again made an earnest tender of their sovereignty
to Elizabeth. She once more declined it, from the same motives of
caution and anxiety to avoid the imputation of ambitious encroachment on
the rights of neighbouring princes, which had formerly determined her.
But more than ever aware how closely her own safety and welfare were
connected with the successful resistance of these provinces, she now
consented to send over an army to their succour, and to grant them
supplies of money; in consideration of which several cautionary towns
were put into her hands. Of these, Flushing was one; and Elizabeth
gratified at once the protestant zeal of Philip Sidney and his
aspirations after military glory, by appointing him its governor. It was
in November 1585 that he took possession of his charge.

Meanwhile the earl of Leicester, whose haughty and grasping spirit led
him to covet distinction and authority in every line, was eagerly
soliciting the supreme command of this important armament; and in spite
of the general mediocrity of his talents and his very slight experience
in the art of war, his partial mistress had the weakness to indulge him
in this unreasonable and ill-advised pretension. The title of general of
the queen's auxiliaries in Holland was conferred upon him, and with it a
command over the whole English navy paramount to that of the
lord-high-admiral himself.

He landed at Flushing, and was received first by its governor and
afterwards by the States of Holland and Zealand with the highest honors,
and with the most magnificent festivities which it was in their power to
exhibit. A splendid band of youthful nobility followed in his
train:--the foremost of them all was his stepson Robert earl of Essex,
now in his 19th year, who had already made his appearance at court, and
experienced from her majesty a reception which clearly prognosticated,
to such as were conversant in the ways of the court, the height of favor
to which he was predestined.

It was highly characteristic of the jealous haughtiness of Elizabeth's
temper, that the extraordinary honors lavished by the States upon
Leicester instantly awakened her utmost indignation. She regarded them
as too high for any subject, even for him who enjoyed the first place in
her royal favor, whom she had invested with an amplitude of authority
quite unexampled, and who represented herself in the council of the
States-general. She expressed her anger in a tone which made both