not
continue long in his office; and so turning about to go in to the queen,
Bowyer, who was a bold gentleman and well beloved, stepped before him
and fell at her majesty's feet, related the story, and humbly craves her
grace's pleasure; and whether my lord of Leicester was king, or her
majesty queen? Whereunto she replied with her wonted oath, 'God's death,
my lord, I have wished you well; but my favor is not so locked up for
you, that others shall not partake thereof; for I have many servants, to
whom I have, and will at my pleasure, bequeath my favor, and likewise
resume the same: and if you think to rule here, I will take a course to
see you forthcoming. I will have here but one mistress, and no master;
and look that no ill happen to him, lest it be required at your hands.'
Which words so quelled my lord of Leicester, that his feigned humility
was long after one of his best virtues[56]."

[Note 56: Naunton's "Fragmenta Regalia."]

It might be some consolation to Leicester, under his own mortifications,
to behold his ancient rival the earl of Arundel subjected to far severer
ones. This nobleman had resigned in disgust his office of
lord-chamberlain; subsequently, the queen, on some ground of displeasure
now unknown, had commanded him to confine himself to his own house; and
at the end of several months passed under this kind of restraint, she
still denied him for a further term the consolation and privilege of
approaching her royal presence. Disgraces so public and so lasting
determined him to throw up the desperate game on which he had hazarded
so deep a stake: he obtained leave to travel, and hastened to conceal or
forget in foreign lands the bitterness of his disappointment and the
embarrassment of his circumstances.

It is probable that from this time Elizabeth found no more serious
suitors amongst her courtiers, though they flattered her by continuing,
almost to the end of her life, to address her in the language of love,
or rather of gallantry. With all her coquetry, her head was clear, her
passions were cool; and men began to perceive that there was little
chance of prevailing with her to gratify her heart or her fancy at the
expense of that independence on which her lofty temper led her to set so
high a value. Some were still uncharitable, unjust enough to believe
that Leicester was, or had been, a fortunate lover; but few now expected
to see him her husband, and none found encouragement sufficient to renew