have been the case
through his self-willed return! As he was fond of tracing his descent
from royal blood, he was accused of even aspiring to the throne, after
the example of Bolingbroke: for this purpose he had leagued himself
with Tyrone and the Irish grandees, whose loyalty he praised
notwithstanding their revolt. We can say with certainty that the views
of the Earl of Essex never went so far. In the question as to the
Queen's successor, which occupied every one, he had taken his side for
the rights of the King of Scotland: he imputed to his enemies the
design of favouring on the other hand the claim of the Infant of Spain
(which was at that time put forward in all seriousness in a book much
read) with the view of purchasing peace by his recognition. He
assigned, as the motive for his conduct, his inability to endure the
atheists, papists, and Spanish partisans in the Queen's council: as a
Christian he could not possibly look on while religion perished, and
as an Englishman he would not stand aloof while his fatherland was
being ruined.[288] He had never wished to be anything else than a
subject--but 'only of his Queen, not the underling of an unworthy and
low vassal.' So far as men saw, he stood in connexion with both the
parties opposed to the prevailing system. He was prayed for in the
churches of the Puritans: Cartwright was one of his friends; the
Scotch doctrine, that the Supreme Power, if it showed itself negligent
in matters of religion, could be compelled by those immediately under
it to take them in hand, is said to have been preached with reference
to him. As Earl Marshal of England, Essex indeed thought he possessed
an independent right of interference. But the mitigation of the
ecclesiastical laws would also have benefited the Catholics; and it
was among them that he had perhaps the most decided allies. If we
might combine his views into a whole, they were directed towards
raising the natives of America against Spain, at the same time that by
toleration both in England and Ireland he united all patriots in the
war against that power, in which he discerned that the chief interest
of the nation lay.

Essex remained a long while in the custody of the Keeper of the Seal,
who was favourably disposed towards him; then he was sentenced by the
Star Chamber not to exercise any longer his high offices as member of
the Privy Council, as Earl Marshal, and Master of the Ordnance, and to
live as a prisoner in his own