Brought succour, safety, to this threaten'd land:
One thing alone embitters every thought,
He to ungrateful men these blessings brought.
Now for a word of commentary: and first as to "Stadtholder of Holland, A.D. 1585." The good woman who showed the picture informed us that it was painted by order of the stadtholder, and presented to Leicester; if so, there would have been a jussu provinciarum fœderatarum depictus, or something of that sort; but no such compliment was to be expected from the Dutch, for they hated him, complained of his conduct, memorialised the queen against him: see the pamphlets in the British Museum, 4to. 1587, C. 32. a. 2. But though it was most unlikely that the Dutch or their stadtholder should have presented this picture to Leicester, it well accorded with Leicester's vanity and presumption, and still more with that vanity and presumption as displayed in his conduct as commander-in-chief of the forces in Holland, to call himself The Stadtholder, and to order his painter to put that title under his portrait.
The verses may now be referred to in support of this view of the subject. Leicester therein represents himself as unhappy, because he had bestowed blessings on the ungrateful Dutch.
In conclusion, take the following full-length portrait of Leicester's indignation (Leicester, a Belgis vituperatus, loquitur):
"This ragged staff my resolution shows,
To save my Queen and Holland from their foes:
Still deeply seated in my heart remains
One cause, one fruitful cause, of all my pains;