h, and talents of the
kingdom--near fifty noblemen, several hundred knights, and many
gentlemen, merchants, and citizens. Among the leaders in its courts were
Lord Cavendish, afterwards Earl of Devonshire; Sir Edwin Sandys; and Sir
Edward Sackville, afterwards the celebrated Earl of Dorset; and, above
all, the Earl of Southampton, the friend of Essex, and the patron of
Shakespeare. Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, in 1601, was
implicated with the Earl of Essex in his hair-brained and abortive
conspiracy to seize the person of Queen Elizabeth. Essex lost his life.
Southampton was convicted, attainted and imprisoned during the queen's
life. Upon the accession of James the First he was liberated, and
restored in 1603. He was afterwards made Captain of the Isle of Wight
and Governor of Carisbroke Castle; and in 1618 a member of the privy
council. Brave and generous, but haughty and impetuous, he was by no
means adapted to the court and cabinet of James, where fawning servility
and base intrigue were the ordinary stepping-stones of political
advancement.

About the year 1619, the Earl of Southampton was imprisoned through the
influence of Buckingham, "whom he rebuked with some passion for speaking
often to the same thing in the house, and out of order." In 1620 he was
chosen Treasurer, or Governor of the Virginia Company, contrary to the
king's wishes; but he, nevertheless, continued in that office until the
charter was dissolved, and at its meetings, and in parliament, opposed
the measures of a feeble and corrupt court. He and Sir Edwin Sandys, the
leaders, together with the bulk of the members of the company, shared
largely in the spirit of civil and religious freedom, which was then
manifesting itself so strongly in England. In the hostile course pursued
against the company, the attacks were especially directed against the
earl and his associates Sir Edwin Sandys and Nicholas Ferrar. These
three were celebrated: Lord Southampton for wisdom, eloquence, and sweet
deportment; Sir Edwin Sandys for great knowledge and integrity; and
Nicholas Ferrar for wonderful abilities, unwearied diligence, and the
strictest virtue.[176:A] The earl and Sir Edwin were particular objects
of the king's hatred. Sir Edwin, a member of the House of Commons, was
arbitrarily imprisoned in 1621, during the session of parliament; and
the earl was arrested after its dissolution. Spain had, at this time,
acquired the ascendancy in the Engl