delineated, on the left of the door-way, is of very recent date. The premises are now tenanted as a ASSASSINATION OF GEORGE VILLIERS, ladies-school. DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. GEORGE VILLIERS, the first Duke of his family, was assassinated at Portsmouth, in August 1628, whilst surrounded by his chief officers, and engaged in hastening forward the embarkation to relieve Rochelle; which, at that time was closely invested by the French army. The house, wherein this murder was committed, appears to have been temporally occupied by the Duke, and is situated at the upper end of the High Street, No. 10. It was, probably, then considered as a first-rate town residence, but such repeated alterations have been made, both within and without, that very little of its original aspect has been preserved. Some years ago, when occupied as an Inn, it retained much of its former character, yet all that now remains of the old front is shewn in the above cut:* The other part of the front, which is not During a short tour in Hampshire, (recently made for the purposes of this work,) the sketch from which the above cut was executed, was drawn by Mr. Whittock; as well as that representing the Duke's monument. The following particulars of the Assassination are given in a letter preserved in the Lansdowne collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum; and which is headed thus: The Lord Carlton's Letter from Southwick, in Post, to the Queene, on Saturday, at afternoone, August 23d., 1628.-Touching the Tragical End of my Lord Duke of Buckingham.* MADAM, I AM to trouble your Grace with a most lamentable relation. This day, betwixt 9 and 10 of the Clock in the Morning, the Duke of Buckingham, then coming out of a Parlour, into a Hall, to go to his Coach, and so to the King, (who was 4 miles off,) having about him diverse Lords, Colonels and Captains, and many of his own servants, was, by one Felton, (once a Lieutenant of this our army,) slain at one blow, with a dagger-knife. In his staggering he turned about, uttering only this word-(villain) and never spake word more, but presently plucking out the knife from himself, before he fell to the ground, he made towards the Traitor, two or three paces, and then fell against a table, although he were upheld by divers that were near him, that (through the villain's close carriage in the act) could not perceive him hurt at all, but guessed him to be suddenly overswayed with some Apoplexy, till they saw the blood fast that the life and breath at once left his begored come gushing from his mouth and the wound, so body. then made, by us that were commanders and officers Madam, You may easily guess what cries were there present, when we saw him thus dead in a moment, and slain by an unknown hand, for it seems that the Duke himself only knew who it was that had murdered him; and by means of the condid nor could. The Soldiers fear his loss will be fused press at the instant about his person, we neither their utter ruin, wherefore, at that instant, the house with the Duke's body endeavouring a care of it. In and the court about it were full, every man present the meantime Felton passed the throng, which was confusedly great, not so much as marked or followed, insomuch, that not knowing where or who he was that had done the fact, some came to keep guard at Vide "Lansd. MSS." No. 213. f. 147, 8. the gates, and others went to the ramparts of the Town. In all which time the villain was standing in the kitchen of the same house, and after the inquiry made by a multitude of Captains and Gentlemen, then pressing into the house and court, and | crying out amain, "Where is the Villain? where is the Butcher?"-he most audaciously and resolutely drawing forth his sword, came out, and went amongst them, saying, boldly, “I am the Man; here I am." Upon which divers drew upon him, with an intent to have then dispatcht him; but Sir Thomas Morton, myself, and some others used such means, (though with much trouble and difficulty,) that we drew him out of their hands, and by order of my Lord High | Chamberlain, we had the charge of keeping him from any coming to him, until a Guard of Musketeers was brought, to convey him to the Gorvernor's house, where we were discharg'd. My Lord High Chamberlain and Mr. Secretary Cooke were then at the Governor's house, and did there take his examination, of which as yet there is nothing known; only whilst he was in our custody, I asked him several questions, to which he answered : vizt. He said he was a Protestant in Religion; he also expressed himself that he was partly discontented for want of £80 pay which was due unto him, and for that he being Lieutenant of a Company of Foot, the Company was given over his head unto another; and yet he said that that did not move him to this resolution, but that he reading the Remonstrance of the House of Parliament, it came into his mind, that in committing the act of killing the Duke he should do his Country a great good service and he said that to-morrow he was to be prayed for in London. I then asked him at what church, and to what purpose? He told me at a church by the Fleet Street Conduit, and, as for a man much discontented in his mind. Now we seeing things to fall from him in this manner, suffered him not to be further question'd by any; thinking it much fitter for the Lords to examine him, and find it out, and know from him, whether he was encouraged, and set on by any to perform this wicked deed. But to return to the screeches made at the fatal blow given. The Duchess of Buckingham and the Countess of Anglesey, came forth into a Gallery which looked into the Hall, where they might behold the blood of their dearest Lord gushing from him. Ah! poor Ladies, such were their screechings, tears, and distractions, that I never in my life heard the like before, and hope never to hear the like again.-His Majesty's grief for the loss of him was express'd VOL. I. OCT. 27, 1832. to be more than great, by the many tears he hath shed for him, with which I will conclude this sad and untimely News. Felton had sowed a writing in the crown of his hat, half within the lining, to shew the cause why he put this cruel act in execution; thinking he should have been slain in the place, and it was thus: "If I be slain, let no man condemn me, but rather condemn himself. It is for our sins that our hearts are hardened, and become senseless, or else he had not gone so long unpunished. John Felton." "He is unworthy of the name of a Gentleman or Soldier, in my opinion, that is afraid to sacrifice his life for the honor of God, his King and Country. John Felton." Madam, this is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: yet all too much too, if it had so pleased God. I thought I thought it my bounden duty howsoever to let your Majesty have the first intelligence of it, by the hand of, Madam, your sorrowful Servant, It is extremely singular, that Carleton should not have copied accurately the writing found in Felton's hat;- -a fact which we are enabled to ascertain from a reference to the original paper, which is now in the possession of Mr. William Upcott, of the London Institution; by whose permission we here insert an exact transcript: viz. "That man is Cowardly base, and deserveth not the name of a gentleman o' Souldier, that is not willinge to sacrifice his life for the honor of his God, his Kinge and his Countrie. Lett no man Commend me for doeinge of it, but rather discommend themselves as the cause of it, for if God had not taken away o' harts for o' sinnes, he would not have gone so longe vnpunished. Jo. Felton."* * The curious reader, as Mr. Ellis has remarked, (“ Original Letters," 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 256,) will probably be pleased to know the pedigree of the possessors of this unique document; which, a few years ago, was found among the Evelyn papers at Wotton, in Surrey. Sir Edward Nicholas Secretary of State, who had the first possession of it, was one of the persons before whom Felton was examined at Portsmouth. His daughter married Sir Richard Browne, and the learned and philosophic Mr. John Evelyn, married the only daughter of Sir Richard Browne. Lady Evelyn, the widow of his descendant, presented it to Mr. Upcott. Lord Clarendon, with his accustomed inaccuracy,- for his " History" has received far more credit from the world than it deserves, says that on Felton's paper, "were writ four or five lines of that declaration made by the House of Commons, in which they had styled the Duke an enemy to the kingdom, and under it a short ejaculation or two towards a prayer." In the above transcript of Carleton's Letter, the spelling has been partly modernized. R Sir Henry Wotton states that Felton "was a younger brother of mean fortune, born in Suffolk, by nature of a deep melancholy, silent, and gloomy constitution, but bred in the active way of a souldier; and thereby raised to the place of lieutenant to a foot company in the regiment of Sir James Ramsey." He also relates the following circumstances attending the assassination. is dated from Southwick, it is probable that he had hastened thither to acquaint his majesty with the murder; which the king is said to have heard with much apparent calmness, although he deeply regretted the loss of the duke. He is also stated to have styled Buckingham "his martyr," and independently of ordering his remains to be deposited in Westminster Abbey, he caused a sumptuous monument, or rather cenotaph, to be erected to his memory in Portsmouth church. Speaking of the murderer, he says, " In a by Cutler's shop of Tower-hill he bought a ten-penny knife, (so | cheap was the instrument of this great attempt) and In the early part of September, Felton was conveyed the sheath thereof he sewed to the lining of his by water to the Tower; where, after several examipocket, that he might at any moment draw forth the nations, he was threatened by the Earl of Dorset, in blade alone with one hand, for he had maimed the the King's name, with the rack, in order to force a other. This done, he made shift, partly as it is said confession of his accomplices. Felton replied,—" I on horseback, and partly on foot, to get to Ports-do again affirm upon my salvation, that my purpose mouth, for he was indigent and low in money, which perhaps might have a little edged his desperation. "At Portsmouth, on Saturday, being the 23rd of August, he pressed without any suspicion, in such a time of so many pretenders to employment, into an inward chamber where the duke was at breakfast, (the last of his repasts in this world) accompanied with men of quality and action, with Monsieur de Soubes, and Sir Thomas Fryer; and there, a little before the duke's rising from the table, he went and stood expecting till he should passe through a kind of lobby, between that room and the next, where were divers attending him. Towards which passage, as I conceive somewhat darker than the chamber, which he voided, while the duke came with Sir Thomas Fryer close at his arm, in the very moment as the said knight withdrew himself from the duke, this assassinate gave him with a back blow a deep wound into his left side, leaving the knife in his body; which the duke himself pulling out, on a sudden effusion of spirits, he sunk down under the table in the next room, and immediately expired. "Thus died this great peer, in the thirty-sixth year of his age complete, and three days over, in a time of great recourse unto him, and dependence upon him, the house and town full of servants and suitors, his duchess in an upper room scarce yet out of bed; and the Court, at that time, not above six or nine miles from him, which had been the stage of his greatness. At the time of this assassination the king (Charles 1.) was at Southwick Park, a seat of some antiquity, and then belonging to the Nortons, between six and seven miles from Portsmouth. As Carleton's letter "Reliquiæ Wotton." 12mo. 1651, p. 112. was known to no man living; and more than I have said before, I cannot. But if it be his Majestie's pleasure, I am ready to suffer whatsoever his Majesty will have inflicted upon me. Yet this I must tell you by the way, that if I be put upon the rack, I will accuse you, my Lord of Dorset, and none but yourself." This firmness, apparently, casued the Lords to hesitate, but as Charles was still desirous that he should be put on the rack, the question was referred to the judges, who having, "by the late proceedings in parliament, been taught a salutary lesson, unanimously replied, that torture was not justifiable, according to the law of England.”† In reply to the questions of "two grave and learned divines," that were sent by order of the King, "to try, if by working upon his conscience, they could get out of him who were his complices and confederates," Felton stated, in effect,-"That he took his first resolution on Monday the 18th of August, but five days before he acted it; and that his only confederate and setter on, was the Remonstrance of the Parliament, which he then verily thought in his soul and conscience, to be a sufficient warrant for what he did upon the Duke's person. Now he makes two suites to his Majesty; the one is, that he may receive the communion before he suffer death; and the other, that until then, he may be permitted to weare Sackcloth about his loins, to sprinkle ashes upon his head, and to carry a halter about his neck in testimony of repentance, for shedding the blood of a man, and that so suddenly as he had no time given him to repent. That his own blood is ready for the satisfaction of the law; and he is con * Vide, Ellis's "Original Letters," 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 267. + Lingard's "History of England," vol. vi. p. 286. fident that the blood of Christ shall wash away this | not to justifie his fact, but take notice it was onely and all his other sins." the instigation of the Devil;"-for "it had been no warrant to him if the grievances had been true," &c. His body was afterwards hung in chains, at Portsmouth."§ Towards the latter end of November, Felton was arraigned in Westminster Hall at the bar of the King's Bench, and he was condemned on his own confession of the fact; yet he added, "that he did The monument of the Duke of Buckingham in not do it maliciously, but out of an intent for the Portsmouth Church, which, greatly in contravention good of his country." On the Saturday following he of religious decorum, usurps the place of the altarwas hanged at Tyburn, after expressing great peni- piece, is shewn in the annexed cut, which repretence and resignation; and praying "all the people sents the interior of the Church, looking eastward. "Original Letters," vol iii. p. 266. On the day before his execution, he was visited, with his Majesty's leave, "by the Earl and Countess of Arundell, and the Lord Matravers their son, he being of their blood. They brought him money to give away, and a winding sheet; but the last, as it seems, in vaine."-Vide, "Original Letters," p. 282. This monument is principally of white marble; | our English peasantry of the present day; and while and, in the lower division, between two female angels, beautifully wrought, is a large tablet thus inscribed: GEORGIO VILLERIO BUCKINGHAM: DUCI, Anno Domini 1628. Mense Aug: die 23. Tu Viator si qua tibi pietatis viscera tam indignum Et Vale. .... Over the inscription, on a pedestal, is a marble urn, in which the heart of this ill-fated nobleman is said to be deposited: the Villiers arms and other insignia surmount the whole.* OBSERVATIONS ON THE SOCIAL HABITS AND DIALECT OF THE BARO the disappointed tourist too often returns from his excursion, deploring the clownish ignorance and boorish indifference prevalent in the most beautiful and picturesque of our rural districts; it is more interesting to ascertain that those habits of life considered peculiar to the husbandman and the shepherd are still to be found, most pleasingly exhibited, in one little nook of Ireland,- -an Oasis in a rural waste,and a smiling garden amid the uncultured wretchedness and naked aspect of a country, for which, as it has been most truly observed, "Heaven has done every thing, and man nothing." Such are the traits of the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, or, as they are frequently designated, "The English Baronies" of the County of Wexford. This district extends about two miles Irish, (or nearly twelve and a half English), from east to west, along the sea shore,-stretching from thence about eight miles to the mountain of Fort, or Forth, as the natives are pleased to call a hill rising six or seven hundred feet, at the utmost, above the general level of the circumjacent country. Here, A.D. 1172, Henry of Mountmorres, or Hervè de Monte Maurisco,* and his military followers, were located, by virtue of a grant made, (according to previous contract, on the part of Dermid Mac Morrogh, King of Leinster,) in return for their good and faithful services in the field. As the aboriginal inhabitants were wholly displaced, to make way for these martial intruders, the settlement became altogether English in its character; and the situation being sequestered, and the new inhabitants, from generation to generation, intermarrying within their own boundaries, that character has been there preserved to the present day in an unsophisticated guise, which we may vainly seek from the Thames to the Tweed. A handful of brave men, in a strange land, they soon felt the necessity of close union and brotherly concord, to protect them from the inroads of the surrounding natives; and governed, ab initio, by English laws, (laws, be it observed, which beyond the limits of "the Pale," the Irish for many centuries frequently sought without success) they soon Portsmouth Church, which is dedicated to St. Thomas à settled down into one of the most peaceable and Becket, is a spacious and handsome structure. It principally consists of a nave, transept, and chancel; with a lofty tower at orderly communities that can well be conceived of. the west end, forming a good sea-mark. The nave and tower are Respected, too, as a compact body of unmixed Engcomparatively modern, both having been rebuilt in the Italian-lishmen, or Anglo-Irish, it is probable they escaped ized manner; but the transept and chancel are nearly of the earliest period of Pointed architecture: the windows of the chancel are triplicated and lancet-formed. In this Church are numerous sepulchral memorials. Charles II. was married at Portsmouth to Catherine, the Infanta of Portugal, on the 21st of May 1662. NIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, (COMMONLY CALLED BY AN OFFICER OF THE LINE. WHILE it is too generally a matter of regret that the olden simplicity of manners, which so often presents itself to the imagination, is so rarely found among those constant prosecutions and those incessant mutations of property which so incessantly harassed the country at large, and generated that hatred amon Nephew of Richard, Earl of Strongbow. |