'George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham',
KG,
PC,
FRS (
January 10,
1628 –
April 16,
1687), was an
English statesman.
Upbringing and education
George was brought up by
King Charles I together with his younger brother Francis and the King's own children. He was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained the degree of
Master of Arts in 1642.
Political career
Involvement in the English Civil War
In the
Civil War he fought for
the King, and took part in the attack on Lichfield Close in April 1643.
Under the care of the
Earl of Northumberland, George and his brother travelled abroad and lived in
Florence and
Rome. When the Second Civil War broke out they joined
Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland in
Surrey, in July 1648.
Francis was killed near
Kingston upon Thames but the Duke succeeded in escaping to the
Netherlands.
Exile with Charles II
Because of his participation in the rebellion, his lands, which had been restored to him in 1647 on account of his youth, were confiscated and given to his father-in-law, Thomas,
Lord Fairfax, who refused to compound. On
September 19 1649,
Charles II conferred on him the
Order of the Garter (KG) and admitted him to his
Privy Council on
April 6 1650.
In opposition to Hyde, Buckingham supported the alliance with the Scottish
presbyterians, accompanied Charles to
Scotland in June, and allied himself with the
Marquess of Argyll, dissuading Charles from joining the
Royalist plot of October 1650, and being suspected of betraying the plan to the covenanting leaders. That May, he had been appointed general of the eastern association in England, and was sent to raise forces abroad; the following year, he was chosen to lead the projected movement in
Lancashire and to command the Scottish royalists. He was with Charles at the
Battle of Worcester on
September 3 1651, but escaped alone to
Rotterdam in October.
His subsequent negotiations with
Oliver Cromwell's government, and his readiness to sacrifice the interests of the church, separated him from the rest of Charles's advisers and diminished his influence. His estrangement from the royal family was completed by his audacious courtship of the king's widowed sister
Mary, Princess of Orange, and by a money dispute with Charles.
Return and imprisonment
In 1657 he returned to England, and on
September 15 married Mary, daughter of
Lord Fairfax, who had fallen in love with him although the
banns of her intended marriage with the
Earl of Chesterfield had been twice called in church. Buckingham was soon suspected of organizing a Presbyterian plot against the government an order was issued for his arrest in
October 9, despite Fairfax's interest with Cromwell. He was placed under house arrest at York House in April 1658, escaped, and was rearrested on
August 18. He was then imprisoned in the
Tower of London until
February 23 1659, being freed after promising not to assist the enemies of the government, and on Fairfax's security of £20,000. He joined Fairfax in his march against
General John Lambert in January 1660, and afterwards claimed to have gained Fairfax to the cause of the
Restoration.
After the Restoration: offices and intrigues
The returning King Charles at first received Buckingham (who met him at his landing at
Dover) coldly, but Buckingham was soon back in favour. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, carried the
Sovereign's Orb at the coronation on
April 23 1661, and was made
Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire on
September 21. The same year, he accompanied Princess
Henrietta to Paris to marry the
Duke of Orleans, but made such shameless advances to her that he was recalled. On
April 28 1662 he was admitted to the
Privy Council. His confiscated estates, amounting to £26,000 a year, were restored to him, and he was said to be the king's richest subject. He helped suppress the projected insurrection in Yorkshire in 1663, went to sea in the
second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665, and took measures to resist the Dutch or French invasion in June 1666.
He was, however, debarred from high office by the influence of
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, the Chancellor. Buckingham now plotted to effect the Chancellor's ruin. He organized parties in both houses of parliament to support a 1666 bill prohibiting the import of Irish cattle, partly to oppose Clarendon and partly to thwart the
Duke of Ormonde. Having asserted during the debates that "whoever was against the bill had either an Irish interest or an Irish understanding", he was challenged by
Lord Ossory. Buckingham avoided the encounter, and Ossory was sent to the Tower. A short time afterwards, during a conference between the two Houses on
19 December, he came to blows with the
Marquess of Dorchester: Buckingham pulled off the marquess's periwig, and Dorchester also "had much of the duke's hair in his hand." According to Clarendon, no misdemeanour so flagrant had ever before offended the dignity of the
House of Lords. The offending peers were both sent to the Tower, but were released after apologising; and Buckingham vented his spite by raising a claim to the title of
Baron Ros, held by Dorchester's son-in-law. His opposition to the government had lost him the king's favour, and he was now accused of treasonable intrigues, and of having cast the king's horoscope. His arrest was ordered on
February 25 1667, and he was dismissed from all his offices. He avoided capture till
June 27, when he gave himself up and was imprisoned in the Tower.
He was released by
July 17, was restored to favour and to his appointments on
September 15, and took an active part in the prosecution of Clarendon. When Clarendon fell, he became the chief minister, though held no high office except that of master of the horse, bought from the
Duke of Albermarle in 1668. In 1671 he was elected chancellor of Cambridge, and in 1672 high steward of the
University of Oxford. He favoured religious toleration, and earned the praise of
Richard Baxter; he supported a scheme of comprehension in 1668, and advised the
Declaration of Indulgence in 1672. He upheld the original jurisdiction of the Lords in Skinner's case. With these exceptions Buckingham's tenure of office was chiefly marked by scandals and intrigues. His illicit connection with the Countess of Shrewsbury led to a
duel with her husband at
Barn Elms on
January 16 1668, in which the
Earl of Shrewsbury was fatally wounded. The tale that the countess witnessed the encounter disguised as a page appears to have no foundation; but Buckingham provoked an outrage when he installed the "widow of his own creation" in his own and his wife's house.
Buckingham was thought to be behind the idea of obtaining the divorce of the childless queen,
Catherine of Braganza (though this never happened). He intrigued against
James, Duke of York, against Sir
William Coventry — one of the ablest statesmen of the time, whose fall he procured by provoking him to send him a challenge — and against the
Duke of Ormonde, who was dismissed in 1669. He was even suspected of having instigated
Thomas Blood's attempt to kidnap and murder Ormonde, and was charged with the crime in the king's presence by Ormonde's son, Lord Ossory, who threatened to shoot him dead in the event of his father's meeting with a violent end. Arlington, next to Buckingham himself the most powerful member of the
cabal and a favourite of the king, was less easy to overcome; and he derived considerable influence from the control of foreign affairs entrusted to him. Buckingham always been an adherent of the French alliance, while Arlington concluded through Sir
William Temple in 1668 the
Triple Alliance. On the complete ''volte-face'' and surrender made by Charles to France in 1670,
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, a
Roman Catholic, was entrusted with the first
Treaty of Dover of
May 20 — which besides providing for the united attack on Holland, included Charles's undertaking to proclaim himself a Romanist and to reintroduce the Roman Catholic faith into England, — while Buckingham was sent to France to carry on the sham negotiations which led to the public treaties of
December 31 1670 and
February 2 1672. He was much pleased with his reception by
Louis XIV, declared that he had "more honours done him than ever were given to any subject", and, was presented with a pension of 10,000
livres a year for Lady Shrewsbury.
In June 1672, during the
Third Anglo-Dutch War, he accompanied Arlington to
Nieuwerbrug to impose terms on the
William III of Orange, and when these were refused with Arlington arranged a new treaty, the
Accord of Heeswijk with Louis. After all this activity he suffered a keen disappointment in being passed over for the command of the English forces in favour of the
Duke of Schomberg. He now knew of the secret treaty of Dover, and towards the end of 1673 his jealousy of Arlington became open hostility. He threatened to impeach him, and endeavoured with the help of Louis to stir up a faction against him in parliament.
Political downfall
This, however, was unsuccessful, and in January 1674 both houses of Parliament attacked Buckingham. In the
Lords, the trustees of the young
Earl of Shrewsbury complained that Buckingham publicly continued his affair with the Countess, and that a son of theirs had been buried in
Westminster Abbey with the title of
Earl of Coventry; Buckingham and the countess were required to apologize and give security for £10,000 not to cohabit together again. In the
House of Commons he was attacked as the promoter of the French alliance, of "popery" and arbitrary government. He defended himself chiefly by endeavouring to blame Arlington; but the house approved a petition to the king to remove Buckingham from his councils, presence and from employment forever. Charles, who had been waiting for a favourable opportunity, and who was enraged at Buckingham's disclosures, quickly consented.
Buckingham retired, reformed his ways, attended church with his wife, began to pay his debts, became a "patriot", and was claimed by the country or opposition party as one of their leaders. In the spring of 1675 he was conspicuous for his opposition to the
Test Oath and for his abuse of the bishops, and on
November 16 he introduced a bill for the relief of the
nonconformists. On
February 15 1677 he was one of the four lords who tried to embarrass the government by raising the question whether the parliament, not having assembled according to the act of
Edward III once in the year, had not been dissolved by the recent prorogation. The motion was rejected and the four lords were ordered to apologize. When they refused, they were sent to the
Tower, Buckingham in particular exasperating the House by ridiculing its censure. He was released in July, and immediately entered into intrigues with
Paul Barillon, the French ambassador, with the object of hindering the grant of supplies to the king; and in 1678 he visited Paris to get the assistance of
Louis XIV for the opposition's cause.
He took an active part in prosecuting those implicated in the "
Popish Plot", and accused the lord chief justice (Sir
William Scroggs) in his own court while on circuit of favouring the
Roman Catholics. Because of this, a writ was issued for his arrest, but it was never served. He promoted the return of
Whig candidates to Parliament, constituted himself the champion of the dissenters, and was admitted a freeman of the city of London. He, however, separated himself from the Whigs on the exclusion question, probably on account of his dislike of the
Duke of Monmouth and the
Earl of Shaftesbury, was absent from the great debate in the Lords on
November 15 1680, and was restored to the king's favour in 1684.
Retirement under James II
He took no part in public life after
James II's accession, but returned to his manor of
Helmsley in
Yorkshire, probably because of poor health and exhausted finances. In 1685 he published a pamphlet, entitled ''A short Discourse on the Reasonableness of Man's having a Religion'' in which after discussing the main subject he returned to his favourite topic, religious toleration. The tract provoked some rejoinders and was defended, amongst others, by
William Penn, and by the author himself in ''The Duke of Buckingham's Letter to the unknown author of a short answer to the Duke of Buckingham's Paper'' (1685). In hopes of converting him to Roman Catholicism, James sent him a priest, but Buckingham ridiculed his arguments. He died on
April 16,
1687, from a chill caught while hunting, in the house of a tenant in
Kirkbymoorside in Yorkshire (it is known as Buckingham House and it is located in the town centre), expressing great repentance and feeling himself "despised by my country and I fear forsaken by my God".
The miserable picture of his end drawn by
Alexander Pope is greatly exaggerated. Buckingham was buried on
June 7,
1687 in
Henry VII's chapel in
Westminster Abbey, with greater splendour than the late king. With his death, the family founded by the extraordinary rise to power and influence of the first duke ended. As he left no legitimate children, the title became extinct, and his great estate was completely dissipated; nothing remains of the enormous mansion he constructed at
Cliveden in
Buckinghamshire.
Personality and character
Buckingham is often judged ostentatious, licentious, and unscrupulous, the "
Alcibiades of the seventeenth century." But even his critics agree that he was good-humoured, good-natured, generous, an unsurpassed mimic and the leader of fashion. His good looks and amusing wit made him irresistible to his contemporaries, in spite of his moral faults and even crimes. His portrait has been drawn by Burnet, Count Hamilton in the ''Memoires de Grammont'',
John Dryden,
Alexander Pope in the ''Epistle to Lord Bathurst'', and Sir
Walter Scott in ''Peveril of the Peak''.
John Reresby calls him "the first gentleman of person and wit I think I ever saw", and Burnet bears the same testimony. Dean Lockier, after alluding to his unrivalled skill in riding, dancing and fencing, adds, "When he came into the presence-chamber it was impossible for you not to follow him with your eye as he went along, he moved so gracefully". Racing and hunting were his favourite sports, and his name long survived in the hunting songs of Yorkshire.
The Duke was the patron of
Abraham Cowley,
Thomas Sprat,
Matthew Clifford and
William Wycherley. He dabbled in
chemistry, and according to
Thomas Burnet, "he thought he was very near the finding of the
philosopher's stone." He set up glass works at
Lambeth the productions of which were praised by
John Evelyn; and he spent much money, according to his biographer Brian Fairfax, in building ''insanae substructiones.''
John Dryden described him under the character of Zimri in celebrated lines in the poem ''Absalom and Achitophel'' (to which Buckingham replied in ''Poetical Reflections on a late Poem ... by a Person of Honour'', 1682):
"A man so various that he seemed to be/Not one, but all mankind's epitome;/Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,/Was everything by starts and nothing long;/But, in the course of one revolving moon/Was chymist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon../..Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late,/He had his jest, but they had his estate."
Buckingham, however, cannot with any truth be called "mankind's epitome". On the contrary, the distinguishing features of his life are incompleteness, aimlessness, imperfection, insignificance, neglected talent and wasted opportunity. "He saw and approved the best", says Brian Fairfax, "but did too often ''deteriora sequi''". He is more severely but more justly judged by himself. In light-hearted moments he wrote "Methinks, I see the wanton houres flee, And as they passe, turne back and laugh at me", but his last recorded words, "O! what a prodigal have I been of that most valuable of all possessions—Time!" express with exact truth the fundamental flaw of his character and career, of which he had at last become conscious.
Literary career
Buckingham wrote occasional verses and satires showing undoubted (but undeveloped) poetic gifts, a collection of which, containing however many pieces not from his pen, was first published by
Tom Brown in 1704; while a few extracts from a commonplace book of Buckingham of some interest are given in an article in the ''Quarterly Review'' of January 1898. He was the author of ''The Rehearsal'', an amusing and clever satire on the heroic drama and especially on Dryden's ''
The Conquest of Granada'' (first performed on
December 7,
1671, at the Theatre Royal, and first published in 1672), a deservedly popular play which was imitated by
Henry Fielding in ''Tom Thumb the Great'', and by
Sheridan in ''The Critic''. Buckingham also published two adapted plays: a version of
John Fletcher's ''
The Chances'' (1682) and ''The Restoration or Right will take place'', from
Beaumont and Fletcher's ''
Philaster'' (publ. 1714); and also ''The
Battle of Sedgmoor'' and ''The Militant Couple'' (publ. 1704). The latest edition of his works is that by T. Evans (2 vols. 8vo, 1775). Another work is named by Wood, ''A Demonstration of the Deity'', of which there is now no trace.
Ancestors
==Bibliographies (from
1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica)==
★
C H Firth, ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (1899)
★ Lady Burghchere, ''George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham'' (1903).
★ Wood, ''Athenae Oxon.'' (Bliss), iv. 207
★ Brian Fairfax, ''Biographia Britannica''
★
Horace Walpole, ''Catalogue of Pictures of George Duke of Buckingham'' (1758)
★ Arber, the ''Rehearsal'' (1868)
★ ''Hudibras'' in ''The Genuine Remains of Mr. Samuel Butler, by R. Thyer'' (1759), ii. 72.
★ ''Quarterly Review'', Jan. 1898
★ ''A Conference on the Doctrine of
Transubstantiation between ... the Duke of Buckingham and Father FitzGerald'' (1714)
★
S R Gardiner, ''History of the Commonwealth'' (1894-1901)
★ W. J. Courthope,''History of Eng. Poetry''(1903), iii. 460
★ Horace Walpole, ''Royal and Noble Authors'', iii. 304
★ T. Brown, ''Miscellanea Aulica''(1702)
★ ''Fairfax Correspondence'' (1848-1849).
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