These grievances were frequently complained of in parliament, but more especially by the Puritans ; a religious sect who maintained, as the name imports, that the church of England was not yet sufficiently purged from the errors of popery, and who carried the same bold spirit that dictated their theological opinions, into their political speculations. But such complaints were made at the peril of the members, who were frequently committed to custody for undue liberty of speech; and all motions to remove those enormous grievances were suppressed, as attempts to invade the royal prerogative. The queen herself, by messages to the house, frequently admonished the commons, "Not to meddle with "what nowise belonged to them (matters of state or reli, "gion), and what did not lie within the compass of their "understanding and she warned them, "since neither "her commands, nor the example of their wiser brethren "(those devoted to the court) could reclaim their audacious, "arrogant and presumptuous folly, that some other species "of correction must be found for them4."

66

These messages were patiently received by the majority of the house. Nay it was asserted, "that the royal preroga"tive was not to be canvassed, nor disputed, nor examined, ❝and did not even admit of any limitation; that absolute 'princes, such as the sovereigns of England, were a species "of divinity that it was in vain to attempt tying the "queen's hands by laws or statutes, since, by her dispensing 66 power, she could loosen herself at pleasures !"—But the Puritans who alone possessed any just sentiments of freedom, and who employed all their industry to be elected into parliament, still hazarded the utmost indignation of Elizabeth, in vindicating the natural rights of mankind. They continued to keep alive that precious spark of liberty which they had rekindled; and which, burning fiercer from confinement, broke out into a blaze under the two succeeding 5. Ibid.

4. D'Ewes, ubi. sup.

reigns,

reigns, and agitated, but not smothered by opposition, consumed the church and monarchy; from whose ashes, like the fabled Phoenix, singly to arrest the admiration of ages, sprung our present glorious and happy constitution.

Among the subjects which Elizabeth prohibited the parliament from taking into consideration, was the succession to the crown. But as all danger from a rival claim had expired with the queen of Scots, a motion was made by Peter Wentworth, a puritan, for petitioning her majesty to fix the succession; which, though in itself, sufficiently respectful, incensed the queen to such a degree, that she ordered Wentworth to be sent to the Tower, and all the members who seconded him to the fleet. Her malignity against Mary seems to have settled upon her son James; for she not only continued to avoid acknowledging him as her successor, though a peaceable and unaspiring prince, but refused to assist him in suppressing a conspiracy of some Catholic noblemen in conjunction with the king of Spain, their common enemy7. She endeavoured to keep him in perpetual dependance, by bribing his ministers, or fomenting discontents among his subjects; and she appears to have been at the bottom of a conspiracy, formed by the earl of Gowrie, for seizing the king's person; though not as commonly supposed, with a design to take away his life.

Meanwhile Elizabeth's attention was much occupied by the affairs of Ireland, where the English Sovereignty had hitherto been little more than nominal. The Irish princes and nobles, divided among themselves, readily paid the exterior marks of obedience to a power which they were not able to resist; but as no durable force was ever kept on foot to retain them in submission they still relapsed into their former state of barbarous independency. Other reasons conspired to prevent a cordial union. The small army which was maintained in Ireland, never being regularly paid, the officers

6. Ibid.

7. Spotswood 8, Robertson, Hist. Slot vol. ii.

were

were obliged to give their soldiers the privilege of free quar ters upon the natives. Rapine and insolence inflamed the hatred which prevailed between the conquerors and the conquered; and that, together with the old opposition of manners, laws and interests, was now hightened by religious animosity, the Irish being still Catholics, and in a great measure savages9.

The romantic and impolitic project of the English princes for subduing France, occasioned this inattention to the affairs of Ireland; a conquest pregnant with many solid advantages, and infinitely more suited to their condition. Elizabeth early saw the importance of that island, and took several measures for reducing it to a state of greater order and submission. Besides furnishing her deputies, or governors of Ireland with a stronger force, she founded an university in Dublin, with a view of introducing arts and learning into that capital and kingdom, and of civilizing the barbarous manners of the people1. But unhappily Sir John Perrot, in 1585, being then lord deputy, put arms into the hands of the inhabitants of Ulster, in order to enable them, without the assistance of the English government, to repress the incursions of the Scottish islanders; and Philip II. having, about the same time, engaged many of the Irish gentry to serve in his armies in the Low Countries, Ireland thus provided both with officers and soldiers, with discipline and arms, was thenceforth able to maintain a more regular war, and became more formidable to England.

Hugh O'Neal, the head of a potent clan, had been raised by the queen to the dignity of earl of Tyrone; but preferring the pride of barbarous licence and dominion to the pleasures of opulence and tranquillity, he secretly fomented the discontents of his countrymen, and formed the project of rendering himself independent. Trusting, however, to the influence of 9. Spencer's Account of Ireland.

10. Sir John Davis. Camden.

his deceitful oaths and protestations, as he was not yet sufficiently prepared, he surrendered himself into the

hands of Sir William Russel who had been appointed the queen's deputy in Ireland: and being dismissed in consequence of these protestations, of his pacific dispofition, and retiring into his own country, he embraced the daring resolution of rising in open rebellion, and of relying no longer on the lenity and imprudence of his enemies. His success exceeded his most sanguine hopes. After amusing Sir John Norris, sent over to reduce him to obedience, with treacherous promises and proposals of accommodation, by means of which the war spun out for some years, he defeated the English army under Sir Henry Bagnal, who had succeeded to the command on the death of the gallant Norris, and who was left dead on the field, together with fifteen hundred men'.

sures.

A. D. 1399.'

This victory, which mightily animated the courage of the Irish, and raised the reputation of Tyrone, who now assumed the name of Deliverer of his Country, made Elizabeth sensible of the necessity of pushing the war by vigorous meaAnd she appointed at his own request, her reigning favourite the earl of Essex, ever ambitious of military fame, governor of Ireland, under the title of Lord Lieutenant; vested him with powers almost unlimited; and, in order to insure him success against the rebels, she levied an army of sixteen thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse. But Essex, unacquainted with the country and misled by interested councils, disappointed the expectations of the queen and the nation; and fearing the total alienation of her affections, by the artifices of his enemies, he embracedthe rash resolution of returning home, expressly contrary to her orders, and arrived at court before any one was apprized of his intentions12.

id.

12 Winwood, vol. i.

The

The sudden and unexpected appearance of her favourite, whose impatience carried him to her bed-chamber, where he threw himself at her feet, and kissed her hand, at first disarmed the resentment of Elizabeth. She was incapable, in that moment of soft surprize, of treating him with severity; hence Essex was induced to say, on retiring, he thanked God, that though he had suffered much trouble and many storms abroad, he found a sweet calm at home13.

Elizabeth, however, had no sooner leisure for recollection than her displeasure returned. All Essex's faults again took possession of her mind, and she thought it necessary, by some severe discipline, to subdue that haughty and imperious spirit, which, presuming on her partiality and indulgence, had ventured to disregard her instructions, and disobey her commands. She ordered him to be confined; and by a decree of the privy council, he was deprived of all his employments, except that of Master of the Horse, and sentenced to remain a prisoner during her majesty's pleasure.

A. D. 1600.

Humbled by this sentence, but still trusting to the queen's tenderness, Essex wrote to her, that he kissed her majesty's hands, and the rod with which she had corrected him ; but that he could never recover his wonted cheerfulness, till she deigned to admit him to that presence, which had ever been the chief source of his happiness and enjoyment. He had now resolved, he added, to make amends for his past errors; to retire into a rural solitude, and say with Nebuchadnezzar, "Let my dwelling be with the beasts of the field, let me eat 66 grass as an ox, and be wet with the dew of heaven, till "it shall please the queen to restore me to my understand❝ing14."

Elizabeth, who had always declared to the world, and even to Essex himself that the purpose of her severity was to correct, not to ruin him, was much pleased with these senti

13. Sydney's Letters, vol. ii.

14. Camden.

ments;