' into a corner like a dead carcass, I am gnawed on and torn by the vilest and basest creatures upon 'earth. The tavern-haunter speaks of me what he lists; already they print me, and make me speak " to the world; and shortly they will play me in 'what forms they list upon the stage. The least of 'these is a thousand times worse than death. But this is not the worst of my destiny; for your Majesty, that hath mercy for all the world but me; that hath protected from scorn and infamy all, to 'whom you once showed favour but Essex, and never repented you of any gracious assurance you had given till now;―your Majesty, I say, hath now in this eighth month of my close imprisonment (as if you thought my infirmities, beggary, and infamy, 'too little punishment for me) rejected my letters, refused to hear of me, which to traitors you never 'did. What, therefore, remaineth for me? Only this, to beseech your Majesty on the knees of my ⚫ heart, to conclude my punishment, my misery, and my life together, that I may go to my Saviour, who ' hath paid himself a ransom for me, and whom me'thinks I still hear calling me out of this unkind ' world, in which I have lived too long, and once 'thought myself too happy.

From your Majesty's humble servant,
'ESSEX.'

The Queen is said to have been extremely pleased with his penitential deportment; and to the change in her disposition thus produced he probably owed his enlargement.

At Michaelmas, in this year, a valuable patent for the monopoly of sweet wines, which the Earl had held for several years, expired; and great interest was employed by himself and his friends, to procure a renewal of it from the Queen on his behalf; this petition, however, was at first evaded, and afterwards

positively refused, the Queen saying, "that in order to manage an ungovernable beast, he must be stinted in his provender." This language, and the constant refusal of access to the Court, produced a deep impression of resentment on the mind of Essex, and opened his ears to the desperate councils of some of his dependants, and especially of Cuffe, his secretary, "a man," says Sir Henry Wotton*, "smothered under the habit of a scholar, and slubbered over with a certain rude and clownish fashion that had the semblance of integrity." Cuffe, in conjunction with others of the same turbulent temper with himself, suggested to the Earl the scheme of recovering his former situation about the Queen, by forcibly removing Cecil, Cobham, and Raleigh from her councils. Such a scheme had indeed occurred to himself before he left Ireland; but he then abandoned it by the advice of the Earl of Southampton, and others of his friends. In his present state of irritation, he adopted the proposal with all the ardour of his disposition. In order to strengthen his interest, the gates of Essex-house, which, during his humiliation and seclusion, had been closed night and day, were now thrown open to a motley group of visitors, consisting of all who were attached to his fortunes, or discontented with the Queen or her advisers. The Earl, who at several periods of his life displayed a high degree of religious seriousness, ordered divine service to be daily performed in his house; and the sermons preached on those occasions by divines eminent for their zeal, drew together a great concourse of the citizens of London. He courted both the Roman Catholics and the Puritans by expressing a hatred of all persecution for the sake of conscience, and commiserating the hard condition of both these sects under the Queen's present government. He

* Reliquiæ Wotton, p. 180.

contrived also to draw together into his own house, or to lodge secretly in his immediate neighbourhood, a strong party of military men, most of whom had attended him on his several expeditions, and all of whom were devotedly attached to himself: of these he formed a council who were to consider and determine upon the plan by which the object in view could be best accomplished. In addition to these preparations at home, he wrote to the King of Scotland, representing the Court party as engaged in a dangerous conspiracy against his title to the succession, in favour of the Infanta of Spain*: he therefore urged the King to send ambassadors without delay, for the purpose of insisting upon an open declaration of his title by the Queen.

In the mean time the daily concourse of multitudes to the sermons at Essex-house could not escape the observation of the Government; and on the 7th of February, a son of the Lord Treasurer Buckhurst was sent, under pretence of a visit to the Earl, to make observations upon the assembly at his house. Upon his report, the Under-Secretary, Mr. Herbert, was despatched to require his lordship's attendance before the Council; and, at the same time, a paper was put into the Earl's hands, warning him to be careful of his own safety. Alarmed at these symptoms of vigilance on the part of the Government, and apprehensive of the defeat of his scheme by his being again imprisoned, he hastily called together his most intimate friends, and after some debate, resolved upon taking active proceedings

*Isabella Clara Eugenia, daughter of Philip II. of Spain. Her title to the Crown of England, which was the subject of much controversy at this time, seems most chimerical and absurd; being founded almost entirely upon her lineal descent from Eleanor, daughter of Henry II. of England, who married Alonzo IX., King of Castile. The Infanta had married the Archduke Albert in 1599.

the next morning. The plan determined upon was that he should throw himself entirely upon the supposed devotion of the citizens to his party; that for this purpose he should enter the City the next morning, being Sunday, February the 8th, with a body of two hundred gentlemen: this was to be done at the time of the sermon at Paul's Cross, where the Earl was to declare to the Aldermen and Common Council the object of his coming, and to desire their assistance against his enemies; if the citizens favoured his scheme, he was then, with their help, to force his way to the Qeeen. During the whole of Saturday night, messengers from Essex-house were employed in running about in different directions to inform his friends that his life was threatened by Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh. In consequence of this intelligence, the Earls of Rutland and Southampton, Lord Sandys, Lord Monteagle, and about three hundred gentlemen, many of them of good quality, assembled at Essex-house early the next morning. Essex then informed them that the design against his life by Cobham and Raleigh, had determined him to rid himself at once of his enemies, by forcing his way to the Queen, and informing her of his danger. from those who had so long abused their influence with her Majesty. The gates of Essex-house were kept closely shut, and no one admitted who was not known, and no one permitted to go out.

Early in the morning the Queen had full intelligence of what was going on, and after sending to the Lord Mayor to desire him to be upon his guard, she despatched the Lord Keeper Egerton, Sir William Knollys, the Comptroller of the Household, the Lord Chief Justice Popham, and the Earl of Worcester, to Essex-house, to inquire the reasons of this tumultuous assembly. With some difficulty they gained admission into the house by the wicket-gate; and on

declaring the cause of their mission, the Earl repeated to them the pretence of a design against his life, and protested that persons had been hired to murder him in his bed. The Lord Keeper and the Lord Chief Justice pressed him to explain particularly what the design against him was, and whom he suspected to be the authors of it, and promised faithfully to report what he said to the Queen, in order that full justice might be done. While this conversation was going on, the tumult increased; and one of the assembly cried, "Away, my Lord, they abuse you, they betray you, you lose your time." The Lord Keeper, with great dignity, put on his hat, and turning to the assembly, commanded them upon their allegiance to lay down their arms and depart. Upon this a cry arose of" Kill them, kill them; away with the Great Seal!" and then the Earl of Essex, after taking them into the house, desired them to "have patience for a little while, as he must go into the City, but that he would soon return." As he went out, he ordered them fo be locked up and guarded, and then, drawing his sword, he rushed out of the house, with about two hundred of his company. On his way through the City the Earl shouted, "For the Queen! for the Queen! a plot is laid for my life!" and besought the citizens to arm themselves. The citizens stood and gazed, and being, as Stow says, "entirely affected to the Earl, thought that the Queen and he were made friends, and that her Majesty had appointed him to ride in that triumphant manner through London; and all the way he went, the people cried, God bless your honour! God save your honour!" But beyond this they neither understood nor partook of his enthusiasm; and it is said by Bacon, that "not one man, from the chiefest citizen to the meanest artificer or prentice, armed with him;" though all were at that time well exercised in arms,