A QUEEN'S TRAGEDY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25, 29 July 1911, Page 10

A QUEEN'S TRAGEDY.

THE ROMANCE OF A RING. Many a schoolgirl has wept over the poignant story of Queen Elizabeth and the Eai-1 of Essex, and of the lion-de-livery of the ring that would have saved him from a cruel death. For over 300 years this fatal ring has been preserved, passing from Ttaveroux to Corterct, and from Carteret to Thytine. And the end of th© fetory was the sale at Christie's on 19th May of a relic that cnueed the death of a Queen. The ring iteelf is of gold, with a b»ck of arabesque foliage enamelled blue. The bebel is set with a sardonyx cameo, carved with a portrait of Queen Eliaabeth in profile to the right, wearing headdress and large ruff. The gem* cotter who executed it ie recognised by hie craft aa the anonymous Italian who carved the famous portrait of Henry VIII. in the Royal collection at Wind* isof. Ac for th« story, let it Ims told a* Sir Dudley Carleton—afterwards Lord Dotcheeter—told it to Prince *?Vlanrice. when ho was English Ambassador [n Holland. " In the height of h«r passion for him, Queen Elizabeth gave the Earl of Kb* sex a ring, ordering him to keep it, and stating that whatever ho should commit she would pardon him when he returned that pledge. Since that time the earl's enemies, having prevailed with the Queen, , canted him to be impeached. She, besides, was* exasperated ftgfthtet him for th# contempt h© h&d shown tor her beauty, now through «.ge upon the decay." (tt was brought to her that he had «aid her mind was &c crooked as her body.) "When n© was condemned bhe ©X' pecbed to receive from him the ring, and would have granted him hie pardon, according to her promise. The earl, finding himself in the last extremity, applied to Admiral Howard^ lady (the Countess of Nottingham), who was hit relation, and desired her, by ft person whom Bhe could trust, to deliver tne ring into the Queen's own ha.nd«. But her husband, who was one of the fearl's greatest enemies, and to whom she told this imprudently, would not suffer .her to acquit herself of the commission. So the Queen consented to the earl's death, being full of indignation against bo proud and naughty a spirit, who chose rather to die than implore ncr mercy, 11 Some time after the Admiral's lady fell eick, and, being given over by her physicians, sent word to the Queen that ,she had something of great consequence m> tell her before she died. The Queen, came to her bedside, and, having ordered her attendants to withdraw, the counted returned to her, bnt tot) lttt«,the ring from the Earl of Essex, desiring to be excused for not having returns it Booner, .since her husband had prevented her. ".The astounded Queen burst into a furious passion. Shaking the dying countess in her bed, she crkd out ye* hemently that God might pardon her, but she never could. The Queen, flung herself out of the chamber overwhelmed with the utmost grief. She sighed coil' tmually for a fortnight, without taking any nourishment, lying in bed entirely dressed, and getting up a hundred times at night. At laßt she died with hunger and with grief, because she had con* sented to the death of a lover who had applied to her for mercy/* Such the story, which some historiani have embellished and others have denied. Yet a contemporary letter i* «g« tant from the English to the SeotfeMi Court, stating ! "Our Queen is troubled with a rheum in her arm which vesefch her very much, besides the grief ehe hath conceived for my Lord of Essex's death. She sleepeth not so much my day as she Used, neither taketh rest by hight. Her delight is to sit in the dark, and sometimes, with shedding teats, to bewail Essex." Originally belonging to Lady Frances DeVereUX, the doughter of Essex, tl»e ring eventually was inherited by the late Lord John Thynne. ' L