r's
affection which chance had favoured him with; and when placed in the
small and solitary chamber which he was told to consider as his own
during his residence in the Tower, he was soothed even to weeping by
this trifling circumstance, which he could not help considering as
an omen, that his unfortunate house was not entirely deserted by
Providence.

But the thoughts and occurrences of a prison are too uniform for a
narrative, and we must now convey our readers into a more bustling
scene.

CHAPTER XXXVII

Henceforth 'tis done--Fortune and I are friends;
And I must live, for Buckingham commends.
--POPE.

The spacious mansion of the Duke of Buckingham, with the demesne
belonging to it, originally bore the name of York House and occupied a
large portion of the ground adjacent to the Savoy.

This had been laid out by the munificence of his father, the favourite
of Charles the First, in a most splendid manner, so as almost to rival
Whitehall itself. But during the increasing rage for building new
streets, and the creating of almost an additional town, in order to
connect London and Westminster, this ground had become of very great
value; and the second Duke of Buckingham, who was at once fond of
scheming, and needy of money, had agreed to a plan laid before him by
some adventurous architect, for converting the extensive grounds around
his palace into those streets, lanes, and courts, which still perpetuate
his name and titles; though those who live in Buckingham Street, Duke
Street, Villiers Street, or in Of-alley (for even that connecting
particle is locally commemorated), probably think seldom of the memory
of the witty, eccentric, and licentious George Villiers, Duke of
Buckingham, whose titles are preserved in the names of their residence
and its neighbourhood.

This building-plan the Duke had entered upon with all the eagerness
which he usually attached to novelty. His gardens were destroyed--his
pavilions levelled--his splendid stables demolished--the whole pomp of
his suburban demesne laid waste, cumbered with ruins, and intersected
with the foundations of new buildings and cellars, and the process of
levelling different lines for the intended streets. But the undertaking,
although it proved afterwards both lucrative and successful, met with
a check at the outset, partly from want of the necessary funds, partly
from the impat