CHAPTER XVIII.

1573 TO 1577.

Letters of lord Talbot to his father.- Connexion of Leicester with lady Sheffield.-Anecdote of the queen and Mr. Dyer. —Queen suspicious of Burleigh.-Countesses of Lenox and Shrewsbury imprisoned.—Queen refuses the sovereignty of Holland. Her remarkable speech to the deputies.— Alchemy.-Notice of Dr. Dec.—Of Frobisher.—Family of Love. -Burning of two Anabaptists. Entertainment of the queen at Kennelworth.-Notice of Walter earl of Essex.General favor towards his son Robert. - Letter of the queen to the earl of Shrewsbury respecting Leicester.

GREAT as was the injustice committed by Elizabeth in the detention of the queen of Scots, it must be confessed that the offence brought with it its own sufficient punishment in the fears, jealousies, and disquiets, which it entailed upon her.

Where Mary was concerned, the most approved loyalty, the longest course of faithful service, and the truest attachment to the protestant cause, were insufficient pledges to her oppressor of the fidelity of her nobles or ministers. The earl of Shrewsbury, whom she had deliberately selected from all others to be the keeper of the captive queen; and whose vigilance had now for so long a period baffled all attempts for her deliverance, was, to the last, unable so to establish himself in the confidence of his sovereign as to be exempt from such starts of suspicion and fits of displeasure as kept him in a state of continual apprehension. Feeling with

acuteness all the difficulties of his situation, this nobleman judged it expedient to cause Gilbert lord Talbot, his eldest son, to remain in close attendance on the motions of the queen; charging him to study with unremitting attention all the intrigues of the court, on which in that day so much depended, and to acquaint him with them frequently and minutely. To this precaution of the earl's we owe several extant letters of lord Talbot, which throw considerable light on the minor incidents of the time.

In May 1573, this diligent news-gatherer acquaints his father, that the earl of Leicester was much with her majesty; that he was more than formerly solicitous to please her; and that he was as high in favor as ever: but that two sisters, lady Sheffield and lady Frances Howard, were deeply in love with him, and at great variance with each other; that the queen was on this account very angry with them, and not well pleased with him; and that spies were set upon him. To such open demonstrations of feminine jealousy was this great queen not ashamed to descend! Yet she remained all her life in ignorance of the true state of this affair, which, in fact, is not perfectly cleared up at the present day.

It appears, that a criminal intimacy was known to subsist between Leicester and lady Sheffield in the lifetime of her lord; in consequence of which, his death, which was sudden, and preceded, it is said, by violent symptons, was popularly attributed

a Illustrations by Lodge, passim.

to the Italian arts of Leicester. Some time afterwards, lady Sheffield bore a son to Leicester, whose birth was carefully concealed for fear of giving offence to the queen, though many believed that a private marriage had taken place. Afterwards, he forsook the mother of his child to marry the countess of Essex, and the deserted lady became the wife of another. In the reign of James I., many years after the death of Leicester, sir Robert Dudley, his son by lady Sheffield, to whom he had left a great part of his fortune, laid claim to the family honors, bringing several witnesses to prove his mother's marriage, and among others his mother herself. This lady declared on oath, that Leicester had employed the most violent menaces in order to compel her to form that subsequent marriage which had deprived her of the power of reclaiming him as her husband; and that he had even even attempted her life by a poisonous potion, which had thrown her into an illness by which she lost her hair and nails. After the production of this evidence, the heirs of Leicester exerted all their interest to stop proceedings; no great argument, it may be thought, of the goodness of their cause; and sir Robert Dudley died without having been able to bring the matter to a legal decision. In the next reign, the evidence formerly given was reviewed, and the title of duchess Dudley conferred on the widow of sir Robert; the patent setting forth that the marriage of the earl of Leicester with lady Sheffield had been satisfactorily proved.

So close were the contrivances, so deep, as it

appears, the villanies of this celebrated favorite! But his consummate art was successful in throwing over these and other transactions of his life a veil of doubt and mystery, which time itself has failed entirely to remove.

Hatton was at this time ill, and lord Talbot mentions that the queen went daily to visit him; but that a party, with which Leicester was thought to co-operate, was endeavouring to bring forwards Mr. Edward Dyer to supplant him in her majesty's favor. This gentleman, it seems, had been for two years in disgrace; and as he had suffered during the same period from a bad state of health, the queen was made to believe that the continuance of her displeasure was the cause of his malady; and that his recovery, without her pardon, was hopeless. This was taking her by her weak side; she loved to imagine herself the dispenser of life and death to her devoted servants, and she immediately dispatched to the sick gentleman a comfortable message, on receipt of which he was made whole. The letter-writer observes, to the honor of lord Burleigh, that he concerned himself, as usual, only in state affairs; and suffered all these love-matters and petty intrigues to pass without notice before his eyes.

All the caution, however, and all the devotedness of this great minister were insufficient to preserve him, on the following occasion, from the unworthy suspicions of his mistress.

The queen of Scots had this year with difficulty obtained permission to resort to the baths of Buxton for the recovery of her health; and a similar

motive led the lord treasurer thither at the same time. Elizabeth marked the coincidence; and when, a year or two afterwards, it occurred for the second time, her displeasure broke forth: she openly accused her minister of seeking occasions of entering into intelligence with Mary by means of the earl of Shrewsbury and his lady, and it was not without difficulty that he was able to appease her. This striking fact is thus related by Burleigh. himself in a remarkable letter to the earl of Shrewsbury.

Lord Burleigh to the earl of Shrewsbury.

66 My very good lord;

My most hearty and due commendations done, I cannot sufficiently express in words the inward hearty affection that I conceive by your lordship's friendly offer of the marriage of your younger son; and that in such a friendly sort, by your own letter, and, as your lordship writeth, the same proceeding of yourself. Now, my lord, as I think myself much beholding to you for this your lordship's kindness, and manifest argument of a faithful good will, so must I pray your lordship to accept mine answer, with assured opinion of my continuance in the same towards your lordship. There are specially two causes why I do not in plain terms consent by way of conclusion hereto; the one, for that my daughter is but young in years; and upon some reasonable respects I have determined, notwithstanding I have been very honorably offered matches, not to treat of marrying of her, if I may live so long, until she shall be above fifteen or six