his splendour, when we remember that only forty years had elapsed since coaches had been first introduced into England. When the fact was related to the old Earl of Northumberland (the "stout earl," as he was called), he said that if Buckingham was drawn by six horses, he had at least a right to eight. And with this number he actually drove through the streets, to the great contentment of the citizens.

These, indeed, are but trivial illustrations of Buckingham's magnificence; while, on the other hand, it would be difficult to do justice to the refined taste and unparalleled splendour which characterised the entertainments of York House,-"those entertainments," says D'Israeli, "which combined all the picture of ballet-dances with the voice of music, the charms of the verse of Jonson, the scenic machinery of Inigo Jones, and the variety of fanciful devices of Gerbier." Bassompierre, whose judgment in matters of taste was unrivalled, describes one of Buckingham's entertainments as the most splendid he had ever seen. "The king," he

says, "supped at one table with the queen and me, which was served by a complete ballet at each course with sundry representations, - changes of

'The introduction of coaches into England is commonly attributed to Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, in 1580. It seems, however, that they were first brought from the Netherlands by William Booren, a Dutchman, who presented one to Queen Elizabeth, about the eighth year of her reign. They were first drawn by only two horses.

scenery, tables, and music. The duke waited on the king at table, the Earl of Carlisle on the queen, and the Earl of Holland on me. After supper the king and we were led into another room, where the assembly was, and one entered it by a kind of turnstile, as in convents, without any confusion, where there was a magnificent ballet, in which the duke danced, and afterward we set to and danced country dances till four in the morning; thence we were shown into vaulted apartments, where there were five different collations." This would seem to have been the identical entertainment, a description of which Mr. D'Israeli has extracted from the Sloane MSS., and published in his "Curiosities of Literature." "Last Sunday at night, the duke's grace entertained their Majesties and the French ambassador at York House with great feasting and show, where all things came down in clouds; amongst which, one rare device was a representation of the French king and the two queens, with their chiefest attendants, and so to the life that the queen's Majesty could name them. It was four o'clock in the morning before they parted, and then the king and queen, together with the French ambassador, lodged there. Some estimate this entertainment at five or six thousand pounds."

Sir

The duke's cabinet of pictures and works of art were valuable and choice in the extreme. Balthazar Gerbier, the architect and painter, writes

to his patron, 8th February, 1625: "Sometimes, when I am contemplating the treasure of rarities which your Excellency has in so short a time amassed, I cannot but feel astonishment in the midst of my joy. For out of all the amateurs, and princes, and kings, there is not one who has collected in forty years as many pictures as your Excellency has collected in five. Let enemies and people ignorant of paintings say what they will, they cannot deny that pictures are noble ornaments, a delightful amusement, and histories that one may read without fatigue. Our pictures, if they were to be sold a century after our death, would sell for good cash, and for three times more than they have cost. I wish I could only live a century, if they were sold, to be able to laugh at those facetious folk who say it is money cast away for baubles and shadows. I know they will be pictures still, when those ignorants will be less than shadows." For a collection, which had been made by Rubens, the duke gave 10,000l.; and he also employed Sir Henry Wotton, when ambassador at Venice, to purchase for him the most valuable productions of the great masters. For one of the pictures of Titian, the "Ecce Homo," Lord Arundel offered him 7,000l., either in money or land. In this picture were introduced likenesses of the Pope, Charles the Fifth, and Solyman the Magnificent. When the duke's cabinet came to be disposed of during the civil troubles, this fine