at this behaviour, and, for some time, they were all excluded the presence-chamber, and prohibited access to her person: however, it was not long before they submitted, and obtained her majesty's pardon.

In 1568, the queen of Scots fled into England; and Leicester appears to have continued strongly attached to her interest. He even stands charged with having entered into a conspiracy against secretary Cecil, because he suspected him to favour the succession of the house of Suffolk.

Mary at this period was a widow for the third time, her second husband, Lord Darnley, having been first murdered, as it is conjectured, and then blown up by gunpowder, with all his attendants, at his huntingseat, in 1566: Bothwell, the supposed chief conspirator, and the queen's favourite, was tried for the murder, but by her influence acquitted; and that no room might be left to doubt who was the real contriver of this foul treason, Mary married Bothwell soon after; upon which the Earl of Murray, and other lords, raised an army against her, took her prisoner, and obliged her to resign her crown to her son, by Lord Darnley, an infant of thirteen months old, who was thereupon crowned by the title of James VI. and Murray was appointed regent. As to Bothwell, he fled to Denmark, where he died obscurely, and Mary escaping, took refuge in England.

Here Leicester contrived a new plan to restore the unfortunate, guilty queen, by proposing a marriage between her and the Duke of Norfolk. He took upon him to propound the matter to the duke; extenuated the crimes she was accused of; and wrote letters to Mary in commendation of Norfolk; in which he earnestly persuaded her to approve of the marriage; and, farther, he drew up certain articles, which he sent to her by the Bishop of Rosse, promising, upon her acceptance of the proposed conditions, to procure for her the crown of Scotland in present possession, and the crown of England in reversion.

In 1571, died, in a strange manner, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, who had been at the head of Leicester's party, against Cecil, secretary of state, but had lately gone over to him. Being at Leicester's house, as he was at supper, he was seized, in a most violent manner, and died in a few days, not without suspicion of poison.

From this time Leicester was universally detested, and very justly; for his pride and venality offended all the great officers of state, and his other crimes drew upon him the odium of the people. He had quarrelled openly with Archbishop Parker and the Bishop of London, for refusing to grant a dispensation for a child to hold a valuable benefice, whose father had bribed Leicester to obtain this favour. He had likewise private gifts on the disposal of bishoprics, besides many lucrative grants from the crown. In consequence of his favour with the queen, he carried

his insolence to such a pitch to other courtiers, that even in her presence he treated them with great indignity.

In the course of this year he privately married lady Douglas, dowager-baroness of Sheffield; and though some secret memoirs of the adventures of this unfortunate lady, whom he would never own as his wife, were handed about, yet the affair did not reach the queen's ear. But the wits of the court, after his other marriage with the countess dowager of Essex was known, styled these two ladies, Leicester's two testaments, calling Lady Douglas the old, and Lady Essex the new testament. Unable, however, to make Lady Douglas desist from her pretensions, he endeavoured, says Dugdale, to take her off by poison, and she escaped death, with the loss of her hair and her nails.

Yet all the reports and representations made to the queen of the earl's conduct and bad character, had so little effect upon her, that in 1575, her majesty made him a visit at his castle of Kenilworth, which had been granted to his lordship and his heirs, by the queen's letters patent, ever since the fifth year of her reign; and his expense in enlarging and adorning it amounted to no less than 60,0001. Here he entertained the queen and her court with all imaginable magnificence for seventeen days. An estimate may be formed of the expense from the quantity of beer that was drank upon this occasion, which amounted to 320 hogsheads.

Towards the close of this year, Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, was, by Lord Leicester's management, commanded to resign his authority in Ireland; and returned into England, after having sustained a consider able loss in his private fortunes. But expressing his resentment with too much eagerness against Leicester, to whose underhand dealings he imputed the whole cause of his misfortunes, he was again sent back into Ireland, by his procurement, with the unprofitable title of earl-marshal of the country. And here he continued not long before he died of a bloodyflux, in the midst of incredible torments. The death of this nobleman carried with it a suspicion of poison, and was charged upon the Earl of Leicester. Two of Essex's own servants are reported to have been confederates in the murder: and it is said, that a pious lady, whom the earl much valued, was accidentally poisoned at the same time.

In 1585, the United Provinces in the Netherlands, who had lately thrown off the Spanish yoke, being greatly distressed, made application to queen Elizabeth, and desired her majesty to take them into her protection. The queen entered into a treaty, by which she engaged to furnish them with a large supply of men and money, which she sent soon after, under the conduct of her general, the Earl of Leicester. His fleet consisted of fifty sail of ships and transports; and he arrived at Flushing, where he was magnificently entertained by Sir Philip Sidney, his nephew, governor of the town for her majesty; this town, with the castle of Ra

milies, and the town of Tervere, in Zealand, and the Brille in the province of Holland, had been delivered to Elizabeth, as a security for the repayment of the expenses.

The same splendid and honourable reception was given to the earl throughout his progress to the Hague; every town-endeavouring to outvie the other in demonstrations of respect; all manner of shews and entertainments by land and on their canals were exhibited. The earl afterwards proceeded to the exercise of his high authority, and having appointed natives of Holland to be deputies in every province, he put the whole army, both Dutch and English, under such excellent regulations, that the prince of Parma, general of the Spanish forces, began to despair of recovering these provinces for the crown of Spain, Several skirmishes now happened, in which the English forces gained the advantage; and upon the whole, the English were so successful, that, in honour of their victories, Leicester determined to celebrate the festival of St. George at Utrecht, where he had his head-quarters, with the same ridiculous ostentation, a fondness for which was one of his great foibles.

The English, in general, gave signal proofs of their military skill and personal valour; but Sir Philip Sidney surpassed all others. He was the son of Sir Henry Sidney, by Mary, the eldest daughter of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and distinguished himself very early at the court of Elizabeth. He possessed the ancient spirit of British freedom, which he exerted manfully upon all occasions. He wrote an elegant Latin letter to the queen, containing the soundest arguments, founded on the principles of general policy, and the constitution of the kingdom, dissuading her from the marriage then nearly concluded between her majesty and the Duke of Anjou. The queen appointed him governor of Flushing, and lieutenant-general of horse. Being arrived in Zealand, he formed a close friendship and intimacy with Maurice, son of the prince of Orange, and in conjunction with him entered Flanders, and took Axel by surprize. Encouraged by this success, he made an attempt upon Graveline; but the design proved abortive, through the treachery of La Motte, the commanding officer. His next and last service was at the siege of Zutphen. Here he was constantly engaged in the heat of the action, and signalized himself by prodigies of valour. He had two horses killed under him, and was mounting a third, when he was wounded by a musket-shot from the trenches, which broke the bone of one of his thighs; and being then unable to manage his horse, he bore him from the field. In this agonizing situation he rode to the camp, near a mile and a half distant, and faint with the loss of blood, he called for drink; but when it was brought to him, as he was putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a poor soldier carried along more dangerously wounded, who cast a longing eye towards the bottle, which Sidney observing, he gave it the soldier before he tasted

a drop himself, saying, " Thy necessity is yet greater than mine." He drank, however, after the soldier, and was then carried to Arnheim, where he expired, on the 17th of October, 1586, in the thirty-second year of his age. Besides his military fame, he left an unfading memorial of his fine genius, in his celebrated romance, intituled, Arcadia.

The loss of this promising hero, in the bloom of youth, combined with the ill fortune of the day, occasioned loud murmurs in the army, and alienated the esteem of the Dutch, who now openly arraigned Leicester, and did not scruple to charge him with want of military skill, if not of personal valour. Leicester, in return, entered upon a justification of his proceedings, strove to remove their supposed misconstructions and mistakes, and declared his resolution of returning to England. But whatever might be the pretence for Leicester's leaving the Low Countries at this conjuncture, his presence in England seems to have been desired secretly by Elizabeth, who wanted him near her person at this juncture; for the late conspiracies, which had been formed in favour of the queen of Scots, had made a deep impression upon her majesty, and she now resolved to sacrifice her to her own safety; but the difficulty lay in what manner it should be done; and she knew she could rely upon Leicester.

The affairs of the Low Countries were now in a very unprosperous condition, and loud complaints were made against the earl's administration, The queen, however, openly espousing the cause of her favourite, Leicester went over to Holland again; where, by his professions of zeal for the Protestant religion, he formed a strong party among the divines and devotees, and thus raised two factions in the country, by which the States were greatly distressed, the magistrates and persons of rank only being of their party, while the mass of the people, with the clergy, were devoted to Leicester. From this embarrassing situation, they were fortunately relieved by Leicester's recall in 1588, when England was in a general consternation on account of the intended invasion by the Spanish Armada. The queen as a token of her great esteem for, and confidence in the earl, made him lieutenant-general of the army, which had marched to Tilbury, to prevent the landing of the Spaniards,

Elizabeth, when she reviewed this army, bestowed the highest encomiums on him, in her memorable speech, in which, in imitation of the celebrated generals of ancient Greece and Rome, she harangued her troops:

"MY LOVINg Prople,

"We have been persuaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself, that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects. And therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle,

to live and die amongst you all: to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too; and think it foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm ; to which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, on the word of a prince. they shall be duly paid you.

“In the mean time, my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject, not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people."

The Spanish invasion was prevented by a violent storm which dispersed their fleet, and it was afterwards defeated. This was the last employment in which the Earl of Leicester was engaged; for retiring soon after to his castle at Kenilworth, as he was on his journey, he was taken ill of a fever at Cornbury Park, in Oxfordshire; of which he died on the 4th of September, 1588.

The Earl of Leicester left only one son, to whom he bequeathed the greatest part of his real estate, by the title of his base son Robert, on account of his having always denied his marriage with the Lady Douglas, his mother; but the young gentleman, with great reason, laid claim to legitimacy, and to the hereditary honours of his family, in the beginning of the reign of James I. and commenced a suit for that purpose in the ecclesiastical court; and when he had proceeded so far as to prove the marriage of his mother, by indubitable evidence, the cause, through the influence of the dowager countess of Leicester (formerly countess of Essex) now married to a third husband, Sir Christopher Blunt, was removed into the star-chamber, where the king in an arbitrary manner put an end to the suit. This act of injustice determined Sir Robert Dudley to leave his native country, and at this time he was esteemed one of the most accomplished gentlemen of his age. Disgusted at the English court, he obtained a license to travel for three years; but upon the death of his uncle the Earl of Warwick, he assumed his title abroad, which giving offence to King James, he was ordered home, and not thinking it prudent to comply, his estate was confiscated, for his life, to the crown. Upon this reverse of fortune he retired to Florence, where he was kindly received by Cosmo II. great duke of Tuscany; and for his eminent services to the manufactures and commerce of that country, the emperor, on the recommendation of the archduchess, to whom he had been appointed chamberlain, created him a duke of the Holy Roman WORTHIES, No. 16.

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