The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-12-27
GREAT LOVE
STORIES
of HISTORY
Queen Elizabeth and

,CeryrlsAs ~ sA~ AsIaer.,


fearful temper. Her teeth were black
from tobacco and decay. and she wore
red wig Robert Devereux. earl OF
Essex. Was barely 81. He was hand
some. accomplished and OF fine figure.
besides being one Of the best edu-
Gated men OF his day He was popular
and seemed TO have a great future in
store Ii pleased Elizabeth TO fancy
herself in love with him. This love
affair Was destined 10 make both OF
the participants miserable and 10 end
Essex's life At 81.
Elizabeth was the daughter OF
Henry VIII. and Anne Boieyn. On the
death Of her halfsister. Mary. she be-
came queen OF England. She surround
ed herself with wise councillors. and
encouraged literature exploration and
all the arts. For this reason her reign
was Ensland's golden age" Eliza
beth never married. Yet she vas in
the habit of falling in love WITH mobiles
of her own court and of carrying ON
violent fiirtations with them. Their
fattery delighted her. She believed
in it all. Such men as succeeded in
making the queen think they adored
her usually rose high in power; but
hey found IL no easy task to crafty
her tremendous vanity or to avoid her
furious temper. The best and last Of
these mobiles who won her neeting AZ
fections was the
e,,-.., young earl OF Es-
sex. He was at
81 an accomplished soldier and cour-
tier. That he really loved Elizabeth
is very doubtful But he was ambi-
tious and jumped al SO dazzling .
chance for advancing his own inter-
| ests. At heart he was honest and i'm
| pulsive. Ii was not as easy for him
as for his predecessors to keep ON
good terms with the cranky old queen
and to sooshe her illhumor with pref
| ~ speeches. In fact. so tiresome did
he find the royal Irritation that he
| tried to amuse himself more once by
making love to her majesty's maids OF
honor. But this was perilous pastime.
For Elizabeth was as Jealous as she
was vain.
Court life wearied young Essex.
Wars. explorations and other sorts
of adventure were going on all about
him. But Elizabeth would not let him
take part in any of these expeditions.
She could not bear to have him out
Of her sight He loved excitement and
found existence dreary at the palace.
So in 1887, when he was %. he slipped
away secretly and Joined brakes feet
that was sailing on Portugal. But
Elizabeth sent q message after the
fleet commanding Essex at his utter.
most peril to come back at once.
Back he came. angry and chagrined.
in no mood to meet Elizabeth's re-
proaches. In this mood he picked .
quarrel with Sir Charles Blount. on
whom the queen had also deigned to
cast a favoring eye. He and Blount
fought a duel. in which Essex was
wounded and disarmed.
Life at the court dragged on for q
while longer. Then Essex fell In love
with the clever widow of Sir Philip
Sydney and married her. The mar
riage was kept secret for fear of the
queens wrath. Nor was the fear In
vain. When Elizabeth learned Of the
wedding she was enragsd beyond
measure. Yet such Was her .ondness
for Essex that she at last pretended
to forgive him, and he was ~ q meas
ure restored to royal favor. High
honors and ofices. were showered
upon him. Yet Elizabeth. II seems.
never quite pardoned his crime of dar-
ing to prefer another woman to her
| self. His former power over her was
gone. The end was drawing near. She
no longer forbade him to embark on
dangerous enterprises: but she man.
aged to see that he got scant profit or
glory from such expeditions. Once.
when he protested against q piece OF
manifest injustice on her part. Eliza
A.. beth publicly
boxed his ears.
and with a volley
of profanity babe him go to the
devil" This scene killed any linger-
ing trace of affection between the
two. For Essex was not the sort OF
man to endure such an insult or to
kiss the hand that dealt the blow.
In 1899 he was made lord lieutenant
of Ireland and sent to quell an upris-
ing in that country. He failed to car
~ out his mission. and on his return
was deprived Of his titles and put un-
der arrest. Soon he was set free, but
forbidden to come to court. He now
tasted all the bitterness OF a fallen
favorite of fortune. The wealth. high
ofiices and power lavished upon him
by Elizabeth were snatched away. He
had sacrificed his youth. his indepen-
dence, his ambitions-all for nothing.
To a man like Essex such a fall
from favor was irtolerable. Misfor.
tune turned his brain Instead OF ac-
cepting his iIl-luck gracefully the mis-
guided man actually tried to stir up .
revolution. He was captured and con-
demned to death. On February q.
1901. the sentence was carried out.
Essex was beheaded- He was only
"a. But for his unfortunate affair with
the queen he might have won perman-
ent greatness and fame.
! Elizabeth is said to have been dis
tracted with grief and remorse at her
former favorite's death and to have
reproached herself bitterly for her
!