A series of these poems and songs, all remarkable for the
strength of their expressions against Buckingham, were edited by F.W.
Fairholt, F.S.A., for the Percy Society, and published by them in 1850.
Here is a specimen from Sloane MS. No. 826.

Of British beasts the _Buck_ is king,
His game and fame through Europe ring,
His home exalted keepes in awe
The lesser flocks; his will's a law.
Our _Charlemaine_ takes much delight
In this great beast so fair in sight,
With his whole heart affects the same,
And loves too well _Buck-King_ of _Game_.
When he is chased, then 'gins the sport;
When nigh his end, who's sorry for't?
And when he falls the hunter's glad,
The hounds are flesh'd, and few are sadd!

]

[Footnote 239: In the notes to a previous article on Buckingham in Vol.
I. will be found an account of his offices and emoluments. An epitaph
made after his murder thus expresses the popular sense of his
position:--

This little grave embraces
One Duke and _twenty_ places.
]

[Footnote 240: There is a picture of Buckingham, mounted on a charger by
the sea-shore, crowded with Tritons, &c. As it reflects none of the
graces or beauty of the original, and seems the work of some wretched
apprentice of Rubens (perhaps Gerbier himself), these contradictory
accompaniments increased the suspicion that the picture could not be the
duke's: it was not recollected generally, that the favourite was both
admiral and general; and that the duke was at once Neptune and Mars,
ruling both sea and land.]

[Footnote 241: This machine seems noticed in _Le Mercure Francois_,
2627, p. 803.]

[Footnote 242: Gerbier, a foreigner, scarcely ever writes an English
name correctly, while his orthography is not always intelligible. He
means here Lady Davies, an extraordinary character and supposed
prophetess. This Cassandra hit the time in her dark predictions, and was
more persuaded than ever that she was a prophetess! See a remarkable
anecdote of her in a preceding article, "Of Anagrams."]

[Footnote 243: The correct title is "The copie of his Grace's most
excellent Rotomontados, sent by his servant the Lord Grimes, in answer
to the Lower House of Parliament, 1628." It is preserved in the Sloane
MS. No. 826 (British Museum), and begins thus:--

Avaunt you giddy-headed multitude
And do your worst of spite; I never sued
To gain your votes, though well I know your ends