neglected by George the Second. -Spring Macky's character of the Duke. His three Marriages. Death in 1721.-His epitaph on himself.

JOHN SHEFFIELD, Duke of Buckingham, like many other persons of high rank who have at

VOL. II.

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tempted either to instruct or amuse the world, is indebted for his literary reputation, rather to his exalted position in society, than to the display of any unusual degree of talent. According to Horace Walpole, he wrote in hopes of being confounded with his predecessors in the title, the witty George Villiers; but, in the words of that sarcastic writer,-" He would more easily have been mistaken for the other Buckingham, if he had never written at all." Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, however, appears to have had some claims to conversational wit; and, though he never attained to intellectual pre-eminence, has at least the merit of being superior to the herd of courtiers and coxcombs of the day, with whom it was his lot to associate. He ex

hibited, on all occasions, the highest respect for literature, both by the eagerness with which he courted literary distinction, and by the patronage which he extended to others.

The subject of the present memoir was the only son of Edmund Sheffield, second Earl of Mulgrave, by Lady Elizabeth Cranfield, daughter of Lionel, Earl of Middlesex. He was born in 1649, and on the death of his father in 1658, succeeded, at the age of nine years, to the Earldom of Mulgrave. Following the custom of young men of family, he commenced his travels on the continent at an early age. Unlike his young contemporaries, however, he denied himself to his acquaintance during several hours of each day; and, with a laudable strength of mind, not

only avoided the pleasures natural to his age, but applied himself cheerfully and diligently to his studies. Afterwards, however, he became quite as much distinguished for his admiration of women and his love of pleasure, as he had formerly been for his predilection in favour of retirement and books.

The same ambition which had prompted him to seek distinction in the paths of literature, appears to have, subsequently, induced him to enlist himself as an adventurer in the field of arms. In the first naval war with the Dutch, in 1666, he went to sea as a volunteer at the age of seventeen, and had the fortune to serve in the same ship with Prince Rupert and the celebrated Duke of Albemarle, who at this period shared the command of the fleet. At the close of this service, his military ardour still raging, he obtained the command of one of the volunteer troops of horse, which, in consequence of the threatened invasion of the Dutch, were at this period quartered over the kingdom. At the next meeting of Parliament, he proposed to take his seat in the House of Lords, but Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, opposing his admission in consequence of his being under age, he was compelled for a time to forego the honour.

It was about this period, as he himself informs us, that he began to follow the allurements of pleasure with "too much eagerness." He grew into high favour with Charles the Second and his gay courtiers; became a friend of the wits;

and imbibing the spirit of the circles to which he was admitted, became a free-thinker in religion, and a prostituter of the muse. He is entitled to

the merit, however, of having about the same time courted the friendship and relieved the distresses of the immortal Dryden. The great poet says, in dedicating to him his tragedy of "Aurenge-Zebe," "I am sure you will more easily permit me to be silent in the care you have taken of my fortune; which you have rescued, not only from the power of others, but from my worst of enemies, my own modesty and laziness."

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At the breaking out of the second Dutch war in 1672, the young lord again went to sea, and behaved with so much credit at the battle of Solebay, that he, shortly afterwards, obtained the command of the Royal Katherine," a ship which, he himself informs us, was considered the best second-rate in the service. Two years after, on the 29th of May, 1674, he was honoured with the Order of the Garter, and, about the same time, was appointed Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles the Second. He subsequently entered the French service. He served a campaign under the celebrated Marshal Turenne; and, returning to England in 1679, was appointed, on the disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth, Lord-Lieutenant of the county of York, and Governor of Hull.

It was at this period that Buckingham is said to have aspired to the hand of, and to have paid his addresses to, the Princess Anne, afterwards Queen

of England. This circumstance is openly hinted at by Mrs. Manley in her scandalous "Memoirs," and Boyer observes, in his " History of Queen Anne," that though the Duke's addresses to her were checked as soon as discovered, yet that the Princess "ever had an esteem for him." "His presumption," says John Macky, "made him make love to the Princess Anne, (now Queen,) for which he left the kingdom; but soon after returned, and was made Lord Chamberlain by King James."

These ambitious projects are said very nearly to have cost Buckingham his life. Having volunteered to command the forces despatched for the relief of Tangier, we are assured that he was purposely sent to sea in a leaky ship, with a view of keeping him out of the way of the Princess. The narrator of this strange story informs us, that it was entirely owing to the favourable state of the weather, and to the pumps being kept constantly at work, that the Duke reached his destination in safety. He adds, moreover, that although the Duke's nice sense of honour made him persist in proceeding to sea, notwithstanding the imminent danger to which he knew he would be exposed, yet that he did his utmost to dissuade others from accompanying him. Many of his friends are said to have followed his advice. Among those, however, who had originally proposed to attend him, but who still thought it incumbent upon them to keep their word, was the Earl of Plymouth, a natural son of Charles the Second, usually styled by his contemporaries " Don Carlos." During the

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