(07 



ESSEX, EARLS OF. 



ESSEX, EARLS OF. 



wu fortunate enoujth to Uke put in a successful ' prouunoiamiento,' 

 or uutt.rvnk, in the September of that year, and in 1S4 1, a* a reward, 

 wu named McreUry of embassy at the Hague. He travelled to hi* 

 port in the depth of winter, and found hu health ao affected in 

 consequence, that he wai obliged to return toon after to Spain, where 

 ho wu highly gratified by being chosen representative of Almeria, 

 and thui becoming a member of the Cortes, long an object of hu 

 auibition. In the midst of bright anticipation* he wan suddenly 

 carried off on the 23rd of May 1348 by au inflammation iu the throat, 

 in the thirty -second year of hi* age, and hia death produced a strong 

 and ad impression. 



The works of Espronceda consist of a single volume of ' Poeaias,' 

 and of the historical novel already mentioned, which was published 

 at Madrid in 1834 in m small volumes, the whole of which would be 

 rarity comprised in a single volume of an English ' Uailway Library.' 

 The poem* were printed at Madrid in 1840 during the author's 

 abwncr by bis friend Villalta, who in the preface calls him "the great 

 Spanish poet of the present epoch," and appeals to " the enthusiasm 

 which the sublime compositions of the 'Pirate.' the 'Beggar,' the 

 ' Executioner,' the ' Hymn to the Sun,' and others excited " in all 

 classes of Spanish society, when circulated in manuscript, as a proof 

 of the justice of his estimate. Other Spanish critic*, and ono English 

 writer, Mr. Kennedy, author of the 'Modern PoeU and Poetry of 

 Spain,' hare concurred in the same view. Espronceda certainly 

 dewrve* the credit of having ben one of the first to introduce into 

 Spanish literature tome forms of poetical composition, which in other 

 pert* of Europe have been invented or adopted by men of high 

 geniur , but his originality is for Spaniards only, and it may be doubted 

 if hU high reputation is likely to be durable. The ' Pirate,' which 

 is of the same class precisely as 'The Sea, the Sea,' of Barry 

 Cornwall, will hardly sustain a comparison with its English rival. It 

 may be said indeed that the Spanish language, rich, grave, and 

 sonorous, is sometimes from those very qualities singularly unadapted 

 for the expression of those brief and abrupt burst* of pngsion which 

 form some of the brightest ornaments of the English poetical treasury. 

 Perhaps the finest short poem by Espronceda is ' The Night of the 

 Condemned to Death,' in which, like Victor Hugo, he alms at 

 drliueating the feelings of a criminal the night before execution. 

 This with some of bU other poema has been translated by Mr. 

 Kennedy. An extensive fragment of a long poem, ' The Devil World,' 

 waa first published in a second edition of Espronceda'* poems issued 

 after his death by Hartcenbusoh in 1848, with a biographical notice 

 b; Ferrer del Rio. 



ESSEX, EAKLS OF. WALTER DEVERBCX, first earl of Essex, the 

 son of Sir JUchard Devcreux and Dorothy, daughter of George, earl 

 of Huntingdon, waa born in Caermarthenshire, at the castle of his 

 grandfather, Walter Viscount Hereford, about the year 1540. lie 

 succeeded to the titles of Viscount Hereford and Lord Ferrers of 

 (.'hartley in his nineteenth year, and was early married to Lettice, 

 daughter of Sir Francis Knollea. When the rebellion, headed by the 

 earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, broke out in 1569, be 

 raised a considerable body of troops, and, iu conjunction with other 

 forces, compelled the rebels to retreat into Scotland. The courage 

 that be displayed during this warfare recommended him to Queen 

 Elizabeth, who had evtr esteemed bis loyalty and superior intelli- 

 gence : in gratitude for the service that he had rendered her, she 

 conferred on him the order of the Garter, and created him Earl of 

 BSMJC (1572). Ho now became so great a favourite with the queen, 

 that Leicester and others about the court, jealous of his increasing 

 influence, encouraged Esex to enter upon a scheme for subduing and 

 colonising a district of the province of Ulster. He had for some time 

 contemplated such an expedition, and having been persuaded to take 

 the command, embarked from Liverpool in August 1573, in company 

 with Lord Darey, Lord Rich, and other persons of distinction. He 

 contracted to furnish one-half of the expense of tbe undertaking, iu 

 consideration of which be was to have one-half of the colony as soon 

 a* it was established. His arms at tbe outlet met with various 

 SUCCCM ; but after a time his English friends deserted him, and their 

 low, together with the enmity of many courtiers at home, soon 

 multiplied difficulties round him. He was obliged to resume tbe 

 government of Ulster, which he bad previously reaigned ; and he was 

 compelled to make peace with O'Ncil when his pursuit of the rebels 

 under that leader gave every proipect of success. He waa required 

 to give np hi* command when he had nearly dispossessed the Soots, 

 who had invaded the western islands in his territory, and with uo 

 othrr title than that of captain was made to serve at the bead of a 

 all body of 300 men. Feeling himself harassed and oppressed, he 

 returned to England; but having received, with tbe title of Earl 

 Mar>h*l of Ireland, promise* that he should have greater liberty of 

 action allowed him if he would go back to that country, he consented 

 to return to his post. The improvement of his situation however 

 waa *o small that bis spirits were affected ; the effects of grief were 

 IOOQ visible in his constitution ; a dysentery attacked him, and, after 

 a month'* pain and misery, he died at Dublin, on the 22nd of September 

 Ii76 : his body wu removed for interment to the parish church at 

 Casnoartbsn. The sudden failure of his health gave rue to a sus- 

 picion of hia bating been (miaoued ; but no evidence whatever could 

 be adduced to prove the fact The speedy marriage of the Countess 



of Essex to Leicester, who wu suspected of being a party to the 

 murder of her late husband, did not tend to throw discredit on the 

 report Essex left two son* and two daughter*. Of the sons we 

 subjoin a further account Of the daughters, Penelope (the Stella of 

 Sir Philip Sidney) first married Uobert Lord Rich, afterwards Charles 

 blount, earl of Devonshire ; and Dorothy married first Sir Thomas 

 Perrot, and afterwards Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland. 



ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL or ESSEX, the son of the preceding, wu 

 born at Netherwood, in Herefordshire, in November 1567, and wu 

 educated, according to his father's wish, under the superintendence of 

 Lord Burleigh, by whose direction he wai sent to Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, iu 1577, and remained there four year*. Upon leaving 

 the university, he retired for some time to his estate in South Wales, 

 and did not appear at court till 1584. His station, hu agr 

 manners, handsome person, and vigorous miud soon brought him into 

 notice. He wu reconciled to Leicester, now his father-in-law ; and 

 received the appointment of Master of the Horse from the hands of 

 the queen, who also made him a Knight of the Garter. Elisabeth at 

 the same time remitted the debt to the exchequer incurred by hi* 

 father ; and when Leicester went with an army into the Netherlands 

 in 1587, she gave to Essex, who accompanied him. the responsible 

 commission of a captain-general of the cavalry. On the death of 

 Leicester in 1588, Essex became her chief favourite. In 1589 he 

 suddenly joined the expedition of Drake and Norri', who had under- 

 taken to restore Antonio to tbe throne of Portugal. The queen, 

 exasperated at his departure from court without licence, despatched 

 the Earl of Huntingdon to Plymouth with a peremptory order for 

 bis return. The messenger was too late ; Essex had sailed. He 

 joined tbe expedition on the cout of Portugal, marched to Lisbon u 

 a volunteer, behaved himself throughout the enterprise with great 

 gallantry and humanity, and on bio return to England found that, in 

 spite of his disobedience, ho retained beyond all comparison the first 

 place in the queen's favour. His chief rivals in her esteem wero Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, whose removal from court by the means of an appoint- 

 ment in Ireland had been attributed to the contrivance of Eisex, and 

 Sir Charles Blount, of whom he was ao jealous, that upon the queen's 

 bestowing a trifling mark, of favour upon him at a tilting-m itch, 

 Essex used such insulting expressions to him that a duel ensued, in 

 which the earl wu wounded in the knee. In 1590 be married a 

 daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, the widow of Sir Philip Sidney, 

 and in the following year wu despatched to assist Henry IV. of 

 France in his resistince of the King of Spain, who sought t > obtain 

 possession of the duchy of Brittany. He encamped uuder Rouen, and 

 here, as at Lisbon, idly challenged the governor to a duel The 

 expedition was wholly unsuccessful, and the earl lost, by a musket- 

 shot, his only brother Walter Derereux, to whom he wu greatly 

 attached. 



In 1594, Essex, who had once before come into collision with the 

 Cecils respecting the appointment of the queen's secretary, became a 

 second time at variance with them. Having, u he conceived, dis- 

 covered a plot in which Lopez and others had resolved to murder the 

 queen, he apprised her Majesty of his suspicions ; but Lord Burlri^h 

 and Sir Robert Cecil, who, at the queen's desire, had examined into 

 the case, declared the accusation to be unfounded, so that tbe queen 

 severely rebuked Essex. Mortified both at this rebuke and at the 

 conduct of Lis rivals, be renewed the inquiry, and eventually elicited 

 evidence upon which Lopex and his confederates were executed. The 

 opposition of the Cecils to the counsels of the Earl of Essex wu 

 renewed in 1596. Lord Howard, then lord admiral, advised the 

 queen again to invade Spain, a proposal which Essex warmly 

 seconded ; Burleigh, on the contrary, denounced the scheme u 

 impolitic and imprudent The queen gave her consent to the expe- 

 dition : Howard and Es*ex sailed ; Cadiz wu taken, plundered, and 

 burned; fifty-seven Spanish ships of war and merchantmen were 

 taken or destroyed; and the Spanish government suffered considerable 

 loss. But though the enterprise wu successful, and commanded with 

 the greatest gallantry, the benefit* resulting to the English govern- 

 ment were hardly equivalent to the expense incurred. After some 

 trifling attacks upon the cout of Spain, the fleet, which had been 

 absent little more than two months, returned to England. The 

 enemies of Essex had endeavoured during his absence to poison the 

 mind of the queen to his prejudice, but bis publication of the 'Centura 

 of the Omissions in the Expedition to Cadiz' completely reinstated him 

 in her favour. He continued to meet with disappointments in hi* 

 endeavour to obtain official situations for his friends, but was himself 

 created Muter of the Ordnance. In July 1697, Essex, u commauder- 

 in-chief, with Lord Thomu Howard u vice-admiral, and Sir Walter 

 Raleigh u rear-admiral, sailed against the Spanish fleet, with a view 

 also of making conquests among the Azores. The English ships, 

 shattered and crippled by a storm, were immediately driven back to 

 Plymouth. In August they again set sail, and though they could not 

 burn the Spanish ship* which they now found in harbour, they suc- 

 ceeded iu making captures to the amount of 100,0001., with which 

 booty they returned to England in November. The queen received 

 Essex with reproaches and discontent, and the expedition wu gene- 

 rally deemed a failure. Ho now retired to Wanstead, angry on several 

 accounts : the chief of these wu the elevation of the lord admiral to 

 the earldom of Nottingham, by which he thought himself doubly 



