-- - - --- The Earl of Southampton was made general of horse, in Ireland, by the Earl of Essex, during the expe- Queen's injunctions. Southampton (convicted of rebellion), Essex spoke cited compassion in every one. February, 1601, aged about 34. Southampton's From Howes. at the earnest request of Sir Francis Walsingham Chamber; and until then she had none of her own. long and prosperous raigne of her Majesty at the and Sussex, with other, ranne at the tilt most bravely. Howard, the Earl of Southampton, Sir Walter Ra On? leigh, and other brave commanders, with 18 of the to the Isles of Terceiras. Generall for Ireland, having secretly returned into against rumourous talke of the Earle of Essex. the Lords of the Counsell at the Lord Keeper's, as before. set at liberty. fore noone, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, assisted arms against him, he, with his followers wandering uppe and downe the citie, towards evening would have passed at Ludgate, which was closed against him, so that he was forced to returne to QueeneHithe, and from thence, by water, to his house by the Strand, which he fortified; he understanding that great Ordnance was brought to have beat it downe, he yielded, and was conveyed to the Tower about midnight. 1601. Thursday, the 19th of February, the Earle of Essex and the Earle of Southampton were both arraigned at Westminster, and found guilty of high treason, when sentence was pronounced. Ash-Wednesday, the 25th of February, the Earl of Essex was beheaded in the Tower between the hours of seven and eight of the clocke in the morning, being present the Earls of Hartfort and Cumberland, the Lord Thomas Howard, Constable of the Tower for that time, and not passing 60 or 70 persons more. 13th March.—Sir Gilly Mericke, Knt., and Henry Cuffe, Gent., were hanged at Tiborne as being actors with the Earl of Essex. 18th March.—Sir Charles Danvers and Sir Christopher Blunt, Knights, were, upon the new scaffold, upon Tower Hill, beheaded. 1603. Thursday, the 24th of March, about two of the clocke in the morning, deceased Queen Elizabeth at her manor of Richmond, in Surry, being then aged 70 years, and had reigned 44 years, 5 months, &c. The 10th of April, divers prisoners were discharged out of the Tower, among whom the Earl of Southampton was the chiefest. The 2nd of July, the King solemnised the feast of St. George at Windsor, and installed Prince Henry, Knight of the Garter. There were also made Knights of the Garter with Prince Henry, the Duke of Lenox, the Earle of Southampton, the Earle of Marre, and the Earle of Pembroke. 1603. The 21st of July, at Hampton Court, Henry Wriothes ley, Earl of Southampton, was created and restored by patent. From Nicholls. Shakespeare (by Martin Droishout) affixed to the that portrait attainable by them. With a disregard of the poet's original devotion of his whole time and labours to that nobleman, they dedicated their publication not to him, but, perhaps with an interested view, to the Lord Chamberlain of that day, William, Earl of Pembroke, and his brother Philip, Earl of Montgomery, Gentleman of his Majesty's bedchamber. Whether Lord Southampton expressed any displeasure at this preference we are not told, it is most probable that he felt it; he no doubt sent for the work when it appeared in 1623, and by an eager perusal revived the pleasure he had enjoyed in the original performance of these dramas, bringing to mind the delightful and grateful humble servant whom he had lost; and closed the volume as to himself for ever :-for in the following year, 1624, he accepted a military command in the Low Countries. He was seized with a fever, and died at Bergen-op-Zoom on the 10th of November, in that year, aged 52, at which age (eight years preceding) his favourite poet had dropt into the grave. Southampton had largely contributed to the ease and comfort of Shakespeare's retirement. Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, K.G., succeeded his father in that title in 1581. He was an intimate friend of Essex, who made him General of the Horse in Ireland. Having united in that Earl's insurrection he was sent to the Tower in 1598, but one of the first events after James's accession was his release. He was presently honoured with the Garter and the Captaincy of the Isle of Wight,—and, in 1605-6, the king stood god-father to his eldest son. It was not, however, till 1619 that he was called to the Council Board ; and when there, his independent opinions proved rather troublesome than serviceable. In the House of Lords, also, his patriotism induced him to be free of speech, and he was for some time under restraint after the Parliament of 1621. In 1624 he went colonel of one of the four regiments sent for the defence of the Palatinate ; and there, having first lost his son, Lord Wriothesley, his own life also was sacrificed, dying at Bergen-op-Zoom, Nov. 10th in that year. This noble-spirited Peer is also memorable as a patron of Shakespeare: and as one of the founders of Virginia, where Southampton River, and other local names, are derived from him. .Portraits by Pass, by Jenner, on horseback, with the |