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ESSEX, EARLS OF. 



ESSEX, EARLS OF. 



S10 



affronted ; first, because Lord Howard's services at Cadiz were recited, 

 and, in this second place, because by his new title Lord Howard gained 

 precedence of him according to a regulation made in the reign of 

 Henry VIII. He was pacified by being appointed hereditary earl 

 marshal, which by the same regulation restored him to his rank. In 

 1598 a quarrel occurred between the queen and Essex, who, having 

 differed from her respecting an Irish appointment, angrily and con- 

 temptuously turned his back upon her in the presence of several of 

 the ministers. The queen, unable to bear the affront, gave him a box 

 on the ear, and bade him " go and be hanged." Essex immediately 

 seized his sword, and the lord admiral stepping in, between, he swore 

 "that ha neither could nor would put up with an affront of that 

 nature, nor would he have taken it at the hands of Henry the Eighth 

 himself." He withdrew from the court, and some months passed 

 before he would make any submission. His friends dated his ruin 

 from this unfortunate circumstance. It was hastened by the death of 

 Burleigh, which was on the whole a great misfortune to Essex. Had 

 Burleigli lived Essex might not have undertaken the unfortunate Irish 

 expedition on which he at tl.ii time entered (1599). The province of 

 Ulster was in a state of rebellion ; and with the hope thit hia rank 

 and military popularity might prevail in that country, he accepted 

 the commission of lord lieutenant of Ireland. His government in 

 that country was inconsiderate and ill-art vised; and his opposition to 

 the queen's wishes in the nomination of Lord Southampton to the 

 generalship of the horse, which he was peremptorily ordered to 

 revoke, gave great off-nee. His delay in sending troops to Ulster, the 

 loss of men and money consequent on the delay, and the ultimate 

 failure of the expedition, were the causes of many and loud reproaches. 

 Essex returned to England in September : at their first interview the 

 queu received him in a friendly manner, but on the following day he 

 was put into " free custody," and detained a prisoner in his house. 

 In Juue 1600 he was denied the privileges and authority of his office); 

 and it was not until the 26th of August that he was liberated. The 

 queen still denied him access to court, and refused the renewal of a 

 valuable patent for the monopoly of sweet wines, which his friends 

 used all their endeavours to procure, declaring that " in order to 

 manage an ungovernable beast, he must be stinted in his provender." 



The weight of these grievances upon his haughty and impetuous 

 mind told the more heavily from the knowledge that his general popu- 

 larity was un liminisbed. So deep was his impression of resentment 

 against those whom he conceived to have biassed the queen against 

 him, that he listened to the rash and desperate advica of Cuffe, his 

 secretary, to remove Cecil, Cobham, and Raleigh by force from the 

 queen's councils. In order to strengthen his interest, the gates of 

 Essex House were with almost inconceivable imprudence thrown open 

 to all persons who professed to be discontented with the queen or her 

 advi.-wrs. With the same view, he courted both the Roman Catholics 

 and Puritans, and a concourse met daily to hear sermons in his house. 

 The multitude that attended the delivery of these discourses could not 

 fail to attract the attention of the vigilant government Essex was 

 warned to be careful of his safety, and his attendance was required 

 before the council. At this summons he took alarm, fearing a renewal 

 of his imprisonment, and consequently the defeat of his scheme. He 

 determined therefore to commence his proceedings on the following 

 morning (Sunday, February 8, 1600-1); and during the night messen- 

 gers wrre sent in all directions to acquaint Essex's friends that his 

 life was threatened hy Raleigh and Lord Co I. ham. In consequence of 

 this intelligence, Lords Sandys and Mouteagle, the earls of Rutland 

 and Southampton, with nearly three hundred other gentlemen, assem- 

 bled at Essex House, where it was divulged that Essex had resolved 

 at once to rid himself of his enemies by forcing his way to the queen, 

 and informing her of his dauber from those who had so long abused 

 their influence with her majesty. Essex having shut up within his 

 gates the lord keeper, the chief justice, and others whom the queen, 

 aware of what was passing, had sent to inquire into the cau*e of the 

 tumult, proceeded with his friends to the city, where, crying " For the 

 queen, for the queen, a plot is laid against my life," he tried to enlist 

 the citizens in his favour. But, as might have been anticipated, not- 

 withstanding his popularity, not one man was found mad enough to take 

 up arms. At length the earl endeavoured to return home, but a party 

 of soldiers met him at Ludgatc, and a skirmish ensued, in which he 

 was twice shot through the hat. He however reached Essex House, 

 but after a short defence he was compelled to surrender himself, and 

 with Lord Southampton was committed to the Tower : the rest of the 

 conspirators were lodged in various other prisons. He was tried for 

 treason in Westminster Hall on the 19th of February, condemned, and j 

 executed the 25th of the same month. (' Criminal Trials.' vol. i.) 

 Essex was undoubtedly a bravo and high-spirited man, and with many 

 brilliant qualities possessed an ardent and susceptible mind, and was 

 naturally disposed to the admiration of all that is great and beautiful. 

 Towards his friends he was amiable, to his inferiors and dependents 

 frank, generous, and considerate ; but all his good qualities were- ren- 

 dered useless to his country and dangerous to his friends by bis over- 

 weening vanity and ambition, and his utter disregard of common 

 prudence, and even common sense, in carrjinj hia purely personal 

 objecta. 



He left one son (of whom we give an account below) and two 

 daughters. Frances married first the Earl of Hertford, and after- 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. II. 



wards the Duke of Somerset. Dorothy was the wife first of Sir 

 Henry Shirley, and lastly of William Stafford, of Blatherwyck, in 

 Northamptonshire. 



ROBERT DBVEREUX, third Earl of Essex, was born in Essex House, 

 in the Strand, in 1592. He was sent to Eton by his grandmother, 

 who, after his father's death, received him into her house; and in 1602 

 he was removed to Merton College, Oxford, where the warden, Mr. 

 (afterwards Sir Henry) Savile, who had been an intimate friend of his 

 father, took charge of his educatiou. He was restored to his hereditary 

 honours in 1603, and three years afterwards was unhappily marrie 1 to 

 lady Frances Howard, a child of no more than thirteen years old. The 

 new-married couple being too young to live together, Essex was sent 

 to improve himself abroad ; while the bride, who was celebrated for 

 her beauty, continued with her mother. It was four years before he 

 returned to claim his wife, and in the meantime she had contracted 

 so great au affection for Lord Rochester, afterwards Earl of Somerset, 

 that, until she was compelled by her father, she could not bo brought 

 to cohabit with her husband. The union never was a happy one. 

 Not many mouths after they had met, she instituted proceedings 

 against him praying for a separation on a real or pretended charge of 

 physical disability. A divorce was granted, and the lady was soon 

 after married to Lord Rochester. The slur thus cast upon Essex drove 

 him to the retirement of his couutry-house and the pursuit of rural 

 occupations. After some years however, a solitary life became irksome 

 to him. Tired of inaction, he joined Lord Oxford in 1620, raised a 

 troop, and marched with the Elector Palatine iu the war against 

 Holland. In the winter he returned to England, where his opposition 

 to the government rendered him unpopular at court; indeed the 

 reception that he met with at home was so little agreeable that ho 

 willingly renewed his military avocations abroad during the two follow- 

 ing summers ; and in 1625 again raised a troop, with which he sailed 

 to aid the United Provinces. His disposition and capability for mili- 

 tary service now struck the king, and he was appointed vice-ad <niral of 

 a fleet which was employed in a fruitless expedition against Spain. Ha 

 engaged in another expedition in the Low Countries, and was after- 

 wards bold enough to marry a second time. Iu this second choice of 

 a wife (the daughter of Sir William Paulet) he was scarcely more for- 

 tunate than iu his first. It is true indeed that th lady soon after 

 her marriage bore a son, which Essex owned and christened after his 

 name, but her familiarities with Mr. Uvedale gave him cause to suspect 

 her fidelity, and after much mutual crimination, on the one side for 

 inconstancy, on the other, a renewal of former charges, a separation 

 took place. The child died at the age of five, and Essex never showed 

 further inclination to matrimony. 



Between bis journey to Ireland in 1632 and his appointment in the 

 fleet that sailed to Holland in 1635, Lord Essex spent his time either 

 in his house at Chartley or in London. His inclination to seek 

 popularity among the Presbyterians was evident and undisguised; 

 nevertheless the king employed him as lieutenant-general of his troops 

 that were sent against the Covenanters (1639). In 1640 he was one 

 of twelve peers that signed a petition that a parliament should be 

 called and an attempt made to settle the difficulties of the state 

 without further bloodshed. He was also one of the commissioners 

 sent to Ripon to treat with the Scots; aud when, at the opening of 

 the Long Parliament, the king sawthut it was necessary that he should 

 endeavour to conciliate the Presbyterian party, he made Essex loi'd 

 chamberlain. It was the wish of many of the royalists that Essex, 

 whose popularity was great among the Presbyterians, should also have 

 been placed at the head of the army ; but Charles, who disliked him 

 on account of the roughness of his manner, and doubted the firmness 

 of his attachment to him, refused to appoint him, and would yield to 

 their requests no further than to make him lieutenant-general of his 

 forces so-ith of the Trent. When the Commons demanded of the king 

 that a guard should be raised in the city of London, it was Essex 

 whom they desired to have placed at its head. Charles, unwilling to 

 listen to this request, left London suddenly, and called upon Essex to 

 follow him ; but Essex, indisposed to the king on account of tho 

 incivility with which he had always been treated at court, refused to 

 follow, pleading his duty to remain in attendance of parliament. 

 Vehemently angry at this refusal, the king instantly deprived him of 

 all his offices. Essex now became the chief favourite and leader of the 

 parliamentary or presbyterian party. He became parliamentary general 

 in 1612, and was in consequence proclaimed a traitor by the king. He 

 opposed Charles in person at Edgehill (1642) ; he also took Reading 

 (1643); but on account of a dJSease with which his troops were infected 

 he was obliged to abandon any further attack, at which the disappoint- 

 ment of the parliamentary leaders was so great that they nearly 

 dismissed him from his command. On the recovery and reinforcement 

 of his soldiers he triumphantly entered Gloucester, from which he 

 had driven the king away, surprised Cireucester, and after fighting 

 courageously at the doubtful battle of Newbury, succeeded in covering 

 London. As the supporters of the parliament were supposed to be 

 numerous in Cornwall, in the hope of increasing his forces he marched 

 to that county pursued by the royalist troops : the number of adherents 

 however had been exaggerated, his expectations were disappointed, 

 and as he was completely hemmed iu by his pursuers, the scarcity of 

 provisions b.gau to be severely felt. At this crisii the king proposed 

 a treaty, but Essex had no authority to make any agreement without 



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