SOURCE: O'Neill, John H. “Edward Hyde, Heneage Finch, and the Duke of Buckingham's Commonplace Book.” Modern Philology 83, no. 1 (August 1985): 51-54.

In the following essay, O'Neill discusses the possible targets of a satirical poem found in Buckingham's commonplace book.

The commonplace book of George Villiers, second duke of Buckingham, contains a fragment of a blank-verse tragedy and a large number of poems, none of which was published in his lifetime.¹ The book was found in the duke's pocket at the time of his death; he died of a chill contracted while hunting on horseback near Castle Helmsley, his estate in Yorkshire, in April 1687. As is customary in commonplace books, the poems in the volume, all fair copies, are arranged under various heads—for example, “House,” “Ignoble,” “Love,” and “Tears.” They are almost certainly all Buckingham's own compositions, for none is known to appear in any other place. The dates...