EOBEET DUDLEY, EAEL OF LEICESTER, SIXTH MASTEE. 71 



resign his authority with the same publicity with which he 

 had received it. Heneage's instructions being subsequent!)^ 

 somewhat modified, Leicester continued to retain his office for 

 some time; but the States became uneasy and discontented. 

 Having formally surrendered his authority, he embarked for 

 England, arriving at Richmond on November 23, 1586. Not- 

 withstanding all that had passed, His Excellency (who was 

 the first Englishman that was so styled, this appellation of 

 dignity having been conferred upon him by the Flemings), 

 was well received by the Queen, who soon after constituted 

 him chief justice in eyre of all the forests south of Trent. 

 During the following year he received a royal warrant upon 

 the Exchequer for 26,000Z. on account of Her Majesty's service, 

 for his second expedition in the Low Countries. He also, by 

 virtue of a like warrant, obtained 5,000^. due to him for furnish- 

 ing 250 horses in that expedition, " after the rate of 2,000Z. for 

 every hundred horses." This would be at the rate of 20/. a 

 horse — a sum, in all probability, equivalent to about 200/. a 

 horse in modern currency — an exorbitant price to pay for 

 cavalry remounts, provided the expenditure had been incurred 

 by any other person than the reigning favourite ; but he could 

 silence any audit or expostulation in the Exchequer under this 

 head, as the account was duly passed by the Master of the 

 Horse — i.e., himself. 



In the meantime the Earl of Leicester had resumed his 

 former sway at the Court, and exercised the authority invested 

 in him as the Master of the Buckhounds, and in the multi- 

 farious offices he held under the Crown. Nor was he content 

 with those sweets of office. No vacancy was too large or too 

 small for his avarice. For instance, we find him securing a 

 Crown lease to farm the manor of Great Soukey, county Lan- 

 caster, in reversion for thirty-one years from March 1, 1587; and 

 on June 21, following, by another grant he secured all the fines 

 on alienations " paid into the Court of Chancery for three years 

 from March 25, last past," And here it may be noted as a 

 singular circumstance that this, the most limited emolument 

 which he ever had from the Crown, outlived him. However, 



