Amazed, I waked in haste,

All trembling at my doom;

Dreams oft repeat adventures past,
And tell the ills to come.

The conversation of the Duke of Buckingham was not altogether without wit, of which we have already given one or two instances. We will record another, which is related by Speaker Onslow. The Duke, with his usual force and bitterness, had one day been inveighing against the Ministry in the House of Lords, when, on quitting the House, he was followed by the younger Craggs; a man, who, though of very low family, had risen to be Secretary of State, and who was known to be peculiarly sensitive of any allusion to the meanness of his birth. Craggs, addressing himself to the Duke with the familiarity which characterized him, Come, my Lord Duke," he said, "notwitstanding all your severity to-day, your Grace who has been so often in administration, must be aware that business must be carried on, and that the old proverb is true, that the pot must boil.”—“ Why, yes," retorted the Duke, "it is an old and a true proverb; but, as you well know, Mr. Secretary, there is as old and as true a one, that when the pot boils the scum is uppermost." A person, who dined with Craggs the same day, assured Speaker Onslow, that the effects of his discomfiture were visible the whole evening.

66

The following anecdote of the Duke of Buckingham, though rational in the abstract, will be

regarded, perhaps, as having more of irreligion in it than wit. Burnet tells us that when, in the reign of James the Second, the priests made a particular set at the Duke, with a view of converting him to Popery,-" I am willing," he said,

66

to receive instruction; but as it has taken me much pains to believe in God at all, it must be an extraordinary argument that can make me believe that man is quits with God and made God."

According to Dr. Johnson, this "censure of transubstantiation" was uttered long since by Anne Askew, one of the early sufferers for the Protestant religion in the reign of Henry the Eighth.* And he expresses his surprise that Burnet, the historian of the Reformation, should have been ignorant of the fact.

Of the Duke of Buckingham's writings, whether in prose or verse, it is sufficient to say, that

* Anne Askew, after undergoing the terrible agonies of the rack, was burnt to death on the 16th of July, 1546, about the twenty-fifth year of her age. The remarkable "censure of transubstantiation" referred to by Dr. Johnson, was uttered by her during her examination before the Privy Council, in reply to some foolish interrogatories put to her by Sir Martin Bowes, the Lord Mayor. The following passage in Strype's Memorials, which was unquestionably in Dr. Johnson's mind, is too remarkable to be omitted:-"Sir Martin Bowes, sitting with the Council, as most meet for his wisdom, and seeing her stand upon life and death, I pray you,' quoth he, 'my lords, give me leave to talk with this woman.' Leave was granted. 'Thou foolish woman, sayest thou, that the priests cannot make the body of Christ?' Anne Askew, 'I say so, my lord, for I have read that God made man, but that man can make

they have deservedly fallen into disrepute. Pope said of him, "The Duke of Buckingham is superficial in everything; even in poetry, which was his forte." The poem on which his fame rests is the Essay on Satire-a poem, however, of which the far greater part was written by Dryden, and for which that great poet received his memorable cudgelling in Rose-Alley. According to Dean Lockier, the Duke merely made a few alterations in the poem, and these were, generally speaking, for the worse. And yet the Duke had the impudence to publish the Satire as his own.*

On the change of ministry in 1710, the Duke of Buckingham once more came into office with the Tories. The Queen offered him the appointment of Lord Chancellor, which he refused; the year following, however, he accepted the office

God I never yet read, nor I suppose ever shall read it.' Lord Mayor. No, thou foolish woman! after the words of consecration, is it not the Lord's body?' Anne Askew.-'It is but consecrated bread, or sacramental bread.' Lord Mayor.'What if a mouse eat it after consecration? What shall become of the mouse? What sayest thou, thou foolish woman?' Anne Askew. What shall become of her say you, my Lord?' Lord Mayor.-'I say, that that mouse is damned.' Anne Askew. Alack, poor mouse! By this time my Lords heard enough of my Lord Mayor's divinity; and perceiving that some could not keep in their laughing, proceeded to the butchery and slaughter that they intended afore they came thither."-Strype's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 387. There is also an interesting account of Anne Askew in Ballard's Memoirs of Celebrated Women, p. 62, et sequen.

* Spence's Anecdotes of Man and Books, p. 128.

to

of Lord Steward of the Household, and, shortly afterwards, was appointed President of the Council. On the accession of George the Second, his talents meeting with no encouragement from that monarch, he continued constantly opposed the Court. In consequence of this neglect, he appears to have transferred his homage from the palace to the muses, and in the next few years produced his tragedies of "Julius Cæsar,” and "Marcus Brutus," a class of literary composition for which he was as little qualified as he was to be a minister of state. For the latter play, Pope composed two chorusses, of which Warburton says, they only made the meanness of the piece the more conspicuous.

Spring Macky says of the Duke of Buckingham," He is a nobleman of learning and good natural parts, but of no principles. Violent for the High Church, yet seldom goes to it; very proud, insolent, and covetous, and takes all advantages. In paying his debts, unwilling; and is neither esteemed nor beloved; for notwithstanding his great interest at the court of Queen Anne, it is certain that he hath none in either house of Parliament, or in the country." It has been said that this character is too severe; but as far as posterity has the means of judging, we can only come to the conclusion, that he was characterized by many vices, and, apparently, by scarcely a single virtue. The best that can he said of him is, that he was a brave man, and an

agreeable companion. His laugh is described as having been the pleasantest in the world; and though his temper was passionate, his disposition is said to have been a forgiving one.

The Duke, as we have already mentioned, was three times married: his choice fell, on each occasion, on a widow. His first wife was Ursula, daughter of Colonel Stawel, and widow of Edward, first Earl of Conway, by whom he had no issue. He married secondly, Catherine, daughter of Fulke Greville, fifth Lord Brooke, and widow of Baptist Noel, second Earl of Gainsborough, who also died without issue; and thirdly, Catherine Darnley, a natural daughter of James the Second, and widow of James, Earl of Anglesey, an extraordinary woman, whose eccentricities will form the subject of our next memoir.

By his third wife, the Duke was the father of four children, (three sons and one daughter,) of whom two died in their infancy, and only one, Edmund, second Duke of Buckingham, survived him. The Duke has bequeathed us some verses, on the death of his eldest son, Robert, which show that he deeply lamented his loss, but which possess more pathos than poetry, and very little of either one or the other. The Duke speaks of his offspring, as :

A child, of whom kind Heaven

Not only hope bestows,

But has already given

Him all our hopes propose.