Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/498

 4^4 ANNUAL REGISTFR, 1758.

R bertDeve RE ux Earl of Essex.

To entet into all the particulars of this remarkable perfon's he, would be writing a hiltory of the fixcten or eightee- laft years of the reign of Qjjeen Elizabeth : yet I fhiill touch many pafl'iges of his (lory, and enter iiuo a larger dil- cuffion of fome circumftances re- lating to him, than may be agree- able to perfons who are not curi ous abouc fuch minute fafts as do hot compofe the hiilor\ of iiluf- trious men, though they in a great naeafure compofe their charader. It is effential to the plan of this work to examine many particulars oi this lord's llory. becaufe it was not choice or private amufement, but the call of his public life that converted him into an author. Hav- ing confulted a great variety of writers, who defcribc or mention him, I may perhaps be able to unfold fome of the darker parts of his hiRory : at leaft, fome anecdotes, though of a trifling fort, will appear in a ftronger light Chan 1 think they have hitherto done. Thefe (heets are calculated for the clOi'ets of the i^Ie and in- gui/iti've : they do not look up to the Ihclves of what Voltaire fo happily call-, * La biblioth-^que du • monde.'

concifenefs, the quick llrong rea- fonhigs, and the engaging good
 * The elegant perfpicuity,' the

breeding of his letters, carry great

marks of geniui Yet his youth

gave no proi.ife of parts: his ta- Lner died with a mean opinion of him. The ma.icious fubtleties of an able court were an over match for his impeU;Ous Tpiric : yet he was far from wanting art ; but was fo coniident of the queen's partiaiit), r .• he did not bend to her as ais enemies die, wno had not iie Jame hold on her tender pajions : he truiltd to be- ing always able to mafter her by ablenting hi i.elf: his en mies embiaced thofe monierts lo ruin him I am aware that it \^ be- come a mode to treat the queen's paffion for him as a romance Vol* taire laughs at it, and oDlerves, that when' her druggie about him mull: have been the greateft (he lime of his death) fne wa' iijity-

eight had he been ;:xty-

eight, it is probable fhe would not have been in love with him. As a great deal turns upon this point, and as there are the Urongeil pre- fumptions of the reality of her ma- jelly's inclination for him, 1 fhaH take leave to enter into the dif- cuflion.

I do not da*e this paffion from her finl fight of him, nor impute his immediate rife to it, as fome iiave done, who did not obierve how nearly he was related to the queen, as appears by the following fhorc table :

Thomas