cretion.' Three days after he was delivered to the lord-keeper to be kept in "free custody." The great and little Bacon, who had had many obligations to Essex, but who was now making his way to power through intricate mazes, was consulted by the earl. "It is but a mist," said Bacon; "but it is as mists are if it go upwards it may cause a shower; if downwards it will clear up" by which periphrasis he meant that all must depend on the queen's humour. This humour seemed to be fixed in spite and revenge. She said that she sought his amendment, not his destruction; but she consulted with the judges whether he might not be charged with high treason; she denied him the society of his wife, the attendance of his physician, even when Essex lay dangerously ill. In the month of May, 1600, when he had been nearly eight months under restraint, he made a touching appeal to his sovereign, telling her how he had languished in four months' sickness, felt the very pangs of death upon him, and his poor reputation not suffered to die with him, but buried and he alive. On the 26th of August he was released from custody, being told that he was not to appear at court. A few days after his release a valuable patent for the monopoly of sweet wines, which he had held for some years, expired: he petitioned for a renewal of it as an aid to his shattered fortunes; but the queen, saying that, "in order to manage an ungovernable beast, he must be stinted in his provender," positively refused. racter. Other daring men joined in the advice given by Cuffe; and Essex finally adopted their perilous plan. He threw open the gates of his house in London, and thither flocked Catholic ESSEX HOUSE, STRAND, trom the River.-After Hollar. Essex now became desperate, and there was one at his elbow to prompt the most desperate deeds; this was Cuffe, his secretary, "a man smothered under the habit of a scholar, and slubbered over with a certain rude and clownish fashion that had the semblance of integrity."2 The secretary suggested that he might easily recover his former ascendency by forcibly removing Sir Robert Cecil, Raleigh, and others, from court. Essex knew that he had been the darling of the Londoners, who, with as much boldness as was consistent with prudence, had defended his conduct in Ireland, had laid the blame of his failures and his crosses on the malice of his enemies, and had compassionated his misfortunes. Some of the preachers had, indeed, been bolder than this defending him in the pulpit, and praying for him by name. Nor had the press been idle; pamphlets were put forth in his favour; and Heywood, a civilian, published a curious history of the deposition of Richard II., and dedicated it to the earl, with lavish commendations of his cha2 Reliquiae Wottoniana. 1 Sidney Papers. VOL. II. priests, Puritan preachers, soldiers and sailors, young citizens and needy adventurers. A strong party of military men, officers who had served under him, took up lodgings in his immediate neighbourhood, and formed themselves into a council. Essex, moreover, wrote to the King of Scots, representing the court party as engaged in a conspiracy against his title to the succession, in favour of the Infanta of Spain, Donna Isabella Clara Eugenia, daughter of Philip II., and married to the Archduke Albert. It was impossible that these proceedings should be kept secret: the court soon heard all, and summoned Essex to appear before the privy council. At that moment a note from an unknown writer, warning him to provide for his safety, was put into his hand; and he was told, soon after, that the guard had been doubled at the palace. He saw that he must either flee, be arrested where he was, or strike his blow; and on the following morning, being Sunday, the 8th of February, in conjunction with the Earls of Rutland and Southampton, Lord Sandys, Lord Mounteagle, and about 300 gentlemen, many of whom had joined him the preceding night, on notice sent to them by him that his life was threatened by Cobham and Raleigh, he resolved to enter the city during sermon time at Paul's Cross, to call upon the people to join him against his enemies, and with their help to force his way to the queen. As the company was about to set forth, the Lord-keeper Egerton, Sir William Knollys, the Lord Chief-justice Popham, and the Earl of Worcester, arrived at Essex House to inquire the cause of that tumultuous assembly. They were admitted into the house by the wicket-gate, but their attendants were excluded. 131-2 Wight, where Captain Hawkin Portuguese galleon. Presently it great ships of Spain lay motio water, and were much too heav The English craft, of the lighter k towed by their long boats. When up, Frobisher was set upon by s and was in great peril, but the || the Elizabeth Jonas came up to hi ships ranged up on either side, seemed becoming general, but th again burned all their gunpowder! away the mainmast, and otherwis Duke of Medina's own ship, they of the wind and sheered off. On the morrow, the 26th of Ju sailed up the Channel with a fair b hung on their rear, now and then feeble fire. He had resolved no struggle till they came to the Str for he knew that a strong squadr Henry Seymour and Sir Thomas be ready there to take part in t he followed in the wake of the S ceived ammunition and all prope shore; and his force was continua. small ships and men out of all the realm; for the gentlemen of Engl from all parts at their own charg accord came flocking thither. T sky and a leading wind, which er iards to come to anchor before Ca Hence Medina-Sidonia would ha Dunkirk, but he was strongly ad where he was; and he sent, over ger to the Duke of Parma, entre tach some fly-boats, without whi cope with the light and active E to hasten the embarkation of h he represented, might effect a land under cover of his fire. I quests were childish and absurd. mour and most of the English station to co-operate with How sion remained with the Dutch, w only outlets, Nieuport and D were more than sufficient to sc flat-bottomed boats, if they ha besides that these boats, which constructed with bad materials ting and falling to pieces, diseɛ among the land-troops, and ov arrival of the Armada, their most exhausted. Thus Parm till the blockade was cleared with provisions were supplie had lost a whole day, the thought of making for Dunki while Seymour and Winter When Egerton and Popham asked what all this | citizens. He made his way to Queenhithe, where meant, Essex replied, in a loud and passionate he took boat, and so gained Essex House. To voice "There is a plot laid for my life-letters his increased dismay he found that all the imhave been forged in my name-men have been prisoned lords had been liberated and conveyed hired to murder me in my bed-mine enemies to court, by his own esteemed trusty friend and cannot be satisfied unless they suck my blood!" servant, Sir Ferdinando George, who by this act The lord chief-justice said that he ought to ex- sought to provide for his own safety. He then plain his case, and that the queen would do im- | fortified his house with full purpose to die in his partial justice. While this conversation was go- own defence-hoping, however, it is said, that ing on a tumult arose in the assembly, and some the citizens would yet join him. But the house voices exclaimed-"They abuse you, my lord- was presently hemmed in on all sides by a very they betray you—you are losing time!" The lord- great force, and not a man came to his relief. keeper, putting on his cap, and turning to the Some great pieces of artillery were planted against assembly, commanded them, in the queen's name, the building. His case was hopeless, but still be to lay down their arms and depart. Upon this hesitated. One of his faithful followers, Captain there was a louder cry-" Kill them! kill them! Owen Salisbury, seeing all hopes were gone, keep them for hostages!-away with the great stood openly in a window, bare-headed, on purseal!" The Earl of Essex took them to an inner pose to be slain; and one in the street hit him in apartment, where, bidding them have patience the head with a musket bullet. At length, about for half an hour, he bolted the door upon them, ten o'clock at night, Essex held a parley, and then and placed over them a guard of musketeers. surrendered to the lord-admiral, upon a promise Then, drawing his sword, he rushed out of his of a fair hearing and a speedy trial. Essex house, followed by the Earls of Rutland and and the Earl of Southampton were committed to Southampton, Lord Sandys, Lord Mounteagle, the Tower, the other prisoners were lodged in and most of the gentlemen. On reaching the various jails in London and Westminster. On city he found that the streets were empty, that the 19th the Earls of Essex and Southampton there was no preaching at Paul's Cross, and were arraigned before twenty-five peers, with the that the people remained quiet within their Lord Buckhurst as lord-steward. Among the houses. The queen had procured this great quiet peers were Cobham and Grey, and others the by sending orders to the lord-mayor and alder-personal enemies of Essex, the very men whom men. The earl shouted-"For the queen, my mistress!—a plot is laid for my life!"—and he entreated the citizens to arm themselves. But though the common people cried-"God bless your honour!" not one man, from the chiefest citizen to the meanest artificer or 'prentice, armed with him. The citizens were not without their discontents and desire of change, particularly on the grounds of religion-for London swarmed with Puritans-but their wealth made them cautious and loyal.' Essex went into the house of Smith, one of the sheriffs, and remained there some time, not knowing what to do. About two o'clock in the afternoon he again went forth, and having passed to and fro through divers streets, and being forsaken by many of his followers, he resolved to make the nearest way to his own house. He found the streets barricaded in many places with empty carts, and coming into Ludgate, he was strongly resisted by several companies of well-armed men, levied and placed there by the Lord-bishop of London. A sharp skirmish ensued; several were wounded; the earl himself was twice shot through the hat; and Sir Christopher Blount, his stepfather, was sore wounded in the head, and taken prisoner. Essex then turned, and retreated into Friday Street; and, being faint, he desired drink, which was given him by the 1 Camden. he had accused of seeking his life. With his eye fixed on these men, Essex touched his companion in misfortune, Southampton, on the sleeve, and smiled. The indictment charged them with having imagined to deprive and depose the queen's majesty, to procure her death and destruction, and also a cruel slaughter of her majesty's subjects, with alteration of the religion established, and total change of government. Essex, in pleading not guilty, called God to witness that he had done nothing but that which the law of nature commanded him to do in his own defence. The indictment was supported with the usual vehemence by the crown lawyers, Yelverton, Coke, and Francis Bacon. The latter, by his conduct on this occasion, laid some of the dark spots on his fame which no genius can or ought ever to erase. It appears, however, that his tone was less virulent than that of either Coke or Yelverton; but Coke and Yelverton were not bound to the Earl of Essex, as Bacon was, by the strongest obligations. Yelverton compared Essex to Catiline; for as Catiline entertained the most seditious persons about all Rome, so had the Earl of Essex entertained none but Papists, recusants, and atheists for his rebellion in London; but he hoped that God, of his mercy, would not suffer any hurt; and he prayed 2 Camden: Stow. God long to preserve the queen. Essex and Southampton said "Amen! and God confound their souls whoever wished otherwise." Coke, as attorney-general, defined the crime, and set forth the acts of treason proved by witnesses of the insurrection, and by the confessions of accomplices, whom the queen, "out of overmuch clemency SIR EDWARD COKE.-From a fine print by Loggan. to others, and overmuch cruelty to herself, had spared the rack and torture;" and he ended a long speech, in which he called the prisoners Papist and dissolute, desperate and atheistical, by saying, "The earl would have called a parliament; and a bloody parliament would that have been, where my Lord of Essex, that now stands all in black, would have worn a bloody robe; but now, in God's just judgment, he of his earldom shall be Robert the last, that of a kingdom thought to be Robert the first." Essex begged that he might not be judged by the atrocity of Coke's words, but by the facts; declaring that he resorted to arms in self-defence, and to remove evil counsellors, naming Cobham and Raleigh; that he had never the remotest thought of violence to the queen. Cobham, who was sitting among the peers, rose in his place, and said that he bore no malice, but only hated the ambition of Essex. Essex swore that he would submit to have his right hand cut off if it might remove from the queen's person such a tale-bearing, vile calumniator. The Earl of Southampton pleaded that many things, indeed, were propounded, but nothing performed, or even resolved upon; that it had, indeed, been advised among them that they should surprise the court, and take the Tower at once: but, as neither of these two things had been done, there could be no treason. It is true, he said, they had consulted at Drury House how they should secure the queen or get free access to her; but this was only that they might prostrate themselves at her feet, and lay forth their grievances, which were concealed from her by those who constantly surrounded her. "I confess," he added, "that I could have been well content to have ventured my life in my Lord of Essex's quarrel against his private enemies: this was the whole scope and drift of all our meetings; and that this was not with any treasonable thought I take God to witness." Bacon had to perform the task of taking to pieces and exposing the "weak defence" of his former friend and patron Essex. "And this I must needs say," said he, "it is quite evident that my Lord of Essex had design in his heart against the government, and now, under colour of excuse, he lays the cause upon his private enemies. My Lord of Essex, I cannot compare your proceedings more rightly than to those of Pisistratus in Athens. My Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh, if you rightly understood them, are your best friends, honourable and faithful counsellors." Here Essex reminded Bacon that he himself, "who was a daily courtier, and had free access to her majesty," pretending to be his friend, and grieved. at his misfortunes, had undertaken to go to the queen in his behalf, and had drawn up in his own hand a letter, from which it would appear what conceit he, Mr. Bacon, had of those two men (Cobham and Raleigh) and of him. Coke came in to the aid of Bacon, who was somewhat abashed by this reference to his own doings and free speaking about Cecil, Cobham, and Raleigh. Essex was accused of saying, in London, that the crown of England was sold to the Spaniards. "I spake it not of myself," said Essex, "for it was told me that Mr. Secretary Cecil did say to one of his fellow-counsellors that the infanta's title, comparatively, was as good in succession as any other." Upon this Sir Robert Cecil, who had been present in the court, but unseen, started up from his hiding-place, and then humbly prayed the lord high-steward, upon his knees, to give him leave to answer to so false and foul a report. Having obtained permission, he fell upon the prisoner in this sort "My Lord of Essex, the difference between you and me is great. For wit I give you the pre-eminence-you have it abundantly; for nobility also I give you place I am not noble, yet a gentleman; I am no swordsman there, also, you have the odds; but I have innocence, conscience, truth, and honesty, to defend me against the scandal and sting of slanderous tongues; and in this court I stand as an upright man, and your lordship as a delinquent. . . . . You have a wolf's heart in a sheep's garment: in |