[Footnote 121: Buckingham's style was even stronger and coarser than the
text leads one to suppose. "Your sowship" is the beginning of one
letter, and "I kiss your dirty hands" the conclusion of another. The
king had encouraged this by his own extraordinary familiarity. "My own
sweet and dear child," "Sweet hearty," "My sweet Steenie and gossip,"
are the commencements of the royal epistles to Buckingham; and in one
instance, where he proposes a hunting party and invites the ladies of
his family, he does it in words of perfect obscenity.]