140

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

VIII.

1C87.

The Earlof Ox-ford.

to the odious service which was required of them. They wereimmediately dismissed. All those who incurred this gloriousdisgrace were peers of high consideration; and all hadhitherto been regarded as firm supporters of monarchy. Somenames in the list deserve especial notice.

The noblest subject in England, and indeed, as English-men loved to say, the noblest subject in Europe, was AubreydeVere, twentieth and last of the old Earls of Oxford. Hederived his title through an uninterrupted male descent from atime when the families of Howard and Seymour were stillobscure, when the Nevilles and Percies enjoyed only a pro-vincial celebrity, and when even the great name of Plan-tagenet had not yet been heard in England. One chief of thehouse of De Vere had held high command at Hastings:another had marched, with Godfrey and Tancred, overheaps of slaughtered Moslem, to the sepulchre of Christ.The first Earl of Oxford had been minister of Henry Beau-clerc. The third Earl had been conspicuous among theLords who extorted the Great Charter from John. Theseventh Earl had fought bravely at Cressy and Poictiers. Thethirteenth Earl had, through many vicissitudes of fortune,been the chief of the party of the Red Rose, and had led thevan on the decisive day of Bosworth. The seventeenth Earlhad shone at the court of Elizabeth, and had won for himselfan honourable place among the early masters of Englishpoetry. The nineteenth Earl had fallen in arms for the Pro-testant religion and for the liberties of Europe under the wallsof Maestricht. His son Aubrey, in whom closed the longestand most illustrious line of nobles that England has seen, aman of loose morals, but of inoffensive temper and of courtlymanners, was Lord Lieutenant of Essex, and Colonel of theBlues. His nature was not factious; and his interest inclinedhim to avoid a rupture with the Court; for his estate wasencumbered, and his military command lucrative. He wassummoned to the royal closet; and an explicit declaration ofhis intentions was demanded from him. “Sir,” answeredOxford, “I will stand by your Majesty against all enemies tothe last drop of my blood. But this is matter of conscience,