Attached to Spain by the ties of a common faith, the Roman Catholics were swayed by the emissaries of Philip; and the Earl of Tyrone, whose first insurrection had been subdued by Sir John Norris, again organized an extensive conspiracy; three Spanish ships landed ammunition on the northern coast; and the council of Elizabeth had no softer terms to describe the disturbances, than" that it was a universal rebellion to shake off the English government." Raleigh had already served in Ireland; and, anxious to profit by his experience, the privy-council sent for him to deliver his opinion; but the original letters which inform us of this circumstance do not describe the policy he recommended, though it may be gathered that he was averse to accepting the situation of lord-deputy.

It was necessary, however, to recall the Earl of Ormond, with whose proceedings the queen was dissatisfied, and to fix upon his successor. Elizabeth had selected

Sir Robert Knolles for the charge; whilst his nephew, Essex, presumed to differ from her majesty, and earnestly recommended Sir George Carew. On this occasion that extraordinary scene took place at the council-table, from which the favourite's downfal is commonly dated. The earl argued keenly for Carew, the queen pleaded as strongly for Knolles; and Essex, unable to command his temper, abruptly and contemptuously turned his back upon his mistress, who bestowed upon him a smart box on the ear. At this his fury knew no bounds, and, clapping his hand on his sword, he swore loudly, that "he would not have borne such an indignity from her father, Henry VIII." Elizabeth, who inherited not a little of her parent's temper and spirit, upbraided him with his insolence, and dismissed him from her presence: upon which the spoiled child of fortune instantly retired from court, and shut himself up in one of his houses. In vain did the Lord-keeper Egerton remonstrate against this foolish conduct, and point out, that it gave a dangerous advantage to his enemies, and rendered useless the service of his friends. Essex returned a passionate but

eloquent answer :-"Let Solomon's fool laugh when he is stricken; let those who mean to make their profit of princes show no sense of princes' injuries; let them acknowledge an infinite absoluteness on earth, who do not believe an absolute infiniteness in heaven.-In this course do I any thing for mine enemies? When I was present I found them absolute, and therefore I had rather they triumph alone than have me attendant upon their chariots. Or do I leave my friends? When I was a courtier, I could sell them no fruit of my love; and now I am a hermit, they shall bear no envy for their love to me."*

Nothing could be more judicious than the keeper's advice in this matter, and it would have been happy for this unfortunate nobleman if he had condescended to follow it; but he persisted in his retirement,-he pressed his own ideas regarding the proper mode of governing Ireland,―he exposed the errors of the late rulers, and still represented Carew as the only man able to reduce it to order and obedience. This overbearing conduct was not lost upon the enemies of the earl. His behaviour to Raleigh, who was now restored to a higher share of the queen's favour than he had ever enjoyed, had been repeatedly unjust and insulting; and he appears to have come to the conclusion, that he and Essex could not both remain upon the dangerous height to which they had been raised. From this moment there seems reason to believe that Sir Walter became Devereux's avowed enemy.

Wearied at length by the insolence of her favourite, Elizabeth, after a partial reconciliation, availed herself of a hint given by Cecil or Raleigh, and nominated Essex himself for the government of Ireland. That this was a snare on their part to bring about his disgrace cannot be doubted. They were aware of many impediments to the execution of his schemes for the pacification of that country, which had not presented themselves to his sanguine temper. The queen had been recently much

* Oldys's Life, p. 319.

incensed against him, and was yet hardly reconciled. She had not forgotten the disasters of the Island-voyage and the escape of the Plate-fleet; and any failure in Ireland, they knew, would be fatal to him. Whilst Cecil had her majesty's ear at home, and could raise her expectations as to what Essex might accomplish with the forces intrusted to him, he could also, as secretary of state, exercise a control over those details which render an army efficient or otherwise, and might, if he chose to avail himself of this ungenerous advantage, at once abridge his power, and blame him for not bringing the rebellion to a speedier termination.

The favourite himself considered the government of Ireland as little else than an honourable exile, and went with an avowed reluctance to that ill-fated country which had been the grave of his father's fortunes. But, by his late discourses, he had committed himself too far to recede; his pride would not allow any triumph to his enemies; and his ardent temper perhaps anticipated a speedy reduction of that island, and a brilliant return to court. The letter of farewell which he wrote to Elizabeth upon his departure is too extraordinary to be omitted. It is eloquent, desponding, and amorous, breathing the reproaches of a lover whose fate had been as cruel as his constancy was undying; and this to a mistress who was then in her sixty-fifth year!

"TO THE QUEEN.-From a mind delighting in sorrow, from spirits wasted with passion, from a heart torn in pieces with care, grief, and travel, from a man that hateth himself, and all things else that keep him alive; what service can your majesty expect, since any service past deserves no more than banishment and proscription into the cursedest of all islands? It is your rebels' pride and succession must give me leave to ransom myself out of this hateful prison, out of my loathed body; which, if it happen so, your majesty shall have no cause to mislike the fashion of my death, since the course of my life could never please you.

"Happy is he could finish forth his fate
In some unhaunted desert, most obscure
From all society, from love and hate
Of worldly folk; then should he sleep secure,
Then wake again, and yield God ever praise:
Content with hips, and haws, and brambleberry,
-In contemplation passing out his days,

And change of holy thoughts to make him merry, Who, when he dies, his tomb may be a bush Where harmless Robin dwells with gentle thrush. "Your majesty's exiled servant, "ROBERT ESSEX."

The events which took place after the departure of Essex were of a nature as remarkable as their causes were obscure. He had been in his new government scarcely four months, during which hostilities against the rebels had rather been protracted than prosecuted, when Elizabeth, without any apparent reason, threw herself into a warlike attitude. Eighteen ships were fitted out with the utmost expedition under Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh; 6000 soldiers were raised to guard the city and the queen's person; chains drawn across the streets of London, watches set, lights hung out at the doors, and every defence adopted against foreign invasion or domestic insurrection. But from what quarter the danger was apprehended none distinctly knew. Spain, after concluding a peace with France, was undoubtedly preparing a fleet at the Groyne. Yet, although its destination was mysterious, there seemed no reason to doubt that towards England the policy of this great power was pacific. Some fanciful speculators have imagined that this alarm had its rise in a suspicion of the Earl of Essex, whose inactivity had deeply incensed the queen, and enabled his enemies to possess her with the idea that he meditated an attack on his native country, and a subversion of the government.* But whatever the causes might be, they ceased to operate

* It was rumoured at court that Essex intended to land his army at Milford Haven and march to London. There are some papers on this subject amongst the Hatfield MSS.

within a short time; for the fleet was ordered home before it had been a month at sea, whilst the rapidity with which the queen could assume a complete panoply, and make her people spring up in arms, astonished the foreigners then in London, and produced a happy effect in preparing the way for peace.

Essex in the mean time had grievously disappointed Elizabeth by his conduct in Ireland. He discovered, when it was too late to retract, that to put down the rebellion with speed and facility was impossible. His fault lay not so much in the measures he adopted; for, considering the circumstances of the country, there can be little doubt that they were judicious and humane, but in having so severely and ignorantly condemned the same policy in his predecessors, and in promising a change before he knew that it was practicable. Of all this Cecil and Raleigh, who watched every opportunity to shake his power, availed themselves; and there seems reason to believe they had a willing coadjutor in the Earl of Nottingham. To their royal mistress, no longer under the influence of the favourite's presence, which never failed to revive her attachment and admiration, they exaggerated his delays and expenses; to himself they used expressions of resentment more bitter than she probably would have sanctioned; and, aware of the violent and haughty spirit upon which they worked, ungenerously anticipated the result which so soon took place.

We have the testimony of an eyewitness, Sir W. Knolles, that the queen's temper with regard to Essex had become so exceedingly variable and distracted that he knew not what to advise. At one time she was disposed to melt into tenderness, and to consider herself and sweet Robin in the sole light of a mistress and her lover; at another, when pressed by Cecil or by Raleigh with his increasing haughtiness, his demands for troops and money, the inactivity of the brave army he commanded, the spreading of the rebellion, and the repeated truces made with Tyrone, she became furious and abusive. She even upbraided him with having betrayed her in