LEICESTER, ROBERT DUDLEY, Earl of, b. 1531, was the son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. His father was executed on account of the part which he took in the cause of lady Jane Grey, and he was himself imprisoned on the same account. lle was liberated in 1554; and in 1558, on the accession of Elizabeth, the dawn of his for tune began. He was made master of the horse, knight of the garter, a privy-coun cilia', high steward of the university of Cambridge, baron Dudley, and earl of Leicester. For these high honors he seems to have been indebted solely to a handsome person and a courtly manlier. for the course of his life shows him to have been possessed of not one single quality either of head or heart deserving of admiration. When young, lie married Amy, daughter of sir John Robsart. The general voice of the times has charmed him with being accessory to her murder; and it is certain that she died suddenly, and very opportunely for his ambitious views, he being at that time a suitor for the hand of Elizabeth. Elizabeth gave out that she wished him to marry Mary of Scotland; but in
this the English queen was acting with her usual insincerity. She encouraged Leices ter openly as a suitor long after his arrogance had disgusted and his profligacy had brought him into disrepute with the nation. His marriage to lady Essex for a time excited the anger of his royal mistress, but she soon forgave him. ID 1585 he went into the Low Countries at the head of a military force; but on this, as on two subsequent occasions, he showed himself utterly unfitted for command. He died suddenly on 4, 1588. It was commonly said that he was poisoned by his wife, she having given him. a potion which he had intended for her.