the joys more agreeable to his inclination. He never thought of refuming again the purfuit of knowledge, 'till the fine address of his go vernor, Dr. Balfour, won him in his travels, by degrees, to those charms of study, which he had through youthful levity forsaken, and being feconded by reason, now more strong, and a more mature tafte of the pleasure of learning, which the Dr. took care to place in the most agreeable and advantageous light, he became enamoured of knowledge, in the pursuit of which he often spent those hours he sometimes stole from the witty, and the fair. He returned from his travels in the 18th year of his age, and appeared at court with as great advantage as any young nobleman ever did. He had a graceful and well proportioned person, was master of the most refined breeding, and possessed a very obliging and easy manner. He had a vast vivacity of thought, and alpy flow of expression, and all who conversed with him entertained the highest opinion of his understanding; and 'tis indeed no wonder he was so much caressed at a court which abounded with men of wit, countenanced by a merry prince, who relished nothing so much as brilliant conversation. Soon after his lordship's return from his travels, he took the first occafion that offered, to hazard his life in the service of his country. In the winter of the year 1665 he went to sea, with the earl of Sandwich, when he was sent out against the Dutch East India fleet, and was in the ship called the Revenge, commanded by Sir Thomas Tiddiman, when the attack was made on the port of Bergen in Norway, the Dutch Ships having got into that port. It was, says Burnet, 'as • deiperate an attempt as ever was made, and during the whole action, the earl of Rochester • shewed as brave and resolute a courage as poffi⚫ble. A person of honour told me he heard the • lord lord Clifford, who was in the same ship, often magnify his courage at that time very highly; nor did the rigour of the season, the hardness • of the voyage, and the extreme danger he had • been in, deter him from running the like the very next occafion; for the summer following ⚫ he went to sea again, without communicating • his design to his nearest relations. He went • aboard the ship commanded by Sir Edward Spragge, the day before the great fea-fight of ' that year; almost all the volunteers that went in ⚫ that ship were killed. During the action, Sir • Edward Spragge not being fatisfied with the behaviour of one of the captains, could not easily • find a person that would undertake to venture through so much danger to carry his command to the captain; this lord offered himself to the service, and went in a little boat, through all ' the shot, and delivered his message, and return'ed back to Sir Edward, which was much com' mended by all that saw it.' These are the early inftances of courage, which can be produced in favour of lord Rochester, which was afterwards impeached, and very justly, for in many private broils, he discovered a timid pufillanimous spirit, very unfuitable to those noble instances of the contrary, which have just been mentioned. The author of his life prefixed to his works, which goes under the name of M. St. Evremond, addressed to the Duchess of Mazarine, but which M. Maizeau asserts not to be his, accounts for it, upon the general observation of that disparity between a man and himself, upon different occafions. Let it suffice, says he, 'to observe, that we differ * not from one another, more than we do from • ourselves at different times. But we imagine another, and a stronger reason may be given, for the cowardice which Rochefter afterwards difco N. 5 discovered in private broils, particularly in the affair between him and the earl of Mulgrave, in which he behaved very meanly *. The cou rage which lord Rochester shewed in a naval engagement, was in the early part of his life, before he had been immersed in those labyrinths of excess and luxury, into which he afterwards sunk. It is certainly a true observation, that guilt makes cowards; a man who is continually subjected to the reproaches of confcience, who is afraid to examine his heart, lest it should appear too horrible, cannot have much courage for while he is confcious of fo many errors to be repented of, of so many vices he has committed, he naturally starts at danger, and flies from it as his greatest enemy. It is true, courage is sometimes conftitutional, and there have been instances of men, guilty of every enormity, who have discovered a large share of it, but these have been wretches who have overcome all fense of honour, been loft to every confideration of virtue, and whose courage is like that of the lion of the defart, a kind of ferocious impulse unconnected with reason. Lord Rochester had certainly never overcome the reproaches of his confcience, whose alarming voice at last ftruck terror into his heart, and chilled the fire of the spirits. Since his travels, and naval expeditions, he seemed to have contracted a habit of temperance, in which 'had he been so happy as to persevere, he must have escaped that fatal rock, on which he afterwards split, upon his return to court, where love and pleasure kept their perpetual rounds, under the smiles of a prince, whom nature had fitted for all the enjoyments of the most luxurious defires. In times so diffolute as these, it is no wonder if a man of so warm a conftitution as Rochester, could not refift the * See the Life of Sheffield Duke of Buckingham. too too flattering temptations, which were heightened by the participation of the court in general. The uncommon charms of Rochester's conversation, induced all men to court him as a companion, tho' they often paid too dear for their curiofity, by being made the subject of his lampoons, if they happened to have any oddities in their temper, by the exposing of which he could humour his propensity to scandal. His pleasant extravagancies foon became the subject of general conversation, by which his vanity was at once flattered, and his turn of fatire rendered more keen, by the fuccess it met with. Rochester had certainly a true talent for fatire, and he spared neither friends nor foes, but let it loose on all without difcrimination. Majesty itself was not secure from it; he more than once lampooned the King, whose weakness and attachment to some of his mistresses, he endeavoured to cure by several means, that is, either by winning them from him, in spite of the indulgence and liberality they felt from a royal gallant, or by feverely lampooning them and him on various occasions; which the King, who was a man of wit and pleasure, as well as his lordthip, took for the natural fallies of his genius, and meant rather as the amusements of his fancy, than as the efforts of malice; yet, either by a too frequent repetition, or a too close and poignant virulence, the King banished him the court for a fatire made directly on him; this fatire confifts of 28 stanzas, and is entitled The Reftoration, or the History of the Infipids; and as it contains the keenest reflexions against the political conduct, and private character of that Prince, and having produced the banishment of this noble lord, we shall here give it a place, by which his lordship's genius for this kind of writing will appear. The RESTORATION, or The History of INSIPIDS, a LAMPOON. I. Chaste, pious, prudent, Charles the second, II. The virtues in thee, Charles, inherent, Our Romish bondage-breaker Harry, IV. Never was such a faith's defender; He like a politic Prince, and pious, Gives liberty to confcience tender, And does to no religion tie us; Jews, Chriftians, Turks, Papists, he'll please us With Mofes, Mahomet, or Jesus. |