themselves sinfully disposed to laugh. But this vagrant life had
serious evils: it broke down all the restraints which civilised society
naturally, and beneficially, imposes. The Duke of Buckingham, Butler,
the author of Hudibras, writes, 'rises, eats, goes to bed by the Julian
account, long after all others that go by the new style, and keeps the
same hours with owls and the Antipodes. He is a great observer of the
Tartar customs, and never eats till the great cham, having dined, makes
proclamation that all the world may go to dinner. He does not dwell in
his house, but haunts it like an evil spirit, that walks all night, to
disturb the family, and never appears by day. He lives perpetually
benighted, runs out of his life, and loses his time as men do their ways
in the dark: and as blind men are led by their dogs, so he is governed
by some mean servant or other that relates to his pleasures. He is as
inconstant as the moon which he lives under; and although he does
nothing but advise with his pillow all day, he is as great a stranger to
himself as he is to the rest of the world. His mind entertains all
things that come and go; but like guests and strangers, they are not
welcome if they stay long. This lays him open to all cheats, quacks, and
impostors, who apply to every particular humour while it lasts, and
afterwards vanish. He deforms nature, while he intends to adorn her,
like Indians that hang jewels in their lips and noses. His ears are
perpetually drilling with a fiddlestick, and endures pleasures with less
patience than other men do their pains.'

The more effectually to support his character as a mountebank, Villiers
sold mithridate and galbanum plasters: thousands of spectators and
customers thronged every day to see and hear him. Possibly many guessed
that beneath all the fantastic exterior some ulterior project was
concealed; yet he remained untouched by the City Guards. Well did Dryden
describe him:--

'Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Beside ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
Blest madman, who could every hour employ
With something new to wish or to enjoy.'

His elder sister, Lady Mary Villiers, had married the Duke of Richmond,
one of the loyal adherents of Charles I. The duke was, therefore, in
durance at Windsor, whilst the duchess was to be placed under strict
surveillance at Whitehall.

Villiers resolved to see her. Hearing that she was to pass into
Whi