nxious apparently to efface the
stigma of popery and disaffection stamped by the rash attempts of his
uncle and father on the gallant name of Percy, had seized the
opportunity of embarking with Leicester for the wars of the Low
Countries. He now sought distinction on another element, and in a cause
still nearer to the hearts of Englishmen. The conversion to
protestantism and loyalty of the head of such a house could not but be
regarded by Elizabeth with feelings of peculiar complacency, and in
1593 she was pleased to confer upon the earl the insignia of the garter.
He was present in 1601 at the siege of Ostend, where he considered
himself as so much aggrieved by the conduct of sir Francis Vere, that on
the return of this officer to England he sent him a challenge. During
the decline of the queen's health, Northumberland was distinguished by
the warmth with which he embraced the interests of the king of Scots,
and he was the first privy-councillor named by James on his accession to
the English throne. But the fate of his family seemed still to pursue
him: on some unsupported charges connected with the gunpowder plot, he
was stripped of all his offices, heavily fined, and sentenced to
perpetual imprisonment: the tardy mercy of the king procured however his
release at the end of fifteen years, and he spent the remnant of his
life in tranquil and honorable retirement. This unfortunate nobleman was
a man of parts: the abundant leisure for intellectual pursuits afforded
by his long captivity was chiefly employed by him in the study of the
mathematics, including perhaps the occult sciences; and as he was
permitted to enjoy freely the conversation of such men of learning as he
wished to assemble around him, he became one of their most bountiful
patrons.

Thomas Cecil, eldest son of the lord-treasurer, formerly a volunteer in
the expedition to Scotland undertaken in favor of the regent Murray, and
more recently appointed governor of the Brill in consideration of his
services in the war in Flanders, also embarked to repel the invaders;
as did Robert his half-brother, the afterwards celebrated secretary of
state created earl of Salisbury by James I.

Robert Cecil was deformed in his person, of a feeble and sickly
constitution, and entirely devoted to the study of politics; and
nothing, it is to be presumed, but his steady determination of omitting
no means of attracting to himself that royal favor which he contemplated
as the in