Sir Foulke Greville, since Lord Brooke, had no mean place in her favour,
neither did he hold it for any short time, or term; for, if I be not
deceived, he had the longest lease, the smoothest time without rubs of
any of her favourites; he came to the court in his youth and prime, as
that is the time, or never: he was a brave gentleman, and hopefully
descended from Willoughby, Lord Brooke, and admiral to Henry the Seventh;
neither illiterate, for he was, as he would often profess, a friend to
Sir Philip Sidney, and there are now extant some fragments of his pen,
and of the times, which do interest him in the muses, and which show in
him the Queen’s election had ever a noble conduct, and it motions more of
virtue and judgment than of fancy.
I find that he neither sought for nor obtained any great place or
preferment in court, during all his time of attendance: neither did he
need it, for he came thither backed with a plentiful fortune, which, as
himself was wont to say, was then better held together by a single life,
wherein he lived and died a constant courtier of the ladies.