avorite had hitherto escaped the inquiry of justice; but he
had not escaped that still voice which can make itself be heard amidst
all the hurry and flattery of a court, and astonishes the criminal with
a just representation of his most secret enormities. Conscious of the
murder of his friend, Somerset received small consolation from the
enjoyments of love, or the utmost kindness and indulgence of his
sovereign. The graces of his youth gradually disappeared, the gayety
of his manners was obscured, his politeness and obliging behavior were
changed into sullenness and silence. And the king, whose affections had
been engaged by these superficial accomplishments, began to estrange
himself from a man who no longer contributed to his amusement.

The sagacious courtiers observed the first symptoms of this disgust:
Somerset's enemies seized the opportunity, and offered a new minion to
the king. George Villiers, a youth of one-and-twenty, younger brother of
a good family, returned at this time from his travels, and was remarked
for the advantages of a handsome person, genteel air, and fashionable
apparel. At a comedy, he was purposely placed full in James's eye,
and immediately engaged the attention, and, in the same instant, the
affections of that monarch.[***] Ashamed of his sudden attachment, the
king endeavored, but in vain, to conceal the partiality which he felt
for the handsome stranger; and he employed all his profound politics to
fix him in his service, without seeming to desire it.

* King James's Works, p. 532.

** Preface to Waller's Works.

*** Franklyn, p. 50. Kennet, vol. ii. p. 698.

He declared his resolution not to confer any office on him, unless
entreated by the queen; and he pretended, that it should only be in
complaisance to her choice he would agree to admit him near his person.
The queen was immediately applied to; but she, well knowing the extreme
to which the king carried these attachments, refused, at first, to lend
her countenance to this new passion. It was not till entreated by Abbot,
archbishop of Canterbury, a decent prelate, and one much prejudiced
against Somerset, that she would condescend to oblige her husband,
by asking this favor of him.[*] And the king, thinking now that all
appearances were fully saved, no longer constrained his affection, but
immediately bestowed the office of cup-bearer on young Villiers.

* Coke, p. 46, 47. Rush, vol. i. p. 456.

The whole co