17
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF
ROBERT DEVERAUX, EARL OF ESSEX,
A GREAT FAVOURITE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH;
With a Lamentable Ballad on his Death.Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, was in every respect qualified for a soldier, but the most unfit man in the world for a courtier. He was very young when his father died; and was not taken notice of till the year 1589, a twelvemonth after the destruction of the Armada, at which time he hired some ships, and bore Drako company in an expedition he was going upon.—In 1591 he began to grow into favour, and was that year sent to the assistance of the king of Franco, with some forces under his command, and acquired much fame, so that in 1597 he was sent admiral of an expedition into America. On his return he grew high in the queen’s favour, and grew so insolent upon it as often to contradict her; but this never so arrogantly as in the year 1598, when the queen consulted with three or four counsellors about sending a superintendant of the affairs of Ireland into that kingdom. The queen had thoughts of Sir William
