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-Yooms,  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  in-
fluential. 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  witt}'.     Juvenile  as  he  was,  with  a  brother  still


8  Two  Gallant  Young  Noblemen.
