e queen's private apartment, in his traveling
dress, soiled and way-worn. The queen was at her toilet, with her hair
down over her eyes. Essex fell on his knees before her, kissed her hand,
and made great professions of gratitude and love, and of an extreme
desire to deserve and enjoy her favor. The queen was astonished at his
appearance, but Essex thought that she received him kindly. He went away
after a short interview, greatly pleased with the prospect of a
favorable issue to the desperate step he had taken. His joy, however,
was soon dispelled. In the course of the day he was arrested by order of
the queen, and sent to his house under the custody of an officer. He had
presumed too far.

Essex was kept thus secluded and confined for some time. His house was
on the bank of the river. None of his friends, not even his countess,
were allowed access to him. His impetuous spirit wore itself out in
chafing against the restraints and means of coercion which were pressing
upon him; but he would not submit. The mind of the queen, too, was
deeply agitated all the time by that most tempestuous of all mental
conflicts, a struggle between resentment and love. Her affection for her
proud-spirited favorite seemed as strong as ever, but she was determined
to make him yield in the contest she had commenced with him. How often
cases precisely similar occur in less conspicuous scenes of action,
where they who love each other with a sincere and uncontrollable
affection take their stand in attitudes of hostility, each determined
that the obstinacy of the other shall give way, and each heart
persisting in its own determination, resentment and love struggling all
the time in a dreadful contest, which keeps the soul in a perpetual
commotion, and allows of no peace till either the obstinacy yields or
the love is extinguished and gone.

It was indirectly made known to Essex that if he would confess his
fault, ask the queen's forgiveness, and petition for a release from
confinement, in order that he might return to his duties in Ireland, the
difficulty could be settled. But no, he would make no concessions. The
queen, in retaliation, increased the pressure upon him. The more
strongly he felt the pressure, the more his proud and resentful spirit
was aroused. He walked his room, his soul boiling with anger and
chagrin, while the queen, equally distressed and harassed by the
conflict in her own soul, still persevered, hoping every day that the