BOOK II. added their contributions; and even king James endeavored, on such a subject, and with unusual success, to catch a ray of Parnassian inspiration.93 O! had that soul, which honor brought to rest To thy great worth, which Time to times enrol; 3 Chal. Poets, 550. 93 A volume of Poems, on his memory, by Oxford Scholars, was printed in quarto there, in 1587; and one from Cambridge was published by A. Neville, in the same year. Collins, 109. 6 The contemporary author, who composed his Leicester's Ghost' to satirize his powerful uncle, yet thus distinguishes Sidney: The court in him lost a brave courtier ; The country lost a guide, their faults to mend : The camp did lose an expert soldier: The city lost an honorable friend; The schools a pattern their right to defend. The court, the country, with the schools and city, For SIDNEY's death still sing a mournful ditty.—p. 30. 93 Of this king's epitaph lord Hardwicke remarks, 'It is singular, that among the different elegies made upon sir Philip after his death, king James's verses are the most elegant. They are worthy of a scholar of Buchanan.' Hard. State Papers, v. 1. p. 330. Spenser addressed to him his Shepherd's Calendar, 1579: To him that is the President of nobleness and chivalry;' and thus also noticed him in the sonnet to his sister, prefixed to the Fairy Queen, in 1590. That most heroic spirit, The heavens pride, the glory of our days, Of heavenly bliss and everlasting praise; His goodly image, living evermore In the divine resemblance of your face.-p. 48. And in 1591, dedicating to her his Ruins of Time,' he styles him 'the hope of all learned men, and the patron of my young Muses.' p. 340. CHA P. XXXIV. LEICESTER'S RECALL-NEW CONSPIRACY TO ASSASSINATE - XXXIV. THE Campaigns of Leicester in the Netherlands, CHAP. had the effect of preserving Holland from subjection, and of keeping the Spaniards from penetrating beyond some of its frontier towns; but neither emancipated Flanders, nor destroyed the Spanish forces, which were acting in the Netherlands. The English army was not sufficient for exploits so brilliant; nor had Leicester, .tho not deficient in mind, activity, or courage, the talent to make his inferior means formidable to his adversaries, by those exertions of skill and enterprise by which some generals have achieved what, until successfully executed, seemed romantic and impracticable.' Differences arose 1 The intellectual abilities of Leicester are favorably displayed in his able letter of 8th February 1586 to sir F. Walsingham, stating his reasons for accepting from the states general the absolute government of their country. Hardw. v. 1. p. 311-4; and also from his other correspondence. Davison's report to him, of 17th February, shews the great displeasure of Elizabeth at the circumstances, and his great exertions in three audiences to abate her anger against the earl. ib. 301-10. The greatest cause of offence was, that Leicester had taken the offered dignity in express violation of her previous command, and had neither informed her of the appointment, nor consulted her upon it. But the earl again appears to us with some ambiguity, in his rebuking letter to Davison, for not being successful in reconciling the queen with him, as in the notes of his agent in the margin, Davison denies some of Leicester's assertions, and notices his suppression of the fact, that the queen had forbidden him to act as he had done. Hardw. p. 318-20. BOOK 3 2 between him and the states general. Two English officers, under the mingled influence of bigotry and bribery, thro the instrumentality of doctor Allen, delivered up Daventer and the fort of Zutphen, by treachery, to the Spaniards; and tho the character of their countrymen was redeemed by others in a brave defence of Sluys, and in achievements before Zutphen, which remind us of the heroes of Homer and their individual exploits, and especially in that conflict where Sidney fell," yet at length 2 Camden, p. 295 and 394. 4 5 Sir William Stanley gave up the important town of Daventer. His garrison was 1300 English and Irish. Being himself a papist, he sent for priests to convert them, that they might become a seminary regiment for the formation of a Catholic army against Elizabeth. Allen sent the priests, Camd. 354; and Strype notices, from a publication in 1595, that he also obtained for the revolting troops two months pay from the Spaniards. Annal. v. 3. p. 622. But the Spaniards could not trust them, and, as Camden states, poisoned York, and moved the regiment about, exposing it to dangers, and so neglecting it, that some perished miserably for lack of food, and some ran away one after another. Stanley went to Spain, and offered to invade Ireland, but no credit was given to him.' Camd. 354. The prince of Parma had fired 17,000 shot into it, and made a large breach, before sir Roger Williams, sir Fras. Vere, and capt. Nicholas Baskerville, would give it up, and then only surrendered, after Leicester had retired from an ineffectual effort to relieve them. Camd. 354. Stow's narrative of the actions of the English forces in Holland, taken chiefly from the account of Segar, and of his cousin H. Archer, who had served there, furnishes an interesting detail of the main circumstances. 713-8, and 730-740. 5 In defending the fort, a Spaniard charged Mr. Edward Stanley with a pike, who, seizing it, grasped it so fast, that when the soldier drew it towards him, Stanley chose to be pulled up with it, that he might get that way on the battlement. His unexpected presence and daring attack so terrified the garrison, that they fled before him out of the redoubt, and the next night abandoned also the larger fortification, and all its ammunition. Leicester knighted Stanley for his intrepidity, and besides an immediate present of forty pounds, settled on him for life a yearly pension of an hundred marks. Camd. 95. 6 Sir John Norris gave the first charge, and with his pistol in his hand offered to discharge it on a brave man; but not going off, he struck it on the head of the enemy, and overthrew him. Lord Willoughby, with his lance in his rest, met captain George, the commander of all the Albanese, and unhorsed him, so that he fell into a 8 XXXIV. Leicester was recalled to England; not unwillingly,' CHAP. as he had been compelled to abandon the display and power, which, at the outset of his career, he seems to have been contemplating. The Dutch then appointed Maurice, the youthful son of their assassinated prince of Orange, the governor of their provinces in his stead. He had to act against the prince of Parma, the ablest general of that busy day, who was now seeking to neutralize and disarm Elizabeth, ever anxious for pacification, by his diplomatic ditch, and cried out, I yield to be your prisoner, because you are a seemly knight.' The lord came not to take prisoners, and passed on with his curtle-ax in his hand so furiously, that it was wonder to see. The earl of Essex exclaiming, For the honor of England, my fellows! follow me,' placed his lance in his rest, and overthrew the first man, and then with his curtle-ax behaved himself surprizingly. Sir William Russel, with his cornet, charged so terribly, that after he had broken his lance, he exerted himself with his curtle-ax with such vehemence, that the enemy reported him to be a devil, and not a man, for where he saw six or seven together he rushed thither, and so behaved himself with his weapon that he soon separated their friendship.' Stow, 737. 'Stow thus pourtrays him, from some eye witness on his final return: As he sat in his chamber, he clapped his hands upon his legs, saying, 'These legs of mine shall never go again into Holland. Let the States get others to serve their mercenary turn, if they will make themselves rich, for me they shall not have.' p. 713. He declared to Burghley, in his letter of 30 September 1587, that he had lost by his voyage 25,000 7. clear of all expenses, besides all I received, being before at least 8,000l. in debt.' Hard. 1. p. 344. 6 We may infer this from what Elizabeth had been informed of his intentions, and which greatly roused her displeasure. It was told her majesty, that my lady was prepared to come over presently to your excellency, with such a train of ladies and gentlemen, and such rich coaches, litters and side-saddles, as that her majesty had none such; and that there should be such a court of ladies, as should far surpass her majesty's court here. This information did not a little stir her majesty to extreme choler and dislike of all vain doings there, saying with great oaths, 'She would have no more courts under obeisance but her own, and would revoke you from thence with all speed.' The writer [Th. Dudley] assured the lord treasurer and vicechamberlain that, as far as he knew, the information was false.' It is probable that Leicester soon saw the necessity of laying aside such projects. This being told to her majesty, did greatly pacify her stomach.' Hardw. vol. 1. p. 299. BOOK 11. but insincere correspondence. The boy Maurice at length triumphed, both over him and over the still more active marquis Spinola, his successor.' 10 Internal perils began now to increase against the English queen. Sixtus V. had succeeded to the tiara, and republished the bull of excommunication against her, with his own additions and authority." The party of Catholics in the kingdom had been enlarged by the activity of the Jesuits and seminary priests, and was now more formidable and 12 Sir F. Walsingham, on 12 Nov. 1587, apprized Leicester of this. 'A letter from the duke of Parma to her majesty has bred in her such a dangerous security, that all advertisements of perils and danger are neglected.' Hardw. v. 1. p. 359. The king of Denmark had also sent an ambassador to mediate a peace, but ineffectually. Stow, 720. Camden. Parma's offers were only to amuse the government, and to veil his own purposes. So to divide and dishearten the Dutch, a report was spread that Elizabeth was making peace with Spain. Burgh. Lett. Hardw. v. 1. p. 337, and Leic. Lett. p. 340. 6 10 He was the second son of the celebrated prince. Davison, in February 1586, in his audience with Elizabeth on behalf of Leicester, described this prince as a child, poor, and of little respect among them.' Hardw. p. 303. But Stow, on his great appointment two years and a half afterwards, more justly characterizes him as, tho young, yet of great observation, and good experience in their wars; who being a native and of mild disposition, concurred better with the humour of the States and common people than any that were before him. He fought great battles; conquered certain provinces, and won sundry strong cities and castles from the Spaniards.' p. 713. "Sixtus acceded to his tiara in April 1585. That he planned, like his predecessors, against Elizabeth, we see by an expressive paragraph in the French envoy's (Fontenay) letter to the queen of Scots, in 1586, of the articles of his negociation, with the answers of her son JAMES; one of these is, DELIBERATION DU PAPE, R. d'Espagne et D. de Guise, CONTRE la R. d'Angleterre en faveur de la R. d'Ecosse. Si votre majesté accepte et desire, que l'on advance ou entretienne, it is necessary to know immediately your resolution on the whole.' Murdin, 554, and the postscript of JAMES in page 557. 12 In lord Burghley's notes on the dangerous state of the realm in 1586, he remarks, that these missioners have seduced people that were not before instructed in our religion. And while these persons have used great diligence and secresy to win our people, our bishops and clergy have, neither secretly nor publicly, used any diligence to teach the unlearned. So that the papists have gained from these few years more than in many years before.' Strype Eccl. v. 3. p. 624. |