Staffordshire, the _s._ of a Scottish schoolmaster and socialist, and
_ed._ at Glasgow, was the friend of David Gray (_q.v._), and with him
went to London in search of fame, but had a long period of
discouragement. His first work, a collection of poems, _Undertones_
(1863), had, however, some success, and was followed by _Idylls of
Inverburn_ (1865), _London Poems_ (1866), and others, which gave him a
growing reputation, and raised high hopes of his future. Thereafter he
took up prose fiction and the drama, not always with success, and got
into trouble owing to some drastic criticism of his contemporaries,
culminating in his famous article on the _Fleshly School of Poetry_,
which appeared in the _Contemporary Review_ (Oct. 1871), and evoked
replies from Rossetti (_The Stealthy School of Criticism_), and Swinburne
(_Under the Microscope_). Among his novels are _A Child of Nature_
(1879), _God and the Man_ (1881), and among his dramas _A Nine Days'
Queen_, _A Madcap Prince_, and _Alone in London_. His latest poems, _The
Outcast_ and _The Wandering Jew_, were directed against certain aspects
of Christianity. B. was unfortunate in his latter years; a speculation
turned out ruinously; he had to sell his copyrights, and he sustained a
paralytic seizure, from the effects of which he _d._ in a few months. He
ultimately admitted that his criticism of Rossetti was unjustifiable.


BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, 2ND DUKE of (1628-1687).--Dramatist, _s._ of
the 1st Duke, who was in 1628 assassinated 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