y him a visit. The
bystanders, who carefully observed her countenance, remarked, that in
pronouncing these words her eyes were suffused with tears.[**]

When these symptoms of the queen's returning affection towards Essex
were known, they gave a sensible alarm to the faction which had declared
their opposition to him. Sir Walter Raleigh in particular, the most
violent as well as the most ambitious of his enemies, was so affected
with the appearance of this sudden revolution, that he was seized with
sickness in his turn; and the queen was obliged to apply the same salve
to his wound, and to send him a favorable message, expressing her desire
of his recovery.[***]

{1600.} The medicine which the queen administered to these aspiring
rivals was successful with both; and Essex, being now allowed the
company of his countess, and having entertained more promising hopes of
his future fortunes, was so much restored in his health as to be thought
past danger. A belief was instilled into Elizabeth, that his distemper
had been entirely counterfeit, in order to move her compassion;[****]
and she relapsed into her former rigor against him. He wrote her a
letter, and sent her a rich present on new-year's day, as was usual
with the courtiers at that time: she read the letter but rejected the
present.[v] After some interval, however, of severity, she allowed him
to retire to his own house; and though he remained still under custody,
and was sequestered from all company, he was so grateful for this mark
of lenity, that he sent her a letter of thanks on the occasion.

* Birch's Memoirs, p. 444, 445. Sidney's Letters, vol. ii.
p. 196.

** Sidney's Letters, vol. ii. p. 151.

*** Sidney's Letters, vol. ii. p. 139.

**** Sidney's Letters, vol. ii. p. 153

v Sidney's Letters, vol. ii. p. 155, 156.

"This further degree of goodness," said he, "doth sound in my ears, as
if your majesty spake these words: 'Die not, Essex; for though I punish
thine offence, and humble thee for thy good yet will I one day be served
again by thee.' My prostrate soul makes this answer: 'I hope for that
blessed day.' And in expectation of it, all my afflictions of body and
mind are humbly, patiently, and cheerfully borne by me."[*] The countess
of Essex, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, possessed, as well as her
husband, a refined taste in literature; and the chief consolation which
Essex enjoyed, during this period of anx