CHAPTER VI. HIS CHARACTER.-PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED.-THE FAVOURITE BUCKINGHAM.-SELDEN'S CONNECTION WITH THE KENT FAMILY. -PUBLICATIONS.—“ MARMORA ARUNDELLIANA," &c.-PUBLIC ASSEMBLES.-PETITION OF RIGHT. EVENTS.-PARLIAMENT COMPLAINT OF GRIEVANCES.-SELDEN BECOMES INDIGNANT. THE KING ATTEMPTS ΤΟ CONTROL THE FREEDOM OF THE HOUSE.-EXTRAORDINARY SCENE. THE SPEAKER REFUSING TO DO HIS DUTY.-FIRST SYSTEMATIC OPPOSITION.-SELDEN AND OTHER MEMBERS ARRESTED.-THEIR FATE.-SELDEN VAINLY PROSECUTED ON ANOTHER CHARGE.-FINALLY DISCHARGED. IT is too often the case that a people attribute their adversities to some unpopular leader; and history affords many examples where their complaints have been by their government diverted and concentrated upon one unhappy scape-goat, whose blood has been poured out to appease the wrath that should have visited many and greater culprits. Such however was not the case of the Duke of Buckingham, the prime favourite of the monarch, and the most influential member of his ministry. Contemporaries of every political grade and hue acknowledge him to have been a selfish and despotic politician. This opinion was entertained by his friends, as well as by the nation generally, and the knowledge of his offences was whispered to him by his well-wishers, and was forced upon his attention by the outcries of the multitude. Mr. Howel warned him of his danger in a calm and disinterested letter, and that "it were not amiss if he would be pleased to part with some of the places he held," and to conduct himself with less haughtiness, and more attention to the wishes of the people *. The opinion of these is told in one sentence of Lord Clarendon's Autobiography: he says the death of the duke "produced a due observation of and obedience to the laws t." He fell by the hand of Felton on the 23rd of August, 1628, another warning of the untimely end, that, in some form or other, has usually fallen upon the favourite courtiers of the kings of England. It is a fact, though not a surprising one, that scarcely one of those favourites has been worthy of such distinction. It is not surprising, because none but a weak monarch singles out an individual on whom he may lavish his favours; and he who renders himself particularly agreeable to the imbecile, cannot be expected to be very wise, very undesigning, or very virtuous. George Villiers was not an exception. He was one of those thoroughly base characters in whom no historian, contemporary or subsequent, has been able to discover a redeeming quality. To advance his own fortunes was his chief object of action, and to the hindrance of this no friendship, no tie of kindred, no regard for his country's * Howel's Letters, sect. iv. p. 25. Ed. 1645. + Octavo edition, i. 10. welfare, was allowed to interfere. Honourable ambition was degraded in him into the most engrossing selfishness; and having no scruple as to the means he adopted for its gratification, he was continually acting criminally by design. These are hard words, but they are justified by the facts recorded by contemporary annalists. But one of the least known of these need be quoted. His intention to overturn Episcopacy in order to secure the support of the Presbyterians, when he considered himself declining in the favour of King James, is recorded by Hacket, and is mentioned by Hume. Dr. Preston was then at the head of the anti-episcopal party, and to his friends the doctor acknowledged that, although he used the duke as a tool, he found him to be as vile and profligate as any man could be *. The occasion of the duke first obtaining the notice of King James, was worthy of them both. "The king, says Roger Coke, "about the beginning of March, 1612, according to his usual methods, went to take his hunting pleasures at Newmarket, and the scholars (as they termed them) at Cambridge, who knew the king's humour, invited him to a play called "Ignoramus" (written by Ruggles), to ridicule the practice of the common law. Never did anything so hit the king's humour as this play did; so that he would have it acted and acted again; and * Hacket's Life of Lord Keeper Williams, 205. Lansdowne MSS. 932-88. D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature. Second Series, iii. 347, &c. it was increased with several additions, which yet more pleased the king. At this play it was so contrived, that George Villiers should appear with all the advantages his mother could set him forth; and the king, so soon as he had seen him, fell into admiration of him." James made him his cup-bearer; and finally, when this capricious monarch became weary of his then favourite, the Earl of Somerset, he selected Villiers to be his successor. "It was now observed," says Archbishop Abbot, "that the king began to cast his eye upon George Villiers, who was then his cup-bearer, and seemed a modest and courteous youth. But King James had a fashion that he would not admit any to nearness about himself but such a one as the queen commended unto him, and made some suit on his behalf; that if the queen afterwards, being ill-intreated, should complain-'Dear one,' he might answer, it is 'long of yourself, for you were the party that commended him unto me."" The queen could never be induced to interest herself in favour of Villiers, and when the archbishop spoke to her in his favour, she replied, "My lord, you and the rest of your friends, know not what you do. I know your master better than you all, and if this young man be once brought in, the first persons that he will plague must be you that labour for him; yea, I shall have my part also. The king will teach him to despise and hardly intreat us all, that he may seem to be beholden to none but himself." "Noble *Coke's Detection of the Court and State, 75. queen," concludes the prelate, "how like a prophetess did you speak." Wilson gives a spirited sketch of Buckingham's subsequent promotion. "To speak of his advancement by degrees," says this merry, unprejudiced historian of his own times, "were to lessen the king's love; for titles were heaped upon him; they came rather like showers than drops. As soon as Somerset declined, he mounted. Such is the court motion. He now reigns sole monarch in the king's affection; every thing he doth is admired for the doer's sake. No man dances better; no man runs or jumps better; and indeed he jumped higher than ever Englishman did in so short a time +." This last stroke of satire was certainly not groundless, for in 1617 he was only cupbearer, and in 1621, when he was impeached by the House of Commons, his titles are thus enumerated. "George, Duke, Marquis, and Earl of Buckingham, Earl of Coventry, Viscount Villiers, Baron of Whaddon, Great Admiral of the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and of the principality of Wales, and of the dominions and islands of the same, of the town of Calais, and of the marches of the same, and of Normandy, Gascoign, and Guienne; General, Governor of the Seas and Ships of the said kingdom; Lieutenant-General, Admiral, CaptainGeneral and Governor of his Majesty's Royal Fleet and Army lately set forth; Master of the Horse of our Sovereign Lord the King; Lord Warden, Chancellor, and * Rushworth, i. 456. + Wilson's James the First, 105. |