With this his grace readily agreed, and
promised to use his influence towards remedying the poet's ill-
fortune; but time went by, and his condition remained unaltered.
Whereon Wycherley conceived the idea of bringing Butler and the
duke together, that the latter might the more certainly remember
him. He therefore succeeded in making his grace name an hour and
place in which they might meet. So it came to pass they were
together one day at the Roebuck Tavern; but scarce had Buckingham
opened his lips when a pimp of his acquaintance--"the creature
was likewise a knight"--passed by with a couple of ladies. To a
man of Buckingham's character the temptation was too seductive to
be neglected; accordingly, he darted after those who allured him,
leaving the needy poet, whom he saw no more. Butler lived until
1680, dying in poverty. Longueville, having in vain solicited a
subscription to defray the expenses of the poet's burial in
Westminster Abbey, laid him to rest in the churchyard of Covent
Garden.
Wycherley, the friend of Butler, though a child of the Muses, was
superior to poverty. He was born in the year of grace 1640, and
early in life sent for his better education into France.
Returning to England soon after the king had come unto his own,
young Wycherley entered Queen's College, Oxford, from whence he
departed without obtaining a degree. He then betook himself to
town, and became a law student. The Temple, however, had less
attraction for him than the playhouse.
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