the shame of their progenitors, so far as glory and shame can be
transmitted from father to son, independently of all individual virtue
or vice.

[Sidenote: Duke of Buckingham.]

[Sidenote: Lord Bacon.]

Carr was succeeded in the royal favor by Villiers, and he, more
fortunate, ever retained the ascendency over the mind and heart of
James, as well as of his son Charles I. George Villiers owed his
fortune, not to his birth or talents, but to his fine clothes, his
Parisian manners, smooth face, tall figure, and bland smiles. He
became cup-bearer, then knight, then gentleman of the privy council,
then earl, then marquis, and finally duke of Buckingham, lord high
admiral, warden of the Cinque Ports, high steward of Westminster,
constable of Windsor Castle, and chief justice in eyre of the parks
and forests. "The doting and gloating king" had taught Somerset Latin;
he attempted to teach Buckingham divinity, and called him ever by the
name of "Steenie." And never was there such a mixture of finery,
effeminacy, insolence, and sycophancy in any royal minion before or
since. Beau Brummell never equalled him in dress, Wolsey in
magnificence, Mazarin in peculation, Walpole in corruption, Jeffries
in insolence, or Norfolk in pride. He was the constant companion of
the king, to whose vices he pandered, and through him the royal favor
flowed. But no rewards, or favors, or greatness satisfied him; not so
much because he was ambitious, as because, like a spoiled child, he
did not appreciate the magnitude of the gifts which were bestowed on
him. Nor did he ever know his place; but made love to the queen of
France herself, when he was sent on an embassy. He trampled on the
constitution, subverted the laws, ground down the people by taxes, and
taught the king to disregard the affections of his subjects, and to
view them as his slaves. But such a triumph of iniquity could not be
endured; and Buckingham was finally assassinated, after he had gained
an elevation higher than any English subject ever before attained,
except Wolsey, and without the exercise of any qualities which
entitled him to a higher position than a master of ceremonies at a
fashionable ball. It is easy to conceive that such a minion should
arrive at power under such a monarch as James; but how can we
understand that such a man as Lord Bacon, the chancellor, the
philosopher, the statesman, the man of learning, genius, and wisdom,
should have bowed down to the dust, in v