g them to scions of
nobility; Buckingham being one of those whom he had mentally selected to
become a member of his family. His anger was therefore at once directed
against Fairfax and his grace. The former he could not molest, but the
latter he committed to the Tower; and if the great Protector had not
been soon after seized by fatal illness, the duke would have made his
last journey from thence to Tower Hill. As it fell out he remained a
prisoner until within a year of the coming of Charles, whom he welcomed
with exceeding joy. Being bred with the merry monarch, he had from
boyhood been a favourite of his majesty, with whom he shared a common
love for diversion. He was, therefore, from the first a prominent figure
at Whitehall; his handsome person and extravagant dress adorned the
court; his brilliant wit and poignant satire amused the royal circle.

His grace, however, had a rival, the vivacity of whose temper and
piquancy of whose humour went far to eclipse Buckingham's talent in
these directions. This was the young Earl of Rochester, son of my Lord
Wilmot, who had so successfully aided the king's escape after the battle
of Worcester, for which service he had been created Earl of Rochester
by Charles in Paris. That worthy man dying just a year previous to the
restoration, his son succeeded to his titles, and likewise to an estate
which had been preserved for him by the prudence of his mother. Even in
his young days Lord Rochester gave evidence of possessing a lively wit
and remarkable genius, which were cultivated by his studies at Oxford
and his travels abroad. So that at the age of eighteen, when he returned
to England and presented himself at Whitehall, his sprightly parts won
him the admiration of courtiers and secured him the favour of royalty.
Nor was the young earl less distinguished by his wit and learning than
by his face and figure; the delicate beauty of his features and natural
grace of his person won him the love of many women, whom the tenderness
of his heart and generosity of his youth did not permit him to leave
unrequited.

Soon surfeited by his conquests in the drawing-room, he was anxious to
extend his triumphs in another direction; and, selecting the sea as a
scene of action, he volunteered to sail under my Lord Sandwich in quest
of the Dutch East Indian fleet. At the engagements to which this led he
exhibited a dauntless courage that earned him renown abroad, and covered
him with honour on his