Scrope ; and, as both these ladies were of the royal bedchamber, the mistake might easily occur.
"
The Countess conveyed the ring to her husband, the Lord Admiral, who
was the deadly foe of Essex, and told him the message ; but he bade her
suppress both.
"
The Queen, unconscious of the accident, waited, in the painful suspense
of an angry lover, for the expected token to arrive ; but, not
receiving it, she concluded that Essex was tco proud to make this last
appeal to her tenderness ; and, after having once revoked the Warrant,
she ordered the execution to proceed."
No
European sovereign ever manifested so inordinate a passion for personal
ornament as did Queen Elizabeth. Furthermore, she employed precious
stones profusely towards other purposes besides those of
self-adornment; for instance, on the occasion of her visit to Tilbury :—
"
He happy was that could but see her coach, The sides whereof, beset
with Emeralds, And Diamonds ; with sparkling Rubies red, In
checkerwise, by strange invention, With curious knots embroidered in
Gold."
Queen
Elizabeth, with all her masculine good sense, was surprisingly
superstitious ! " Her Majesty," says. Lady Southwell, " being then in
very good health, one day Sir John Stanhope, Yice-Chamberlain, came,
and presented her with a piece of gold, of the bigness of an angel,
full of characters ; which piece, as it was stated, an old woman in
Wales had on her deathbed bequeathed to the Queen ; and, thereupon, Sir
John discoursed how the said testatrix, by virtue of the piece of gold,
lived to the age of one hundred and twenty years ; and, when come to
that age, having all her body withered,
