if not of triumph, at this termination to the embarrassments under which
he had been labouring ever since, he listened to the oration of the wise
Leoninus upon New Years' Day. At last the Queen had formally acquiesced
in the action of the States, and in his acceptance of their offer. He
now saw himself undisputed "governor absolute," having been six months
long a suspected, discredited, almost disgraced man. It was natural that
he should express himself cheerfully.

"My great comfort received, oh my most gracious Lady," he said, "by your
most favourable lines written by your own sacred hand, I did most humbly
acknowledge by my former letter; albeit I can no way make testimony of
enough of the great joy I took thereby. And seeing my wounded heart is
by this means almost made whole, I do pray unto God that either I may
never feel the like again from you, or not be suffered to live, rather
than I should fall again into those torments of your displeasure. Most
gracious Queen, I beseech you, therefore, make perfect that which you
have begun. Let not the common danger, nor any ill, incident to the
place I serve you in, be accompanied with greater troubles and fears
indeed than all the horrors of death can bring me. My strong hope doth
now so assure me, as I have almost won the battle against despair, and I
do arm myself with as many of those wonted comfortable conceits as may
confirm my new revived spirits, reposing myself evermore under the shadow
of those blessed beams that must yield the only nourishment to this
disease."

But however nourishing the shade of those blessed beams might prove to
Leicester's disease, it was not so easy to bring about a very sunny
condition in the Provinces. It was easier for Elizabeth to mend the
broken heart of the governor than to repair the damage which had been
caused to the commonwealth by her caprice and her deceit. The dispute