“The Dutch states prove by the respect given to Lord Leicester what honor they would show to your Majesty if you were with them.”
Mary Stuart receiving her death sentence.—From painting by Carl Piloty.
“In what fashion do they show their respect?” asked the queen so gently that Leicester’s enemy took courage and ventured to go a step further.
“He is called governor-general, and they say that men kneel before him to kiss his hand, and that he has already a court as brilliant as that of England.”
“Is that true?” asked Elizabeth with a feigned indifference. “Do you know more of this court of his?”
“Little now, but there will be more and greater news, for it is said that Lady Leicester is about to go to Holland and that with her will go such a train of ladies and gentlemen and such rich coaches, litters, and sidesaddles, that your Majesty has none such in England.”
Then Elizabeth’s wrath broke forth. “I will let the upstart know,” said she, “how easily the hand that has exalted him can beat him down.” She wrote an angry letter to her absent favorite which said:—
“I have raised you from the dust and shown you favor above all others, and I should never have imagined you would dare to break my express commandment to accept any such title.”
It was a hard position for Burleigh, since he himself and the rest of the council had wished Leicester to accept the title and so force the queen to become sovereign of the Dutch states, whether she would or not. The queen’s rage was visited upon even her old friend and adviser, and to Burleigh himself she declared, “You are nothing but a presumptuous fellow.”