Ingatestone and Ongar, and of Hatfield Peverel Priory, be- | Sir William Waller, and were pressed by Fairfax and the tween Chelmsford and Witham, have been made parochial: parliamentary army, crossed the Thames into Middlesex, the latter has been much altered; it retains a good Norman and retreating thence into Essex, were joined by the door, with zigzag mouldings. royalists of that county (who had previously seized the parliamentary committee at Chelmsford) and by some royalist gentlemen from Hertfordshire. Their leaders were the earl of Norwich, Lords Loughborough and Capel, Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, Sir Bernard Gascoigne, Sir William Campian, Sir William Compton, Sir William Leyton, Sir Richard Hastings, and many other officers and gentlemen. They retired first to Chelmsford, from thence to Braintree, taking in their way Lees House, the seat of the earl of Warwick, and from thence to Colchester, which they entered by convention, after a slight skirmish with the townsmen. To this place Fairfax with his army advanced in pursuit of them, and made a desperate attempt to storm the town. The royalists repulsed him, but with the loss of one of their men of note, Sir William Campian, and nearly 200 men killed and wounded. The Parliamentarians' loss was probably nearly 1000 killed, wounded, and taken. Fairfax now laid close siege to the town, which was blocked up on every side; and two small frigates of ten and eleven guns, which lay in the river to assist the king's party, were taken by some parliamentary vessels from Harwich. After a siege of between two and three months and several severe actions, the royalists were forced to surrender at discretion. The parliamentary general, deeming it necessary to make an example of the leaders of this rising, and being sanctioned by the determination of a council of war, ordered Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, Sir Bernard Gascoigne, and Colonel Farre to be executed the day the town was given up. Farre had escaped; Gascoigne, who was a Florentine, was reprieved; but the other two were shot under the walls of Colchester Castle. Of the early churches, beside those which we have already had occasion to mention, the following deserve notice Greenstead church, near Ongar, is a very curious edifice, and one of the most antient in the kingdom: it seems probable that it was built as a sort of shrine for lodging the body of St. Edmund, king of East Anglia, on its being taken back from London to Bury St. Edmund's, in the early part of the eleventh century; and that it was afterwards enlarged to serve as a parish church. The nave is entirely composed of wood, the sides being formed of the trunks of large chestnut-trees (or oaks) split or sawn asunder, and set upright close to one another. They are let into a wooden sill at bottom, and into a plate at top, and secured with wooden pins: two vacancies are filled up with plaster. There is a boarded tower at the west end, but this does not appear to be so antient as the nave: also a wooden porch on the | south side of the nave. The chancel is partly of brick, and the nave is strengthened by brick buttresses. The entire length of the originai or wooden part of the church is 29 feet long by 14 broad, and 54 high to the spring of the roof, which is tiled, and not so antient as the sides. Little Maplestead church (near Halsted) is a building of great interest, being the latest of the few round churches in the kingdom; it is of pure Decorated character, and its details plain, but very good.' The chancel end of this church is also semicircular, and is probably the latest erection of that form in England. The diameter of the circular part is about 26 feet (or 30 feet according to others); it has a peristyle of six clustered columns, supporting pointed arches: the whole length of church and chancel is about 60 feet. South Ockendon church, near the Thurrocks, has a round tower, such as may be commonly seen in Norfolk, but not much elsewhere: it has an elaborately and variously enriched Norman door: Corringham and some other churches have Norman portions. When the Catholic religion regained a temporary predominance over the Reformation under Mary I., the persecution was very severe in Essex. Seventeen persons (five of them women) were burnt at Colchester, and one died in prison; and two persons (one a woman) were burnt at Stratford. The year 1571 was remarkable for the settlement of the Flemish refugees at Colchester; they introduced the woollen manufacture into that and several other towns in Essex. When the Spaniards were expected to attack England with their Invincible Armada (A.D. 1588), a camp was formed at Tilbury, where a body of more than 18,000 men, under the earl of Leicester, was posted. Tilbury Fort was then a block-house, which had been built by Henry VIII. to defend the passage of the river; it was at a subsequent period (upon the alarm caused by the Dutch sailing up the Medway, A.D. 1667, and burning the ships at Chatham), enlarged and made a regular fortification, as it is at present. The camp at Tilbury was visited by Elizabeth, whose presence increased the general enthusiasm. Colchester on this occasion furnished two ships and a pinnace to the English fleet. In 1595 the same town furnished three ships for the expedition to Cadiz. In the war with Spain at the beginning of the reign of Charles I., a Spanish fleet caused alarm by appearing off Harwich; but they made no attempt to land (A.D. 1625). In the civil war at the close of the same reign, Essex was almost entirely in the interest of the parliament, and joined in an association for mutual aid and succour with the other eastern counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and Herts; this was called the Eastern Association. The towns of Essex and Suffolk, upon a requisition from the committee of both houses, raised 2000 men for the service of the parliament, besides large supplies both of men and money which they sent to the parliament at other times. The county appears to have been exempt from the immediate sufferings of the civil war during the continuance of the main contest; but in the year 1648 it was the scene of one of those isolated and abortive attempts of the royalists, the narratives of which form so many episodes in the great history of the war. A part of the royalist forces, which had been raised in Kent under Goring, earl of Norwich, and In A.D. 1665 and 1666 Colchester suffered severely from the plague. In the above named years 4731 persons died of it: nearly 200 of them in one week. In A.D. 1684 the charter of Colchester was surrendered to the crown, and a new charter granted the same year, which was remodelled by James II. A.D. 1688; but after the Revolution the original charter was restored. The history of the county presents no later events of any interest. (Morant's History of Essex; Beauties of England and Wales; Ordnance Survey of Essex; Conybeare and Phillips's Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales; Young's Agriculture of Essex; Rickman's Gothic Architecture; Turner's Anglo-Saxons; Excursions in Essex; Parliamentary Papers, &c.) STATISTICS. Population.-Essex is an agricultural county, and but few of its inhabitants are engaged in manufactures. Of 79,023 males twenty years of age and upwards, living in the county in 1831, 43,683 were engaged in agricultural pursuits, and only 871 in manufactures or in making manufacturing machinery. Of these latter 500 were employed in the manufacture of silk goods, principally at Braintree, Great and Little Coggeshall, and Bocking; at Halsted there were 59 silk-machine makers; about 30 men were engaged in the manufacture of gunpowder at the government establishment at Waltham Abbey. At West Ham, in the vicinity of the metropolis, operative chemistry gives employment to several of the inhabitants. ranks the eighth on the list of agricultural counties, and in this respect retains the same position as in 1811. Essex in which the census was taken during the present century The population of this county at each of the four periods was '— 1801 Males. 111,356 Females. 115,081 Total. Incr. per cent 226,437 252,473 11.49 289,424 14.63 317,507 9.50 144,909 144,515 159,015 158,492 Showing an increase between the first and last periods of 91,070, or a little more than 40 per cent., which is 17_per cent. below the whole rate of increase throughout England. The following table is a summary of the population, &c., of every hundred as taken in 1831: Totals 57,152 65,319 354 1,860 34,589 18,282 12,448 159,015 158,492 317,507 79,023 County Expenses, Crime, &c.-The sums expended for about 20 per cent.; and the saving effected on the sum exthe relief of the poor at the four dates of £ s. d. 1801 were 137,140, being The sum expended for the same purpose in the year ending March, 1836, was 185,3947. 178.; and assuming that the population had increased at the same rate of per centage since 1831 as in the ten preceding years, the above sum gives an average of 11s. for each inhabitant. These averages are above those for the whole of England and Wales. The sum raised in Essex for poor-rate, county-rate, and other local purposes, in the year ending the 25th of March, 1833, was 211,9617. 18s., and was levied upon the various descriptions of property as follows: £. S. 251,571 18 &c. 8,190 5 39,928 3 313,747 14 pended for the relief of the poor was not quite 23 per cent. in 1836, as compared with the expenditure in 1834. The number of turnpike trusts in Essex, as ascertained in 1834, is 11; the number of miles of road under their charge is 249; the annual income in 1834, arising from the tolls and parish composition, was 34,504/. 157. 1d., and the annual expenditure 39,5577. 128. 4d. The county expenditure in 1834, exclusive of that for the relief of the poor, was 18,8477. 10s. 6d., disbursed as follows:£. s. d. 728 2 0 Bridges, buildings, and repairs, &c. Clerk of the peace ce-} Conveyance of prisoners before trial of transports 2 245 9 8 Vagrants-apprehending and conveying Constables-high and special Coroner Miscellaneous Total The number of persons charged with criminal offences, in the three septennial periods ending with 1820, 1827, and 1834, were 1908, 2686, and 3837 respectively; making an average of 273 annually in the first period, of 384 in the second period, and of 578 in the third period. The number of persons tried at quarter-sessions, in each of the years 1831, 1832, and 1833, in respect to which any costs were paid out of the county-rates, were 386, 351, and 398 respectively. Among the persons charged with offences, there were committed for The total number of committals in each of the same years was 407, 445, and 460 respectively. 1836. £185,394 17 5,444 9 17,470 10 ty-rate 39,484 9 For all other purposes 23,716 5 20,700 7 1831. 1832. 1833. In 1836 at the assizes and sessions 619 persons were charged with crimes in Essex. Of these 49 were charged with offences against the person, 31 of which were for common assaults; there were 74 offences against property, committed with violence; and 442 committed without violence; 1 for sending threatening letters; 8 for forging and uttering false money; 1 for killing cattle; 2 for deer stealing; and 42 for riot. Of the whole number of offenders, 445 were convicted, 123 were acquitted, and against 51 no bill was found, or no prosecution ensued. Of those convicted, 20 were condemned to death, none of whom were executed, 17 had their sentence commuted for transportation, and three for imprisonment; 133 were sentenced to transportation for various periods; 279 to imprisonment, 235 of whom for only six months or under; 2 were whipped; 5 were fined, and 6 discharged on sureties. Of the number of offenders, 547 were males and 72 females; 293 could neither read nor write: 283 could read and write imperfectly; 31 could read and write well, and only 1 had received superior instruction; the state of instruction of the remaining 11 could not be ascertained. The number of persons qualified to vote for the county members of Essex is 11,119, being 1 in 29 of the whole population, and 1 in 7 of the male population, twenty years of age and upwards, as taken in 1831. The expenses of the last election of county members to parliament were to the inhabitants of the county 1597. 5s. 9d., and were paid out of the general county-rate. There are fifteen savings' banks in Essex. The number of depositors and amount of deposits on the 20th of November were: Thirty-seven Sunday-schools are returned from places where no other schools exist, and the children (1513 in number) who are instructed therein cannot be supposed to attend any other school; at all other places Sunday-school children have opportunity of resorting to other schools also, but in what number or in what proportion duplicate entry of the same children is thus produced must remain uncertain. Seventy-seven schools, containing 5250 children, which are both daily and Sunday-schools, are returned from various places, and duplicate entry is therefore known to have been thus far created. At a few of the Sundayschools some scholars are 16 and 17 years of age. Making allowance for these two causes therefore, it appears that perhaps not more than one-half of the children between the ages of 2 and 15 are receiving instruction in this county. Maintenance of Schools. Description of Schools. Infant Schools Daily Schools Sunday Schools By endowment. By subscription. from scholars. ment from scholars, By payments Subscrip, and pay. SchoScholars. Schls. Schls. Scholars. Schls. Scho- Schls. lars. lars. Total..... 119 4835 The schools established since 1818 are: Scholars. 1235 7600-8935 Scholars. Infant and other daily schools 647, containing 18,533 Sunday-schools 230, containing 18,581 One hundred and one boarding-schools are included in the number of daily schools given above. No school in the county appears to be confined to the children of parents of the Established Church, or of any other religious denomination, such exclusion being disclaimed in almost every instance, especially in schools established by Dissenters, with whom are here included Wesleyan Methodists, together with schools for children of Roman Catholic parents. Lending libraries of books are attached to forty-five schools in this county. ESSEX, EARLS OF. WALTER DEVEREUX, first earl of Essex, the son of Sir Richard Devereux and Dorothy, daughter of George, earl of Huntingdon, was born in Caermarthenshire, at the castle of his grandfather, Walter Viscount Hereford, about the year 1540. He succeeded to the titles of Viscount Hereford and Lord Ferrers of Chartley in his nineteenth year, and was early married to Lettice, daughter of Sir Francis Knolles. When the rebellion, headed by the earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, broke out in 1569, he raised a considerable body of troops, and, in conjunction with other forces, compelled the rebels to retreat into Scotland. The courage that he displayed during this warfare recommended him to Queen Elizabeth, who had ever esteemed his loyalty and superior intelligence: in gratitude for the service that he had rendered her, she conferred on him the order of the Garter, and created him earl of Essex (1572). He now became so great a favourite with the queen, that Leicester and others about the court, jealous of his increasing influence, encouraged Essex to enter upon a scheme for subduing and colonizing a district of the province of Ulster. He had for some time contemplated such an expedition, and having been persuaded to take the command, embarked from Liverpool in August, 1573, in company with Lord Darcy, Lord Rich, and other persons of distinction. He contracted to furnish one half of the expense of the undertaking, in consideration of which he was to have one half of the colony as soon as it was established. His arms at the outset met with various success; but after a time his English friends deserted him, and their loss, together with the enmity of many courtiers at home, soon multiplied difficulties round him. He was obliged to resume the government of Ulster, which he had previously resigned; and he was compelled to make peace with O'Neil when his pursuit of the rebels under that leader gave every prospect of success. He was required to give up his command when he had nearly dispossessed the Scots, who had invaded the western islands in his territory, and with no higher title than that of captain was made to serve at the ESS 35 ESS But and his confederates were executed. The opposition of the Cecils to the counsels of the earl of Essex was renewed in 1596. Lord Howard, then lord admiral, advised the queen again to invade Spain, a proposal which Essex warmly seconded; Burleigh, on the contrary, denounced the scheme as impolitic and imprudent. The queen gave her consent to the expedition: Howard and Essex sailed; Cadiz was taken, plundered, and burned; fifty-seven Spanish ships of war and merchantmen were taken or destroyed; and the Spanish government suffered considerable loss. though the enterprise was successful, and commanded with the greatest gallantry, the benefits resulting to the English government were hardly equivalent to the expense incurred. After some trifling attacks upon the coast of Spain, the fleet, which had been absent little more than two months, returned to England. The enemies of Essex had endeavoured, during his absence, to poison the mind of the queen to his prejudice, but his publication of the Censure of the Omissions in the Expedition to Cadiz' completely reinstated him in her favour. He continued to meet with disfor his friends, but was himself created Master of the Ordappointments in his endeavour to obtain official situations Lord Thomas Howard as vice-admiral, and Sir Walter Raleigh as rear-admiral, sailed against the Spanish fleet, with a view also of making conquests among the Azores. The English ships, shattered and crippled by a storm, were immediately driven back to Plymouth. In August they again set sail, and though they could not burn the Spanish ships which they now found in harbour, they succeeded in making captures to the amount of 100,000., with which booty they returned to England in October. The queen received Essex He now retired to Wanstead, with reproaches and discontent, and the expedition was generally deemed a failure. angry on several accounts: the chief of these was the elevation of the lord admiral to the earldom of Nottingham, by which he thought himself doubly affronted; first, because Lord Howard's services at Cadiz were recited, and, in the second place, because, by his new title, Lord Howard gained precedence of him according to a regulation made in the reign of Henry VIII. He was pacified by being appointed hereditary Earl Marshal, which by the same regulation restored him to his rank. In 1598 a quarrel occurred between the queen and Essex, who, having differed from her respecting an Irish appointment, angrily and contemptuously ministers. The queen, unable to bear the affront, gave turned his back upon her in the presence of several of the him a box on the ear, and bade him go and be hanged.' Essex immediately seized his sword, and the lord admiral stepping in between, he swore that he neither could nor would put up with an affront of that nature, nor would he have taken it at the hands of Henry the Eighth himself.' He withdrew from the court, and some months passed betion to be effected. His friends dated his ruin from this fore he would make any submission, or suffer a reconciliaunfortunate circumstance. It was hastened by the death of Burleigh, which was on the whole a great misfortune to Essex. Had Burleigh lived, Essex might not have undertaken the unfortunate Irish expedition on which he at this of rebellion; and with the hope that his rank and mili time entered (1599). The province of Ulster was in a stato tary popularity and power might prevail in that country, he accepted the commission of lord lieutenant of Ireland. His government in that country was inconsiderate and illadvised; and his opposition to the queen's wishes in the nomination of Lord Southampton to the generalship of the horse, which he was peremptorily ordered to revoke, gave great offence. His delay in sending troops to Ulster, the loss of failure of the expedition, were the causes of many and loud men and money consequent on the delay, and the ultimate their first interview the queen received him in a friendly reproaches. Essex returned to England in September: at manner, but on the following day he was put into 'free custody,' and detained a prisoner in his house. In June, 1600, he was denied the privileges and authority of his offices; and it was not until the 26th of August that he was liberated. The queen still denied him access to court, and refused the renewal of a valuable patent for the monopoly of sweet wines, which his friends used all their endeavours to procure, declaring that in order to manage an ungovernable beast, he must be stinted in his provender.' head of a small body of 300 men. Feeling himself harassed and oppressed, he returned to England; but having received, with the title of Earl Marshal of Ireland, promises that he should have greater liberty of action allowed him if he would go back to that country, he consented to return to his post. The improvement of his situation, however, was so small that his spirits were affected; the effects of grief were soon visible in his constitution; a dysentery attacked him, and, after a month's pain and misery, he died at Dublin, on the 22nd of September, 1576: his body was removed for interment to the parish church at Caermarthen. The sudden failure of his health gave rise to a suspicion of his having been poisoned; but no evidence whatever could be adduced to prove the fact. The speedy marriage of the Countess of Essex to Leicester, who was charged with the murder of her late husband, did not tend to throw discredit on the report. Essex left two sons and two daughters. Of Of the daughters, the sons we subjoin a further account. Penelope first married Robert Lord Rich, afterwards Charles Blount, earl of Devonshire; and Dorothy first Sir Thomas Perrot, and afterwards Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland. (Biog. Britan.; Criminal Trials, vol. i.) ROBERT DEVEREUX, earl of Essex, the son of the pre-nance. In July, 1597, Essex, as commander-in-chief, with ceding Walter Devereux and Lettice Knolles, was born at Netherwood, in Herefordshire, in November, 1567, and was educated, according to his father's wish, under the superintendence of Lord Burleigh, by whose direction he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1577, and remained there four years. Upon leaving the university, he retired for some time to his estate in South Wales, and did not appear at court till 1584. His station, his agreeable manners, handsome person, and vigorous mind soon brought him into notice. He was reconciled to Leicester, now his father-in-law, who had been suspected of causing his father's death; and received the appointment of Master of the Horse from the hands of the queen, who also made him a Knight of the Garter. Elizabeth at the same time remitted the debt to the exchequer incurred by his father; and when Leicester went with an army into the Netherlands in 1587, she gave to Essex, who accompanied him, the responsible commission of a captain-general of the cavalry. On the death of Leicester in 1588, Essex became her chief favourite. In 1589 he suddenly joined the expedition of Drake and Norris, who had undertaken to restore Antonio to the throne of Portugal. The queen, exasperated at his departure from court without giving her notice, despatched the earl of Huntingdon to Plymouth with a peremptory order for his return. The messenger was too late; Essex had sailed. He joined the expedition on the coast of Portugal, marched to Lisbon as a volunteer, behaved himself thoughout the enterprise with great gallantry and humanity, and on his return to England found that, in spite of his disobedience, he retained beyond all comparison the first place in the queen's favour. His chief rivals in her esteem were Sir Walter Raleigh, whose removal from court by the means of an appointment in Ireland has been attributed to the contrivance of Essex, and Sir Charles Blount, of whom he was so jealous, that upon the queen's bestowing a trifling mark of favour upon him at a tilting match, Essex used such insulting expressions to him that a duel ensued, in which the earl was wounded in the knee. In 1591 (a year after he had married a daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, the widow of Sir Philip Sidney, whom the queen angrily declared to be in all respects unworthy of him), Essex was despatched to assist Henry the Fourth of France in his resistance of the king of Spain, who sought to obtain possession of the duchy of Brittany. He encamped under Rouen, and here, as at Lisbon, idly challenged the governor to a duel. The expedition was wholly unsuccessful, and the earl lost, by a musket-shot, his only brother Walter Devereux, to whom he was greatly attached. In 1594, Essex, who had once before come into collision with the Cecils respecting the appointment of the queen's secretary, became a second time at variance with them. Having, as he conceived, discovered a plot in which Lopez and others had resolved to murder the queen, he apprised her majesty of his suspicions; but Lord Burleigh and Sir Robert Cecil, who, at the queen's desire, had examined into the case, declared the accusation to be unfounded, so that the queen severely rebuked Essex. Mortified both at this rebuke and at the conduct of his rivals, he renewed the inquiry, and eventually elicited evidence upon which Lopez The weight of these grievances upon his haughty and impetuous mind told the more heavily from the knowledge F 2 that his general popularity was undiminished. So deep was his impression of resentment against those whom he conceived to have biassed the queen against him, that he listened to the rash and desperate advice of Cuffe, his secretary, to remove Cecil, Cobham, and Raleigh by force from the queen's councils. In order to strengthen his interest, the gates of Essex House were thrown open to all persons who were discontented with the queen or her advisers. With the same view, he courted both the Roman Catholics and Puritans, and a concourse met daily to hear sermons in his house. The multitude that attended the delivery of these discourses could not fail to attract the attention of the vigilant government. Essex was warned to be careful of his safety, and his attendance was required before the council. At this summons he took alarm, fearing a renewal of his imprisonment, and consequently the defeat of his scheme. He determined therefore to commence his proceedings on the following morning (Sunday, February 8, 1600-1); and during the night messengers were sent in all directions to acquaint Essex's friends that his life was threatened by Raleigh and Lord Cobham. In consequence of this intelligence, Lords Sandys and Monteagle, the earls of Rutland and Southampton, with nearly 300 other gentlemen, assembled at Essex House, where it was divulged that Essex had resolved at once to rid himself of his enemies by forcing his way to the queen, and informing her of his danger from those who had so long abused their influence with her majesty. Essex having shut up within his gates the lord keeper, the chief justice, and others whom the queen, aware of what was passing, had sent to inquire into the cause of the tumult, proceeded with his friends to the city, where, crying For the queen, for the queen, a plot is laid against my life,' he tried to enlist the citizens in his favour. But notwithstanding his popularity, not one man took arms. The cause of the tumult was either mistaken or unknown. At length the earl endeavoured to return home, but a party of soldiers met him at Ludgate, and a skirmish ensued, in which he was twice shot through the hat. At length he reached Essex House, but after a short defence he was compelled to surrender himself, and with Lord Southampton was committed to the Tower: the rest of the conspirators were lodged in various other prisons. He was tried for treason in Westminster-hall on the 19th of February, condemned, and executed 25th of the same month. (Criminal Trials, vol. i.) A sketch of the character of Essex has lately appeared in an article in the Edinburgh Review (vol. lxv., p. 21), which also displays the ingratitude of Lord Bacon towards his zealous friend and patron. We extract the following remarks:- Nothing in the political conduct of Essex entitles him to esteem; and the pity with which we regard his early and terrible end is diminished by the consideration that he put to hazard the lives and fortunes of his most attached friends, and endeavoured to throw the whole country into confusion for objects purely personal. Still it is impossible not to be deeply interested for a man so brave, high-spirited, and generous: for a man who, while he conducted himself towards his sovereign with a boldness such as was then found in no other subject, conducted himself towards his dependants with a delicacy such as has rarely been found in any other patron. Unlike the vulgar herd of benefactors, he desired to inspire not gratitude but affection. He tried to make those whom he befriended feel towards him as towards an equal.' His mind was ardent and susceptible, and naturally disposed to the admiration of all that is great and beautiful. He left one son (of whom we give an account in the next article) and two daughters. Frances married first the earl of Hertford, and afterwards the duke of Somerset. Dorothy was the wife first of Sir Henry Shirley, and lastly of William Stafford, of Blatherwyck, in Northamptonshire. ROBERT DEVEREUX, third earl of Essex, was born in Essex House, in the Strand, in 1592. He was sent to Eton by his grandmother, who, after his father's death, received him into her house; and in 1602 he was removed to Merton College, Oxford, where the warden, Mr. (afterwards Sir Henry) Savile, who had been an intimate friend of his father, took charge of his education. He was restored to his hereditary honours in 1603, and three years afterwards was unhappily married to lady Frances Howard, a child of no more than thirteen years old. The new-married couple being too young to live together, Essex was sent to mprove himself abroad; while the bride, who was celebrated for her beauty, continued with her mother. It was four years before he returned to claim his wife, and in the mean time she had contracted so great an affection for lord Rochester, afterwards earl of Somerset, that until she was compelled by her father, she could not be brought to cohabit with her husband. The union never was a happy one. Not many months after they had met, she instituted proceedings against him praying for a separation on a real or pretended charge of physical disability. A divorce was granted, and the lady was soon after married to lord Rochester. The slur thus cast upon Essex drove him to the retirement of his country-house and the pursuit of rural occupations. After some years however, a solitary life became irksome to him. Tired of inaction, he joined lord Oxford in 1620, raised a troop, and marched with the Elector Palatine in the war against Holland. In the winter he returned to England, where his opposition to the government rendered him unpopular at court; indeed the reception that he met with at home was so little agreeable that he willingly renewed his military avocations abroad during the two following summers, and in 1625 again raised a troop, with which he sailed to aid the United Provinces. His disposition and capability for military service now struck the king, and he was appointed vice-admiral of a fleet which was employed in a fruitless expedition against Spain. He engaged in another expedition in the Low Countries, and was afterwards bold enough to marry a second time. In this second choice of a wife (the daughter of Sir William Paulet) he was scarcely more fortunate than in his first. It is true indeed that the lady soon after her marriage bore a son, which Essex owned and christened after his name, but her familiarities with Mr. Uvedale gave him cause to suspect her fidelity, and after much mutual crimination, on the one side for inconstancy, on the other, a renewal of former charges, a separation took place. The child died at the age of five, and Essex never showed further inclination to matrimony. Between his journey to Ireland in 1632 and his appointment in the fleet that sailed to Holland in 1635, he spent his time either in his house at Chartley, or in London. His inclination to seek popularity among the presbyterians was evident and undisguised; nevertheless the king employed him as lieutenant-general of his troops that were sent against the Covenanters (1639). In 1640 he was one of twelve peers that signed a petition that a parliament should be called and an attempt made to settle the difficulties of the state without further bloodshed. He was also one of the commissioners sent to Ripon to treat with the Scots; and when, at the opening of the Long Parliament, the king saw that it was necessary that he should endeavour to conciliate the presbyterian party, he made Essex lord chamberlain. It was the wish of many of the royalists that Essex, whose popularity was great among the presbyterians, should also have been placed at the head of the army, but Charles, who disliked him on account of the roughness of his manner, and doubted the firmness of his attachment to him, refused to appoint him, and would yield to their requests no further than to make him lieutenant-general of his forces south of the Trent. When the Commons demanded of the king that a guard should be raised in the city of London, it was Essex whom they desired to have placed at its head. Charles, unwilling to listen to this request, left London suddenly, and called upon Essex to follow him; but Essex, indisposed to the king on account of the thankless incivility with which he had always been treated at court, refused to follow, pleading his duty to remain in attendance of parliament. Vehemently angry at this refusal, the king instantly deprived him of all his offices. Essex now became the chief favourite and leader of the parlia mentary or presbyterian party. He became parliamentary general in 1642, and was in consequence proclaimed a traitor by the king. He opposed Charles in person at Edgehill (1642); he also took Reading (1643), but on account of a disease with which his troops were infected, he was obliged to abandon any further attack; at which the disappointment of the parliamentary leaders was so great, that they nearly dismissed him from his command. On the recovery and reinforcement of his soldiers he triumphantly entered Gloucester, from which he had driven the king away, surprised Cirencester, and after fighting courageously at the doubtful battle of Newbury, succeeded in covering London. As the supporters of the parliament were supposed to be numerous in Cornwall, in the hope of increasing his forces he marched to that county pursued |