ined in durance until the abdication of Richard Cromwell,
when he was set at liberty, but not without the following conditions,
dated February 21st, 1658-9:--

'The humble petition of George Duke of Buckingham was this day read.
Resolved that George Duke of Buckingham, now prisoner at Windsor Castle,
upon his engagement upon his honour at the bar of this House, and upon
the engagement of Lord Fairfax in L20,000 that the said duke shall
peaceably demain himself for the future, and shall not join with, or
abet, or have any correspondence with, any of the enemies of the Lord
Protector, and of this Commonwealth, in any of the parts beyond the sea,
or within this Commonwealth, shall be discharged of his imprisonment and
restraint; and that the Governor of Windsor Castle be required to bring
the Duke of Buckingham to the bar of this House on Wednesday next, to
engage his honour accordingly. Ordered, that the security of L20,000 to
be given by the Lord Fairfax, on the behalf of the Duke of Buckingham,
be taken in the name of His Highness the Lord Protector.'

During his incarceration at Windsor, Buckingham had a companion, of whom
many a better man might have been envious: this was Abraham Cowley, an
old college friend of the duke's. Cowley was the son of a grocer, and
owed his entrance into academic life to having been a King's Scholar at
Westminster. One day he happened to take up from his mother's parlour
window a copy of Spenser's 'Faerie Queene.' He eagerly perused the
delightful volume, though he was then only twelve years old: and this
impulse being given to his mind, became at fifteen a reciter of verses.
His 'Poetical Blossoms,' published whilst he was still at school, gave,
however, no foretaste of his future eminence. He proceeded to Trinity
College, Cambridge, where his friendship with Villiers was formed; and
where, perhaps, from that circumstance, Cowley's predilections for the
cause of the Stuarts was ripened into loyalty.

No two characters could be more dissimilar than those of Abraham Cowley
and George Villiers. Cowley was quiet, modest, sober, of a thoughtful,
philosophical turn, and of an affectionate nature; neither boasting of
his own merits nor depreciating others. He was the friend of Lucius
Cary, Lord Falkland; and yet he loved, though he must have condemned,
George Villiers. It is not unlikely that, whilst Cowley imparted his
love of poetry to Villiers, Villiers may have inspired the pensive and
bla