BUCKING HAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, 2ND DUKE of (1628-1687)

—Dramatist, s. of the 1st Duke, who was in 1628 a a inated by Felton. His life was full of adventure and change of fortune. The Restoration gave him back his already twice lost estates, which he again squandered by a life of wild extravagance and profligacy at Court. He was a member of the "Cabal" and intrigued against Clarendon. He wrote pamphlets, lampoons, and plays, but his chief contribution to literature was The Rehearsal , a comedy, in which he satirised the heroic drama of Dryden and others. It is believed that S. Butler had a hand in it. Dryden had his revenge in his picture of B. as Zimri in Absalom and Achitophel .