Although Leicester left Holland for England, by command of Elizabeth, ostensibly to counsel her in regard to the Queen of Scots; no one can doubt that the real cause of his recal was his manifest unfitness for the important duties which he had undertaken.

Essex returned to England with his step-father. His valour, no less than his accomplishments and courtly manners, had won for him the admiration of foreigners as well as of his own countrymen. The first instance of his using his influence in public matters is much to his honour, although his efforts were not crowned with success. He very properly considered the queen's ex-secretary, Davison, "more sinned against than sinning," with regard to the execution of Queen Mary, at Fotheringay, on the 8th of February, 1587, and he did all in his power to obtain a remission of his oppressive sentence. He even wrote to James the Sixth of Scotland, the son of the late queen, to beg his intercession for the disgraced secretary. The letter was written from Greenwich, and is dated April 18th, 1587.

As we have already stated, his endeavours on behalf of Davison were ineffectual; but it is satisfactory to find that if they did not raise him in the estimation of Elizabeth, they did not have a contrary effect. There is internal evidence of this.

Anthony Bagot, to whose house he wished to have his furniture at Chartley removed, in case the house should be converted into a royal jail, was the second

ANTHONY BAGOT.

son of Richard Bagot, of Blithfield, an influential gentleman, who was as steady a friend of the young earl as he had been to Earl Walter, his father. Whilst at Cambridge, Essex requested that Anthony Bagot should become his constant companion and attendant. This appears to have been regarded by the Bagots as a distinguished honor.

Until the death of the earl, Anthony Bagot continued to be his most confidential friend and attendant. Writing to his father, in May, (1587) he describes the queen's partiality to his lord thus: "When she is abroad, nobody near her but my lord of Essex; and, at night, my lord is at cards, or one game or another with her, and he cometh not to his own lodgings till birds sing in the morning."

now,

When Anthony Bagot wrote to his father the letter from which the above extract is made, Essex was in daily expectation of being promoted to be master of the horse to the queen. The office was then, besides being very lucrative, of even greater dignity than it is for it necessitated constant attendance on the sovereign personally. Leicester, who held the office, was most anxious to have it transferred to Essex. What his motive was, is left to conjecture. The prevailing opinion is, that he knew he would be promoted to some greater dignity whenever opportunity offered, and that by securing to his relative the post he held, he would keep his rival, Sir Walter Raleigh, out of it.

Elizabeth would not, however, allow Leicester

to resign his office until there was a vacancy for his promotion. Her cousin, Henry Carey, first Lord Hunsden, was lord steward of the household: his death enabled her to carry out her plans. On the 23rd of December, 1587, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, was made master of the horse.

The appointment, no doubt, was highly gratifying to him, if it in any way thwarted the expectation of Raleigh, towards whom he entertained the strongest animosity, perhaps not without good cause. There is in the Bodleian library a letter, written by Essex to Mr. Dyer, who, it appears, was a stanch friend and prudent counseller of the young courtier. The letter is dated July 21st, but the year is not given. Captain Devereux gives substantial reasons for supposing that it was written in 1587. The earl gives a detailed account of a very serious affair, probably his first "fall out" with his royal mistress. After mentioning in indignant terms, "that knave Ralegh," he goes on to say, "From thence she came to speak of Ralegh; and it seemed she could not well endure any thing to be spoken against him; and taking hold of one word, disdain, she said there was no such cause why I should disdain him. This speech did trouble me so much, that, as near as I could, I did describe to her what he had been, and what he was; and then I did let her know whether I had cause to disdain his competition of love, or whether I could have comfort to give myself over to the service of a mistress that was in awe of such a man. I spake, what of grief and