He was now a young man of
twenty-one years of age--able to act for himself; and he went heart and
soul into the cause of his sovereign. Never was there a gayer, a more
prepossessing Cavalier. He could charm even a Roundhead. The harsh and
Presbyterian-minded Bishop Burnet, has told us that 'he was a man of a
noble presence; had a great liveliness of wit, and a peculiar faculty of
turning everything into ridicule, with bold figures and natural
descriptions.' How invaluable he must have been in the Common-rooms at
Oxford, then turned into guard-rooms, his eye upon some unlucky
volunteer Don, who had put off his clerkly costume for a buff jacket,
and could not manage his drill. Irresistible as his exterior is declared
to have been, the original mind of Villiers was even far more
influential. De Grammont tells us, 'he was extremely handsome, but still
thought himself much more so than he really was; although he had a great
deal of discernment, yet his vanities made him mistake some civilities
as intended for his person which were only bestowed on his wit and
drollery.'
But this very vanity, so unpleasant in an old man, is only amusing in a
younger wit. Whilst thus a gallant of the court and camp, the young
nobleman proved himself to be no less brave than witty.
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