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of his life, which was for near fifty years afterwards; during which time he was created Baron Danvers by King James in the first year of his reign, and by King Charles, the first Earl of Derby; we may be led to suppose that some circumstances existed in this case which are not noticed in the only detailed narrative of this transaction which I have been able to meet with.

Lord Southampton seems, at a very early period, to have betaken himself to a military life, and hence it was natural to suppose that he was engaged in the attack on Cadiz, by Lord Essex and Lord Nottingham, in the summer of 1596, as I formerly asserted on apparently strong grounds °; but it appears from a letter of attorney executed by him in London, and dated July 1st, in that year (for a perusal of which I was indebted to Thomas Orde, Esq. the possessor of this document) that he could not have sailed with those two gallant noblemen; and although it is possible he may have joined them afterwards, yet as he was highly distinguished for bravery, and nothing is recorded of his atchievements in that action, it is probable he was not engaged in it. In 1598, however, he was certainly joined with Lord Essex in an important enterprise.

After the defeat of the Armada in 1588, it appears to have been the wise policy of Elizabeth, to

6 These were, 1st, a document furnished to me by the late Mr. Astle, in which Lord Southampton is said to have been engaged in the expedition against Cadiz, for the proof of which he referred me to his authority in the Paper Office, under the head of Militaria: and, secondly, the following notice in the catalogue of the MSS. in the library of the Earl of Denbigh. Catalogi librarum manuscriptorum Angliæ, &c. vol. ii. p. 36; where the following article is found " Diana of Montemayor (the first part) done out of Spanish, by Thomas Wilson, Esq. in the year 1596, and dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, who was then upon the Spanish voyage with my lord of Essex."

attack the enemy on their own ground, so as effectually to prevent the Spaniards from ever again making a similar attempt. Of these enterprises the successful attack on Cadiz in 1596, already mentioned, was one. In the summer of the following year, a similar enterprise was undertaken; the object of which was to attack the enemy in their own ports, and, if possible, to destroy their navy; if that attempt should fail, to intercept the Spanish Plate ships laden with the treasures of the new world. The fleet fitted out for this occasion consisted of 120 vessels, of various descriptions; on board of this fleet were embarked about 6000 soldiers', and the Earl of Essex was commander in chief both by sea and land, supported in the sea service by Lord Thomas Howard, and Sir Wm. Raleigh as his Vice and Rear-Admirals; and at land, by Lord Montjoy, his Lieutenant General; Sir Francis Vere Marshall, Sir George Carew, Lieutenant of the Ordnance, Lord Southampton, his friend Roger, Earl of Rutland, the Lords Grey, Cromwell, and Rich, with several other noblemen, embarked as volunteers ", and Southampton was appointed Captain of the Garland, one of the Queen's best ships; from those times, and long afterwards, no precise line of distinction seems to have been drawn between the land and sea service,

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7 "Among the which (says Stowe) were of knights and gentlemen voluntaries to the number of five hundred or better, very gallant persons, and as bravely furnished of all things necessary, besides superfluitie in gold lace, plumes of featheres, and such like." Annals, 1300, and 1605.

So also Sr. A. Gorges, who was himself in their Expedition : "In this armie there were knight captaines and gentlemen voluntaries, five hundred at the least, as gallant personages, and as bravelie furnished as ever the eye of men did behold." 4 Purchas, 1940.

8 Camden, iii. 738.

and several of the nobility and others, though not bred to the sea, occasionally served in the navy. The great object of this expedition being dissolved by a tempest which shattered and dispersed the fleet soon after they left Plymouth (July 1597), Essex dismissed 5000 of new raised troops, retaining only the forces under Sir Francis Vere'; and instead of attacking Ferrol or Corunna with such of his ships as had not suffered much by the storm, or were speedily refitted, directed his courses to the Western Islands, called the Azores; chiefly with a view to intercept the Plate Fleet on its return to Spain. In this expedition, which finally sailed on the 17th of August, Southampton, who appears, on their sailing a second time, to have had a small squadron under his command, happening with only three of the Queen's ships and a few merchant men under his command, to fall in with thirty-five sail of Spanish galleons, laden with the treasures of South America; he sunk one of them 1, and dispersed others that were afterwards taken;

9 This is G. Markham's Account. Rowland White, in a letter to Sir Robert Sidney, dated the 28th of Oct. 1517, says, "My lord of Southampton fell in with one of the king's great men of war and took her." This was perhaps one of the four ships which Essex brought home safe. Sid. Papers,

ii. 272.

So he himself informs us in his Apology. Some of them, however, in consequence of the foul weather and distress they had encountered, abandoned the expedition.

"In this sort (says S. A. Gorges), using all industry and diligence for the setting aflote of our storme-beaten navie, we so fitted ourselves againe within eight or ten dayes, as that we were readie for a new fortune. But yet this violent and dangerous tempest had so cooled and battered the courages of a great many of our young gentlemen (who, seeing that the boysterous winds, and mercilesse seas had neither affinitie with London delicacie nor coast braverie) as that discharging their high plumes, and embroydered cassockes, they secretly retired themselves home, forgetting they either to bid their friendes farewell, or to take leave of their generall." 4 Purchas, 1941.

the rest taking shelter in a bay of the island of Terceira, which was then unassailable.

After the English troops had taken and spoiled the rich town of Villa Franca in the island of St. Michael (on the last of Sept. 1597), the enemy finding that most of them were gone on board their ships, and that only Essex and Southampton, with a few others, remained on shore, came down upon them with all their forces, but were received with such spirit and resolution by the small band whom they expected to have found an easy conquest, that many were put to the sword, and the mob obliged to retreat. On this occasion, Southampton behaved with such gallantry, that he was knighted in the field by Essex, ere (says a contemporary writer)," he could dry the sweat from his brows, or put his sword up in the scabard "."

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In 1598 he attended his noble friend to Ireland, as General of the horse; from which employment (after having greatly distinguished himself by overcoming the rebels in Munster), he was dismissed by the peremptory orders of Queen Elizabeth, who was offended with him for having presumed in 1598, to marry Miss Elizabeth Vernon, daughter of John Vernon of Hednet, in the county of Salop, Esq. without Her Majesty's consent; which in those days was esteemed a heinous offence. This lady (of whom there is an original picture at Sherborne Castle in Dorsetshire, the seat of lord Digby), was cousin to lord Essex".

When that nobleman, for having returned from Ireland without the permission of the Queen, was confined at the lord keeper's house, lord South

2 Honour in its Perfection, &c. by Gervois Markham, 4to. 1624. See ante, p. 430.

3 Elizabeth, sister of Walter, Earl of Essex, married Sir John Vernon of Hodnet, Knight.

ampton withdrew from court. At this period a circumstance is mentioned by a writer of that time, which corresponds with the received account of his admiration of Shakspeare. "My lord Southampton and lord Rutland (says Rowland Whyte in a letter to Sir Robert Sydney, dated in the latter end of the year 1599, Sydney Papers, vol. ii. p. 132), came not to the court [at Nonsuch]. The one doth but very seldome. They pass away the tyme in London, merely in going to plaies every day." At this time King Henry V. which had been produced in the spring of that year, and contains an elegant compliment to lord Essex, was probably exhibiting with applause. Roger earl of Rutland (to whom lord Essex addressed that pathetick letter which is printed in Howard's Collection, vol. ii. p. 521, where it is absurdly entitled "A letter to the earl of Southampton,") was married to the daughter of lady Essex by her first husband, Sir Philip Sidney.

Lord Southampton being condemned for having joined the earl of Essex in his wild project, that amiable nobleman generously supplicated the Lords for his unfortunate friend, declaring at the same time that he was himself not at all solicitous for life; and we are told by Camden, who was present at the trial, that lord Southampton requested the peers to intercede for her Majesty's mercy, (against whom he protested that he had never any ill intention,) with such ingenuous modesty, and such sweet and persuasive elocution, as greatly affected all who heard him. Though even the treacherous enemies of Essex (as we learn from Osborne,) supplicated the inexorable Elizabeth, to spare the life of Lord Southampton, he for some time remained doubtful of his fate, but at length was pardoned; yet he was confined in the Tower during the re

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