she did the most wise, just, and practical thing which she could do
with such a puppy. He claps his hand--or does not--to his sword, 'He
would not have taken it from Henry VIII.,' and is turned out
forthwith. In vain Egerton, the Lord Keeper, tries to bring him to
reason. He storms insanely. Every one on earth is wrong but he:
every one is conspiring against him; he talks of 'Solomon's fool'
too. Had he read the Proverbs a little more closely, he might have
left the said fool alone, as being a too painfully exact likeness of
himself. It ends by his being worsted, and Raleigh rising higher
than ever.

I cannot see why Raleigh should be represented as henceforth becoming
Essex's 'avowed enemy,' save on the ground that all good men are and
ought to be the enemies of bad men, when they see them about to do
harm, and to ruin the country. Essex is one of the many persons upon
whom this age has lavished a quantity of sentimentality, which suits
oddly enough with its professions of impartiality. But there is an
impartiality which ends in utter injustice; which by saying
carelessly to every quarrel, 'Both are right, and both are wrong,'
leaves only the impression that all men are wrong, and ends by being
unjust to every one. So has Elizabeth and Essex's quarrel been
treated. There was some evil in Essex; therefore Elizabeth was a
fool for liking him. There was some good in Essex; therefore
Elizabeth was cruel in punishing him. This is the sort of slipshod
dilemma by which Elizabeth is proved to be wrong, even while Essex is
confessed to be wrong too; while the patent facts of the case are,
that Elizabeth bore with him as long as she could, and a great deal
longer than any one else could. Why Raleigh should be accused of
helping to send Essex into Ireland, I do not know. Camden confesses
(at the same time that he gives a hint of the kind) that Essex would