This influence secured, he obtained still greater respect for his ardour infriendship, and the implacability of his resentment. Arrogant to his superiors, insolent to his equals, and contemptuous to his inferiors, he was alike hated and feared; and even ruled the king, and heir-apparent, by a strange admixture of flattery and dictation.

Such were the circumstances under which, to enable Prince Charles to pay his court to the Infanta of Spain, he in 1625, devised and executed the project of that secret journey to Madrid, which constitutes an historical incident too popular to require, in this place, any detailed account of the absurdity with which it was conducted, or the mortification in which it terminated. The failure of the enterprize was mainly occasioned by Buckingham's wild conduct; for although the Prince was welcomed with singular instances of splendour and attention, the Duke's familiarity with him offended the propriety of the Spanish court; while the haughtiness of his bearing exasperated the grandees. He was even wanton enough to insult their prime minister, the Duke Olivarez, to his teeth, and at last, finding himself thoroughly despised and openly hated, teazed the Prince into a resolution to return home, and break through every bond of the contract. Thus what began in mystery ended in shame; and although the infatuated king had raised him to a dukedom during his absence, and rewarded him, upon his return home, with the posts of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Steward of Hampton Court; yet was he inconsistent enough to concur with the opposition in Parliament, misrepresent the treatment the Prince had received, inflame the nation against the Spaniards, and for once in his life advocate those measures, which were not unjustly conceived to be indispen

younger, Christopher, an Earl; he made one half brother, Edward, President of the Province of Munster, in Ireland, and obtained a Baronetcy for another, who seems to have been the only moderate member of the family, inasmuch as he always persisted in residing on his estate, and eschewing the court. He also obtained a Countess's patent for his mother, married his only sister to the Earl of Denbigh, and provided her with three appointments under the Queen. In fine, it was affirmed at his death, that of all his relations, within any near degree, every man was well placed and every woman well matched; and farther, that he left every servant in his household, and every officer under his various authorities, possessed of good fortunes and reputable characters :—a boast of blessings, such as the admirers of far better men have seldom been able to instance.

sable from the welfare of the country. This conduct involved the 'most complicated baseness; it was ingratitude to the court to which he owed all he possessed; it was only adopted to divert the torrent of indignation, which he was certain must roll against him, should the Earl of Bristol, who was then ambassador at Madrid, return home, and expose the true history of the journey; and altogether was a gross imposture, artfully disguised in falsehoods, and yet palpably disfigured with contradictions.

To what ends this conduct might have led it is now vain to conjecture. James I. died in 1625, and no change took place in the tenour of Buckingham's prosperity, for he succeeded in being even a more ascendant minion with the son than he had ever been with the father;* and power and favour continued in his hands to the same arbitrary extent as ever. The young King immediately forwarded him to Paris, there to receive the Princess Henrietta Maria of France as his intended queen, and escort her to England. Nothing could exceed the pomp of this embassy, nor the splendour in which Buckingham appeared at the head of it: the gallantry of his retinue exceeded all the bravery of the French Court, and he overacted in his own person all the vanities for which that nation has ever been ridiculous. But even on this occasion the inherent presumption of his character involved him in danger and disrepute; for, struck with the charms of the Queen of France, he ventured to urge a criminal overture to her, with an openness and importunity that provoked the most indignant cen

*The following autograph from the Prince, exhibits Buckingham's character in the amplitude of courtiership, as the father's prime counsellor, and the confidant of the son's amours.

Stenie,

I HAVE nothing now to wryte to you, but to give you thankes bothe for the good councell ye gave me, and for the event of it. The king gave me a good sharp potion, but you took away the working of it, by the well relished comfits ye sent after it. I have met with the partie that must not be named, once alreddie; and the cullor of wryting this letter shall make me meete with her on Saturday, although it is written the day being Thursday. So assuring you that the business goes safelie onn, I rest

I hope ye will not shew

the King this letter, but put it in the safe custodie of Mister

Vulcan.

Your constant loving friend,

CHARLES.

But

sures. Yet so daring was his passion, that after attending on his new mistress a part of the road to England, he returned back to Paris in private, and visited the Queen, who dismissed him with a reproof, savouring of kindness, though expressing anger. his motions were watched, and upon the prospect of a second embassy, provisions were made for his reception, by which his rashness, had he persevered, must have paid the forfeit of assas sination. Of this design he received just notice enough to decline the hazard, and was forced to succumb with a braggart asseveration, that he would still see and confer with the lady, in spite of all the power of France.

Returned to England with a safety but little merited, he took no pains to obliterate the baffled infamy of this conduct: on the contrary he was reckless enough to strain every means within his reach in order to make the French court acknowledge the influence of his resentment. He received every refugee from the justice or displeasure of the King of France, not only with promptitude and kindness, but upheld them by attentions and bounty; he spared no cost to spirit up a hatred against the French among the people, and omitted no argument to prevail upon Charles to distress his father-in-law by assisting the Hugonots. In the extravagance of his animosity, he was even so base as to persecute the young queen, whom he was accustomed to treat with unpardonable insolence; and it has been asserted, that while he lived, she had but little interest with her husband, and could seldom venture to interpose with effect in political matters.

No fortune can be supposed to have swollen with the precocious magnitude which signalized the career of Buckingham, without having excited the enmity of numerous rivals; and no greatness could have been so imperiously abused as his was, without implanting the most violent feelings of popular antipathy. However long too the re-action of these consequences might have been deferred, they were sure to break out with redoubled rancour upon the first opportunity. Accordingly, the crisis of his fevered state at last approached; he was unable to overcome it; and the tide of prosperity now receded from him with unexampled force and velocity. The parliament assembled in August 1626, and he was formally arraigned; but the King suspended the blow by a dissolution of its authority. The coronation took place on the 2d of February following, and he officiated at the ceremony

under every appearance of favour and confidence, with the rank of Lord High Steward. Still the resolution of his accusers remained unshaken, and both Houses of the new Parliament, which met four days after, exhibited fresh articles of impeachment against him. The King sent down a message to the Lords, asserting of his own knowledge that the Duke was innocent; Buckingham also put in an exculpatory answer, couched in great obsequiousness and humility; but no satisfaction whatever was produced by the one mediation or the other; and Charles, impatient of the pertinacity of the proceedings, again dissolved the Parliament, rather than abandon his favourite to its anger.

Meanwhile, the populace cried out against him with singular bitterness. He was upbraided as having corrupted the King, and betrayed their liberties; accusations, which he retorted with an acrimony even more intemperate; thus adding fresh passion to his incensed opponents, and heaping deeper cares upon the confusion of his friends.

The sittings of the Parliament had no sooner ceased, than Buckingham triumphed in other intrigues; and a war was declared against France. The greatest efforts were immediately made to obtain those supplies by indirect resources, which the legislative body had directly refused. Of all who had been forward in the late measures against the Duke, many were either imprisoned or displaced; money was then exacted in every quarter upon the idlest pretences, and by the most extraordinary processes; murmurs and complaints resounded in each direction, arrests were doubled, and the nation trembled to its very centre with grievance and expostulation. But neither menaces nor punishment could overpower the stubborn spirit of the people: the treasury was still in the greatest poverty, and, as a last resort, Buckingham prevailed upon the King to grant a warrant for pawning the crown plate and jewels in Holland. A sum of 58,4007. was raised by this unworthy method, and active hostilities forthwith commenced.

Invested with the double authority of Admiral and Generalin-Chief, Buckingham set sail for Rochelle, with 100 ships and 7,000 men; and though it must be admitted, that he seems to have entered upon his command with sufficient zeal for success, and greediness of distinction, he was overcome in every exertion, and utterly defeated. He disagreed with the officers, failed in every attack, saw the fort relieved

without the ability to intercept the supplies; and was at last compelled to embark his troops with a most inglorious precipitation, just as the enemy were preparing to arm their boats and fire the fleet. The injury sustained by the English upon this occasion was very heavy; they lost four colonels, thirty-two colours, and two thousand men. At home the universal opinion was, that the expedition was ill advised, worse conducted, and in the issue, the most unqualified disaster which the credit of the nation had sustained for years. The Duke was received at Court with great sympathy, and unabated affection; but the condemnations past upon his misconduct in every direction were numerous and heavy in the extreme; and though he appeared indifferent to the outcry, it was clear to every one who observed the times, that his ruin was impending, and that even the safety of the monarch was endangered by his infatuation.

Great exertions were resorted to in order to appease this tumult of discontent; but instead of subsiding with time, it was only aggravated by delays. The sailors blockaded Whitehall for their pay, rumours of plots and assassinations were audibly whispered about, and at last, the only resource in the emergency of affairs was to summon a Parliament. The members were promptly returned to their seats in 1628, but they lightened the embarrassment of the Court in no great degree; for although they granted some of those supplies which were so strangely demanded, they drew up a remonstrance of grievances, and voted Buckingham's excessive power the cause of every evil. A noble spirit was abroad amongst the people; the House of Commons was stocked with talented patriots who did honour to the age, and would have graced any scene in history; and it became finally clear, that unless the liberties of the nation were guaranteed, a civil war must ensue. Thus after many delays and great evasion, the famous Petition of Rights was assented to by the King. Signal was the acclamation and joy with which this boon was received: five subsidies were readily conceded; and Buckingham endeavoured to glide into public confidence amidst the general conciliation; but the enmity he had excited was implacable. An elaborate remonstrance was voted against him by the Commons, and the session was prorogued under circumstances of reciprocal dissatisfaction. This was a heavy disappointment, but it was not sufficient