CHAPTER III. Felton--His Character--Uncertainty of his Motives--Circumstances under which he was brought into Contact with Buckingham--Motives of his Crime discussed--The Remonstrance--The Fate of La Rochelle--Buckingham’s Unpopularity--Returns to Rhé--Misgivings of his Friends--Interview with Laud--with Charles I.--His Farewell--He enters Portsmouth--Felton--The Assassination--Original Letters from Sir D. Carlton and Sir Charles Morgan--The King’s Grief 89 CHAPTER IV. Character of the Duke of Buckingham--His Patronage of Art--His Collection--The Spanish Court Described--Collection by Charles I.--Fate of these Pictures 137 CHAPTER V. Patronage of the Drama by Charles and the Duke of Buckingham--Massinger--Ben Jonson--Their Connection with the Court, and with the Duke 183 CHAPTER VI. Beaumont and Fletcher--Their Origin--Their Joint Productions--Character of Bishop Fletcher--Anecdotes about the Use of Tobacco--Ford, the Dramatist--Howell--Sir Henry Wotton--The Character of the Duke of Buckingham Considered 267 APPENDIX 321 CHAPTER I. DEATH OF THE EARL OF SUFFOLK--HIS ADDRESS TO THE HEADS OF HOUSES--THE OPPORTUNITY SEIZED UPON BY THE KING TO MAKE BUCKINGHAM CHANCELLOR--INDIGNATION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS--INJUDICIOUS CONDUCT OF THE KING, VEHEMENT DEBATES--SIR DUDLEY DIGGES AND ELIOT SENT TO PRISON--BUCKINGHAM’S MOTIVES FOR ENGAGING IN A WAR WITH FRANCE--HE ENDEAVOURS TO SEND AWAY THE QUEEN’S SERVANTS--HIS FEAR OF LOSING HIS INFLUENCE--ARRIVAL OF SOUBISE AND ROHAN--THE DUKE GOES TO DOVER--TO PORTSMOUTH--LETTERS FROM THE DUCHESS--FROM HIS MOTHER--HE SETS SAIL FOR ROCHELLE--HIS FIRST OPERATIONS SUCCESSFUL--CARE TAKEN BY HIM OF HIS TROOPS--1626-1627. LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS. ---------- CHAPTER I. Whilst these matters were in agitation, the death of the Earl of Suffolk, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, afforded the King an opportunity of evincing his unbounded favour to the Duke of Buckingham, even whilst he lay under the very shadow of a parliamentary impeachment. A few years previously, the unpopularity of the Duke at Cambridge had been manifested by a play, in which his measures were satirized, and which had been acted by the scholars of Ben’et College.