the
blessing of the widow and fatherless, and as he lived a profligate, he
died in misery, a by-word and a jest, unpitied and unmourned.

He died April 16, 1687, Mr. Wood says, at his house in Yorkshire, but
Mr. Pope informs us, that he died at an inn in that county, in very
mean circumstances. In his Epistle to lord Bathurst, he draws the
following affecting picture of this man, who had possessed an estate
of near 50,000 l. per annum, expiring,

In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung
The floors of plaister, and the walls of dung,
On once a flock-bed, but repair'd with straw,
With tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw,
The George and Garter dangling from that bed,
Where tawdry yellow, strove with dirty red,
Great Villiers lies--alas! how chang'd from him
That life of pleasure, and that foul of whim!
Gallant and gay, in Cliveden's proud alcove,
The bow'r of wanton Shrewsbury[3] and love;
Or just as gay in council, in a ring
Of mimick'd statesmen and their merry king.
No wit to flatter left of all his store!
No fool to laugh at, which he valued more;
There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends,
And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends.
His grace's fate, sage Cutler could foresee,
And well (he thought) advised him, 'live like me.'
As well, his grace replied, 'like you, Sir John!
That I can do, when all I have is gone:'

Besides the celebrated Comedy of the Rehearsal, the duke wrote the
following pieces;

1. An Epitaph on Thomas, Lord Fairfax, which has been often reprinted.

2. A Short Discourse upon the Reasonableness of Men's having a
Religion or Worship of God. This Piece met with many Answers, to
which, the Duke wrote Replies.

3. A Demonstration of the above Duty.

4. Several Poems, particularly, Advice to a Painter to draw my Lord
Arlington. Timon, a Satire on several Plays, in which he was assisted
by the Earl of Rochester; a Consolatory Epistle to Julian Secretary to
the Muses; upon the Monument; upon the Installment of the Duke of
Newcastle; the Rump-Parliament, a Satire; the Mistress; the Lost
Mistress; a Description of Fortune.

5. Several Speeches.

Footnotes:
1. B. vi. vol. ii. p. 347.
2. T.C.
3. The countess of Shrewsbury, a woman abandoned to gallantries. The
earl her husband was killed by the duke of Buckingham; and it has
been said that, during the combat, she held the duke's horses in
the habit of a page.