The Sun.
London, England, 1817-09-01 00:00:00

LITEII A rtlr REVIEW.

POR'T'RAITS of ILLUSTitioLS PERSONAGFS of f;llP.:l'r
BRITAIN'. Imperial Folio, Part XI. London : LACKING
TON and Co., and LONGMAN and Co.
We regret that we had not an earlier oppor•
wilily of noticing this interesting and valuable
,work, which is highly creditable to the talents and
learning of the Author, as well as to the enter•
vrizing spirit of the Publi,hers.—But it has been
often, and too justly observed, that the BOOK.*
SELLERS are the best PATRONS of LITERATURE •,`
'44('
and, therefore, persons of rank and fortune tray
well" Gide their diminiThed heads," in courparison,
This work 'must be attended with very great ex-
pellee, and we hope that its success will be 41
proportion, Indeed we can have no doubt that
this will be the case, The numerous pin'e's which
it contains are executed in a masterly manner,
and do honour to the English School of En-
graving. The merits of Mr..LODGE, the Author,
are too well knnivn to require our eulogium. We
can therefore with fall confidence recommend the

work altogether to the notice and protection of
the admirers of the FINK ARTS, and also to the
Scholar, the Patriot, and the Moralist, as it holds
forth examples to encourage as well as to warn,
in the biographic accourus of the most distin-
guished characters of British History. The
typographic part has all the usual correc•ness of
Mr. DAVISON'S Press. As a specimen of the
style, we subniit to our Readcrs the following
sketch of the life of ROBERT DvVEREUX, Earl
of Essex, the well-known object of Royal affec-
tion, and the lamented subject of historical and

poetic celebrity :--
ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OP ESSEX.
"That incomparable Essex, who was the second Earl of
his family; the great favourite of Elizabeth, and of England;
the admiration and the regret of Europe. In an age cer-
tainly inquisitive; at least pretending to exquisit• taste and
judgment ; and peculiarly distinguished by its incessant and
various employment of the press ; it is astonishing that no
regular and detailed c.:lebration should have been dedicated
to the memory of this very extraw dietary man. We hare
been gorged, even to disgust, with tedious pieces of unmerit-
ed biography, and the actions and motives of plodding states-
men, insignificant courtiers, and t Owls who 'resembled Essex
in nothing but iii their rank and their punishment, have
been sifted and analysed with the most insufferable minute-
ness ; while a thOusand inestimable memorials of a character,
the exquisite perfections and errors of which were almost pe-
culiar to itself, have been suffered to remain scattered and
unconnected on the pages of history, or buriea in undisturbed
manuscript. Hew can we account for this omission ? Have
fear and modesty deterred modern biographers from ventur•
ing on a task to perform which worthily the pen must some-
times be dipped iu the softest milk of human kindness, anti
sometimes into the burning fermentation of furious passions;
or must we ascribe it to a submission, less excusable, to the
depraved taste of a time in which 11:story is chiefly devoted to
the discovery of political analogies, and to the suggestion of•
party arguments ? The narrow compass to which these es-
says are limited prohibitslht Author Iron, an attempt in which
he could have but little chance of success. He must cmmnfine
himself here to a mere recital of circumstances. But it were
earnestly to he wished that some one in whom delicate feel.
ing is ,united to acute judgment ; Min could form a fait esti-
mate of admirable merits and of venial imprudences; who
tnay be qualified by an extensive knowledge of time history of
the human heart as well as of his country, would write a life
of the Earl of Essex.
" He was the sun of Walter Dever-tte, Viscount Hereford,
&c. who had been created Earl of Essex by Elizabeth, in 1572,
and whose portrait, with a sketch of his lite and character, may
he found elsewhere in this work. His motile' was Lettice,
daughter of Sir Francis Knollys, K. G. a relation, at no great •
distance, to Anne Bullen, the Queen's mother ; and Robert,
the elder of their two son, was born at the Earl's seat of
Netherwood, in Herefordshire, on the 10th of November,
1567. His childhood was undistinguished by any promise of
more than ordinary parts. We are told indeed by Sir Henry
Wotton, who may be said to have studied the history of the
family, that his father had formed a very mean judgment of
his understanding, and directed his attention therefore`
chiefly to the improvement of Walter, his younger son.
Robert had not attaheed his tenth year whet he suc-
ceeded to the honours and estates of his family. His
father had committed him to the care of persons of, une
communion wisdom and worth. Burghley
.was his guardians
and the severely virtuous Sussex, in dischittge of a promise to
the Earl un his death bed, his firm friend. Sir Edward Wa-
terhouse, a man perhaps equal to them in talents, as he cer-
tainly was in honour and integrity, personally superintended
his affairs, and watched over his conduct with a vigilance
which was sweetened, as well as strengthened, by the most
earnest affection, for Waterhouse had been entirely beloved
and trusted by the deceased Earl, and entered on his charge
with a heart overflowing with kindness and gratitude. To -
wards the end of the year 1578; the young Essex, by the di-
rection of Lord Burghley, became a student of 'Trinity Col-
lege, in Cambridze. Whitgift, afterwards Priwite, who was
then master of that house, ufidettook the direction of his
education, and hem the character and powers of his mind
were unfolded his obedient application to the severer or-
.' ders of learunog was not less remarked than his attachment
to 'mire polite studies, and he was distinguished for an ele-
gance and fluency of composition of which his time atfdrded
few instances. His manners were peculiarly engagiaz ; his
temper mild, compliant, and marked by a graceful serious-
ness which approached to ,uelandholy; his moral conduct
-stained by no vice, and becomingly tinctured with dignity.
He, remained in the University till i 582, when he took the
degree ‘f Master of- Arts, and soon after went into South
Wales, where he resided in one of his family mansions, anti
became, stirs Wotmon, so enamoured of a rural life, that it
required touch persuasion to withdraw him from his retire-
ment.
" In 1584 lie came at length to the Court, induced and Pa-
tronised by his father-in-law, Leicester, who was then in the
zenith of his power. It had beets strongly ruinow ed that
Leicester caused the late Earl's death by poison. He had
married the widowed Countess with indecent haste. and
perhaps now sought to lessen the suspicion under which he
lalsoured by thus publicly professing his affection for the son.
It has beets said that Essex was inclined to reject his proffer-
ed friendship ; we find, however, that in the succeeding year
he accompanied Leicester, then appointed Captaimu-General
in the Low Countries, to Holland, where, though little more
than eighteen years old, he received the commission of Ge-
neral of the Hulse. He was distinguished in that campaign
by his personal bravery, especially in the battle of Zutphen,
and on the 27th of December, 1587, shortly after his return,
was suddenly elevated to the dignified post of Master of the
Horse. Its the following year, when Elizabeth assembled
an army to await at the mouth Of the Thames the awful at-
tack threatened by Spain ; when superior military skill, to-
direct the bravery of her troops, was perhaps even more im-
portant than the wisdom of her ministers to the support of
a crown which was then thought by many to totter on her
head ; she chose this youth to command her horse, aud de-
corated him with that splendid order of knighthood which she
had frequently denied to the best and the noblest of her old
servants. Thus far he seemed to common observers to have
been borne forward on the wing of Leicester's power, or ra-
ther till this period had Elizabeth been able to conceal that
extravagant partiality which presently after astonished all
Europe, and still remains perhaps the most remarkable Para- •
dox in English history.
• " Leicester died in the amtuenn of that year, and Essex in-
stantly rose to a measure of favour which that extraordinary
man, whose influence over the Queen had been so long envied,
never enjoyed. It was unsought by himself. It pursued hint.
It seemed even to molest him, by interrupting the course of
his inclinations, and confining his ardent and independent
spim it to spheres of action which, thong's the amplest that a
Monarch could offer, were too narrow for its rapid and eccen-
tric range. Even so early as the spring of 1589 he tell, um.
permitted, teem the Court, and tailed to Portugal with Norris