LETTER IX.

To the Right Honorable Sr Walter Aston, Embassator for his Magtie of Greate Britaine, in Madrid.

MY LORD,

I am comaunded by our noble lord to lett you knowe that hee could by no meanes write unto you, for at the tyme hee would have doon it, his magtie had such earnest employment for him, that hee was forced to leave it, and by this meanes to excuse himselfe to your lop. whose good opinion of you is suche that I can assure you, no man is happier in it then your selfe although I knowe that your worthe and good partes doo deserve it, by weh meanes you gaine every man's afection, and make mee Your lop.'s servaunt,

ENDYMION PORTER.*

Havering, this 11th of Sep

tember, 1662.

* Endymion Porter was a courtier and a scholar, and a great patron of learned men. Several poems were address

I must, by ading a word, give this roge the lie in some part, but not in all, for my hart tells me all is trew, saveing the excuse, which when he made it was then so too. All I can say more is, that wee are in great disorder here, with your delays there, but I hope all will at lenth turne to the best, so I end.

Your faithfull frend

and humble servant,

G. BUCKINGHAM.

I wonder Cottington makes no more hast, and I pray you commend me to him.

ed to him by Davenant, and Sir John Denham, as may be seen in their works:

LETTER X.

My Lord; for all businesses I must refer you to ye dispatches wch Mr Secrie Calvert sends by this bearer (Mr Digbie,) and by those Ires, you wyll understand how well his matie is satisfied wth ye proceedings of my lo. of Bristol, and yorselfe, in ye business of ye marryage, wch we hope wyll now grow to a happie conclusion.*

For yor own ptcular, I must entreat you to believe that I have the same care as if it concerned myselfe, and that ther needeth no other solicitation wth me then yor own meritt in his maties service; unto whom I have soe lyvely represented the inconveniences you suffer for want of yor paymt, as he hath been pleased to give order and comaundmt unto my lo. treasurer that yor debt be discharged in ye receyt, and you shall find me soe good a solicitor for ye future as I hope you shall have no more need to press yor friends in this kind hereafter, butt

*See Letters II, and III.

yt you may cherefully go on in his maties service. Soe wth my best wyshes, I rest

Whitehall, the 7th

of Ja. 1622.

Your faithful friend

and servant,

G. BUCKINGHAM.*

* George Villiers, the famous Duke of Buckingham, who was stabbed by Felton in 1628. He appears to have had a great regard for Sir Walter Aston.

About this time, the Duke of Buckingham made a remarkable motion in the House of Lords to this effect: "That since the education of youth, especially of quality and worth, is a matter of great consequence; therefore, to provide that such persons, in their tender years, do not spend their time fruitlessly about the town, or elsewhere, his lordship wished that some fit and good course might be taken for the erection and maintenance of an academy, for the breeding and bringing up the nobility and gentry of this kingdom, in their younger and tender age; and for a free and voluntary contribution from persons of honour and quality for that purpose."

This motion (says the Journal,) was generally liked and commended, and many grave and judicious speeches were used by several lords, touching the most considerable and material points, and the perfect accomplishment of this most honourable project. Some concerning the place where such an academy should be placed and erected; others, what qualifications, arts, sciences, and exercises should be

blisher of the Kinges of Fez and Morocco, in the familie of the Xariffes, and whose posteritie now reigns, I beseech yor lop. to comand one of yor servants to make search for them for the variety and changes that have been in those partes, exceeds any modern storie. Yor lop. may see howe bold I am with

:

* Muli Mahomet, the first Sharif or Shiref of Morocco, seized the sceptre of that empire, about the year 1500. The following remarkable story of one of his successors, who died in the year 1575, is related in the Spectator, No. 349.

"I shall conclude this paper with the instance of a person who seems to me to have shown more intrepidity and greatness of soul in his dying moments than what we meet with among any of the most celebrated Greeks and Romans. I met with this instance in the History of the Revolutions of Portugal, by the Abbe de Vertot.

"When Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, had invaded the territories of Muli Moluc, Emperor of Morrocco, in order to dethrone him, and set the crown upon the head of his nephew, Moluc was wearing away with a distemper which he himself knew was incurable. However he prepared for the reception of so formidable an enemy. He was indeed so far spent with his sickness that he did not expect to live out the whole day, when the last decisive battle was given: but knowing the fatal consequences that would happen to his children and people, in case he should die before he put an end to that war, he commanded his principal officers, that if he died during the engagement, they