bear such usage, were it from Henry VIII. himself; and CHAP. he immediately withdrew from court. Egerton, the XLIII. chancellor, who loved Essex, exhorted him to repair his 1598. indiscretion by proper acknowledgments; and entreated him not to give that triumph to his enemies, that affliction to his friends, which must ensue from his supporting a contest with his sovereign, and deserting the service of his country. But Essex was deeply stung with the dishonour which he had received; and seemed to think that an insult, which might be pardoned in a woman, was become a mortal affront when it came from his sovereign. "If the vilest of all indignities," said he, "is done me, does religion enforce me to sue for pardon? Doth God require it? Is it impiety not to do it? Why, cannot princes err? Cannot subjects receive wrong? Is an earthly power infinite? Pardon me, my lord, I can never subscribe to these principles. Let Solomon's fool laugh when he is stricken; let those that mean to make their profit of princes show no sense of princes' injuries; let them acknowledge an infinite absoluteness on earth that do not believe an absolute infiniteness in heaven:" alluding probably to the character and conduct of Sir Walter Raleigh, who lay under the reproach of impiety. "As for me," continued he, "I have received wrong, I feel it; my cause is good, I know it; and whatsoever happens, all the powers on earth can never exert more strength and constancy in oppressing, than I can show in suffering every thing that can or shall be imposed upon me. Your lordship, in the beginning of your letter, makes me a player, and yourself a looker-on; and me a player of my own game, so you may see more than I; but give me leave to tell you, that since you do but see, and I do suffer, I must of necessity feel more than you"."

This spirited letter was shown by Essex to his friends, and they were so imprudent as to disperse copies of it: yet, notwithstanding this additional provocation, the queen's partiality was so prevalent, that she reinstated him in his former favour: and her kindness to him appeared rather to have acquired new force from this short interval of anger and resentment. The death of 4th Aug.

y See note [R], at the end of the volume.

XLIII.

CHAP. Burleigh, his antagonist, which happened about the same time, seemed to ensure him constant possession of the 1598. queen's confidence; and nothing, indeed, but his own indiscretion could thenceforth have shaken his well established credit. Lord Burleigh died in an advanced age; and, by a rare fortune, was equally regretted by his sovereign and the people. He had risen gradually, from small beginnings, by the mere force of merit; and though his authority was never entirely absolute or uncontrolled with the queen, he was still, during the course of near forty years, regarded as her principal minister. None of her other inclinations or affections could ever overcome her confidence in so useful a counsellor; and as he had had the generosity or good sense to pay assiduous court to her during her sister's reign, when it was dangerous to appear her friend, she thought herself bound in gratitude, when she mounted the throne, to persevere in her attachments to him. He seems not to have possessed any shining talents of address, eloquence, or imagination; and was chiefly distinguished by solidity of understanding, probity of manners, and indefatigable application in business; virtues which, if they do not always enable a man to attain high stations, do certainly qualify him best for filling them. Of all the queen's ministers, he alone left a considerable fortune to his posterity; a fortune not acquired by rapine or oppression, but gained by the regular profits of his offices, and preserved by frugality.

8th Aug.

The last act of this able minister was the concluding of a new treaty with the Dutch, who, after being in some measure deserted by the King of France, were glad to preserve the queen's alliance, by submitting to any terms which she pleased to require of them. The debt which they owed her was now settled at eight hundred thousand pounds. Of this sum they agreed to pay, during the war, thirty thousand pounds a year; and these payments were to continue till four hundred thousand pounds of the debt should be extinguished. They engaged also, during the time that England should continue the war with Spain, to pay the garrisons of the cautionary towns. They stipulated, that if Spain should invade England, or the Isle of Wight, or Jersey, or Scilly, they should assist

XLIII.

her with a body of five thousand foot and five hundred CHAP. horse; and that, in case she undertook any naval arma-, ment against Spain, they should join an equal number of ships to hers'. By this treaty the queen was eased of an annual charge of a hundred and twenty thousand pounds.

Soon after the death of Burleigh, the queen, who regretted extremely the loss of so wise and faithful a minister, was informed of the death of her capital enemy, Philip II., who, after languishing under many infirmities, expired, in an advanced age, at Madrid. This haughty prince, desirous of an accommodation with his revolted subjects in the Netherlands, but disdaining to make in his own name the concessions necessary for that purpose, had transferred to his daughter, married to Archduke Albert, the title to the Low Country provinces; but as it was not expected that this princess could have any posterity, and as the reversion on failure of her issue was still reserved to the crown of Spain, the states considered this deed only as the change of a name, and they per sisted with equal obstinacy in their resistance to the Spanish arms. The other powers also of Europe made no distinction between the courts of Brussels and Madrid; and the secret opposition of France, as well as the avowed efforts of England, continued to operate against the progress of Albert, as it had done against that of Philip.

z Rymer, vol. xvi. p. 340.

12*

1398.

CHAP.
XLIV.

State of
Ireland.

CHAPTER XLIV.

STATE OF IRELAND.-TYRONE'S REBELLION.- ESSEX SENt over to Ireland.

HIS ILL SUCCESS.-RETURNS TO ENGLAND.-IS DISGRACED. HIS INTRIGUES. HIS INSURRECTION. HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION. - FRENCH AFFAIRS.-MOUNTJOY'S SUCCESS IN IRELAND. -DEFeat of the SPANIARDS AND IRISH.-A PARLIAMENT. -TYRONE'S SUBMISSION.-QUEEN'S SICKNESS AND DEATH-AND CHARACTER.

THOUGH the dominion of the English over Ireland had been seemingly established above four centuries, it may 1599. safely be affirmed, that their authority had hitherto been little more than nominal. The Irish princes and nobles, divided among themselves, readily paid the exterior marks of obeisance to a power which they were not able to resist; but as no durable force was ever kept on foot to retain them in their duty, they relapsed still into their former state of independence. Too weak to introduce order and obedience among the rude inhabitants, the English authority was yet sufficient to check the growth of any enterprising genius among the natives; and though it could bestow no true form of civil government, it was able to prevent the rise of any such form from the internal combination or policy of the Irish".

Most of the English institutions, likewise, by which that island was governed, were to the last degree absurd, and such as no state before had ever thought of, for preserving dominion over its conquered provinces.

The English nation, all on fire for the project of subduing France, a project whose success was the most improbable, and would to them have proved the most pernicious, neglected all other enterprises to which their situation so strongly invited them, and which in time. would have brought them an accession of riches, grandeur, and security. The small army which they maintained in Ireland they never supplied regularly with pay; and as no money could be levied on the island, which possessed none, they gave their soldiers the pri

a Sir J. Davies, p. 5, 6, 7, &c.

XLIV.

vilege of free quarter upon the natives. Rapine and CHAP. insolence inflamed the hatred which prevailed between the conquerors and the conquered: want of security 1599. among the Irish introducing despair, nourished still more the sloth natural to that uncultivated people.

But the English carried farther their ill-judged tyranny. Instead of inviting the Irish to adopt the more civilized customs of their conquerors, they even refused, though earnestly solicited, to communicate to them the privilege of their laws, and everywhere marked them out as aliens and as enemies. Thrown out of the protection of justice, the natives could find no security but in force; and, flying the neighbourhood of cities, which they could not approach with safety, they sheltered themselves in their marshes and forests from the insolence of their inhuman masters. Being treated like wild beasts, they became such; and joining the ardour of revenge to their yet untamed barbarity, they grew every day more intractable and more dangerous.

As the English princes deemed the conquest of the dispersed Irish to be more the object of time and patience than the source of military glory, they willingly delegated that office to private adventurers, who, enlisting soldiers at their own charge, reduced provinces of that island, which they converted to their own profit. Separate jurisdictions and principalities were established by these lordly conquerors: the power of peace and war was assumed; military law was exercised over the Irish, whom they subdued, and, by degrees, over the English, by whose assistance they conquered; and, after their authority had once taken root, deeming the English institutions less favourable to barbarous dominion, they degenerated into mere Irish, and abandoned the garb, language, manners, and laws of their mother-country.

By all this imprudent conduct of England, the natives of its dependent state remained still in that abject condition, into which the northern and western parts of Europe were sunk before they received civility and slavery from the refined policy and irresistible bravery of Rome. Even at the end of the sixteenth century, when every Christian nation was cultivating with ardour

b Sir J. Davies, p. 102, 103, &c.

Ibid. p. 133, 134, &c.