ved to make amends for his past errors, to retire into a
country solitude, and say with Nebucidnezzar, "Let my dwelling be with
the beasts of the field; let me eat grass as an ox, and be wet with
the dew of heaven; till it shall please the queen to restore me to my
understanding." The queen was much pleased with these sentiments; and
replied, that she heartily wished his actions might correspond with his
expressions; that he had tried her patience a long time, and it was but
fitting she should now make some experiment of his submission; that her
father would never have pardoned so much obstinacy; but that, if the
furnace of affliction produced such good effects, she should ever after
have the better opinion of her chemistry.[*]

The earl of Essex possessed a monopoly of sweet wines; and as his patent
was near expiring, he patiently expected that the queen would renew it;
and he considered this event as the critical circumstance of his life,
which would determine whether he could ever hope to be reinstated
in credit and authority.[**] But Elizabeth, though gracious in her
deportment, was of a temper somewhat haughty and severe; and being
continually surrounded with Essex's enemies, means were found to
persuade her, that his lofty spirit was not yet sufficiently subdued,
and that he must undergo this further trial, before he could again be
safely received into favor. She therefore denied his request; and even
added, in a contemptuous style, that an ungovernable beast must be
stinted in his provender.[***]

* Camden, p. 628.

** Birch's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 472.

*** Camden, p. 628.

This rigor, pushed one step too far, proved the final ruin of this young
nobleman, and was the source of infinite sorrow and vexation to the
queen herself. Essex, who had with great difficulty so long subdued his
proud spirit, and whose patience was now exhausted, imagining that
the queen was entirely inexorable, burst at once all restraints of
submission and of prudence, and determined to seek relief by proceeding
to the utmost extremities against his enemies. Even during his greatest
favor, he had ever been accustomed to carry matters with a high hand
towards his sovereign, and as this practice gratified his own temper,
and was sometimes successful, he had imprudently imagined that it was
the only proper method of managing her: [*] but being now reduced to
despair, he gave entire reins to his violent disposition, and thre