2'>'» S. No 30., Jm.r 26. '56. "| 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1850. 



PBAYEHS OFFERED UP IN CITY CHURCHES FOB 

 THE EAHIi OP ESSEX IN 1599. 



The affectionate interest felt by the people of 

 London in the welfare of Robert, Earl of Essex, 

 was exhibited in several ways which were not at 

 all agreeable to Queen Elizabeth. Amongst them 

 it is known that, on the occasion of his serious 

 illness iu December 1599, he was prayed for in 

 several of the city churches, and that a concourse 

 of ministers watched round what was believed to 

 be his dying bed. It has not been noticed, that 

 those ministers were called before the council to 

 answer for their conduct on this occasion, nor has 

 it been explained in what way tlieir public prayers 

 were introduced into the service of the church. 

 The first and second of the following papers 

 (which have been kindly placed in our hands 

 for publication by the gentleman to whom they 

 belong) give information upon these subjects. 

 They contain the explanations given by three of 

 these ministers to the council. They were all the 

 earl's chaplains. Two of them contented them- 

 selves with praying simply for the earl in his con- 

 dition of a sick man ; the third added a prayer for 

 his restoration to the favour of his sovereign. 

 The two former probably escaped censure ; of the 

 last it is shortly recorded, " he is committed." 

 Facts like these tend to explain, on the one hand, 

 how Essex was led to commit the wretched folly 

 which conducted him to the scaffold ; and, on the 

 other, how the government of Elizabeth came to 

 the conclusion that nothing but his blood could 

 satisfactorily atone for his wild and singular es- 

 capade. 



The third paper relates to the same earl, but to 

 an earlier period of his stormy career. It is 

 chiefly remarkable as exhibiting the odd position 

 in which he was placed by the queen's thriftiness 

 and the shrewdness of the auditors of the United 

 Provinces. Between them, the earl seems to have 

 run considerable risk of losing his allowance as 

 general of the queen's forces in the Low Coun- 

 ti'ies. 



L 

 30 Decemb., 1599. 

 The forme of prayer conceived by George Downe- 

 man, in the behalfe of the Earle of Essex, being 

 visited w"' sicknes, whose chaplen although the 

 said party be, yet he hath refrayned to mention 

 him in his prayer untill about a fourtnight since 

 he understoode that he was daungerously sicke, 

 and then, w^'out mentioning either of his other 

 troubles or his cause, or w"'out having or being 

 at any extraordinary assembly, he prayed thus, 

 having in generall commended the destressed 

 estate of the afflicted : 



" And more specially we commende unto [thee] 

 the destressed estate of the Earle of Essex, whom 

 it hath pleased thee to visit w"" sicknesse, beseach- 

 ing thee to looke downe upon him in pity and 

 compassion, and in thy good time ^o release him 

 from his greefe eyther by restoring him to his 

 health (w"** mercy we doe crave at thy handes, if 

 it may stande w*^ thy glory and his good —. — ),* 

 or otherwese by receiving him to thy mercy, and 

 in the meane season we beseech thee to support 

 and strengthen him by the comfortable assistance 

 of thy gracious Spirit, that he may meekely and 

 thankfully beare thy holy hande, and by the same 

 Spirit worke in him, we pray thee, thyne owne 

 good worke of grace and sanctification, that when- 

 soever he shalbe translated out of this life, he may 

 be received into thyne everlasting tabernacles and 

 crowned w*"" immortality." 



By me, George Downeman, "j 

 parson of St. Margarets |- Decemb, 30, 1599. 

 in Lothbury, J 



The Vicar of St. Brides, after his prayer for 

 y^ Q. Ma*'", giving her her stile, and for y*" no- 

 belity, remembers allso his honourable Lord j* 

 Erie of Essex, praying for his good health, for y* 

 he was his chaplen this 3 or 4 yeres past : and 

 otherwise during this restraint hath not inter- 

 medled w*'' any other publique prayers or assem- 

 blies in any chui'ch for him, 



[Signed, in the same hand as the above.] 



Henry Holland, Vicar of St. Brides. 



[Endorsed] 



30 Decemb^ 1599, 

 The answers of M'" Downham, parson of S' 



Margarets, Lothberye ; and M'' Holland, Vicar of 



S* Brids, towching theyr prayers for the Earle of 



Essex. 



IL 

 Ult' Decemb"-, 1599. 



T, David Eobertes, Bacheler of Dyvinitie, in my 

 praier for the churche, her Majestic, and the 

 state, used allso theise or the like wordes in 

 effecte for the Earle of Essex my ho. good 

 Lorde and master, upon Christmas daye laste f , 

 in my pishe churche of Sainct Androes in the 

 Wardrobe, London : 



" And as my particuler duetie more speciallie 

 bindethe me, I humblie beseeche thee, deere 

 ffather, to looke mercifuUie w*'' thy gracious fa- 

 voure uppon that noble Barake thy servaunte 

 the Earle of Essex, strengtheninge him in the 

 inwarde man againste all his enemies. O Lorde, 

 make his bedde in this his sickenes that soe thy 

 gracious corrections nowe uppon him raaie be 

 easie and comfortable unto him as thy fatherlie 



* The paragraph is not completed in the original, 

 t The last four words suMituted for others erased. 



