t twenty.

[83] Most kindly copied for me by the Rev. W. Hunt from Arthur Collins's
_Sydney Papers_.

[84] An agreeable phrase, not in the least obsolete, though I have known
ignorant persons who thought it so. The "office" was that of Lord
Chamberlain; the holder was Lord Howard of Effingham, afterwards famous
in the Armada fights.

[85] See _Kenilworth_ (chap. xvi.), where Scott brings him in as
experiencing Gloriana's extreme uncertainty of temper.

[86] _I.e._ a permanent one such as Hampton Court affords to some.

[87] "About"?

[88] Either by the Queen herself, whose touchiness is well known, or by
jealous and mischief-making fellow courtiers.

[89] "Sharing."

[90] "Is grudged."

[91] We should say "try."

GEORGE CLIFFORD EARL OF CUMBERLAND
(1558-1605)

This not very fortunate or wholly blameless but very
remarkable and representative person was the third holder of
the earldom and the sixteenth of the famous barony of
Clifford. He was great-grandson of Wordsworth's "Shepherd
Lord"; father of Anne Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and
Montgomery (pupil of Daniel the poet and a typical great
lady of her time); one of the foremost of Elizabeth's
privateering courtiers; one of the chief victims of her
caprice and parsimony; a magnificent noble, but a great
spendthrift, something of a libertine, never unkindly but
hardly ever wise. This remarkable deathbed letter (the
giving of which depended on the kindness of Dr. G. C.
Williamson of Hampstead, author of the _Life and Voyages of
G. Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland_, Cambridge University
Press, 1920, in which it appeared, p. 270-1), pretty well
explains itself. "Sweet Meg," his wife, was Lady Margaret
Russell, daughter of the Earl of Bedford. The pair were on
very affectionate terms for many years: but had latterly
been estranged by certain infidelities on the Earl's part
and by money disputes and difficulties, so that when his
last illness attacked him Lady Cumberland was not with him.
She was not, however, proof against this repentant appeal:
but returned with her daughter. Both were present at his
death in the Savoy soon after he wrote. He had made,
personally or by deputy, ten if not twelve voyages against
the Spaniards, and though there was a good deal of
mismanagement about them he took Porto Rico in one;