ngham, and the wife of Sidney and Essex, should have sentiments so
inferior to the minds from which she sprang, and to which she was
matched? Believe me, madam, there was no hour of the many years I lived
after the death of the Prince of Orange, in which I would have exchanged
the pride and joy I continually had in hearing his praise, and seeing the
monuments of his glory in the free commonwealth his wisdom had founded,
for any other delights the world could give. The cares that I shared
with him, while he remained upon earth, were a happiness to my mind,
because they exalted its powers. The remembrance of them was dear to me
after I had lost him. I thought his great soul, though removed to a
higher sphere, would look down upon mine with some tenderness of
affection, as its fellow-labourer in the heroic and divine work of
delivering and freeing his country. But to be divorced from that soul!
to be no longer his wife! to be the comfort of an inferior, inglorious
husband! I had much rather have died a thousand deaths, than that my
heart should one moment have conceived such a thought.

_Countess of Clanricarde_.--Your Highness must not judge of all hearts by
your own. The ruling passion of that was apparently ambition. My
inclinations were not so noble as yours, but better suited, perhaps, to
the nature of woman. I loved Sir Philip Sidney, I loved the Earl of
Essex, rather as amiable men than as heroes and statesmen. They were so
taken up with their wars and state-affairs, that my tenderness for them
was too often neglected. The Earl of Clanricarde was constantly and
wholly mine. He was brave, but had not that spirit of chivalry with
which Sir Philip Sidney was absolutely possessed. He had, in a high
degree, the esteem of Elizabeth, but did not aspire to her love; nor did
he wish to be the rival of Carr or of Villiers in the affection of James.
Such, madam, was the man on whom my last choice bestowed my hand, and
whose kindness compensated for all my misfortunes. Providence has
assigned to different tempers different comforts. To you it gave the
education of a prince, the government of a state, the pride of being
called the wife of a hero; to me a good-living husband, quiet, opulence,
nobility, and a fair reputation, though not in a degree so exalted as
yours. If our whole sex were to choose between your consolations and
mine, your Highness, I think, would find very few of your taste. But I
respect the sub