 Section 18 of the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Louise Creighton. This Lubrivox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Pamela Nagami. CHAPTER TEN EXCESSION OF JAMES I PART II James's private life was strictly moral, but he had not the strength of character to make his court moral. His one passion was for hunting, though he was a bad writer, and this led him to spend the greater part of the year in his country's seat. His leisure time was spent either in hunting or in study, and in the midst of these occupations at one of his country's seats great questions of politics used to be discussed and settled. During the first part of his reign the government was left entirely in the hands of Cecil, who gained the king's complete confidence. Cecil met James at York, on his way to London, and as no one knew of the intercourse which had existed between the two, everyone was surprised to see the cordiality with which James greeted him. Men on all sides flocked to meet the new king, till the council thought it wise to forbid the general resort to him. Sir Walter Raleigh, as captain of the guard, went as far as Burley and Lincolnshire to meet James. He had always believed that the accession of James was the best thing that could happen for England. But he had not entered into any correspondence with James. He had tried to speak to Cecil about James's accession, but Cecil had refused him his confidence, telling him that he for one had no intention of looking forward to such an event as his mistress's death. Raleigh had no man at all his equal in position who shared his views, who could appreciate his genius, who would be willing to aid him in carrying out his great schemes. With the people he was extremely unpopular on account of his haughty manners, the great nobles regarded him as an adventurer, his equals and birth amongst the courtiers feared him as a dangerous rival. He does not seem to have been a lovable man. He was reserved and proud and did not open himself out to many. It was only some of those who had served under him and had gone through perils and difficulties with him who seemed to have learned what he really was and clung to him with true devotion. James was strongly prejudiced against him. Essex in his letters had done his utmost to prejudice the king's mind against his own opponents at court, and when Cecil undiseived James's mind about himself he made no attempt to do so about Raleigh. It is difficult to understand what was exactly Cecil's attitude toward Raleigh. As long as Elizabeth lived he seems to have wished to behave to him as a firm and confidential friend. It is probable that in those days he looked upon him as a useful foil to Essex and that he did not wish needlessly to quarrel with anyone who stood high in the queen's estimation. But there was no real cordiality toward Raleigh in his heart. Cecil, a cautious, industrious man of business, could not understand Raleigh's fiery nature. He could feel no sympathy with his far-reaching views and entirely fail to appreciate his genius. Raleigh's strength of character, his wide schemes, his grand ideas, seemed to him exaggerated. He thought him a dangerous character, as the small man often thinks a greater than himself to be. It was not difficult to make James look upon anyone with suspicion. Essex whom he greatly admired had told him that Raleigh was a dangerous character, who in heart was opposed to his succession. It is a melancholy thought that these futile suspicions could have put a stop to Raleigh's active usefulness. Hardly past the prime of life, with full and mature experience, great knowledge, true patriotism and a fertile mind ever devising new schemes for her advancement, it would be impossible to find a man who might be more useful to his king and country. But none of this brilliant promise was to bear fruit, and in reality Raleigh's active life ended with Elizabeth's death. At Burley James received him coldly and greeted him with a stupid pun upon his name. By my soul, man, he said, I have heard but Raleigh of thee. Raleigh did not stay long. He needed royal letters to enable him to proceed to some affairs connected with the duchy of Cornwall. James baited his secretary hasten the preparation of these letters, saying, Let them be delivered speedily, that Raleigh may be gone again. The secretary wrote to Cecil, saying, To my seeming, Raleigh hath taken no great root here. A fortnight afterwards toward the end of May, Raleigh was summoned to attend the council chamber and was told that it was the king's pleasure that he should resign his office as captain of the guard. The reason given was that the king wished one of his own countrymen, Sir Thomas Erskine, to fill this office of trust about his person. To make up for the loss of this post, a condition attached to Raleigh's patent as Governor of Jersey, reserving three hundred pounds annually of his salary to the crown, was remitted. But the office of captain of the guard, though not profitable, was considered a post of great honour, and it gave its holder an important position at court. Raleigh was bitterly grieved at losing it and attributed the loss to Cecil. He would not seize this opportunity of shaking himself free from court intrigue, but made a wild attempt to discredit Cecil in James I's eyes. He wrote the king a letter in which he threw all the blame of Essex's death upon Cecil, and even went further back to lay the blame of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots upon Cecil as well as his father. The authenticity of this letter has been considered doubtful, but the French ambassador Beaumont, in a dispatch written on May 2nd, says that Raleigh was in such a rage at being dismissed, that he went to the king and protested that he would declare to him and show him in writing all the intrigues and the stories that Cecil had got up in his prejudice. This statement makes it very likely that Raleigh wrote the letter, but at all events it is certain that he gained nothing by doing so, and probably only excited Cecil's animosity against himself. He was not the kind of man whom James could have liked under any circumstances. He was too independent, energetic, and impetuous to suit the cautious king. He was as eager as ever for war with Spain and hoped to make James share his views. At an interview which he had with him at Beddington Park, where James was the guest of Sir Nicholas Carew, Raleigh offered to raise two thousand men at his own expense and lead them to invade Spanish territory. This sort of talk was very distasteful to James. He had a profound dislike for war. He had won his crown peacefully and meant to hold it peacefully. It had no doubt been necessary for Elizabeth whose legitimacy was doubtful to make war to defend her throne. He on the contrary was a legitimate monarch, and his fondest desire was to be recognized as such by all powers Protestant and Catholic alike. But there was a strong party in England who, like Raleigh, wished him to continue the war with Spain, and, above all, not to desert the cause of the Netherlands. Philip II, just before his death, had hoped to make the settlement of affairs in the Netherlands more easy by giving over his sovereignty there to his eldest daughter Isabella and her husband the Archduke Albert, a younger brother of the Emperor, Rudolph II. But the Netherlanders were no more inclined to submit to the Archdukes, as Isabella and her husband were called then to the Spanish King himself. For the Archdukes, supported by Spanish troops, were clearly only tools in the hands of Spain. Ambassadors from the different powers now hastened to the court of James to congratulate him on his accession and to gain him if possible for their ally. First came an important embassy from the Dutch Republic. Among its members was the greatest statesman of the Republic, John of Olden-Barnfeldt. James answered their demands for alliance with common places and made no promises. Before the Dutch embassy had left London, a French ambassador, Deronnie, arrived with a splendid suite of two hundred gentlemen. The special object, both of Barnfeldt and Deronnie, was to obtain such help from James as would prevent Ostend, which was then besieged by Spanish troops, from falling into the hands of Spain. Deronnie wished to bring about a secure alliance between England and France. He proposed a double marriage between the two royal houses. The dauphin was to marry James' only daughter, Elizabeth, whilst Prince Henry, James' eldest son, was to marry Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of the King of France. James listened, but promised nothing. The children were still young, and he shrank from taking any step which would commit him to any decided course of action. All that could be got from him was a promise to allow the levy of soldiers in England and Scotland for the defence of Ostend. Cecil, as well as James, seemed to have been averse to war with Spain. He cordially disliked Spain, but as a statesman he saw great difficulties in the way of war. England was poor. Elizabeth had always been obliged to use the strictest economy so as to keep order in financial affairs. The revenue of the crown was decreasing, and it was clear that the country would not easily bear the burden of war. Financial matters were to be made still more difficult as time went on by the extravagance of James' court and the lavish way in which he spent money on his favourites. Under these circumstances, Raleigh's talk of war with Spain was very distasteful to James. But though he met with no favour from the king, Raleigh still stayed about the court, hoping doubtless that some way might appear for him again to take an active part in affairs. CHAPTER XI. The disfavour with which Raleigh was regarded was shown, amongst other things, by the way in which he was deprived of his London house. Durham house was situated in the Strand. It had originally belonged to the bishops of Durham, but had been resigned to the crown in the time of Henry VIII. In 1584 Queen Elizabeth had granted a lease of the house to Raleigh, who spent much money in repairing it. Immediately on James I's accession the bishop of Durham claimed the house as its rightful owner, and Sir Walter Raleigh was ordered by Royal Warrant to deliver quiet possession of it to him. He was bidden to clear out, with all his goods in a fortnight, a hardship of which he bitterly complained, for he had stocked the house with provisions for forty persons, and hay and oats for twenty horses for the spring. Some years afterwards, in 1608, on the site of the yard and tumble-down offices of Durham house, a rose a mighty building founded at the suggestion of Robert Cecil, and called the New Exchange. Below were cellars in which to store goods and above a well-paved walk with rows of shops. The place became a fashionable resort, and is often spoken of in the plays and other writings of the day. There were many discontented binds in England on the accession of James I, and a plot greeted the new king at the very beginning of his reign. The most striking thing about this plot is its entire futility. The truth is that there was no great cause to struggle for, and only small men tried to find occupation for their restless brains by plotting. The Catholics had hoped much from the accession of James I, but as yet had obtained nothing. One William Watson, a secular priest, a vain, foolish man, who was chiefly influenced by bitter animosity to the Jesuits, had struggled to make himself the mouthpiece of the Catholic gentry and gain promises of favour from James. But the king was in no hurry to do anything, and Watson, in his impatience to obtain distinction, began to talk over his grievances with other Catholics. The chief of his confidants were Sir Griffin Markham, a Catholic gentleman, and George Brooke, the younger brother of Lord Cobham, who though a Protestant was quite ready to have a share in any mischief. The idea of the conspirators was to gain possession of the king's person and then obtain from him such promises as they desired. A number of Catholics were drawn into the plot, and even Lord Greater Wilton was persuaded to join it. He was a brave, impetuous young nobleman, son of Lord Greater Wilton, who had been Lord Deputy in Ireland, when Raleigh fought there. He was a Puritan, and was persuaded to join this Catholic plot on the plea that perfect tolerance was to be extorted from the king for Catholics and Puritans alike. The plot never reached any important dimensions. By the end of June the government was aware of its existence, and the conspirators fled from London, but were taken one by one. The examination of the prisoners brought to light the existence of another conspiracy, in which Raleigh's enemies accused him of having a share. The whole story of this conspiracy is covered with mystery, and the real truth about it will probably never be known. Suspicion was at once directed against Lord Cobham by the fact that his brother was one of the conspirators in the Catholic plot. Raleigh was at that time in attendance on the court at Windsor Castle. One day in the middle of July he came out on to the Castle Terrace, ready to go hunting with the royal party. As he paced the Castle Terrace, Cecil came to him, and bade him stay, that he might attend upon the lords of the council chamber who wished to ask some questions. In answer to these questions Raleigh told the lords of the council that he knew nothing of any plot to surprise the king's person, nor of any plot contrived by Lord Cobham. Shortly after this Raleigh wrote, first to the lords of the council, and then to Cecil saying that he believed Cobham had had dealings with Arunberg, the ambassador who had just come over from the archduke Albert. From Durham House he had seen Cobham rode across the river to a house where a well-known agent of Arunberg's, Renzi, lived. This letter of Raleigh's was shown to Cobham and excited in him violent anger against Raleigh. He thought Raleigh had betrayed him. In reality his brother George Brooke had already made known his connection with Arunberg. Writing about this letter afterwards Raleigh says, The same was my utter ruin, I did it to do the king's service. Cobham now looked upon Raleigh as his bitter enemy. In his examination he confessed that he had conferred with Arunberg about receiving money from the king of Spain to be distributed amongst the discontented in England, but he said that his chief instigator in his dealings with Spain had been Sir Walter Raleigh. Immediately after this statement of Cobham's Raleigh himself was committed to the tower. Then followed the examination of all the supposed conspirators. It went on through the remainder of July and nearly the whole of August. To try and discover the truth of the matter out of the confused and contradictory answers received is a hopeless task. Both George Brooke and Cobham seemed to have answered without any regard to truth. They contradicted themselves and enlarged upon their first statements in the most reckless manner. To found any charge against Raleigh upon their statements would be most unjust. Surely it was their desire to ruin him and if possible by accusing others to save themselves. It is difficult to discover what Cobham had really plotted to do. He seems to have chafed at the supremacy of Cecil and the Howards with the king and to have hoped by some change of government to have the pleasure of humbling them. He thought of trying to raise the Lady Arabella Stewart to the throne. He negotiated with Arunberg before his arrival and obtained the promise of money from him. After Arunberg's arrival he continued his intercourse with him and even offered to go to Spain with a view of persuading the king of Spain to listen to his projects. He was accused of having talked of destroying the king with all his cubs, but this statement George Brooke afterwards denied on the scaffold. Suspicions were at first directed against Raleigh on account of his well-known intimacy with Cobham, as well as by the fact that he was known to be extremely discontented with the state of affairs generally and with the treatment which he had received. He probably knew more of Cobham's ploddings than he cared to disclose, but there seems no evidence that he had shared them. He had been offered some of the money which Arunberg promised Cobham but had refused it at once. It is not likely that a man of Raleigh's ability, if he had plotted at all, would have plotted in such a feeble manner as did Cobham. He may have talked over with him possible courses to take, with a view of recovering power and influence, but considering the hatred with which he regarded Spain, it is not likely that he would have entered into negotiations with the Spanish court. It is well known that the Spaniards always regarded him as their bitterest foe in England. God doth know, he says, writing to the lords of the council, that I have spent forty thousand pounds of mine own against that king and nation, that I have been a violent persecutor and furtherer of all enterprises against that nation, alas, to what end should we live in the world if all the endeavours of so many testimonies shall be blown off with one blast of breath or be prevented by one man's word. And the accusations which were brought against him so told upon his health and spirits, that after he had been in the tower of Fort Knight, he tried to put an end to his life, but fortunately without success, for he only inflicted a slight wound from which he soon recovered. In a long letter which he wrote to his wife, he bid her farewell. He explained his reasons for this attempted suicide. Receive from thy unfortunate husband, he writes, these his last lines, these the last words that ever thou shalt receive from him, that I can live never to see thee and my child more, I cannot. I have desired God and disputed with my reason, but nature and compassion hath the victory. That I can live to think how you are both left a spoil to my enemies, and that my name shall be a dishonour to my child, I cannot endure the memory thereof. Unfortunate woman, unfortunate child, comfort yourselves, trust God, and be contented with your poor estate. I would have bettered it if I had enjoyed a few years. Thou art a young woman, and forbear not to marry again, it is now nothing to me, thou art no more mine than I thine. To witness that thou didst love me once, take care that thou marry not to please sense, but to avoid poverty, and to preserve thy child. For myself I am left of all men that have done good to many, all my good turns are forgotten, all my errors revived and expounded to all extremity of ill, all my services, hazards and expenses for my country, plantings, discoveries, fights, councils, and what-so-ever else, malice hath now covered over. I am now made an enemy and a traitor by the word of an unworthy man. He hath proclaimed me to be a partaker of his vain imaginations, notwithstanding the whole course of my life hath approved the contrary, as my death shall approve it. Woe, woe, woe be unto him, by whose falsehood we are lost. He hath separated us asunder. He hath slain my honor, my fortune. He hath robbed thee of thy husband, thy child of his father, and me of you both. O God, thou dost know my wrongs. But my wife, forgive them all as I do. Live humble for thou hast but a time also. God forgive my lord Harry, for he was my heavy enemy, and for my lord Cecil I thought he would never forsake me in extremity. I would not have done it to him, God knows. But do not thou know it, for he must be master of thy child, and may have compassion of him. Be not dismayed that I die in despair of God's mercies, strive not to dispute it, but assure thyself that God hath not left me nor Satan tempted me. Hope and despair live not together. I know it is forbidden to destroy ourselves, but I trust it is forbidden in this sort, that we destroy not ourselves, despairing of God's mercy. The mercy of God is immeasurable. The cogitations of men, comprehend it not. In the Lord I have ever trusted, and I know that my Redeemer liveth, for is it from me to be tempted with Satan? I am only tempted with sorrow, whose sharp teeth devour my heart. O God, thou art goodness itself, thou canst not but be good to me. O God, thou art mercy itself, thou canst not but be merciful to me. Then after a few words about his debts he goes on. O intolerable infamy, O God, I cannot resist these thoughts. I cannot live to think how I am derided, to think of the expectations of my enemies, the scorns I shall receive, the cruel words of the lawyers, the infamous taunts and despites to be made a wonder and a spectacle. O death, hasten thou unto me, that thou mayest destroy the memory of these, and lay me up in dark forgetfulness. O death, destroy my memory which is my tormentor. My thoughts and my life cannot dwell in one body. But do thou forget me, poor wife, that thou mayest live to bring up my poor child? I bless my poor child, and let him know his father was no traitor. Be bold of my innocence, for God to whom I offer life and soul knows it. And whosoever thou choose after me, let him be but thy politic husband. But let my son be thy beloved, for he is part of me and I live in him, and the difference is, but in the number and not in the kind. And the Lord for ever keep thee in them, and give thee comfort in both worlds. The Lord Harry mentioned in this letter was Lord Henry Howard, who by his secret correspondence with James before Elizabeth's death had succeeded in prejudicing the king's mind against Raleigh. He had ingratiated himself with James by means of the vilest flattery. He became an ally of Cecil's, to whom he was recommended by James, and it seems as if, after his connection with Howard, Cecil's feelings toward Raleigh had steadily grown more hostile. After James's accession, Howard became a member of the council, and was made Earl of Northampton in 1604. He continued to pursue Raleigh with bitter animosity. Raleigh speedily recovered from his slight wound. He saw now that his one hope was to succeed in persuading Cobham to retract his false statements regarding him. He managed to have a letter conveyed to Cobham, in which he implored him to speak the truth. This letter was tied round an apple, and thrown through the window into the room in the tower where Cobham was imprisoned by Cotterill, an attendant of Raleigh's in the tower. Cotterill brought back the answer which Cobham had thrust under his door. And this Cobham said, I never had conference with you in any treason, nor was I ever moved by you to the things I heretofore accused you of, and for anything I know you are as innocent and as clear from any treasons against the king as is any subject living. God so deal with me and have mercy on my soul as this is true. But even this was not to help Raleigh. And once more before Raleigh's trial Cobham had withdrawn his retractation and made new charges against his old friend. As the plague was at that time raging in London, it was determined that the trial of the conspirators should be conducted at Winchester. On the 12th of November Raleigh was brought out of the tower to be taken to Winchester under the charge of Wadd, lieutenant of the tower. So great was Raleigh's unpopularity amongst the citizens that he was greeted as he passed through the streets by the execrations of the mob. It was hob or knob, Wadd told Cecil, whether or not Raleigh should have been brought alive through such multitudes of unruly people as did exclaim against him. If one harebrained fellow amongst the multitudes had begun to set upon him, as they were very near to do it, no entreaty or means could have prevailed, the fury and tumult of the people was so great. We shall see that in the end Raleigh's misfortunes taught the people to know him as he really was, and to reverence him in the days of his fall as much as they had hated him in the days of his prosperity. On the 17th of November Raleigh was placed at the bar of Winchester on a charge of high treason. The trial was conducted before a special commission in which sat amongst others Lord Henry Howard, Cecil, and some other lords, chief Justice Popham, and three other judges. The prosecution was in the hands of Sir Edward Cook as Attorney General. He behaved throughout the trial with great disparity and violence to Raleigh, so much so that he called upon himself the censure even of Cecil. The trial throughout was conducted in a manner which would now seem utterly unjust. At the present day in a criminal trial, the accused is considered innocent until he is proved guilty, and he is allowed to choose able counsel to defend him from the accusations brought against him. At that time things were very different. The burden of the proof lay with the accused. He was all along considered guilty unless he could prove himself innocent, and he was allowed no counsel, but was obliged to answer himself without any preparation the charges brought against him. Sir Walter pleaded not guilty. He was asked whether he wished to challenge any of the jury and answered, I know none of them, but think them all honest and Christian men. I know my own innocency, and therefore will challenge none. All are indifferent to me. Only this I desire. Sickness has of late weakened me, and my memory was always bad. The points in the indictment are many, and perhaps in the evidence more will be urged. I beseech you therefore, my lords, let me answer the points severally as they are delivered, for I shall not carry them all in my mind to the end. Cook tried to make objections to this request, but he was partially overruled by the commissioners. After a few preliminary proceedings, Cook proceeded to make a long and violent speech, in which he summed up the charges against Raleigh. But he introduced besides all sorts of matters relative only to the surprising treason, as it was called, of Watson and Markham, which had nothing to do with the accusations against Raleigh. He was several times interrupted by Raleigh, who asked how he was affected by all this, and at last Raleigh exclaimed, Your words cannot condemn me, my innocence is my defence. Prove against me any one thing of the many that you have broken, and I will confess all the indictment, and that I am the most horrible traitor that ever lived, and worthy to be crucified with a thousand torments. Then Cook rejoined furiously, Nay, I will prove all. Thou art a monster, thou hast an English face, but a Spanish heart. You would have stirred England and Scotland both. You incited the Lord Cobham as soon as Count Aronberg came into England to go to him. The night he went, you supped with Lord Cobham, and he brought you after supper to Durham House, and then the same night by a back way went with Renzi to Count Aronberg, and got from him a promise of the money. After this it was arranged that the Lord Cobham should go to Spain, and return by Jersey, where you were to meet him to consult about the distribution of the money, because Cobham had not so much policy or wickedness as you. Your intent was to set up the Lady Arabella as titular queen, and to depose our present rightful king, the lineal descendant of Edward IV. You pretend that this money was to forward the peace with Spain. Your jargon was peace, which meant Spanish invasion and Scottish subversion. When Cook proceeded to dwell on Cobham's trees and Raleigh interposed, what is that to me? I do not hear yet that you have spoken one word against me. There is no treason of mine done. If my Lord Cobham be a traitor, what is that to me? Then Cook broke out. All that he did was by thy instigation, thou viper, and I will prove thee the rankest traitor in all England. This was more than Raleigh could stand. No, no, Master Attorney, he replied. I am no traitor. Whether I live or die I shall stand as true a subject as ever the king hath. You may call me a traitor at your pleasure, yet it becomes not a man of quality or virtue to do so. But I take comfort in it. It is all you can do. For I do not yet hear that you charge me with any treason. After this Cook proceeded to bring forward his proofs, which were chiefly the results of Cobham's examination. Raleigh in his answer confessed that he had long suspected Cobham of dealings with Arnberg, but he went on to show how utterly unlikely it was that he should have shared and Cobham's plotting. It is very strange, he said, that I at this time should be thought to plot with the Lord Cobham, knowing him a man that had neither love nor following, and myself at this time having resigned a place of my best command in an office I had in Cornwall. I was not so bare of sense, but I saw that if ever this state was strong it was now that we have the Kingdom of Scotland united, once we were wont to fear all our troubles, Ireland quieted, where our forces were wont to be divided, Denmark assured, whom before we were always wont to have in jealousy, the Low Countries our nearest neighbor, and instead of a lady whom time had surprised, we had now an active King who would be present at his own businesses. For me at this time, to make myself a Robin Hood, a Watt-Tiler, a Kett, or a Jack-Cade, I was not so mad. I knew the state of Spain well, his weakness, his poorness, his humbleness at this time. I knew that six times we had repulsed his forces, thrice in Ireland, thrice at sea, once upon our coast, and twice upon his own, thrice that I served against him myself at sea, were in for my country's sake I had expended of my property forty thousand marks. I knew that when before time he was wont to have forty great sales at the least in his ports, now he hath not passed six or seven, and for sending to his Indies he was driven to have strange vessels, a thing contrary to the institutions of his ancestors, who straightly forbade that even in the case of necessity they should make their necessity known to strangers. I knew that of twenty-five millions which he had from his Indies he had scarcely any left. Nay, I knew his poorness to be such at this time as that the Jesuits, his imps, begged at his church-doors. I knew his pride so abated that notwithstanding his former high terms he was become glad to congratulate his majesty and send unto him. Whoso knew what great assurances he stood upon with other states for smaller sums would not think he would so freely disperse to my Lord Cobham six hundred thousand crowns, and to show I am not Spanish as you term me. At this time I had writ a treatise to the king's majesty of the present state of Spain, and reasons against the peace. For my inwardness with the Lord Cobham it was only in matters of private estate, wherein he communicating oft with me I lent him my best advice. In these eloquent terms Raleigh described the condition of Spain and his indignation that any one should think that he could have changed his life-long hatred of the Spaniard for traitorous negotiations with him. His words are said to have produced a great effect upon the listeners who had all come there deeply prejudiced against him. Cook merely repeated his accusations. Then Raleigh demanded to have Cobham brought that he might speak face to face. Referring to past statutes and even to canon law he demonstrated that there must be at least two witnesses to prove a man guilty of treason, and concluded by again begging that Cobham might be sent for. The lawyers denied that he had any right to demand witnesses to prove his treason, and Cook went on with his proofs. Portions of the confessions of the conspirators in the surprising plot were read, all pointing vaguely to Raleigh's supposed connection with Cobham. Raleigh continued to press that Cobham should be brought, and Cecil seems to have been anxious that this should be done if the law allowed it. In fact, all along Cecil seems to have wished to see Raleigh treated with justice, and given every chance of proving his innocence, though he himself was fully persuaded of his guilt. CHAPTER XII. The expression made use of by Brooke that the king and his cubs ought to be destroyed together was brought up against Raleigh, who exclaimed indignantly, O barbarous, if they, like a natural villain, spoke such words, shall I be charged with them? I will not hear it. Do you bring the words of those hellish spiders, Clark, Watson, and others against me? Cook broke out in a rage. Thou hast the Spanish heart and thyself art a spider of hell. For thou confessest the king to be a most sweet and gracious prince, and yet thou hast conspired against him. More evidence which proved nothing was produced. Then the results of the examination of Camus, Raleigh's trusted friend, who had been with him in Guiana, were read. He confessed that he had taken a message and a letter from Raleigh to Cobham, when both were in the tower, bidding Cobham not to be afraid, since one witness could not hurt him. This Raleigh denied, and by so doing put himself in the wrong, for it was clear that Camus was not likely to have invented the story. Raleigh professed that the statement had been extorted from Camus by the sufferings arising from his close imprisonment and by the threat of the rack. On the whole, however, the evidence against Raleigh proved nothing. The most absurd things were dragged in to prove him guilty, amongst others the remark of a Portuguese sailor at Lisbon, that James would never be crowned, because before that his throat will be cut by Don Raleigh and Don Cobham. In summing up Sergeant Phillips said that the question for the jury was, who they should believe, Raleigh or Cobham. It was Raleigh's business to prove the falsehood of Cobham's accusation, and this had not been done. Cook said that even though Cobham had retracted, yet he could not rest nor sleep till he had confirmed. He then read a letter from Cobham to the commissioners in which Cobham withdrew his retractation and repeated his accusations against Raleigh. The reading of this letter was a great blow to Raleigh, who had not suspected that even Cobham could be guilty of such falsehood. But he produced from his pocket the letter which Cobham had written him in the tower. This was read aloud by Cecil, though Cook tried to prevent it. Then Raleigh turned to the jury and said, Now my masters, you have heard both. That showed against me is but a voluntary confession. This is under oath, and the deepest protestations a man can make. Therefore believe which of these hath the most force. The jury then retired. They were only absent a quarter of an hour, and returned with a verdict of guilty. Raleigh spoke calmly. My lords the jury have found me guilty. They must do as they are directed. I can say nothing why judgment should not proceed. You see whereof Cobham hath accused me. You remember his protestation that I was never guilty. I desire the king should know the wrong I have been done to since I came hither. Chief Justice Popham in passing judgment was not content with abusing Raleigh for his so-called horrible treasons, but went on to abuse him for the heretical opinions which he was supposed to hold. He concluded by passing sentence of death. Raleigh's bearing remained perfectly dignified to the end. He had so behaved throughout the trial that many of those who had come to it full of hostile feelings toward him went away with changed minds, full of sympathy for a man whose greatness they could not fail to see. One man who was present writing about it said that when he saw Sir Walter Raleigh first he was so led with the common hatred that he would have gone a hundred miles to see him hanged, but ere they parted he would have gone a thousand to save his life. Another says that never was a man so hated and so popular in so short a time. In after years even one of the judges who sat on the bench at the trial said that never before was English justice so injured or so degraded as then. Raleigh has agreed with this opinion and with one voice pronounced Raleigh innocent. For the jury it may be said an excuse that probably they were unable to see the enormous difference between two such men as Cobham and Raleigh. To them the question was which of the two they should believe. The lawyers told them to believe Cobham and they obeyed. The truth of the matter seems to be that Raleigh had listened to Cobham's talk about his dealings with Ahrenberg. Then when suddenly questioned at Windsor he had thought to put an end to all suspicions by denying the existence of any understanding between Cobham and Ahrenberg. Afterwards he had seen that the truth must come out and had confessed what he knew. But this contradiction had of course tended to diminish men's belief in his veracity and had helped the lawyers to get his condemnation from the jury. Raleigh's trial took place on the 17th November. A few days after Cobham and Gray were both tried and also convicted of high treason. The persons implicated in the surprising treason had been tried and condemned before. Early in December, Brooke and the two priests, Clark and Watson, were executed at Winchester. The king was supposed to be full of hesitations as to the fate of the other condemned prisoners. He probably never intended that they should be executed, but his timid mind was afraid lest they should know of more treasons than they had confessed. He hoped that perhaps at the hour of death they might be led to confess more. Each therefore was made to believe that he was actually to be executed. On the 10th of December was fixed for the execution of Markham, Gray and Cobham, the 13th for the execution of Raleigh. For a few days Raleigh's won'ted courage deserted him. He wrote letters to Cecil, to the lords of the Council and to the King, in which he begged for life in terms of abject humility, which were quite unworthy of him. His letter to his wife, written later, is very different in tone. It seems strange to us, when we read it, to think that the man who wrote it could have been generally supposed to be an unbeliever and a scoffer at religion. After deploring that he was unable to provide for her as he would have wished, he goes on to say, But God hath prevented all my determinations, the great God that worketh all in all. If you can live free from want, care for no more, for the rest is but vanity. Love God, and begin betimes to repose yourself on him. Therein shall you find true and lasting riches and endless comfort. For the rest, when you have traveled and wearied your thoughts on all sorts of worldly cogitations, you shall sit down by sorrow in the end. Teach your son also to serve and fear God while he is young, that the fear of God may grow up in him. He then speaks about various monies which were owed to him and adds, And howsoever, for my soul's health I beseech you pay all poor men. By this time he repented bitterly for the unworthy way in which he had sued for life. He bids his wife, get those letters if it is possible which I wrote to the lords wherein I sued for my life, but God knows that it was for you and yours that I desired it. But it is true that I disdain myself for begging it. And know it, dear wife, that your son is the child of a true man, and who, in his own respect, despiseth death, and all his misshapen and ugly forms. I could not write much. God knows how hardly I steal this time when all sleep, and it is time to separate my thoughts from the world. I can write no more. Time and death call me away. The everlasting, infinite, powerful and inscrutable God, that Almighty God that is goodness itself, mercy itself, the true life and light, keep you and yours and have mercy on me, and teach me to forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious heaven. My true wife farewell. Bless my poor boy, pray for me. My true God, hold you both in his arms. Written with the dying hand of some time thy husband but now alas overthrown, yours that was but now not my own, W. Raleigh. Lady Raleigh herself was doing all she could to save her husband's life. She wrote to Cecil. If the grieved tears of an unfortunate woman may receive any favour, or the unspeakable sorrows of my dead heart may receive any comfort, then let my sorrows come before you, which if you truly knew, I assure myself you would pity me, but most especially your poor unfortunate friend which relies wholly on your honourable and won'ted favour. Her mental sufferings seem to have broken down her health, for she concludes her letter by saying, I am not able I protest before God to stand on my trembling legs, otherwise I would have waited now on you, or be directed wholly by you. On the 10th of December all was ready for the execution of Markham Gray and Cobham. From the window of the room where he was confined Raleigh could see the scaffold and watch the strange scene which went on. Markham had just made himself ready for the executioner when there was a stir in the crowd of bystanders. An unknown scotchman had arrived in great haste. He spoke a few words with the sheriff who then turning to Markham told him he was to have two hours respite and had him led away. Next Gray was brought on to the scaffold. He was a very popular man, and his friends were there in great numbers to give him courage to the last. He had never demeaned himself by asking for life and now seemed calm and cheerful. He made a long prayer but no confession of importance. Then again the sheriff approached, said Gray was to have a little respite, and had him led away. Cobham next appeared, and the same scene was acted over again. From him too no new confession was extorted and he only repeated his former accusations against Raleigh. He seemed prepared to meet death with boldness and contempt. Whilst he still remained upon the scaffold, Markham and Gray were sent for, and the sheriff then told them that the king had given them their lives. This information was greeted by the spectators with much applause. Raleigh was also told that he was reprieved, and then he, Cobham and Gray were all removed to the tower. Markham and some others of the conspirators were ordered to leave the kingdom. Even before Raleigh's trial his offices of Governor of Jersey, Lord Warden of the Stannery's, and Lieutenant of Cornwall had been declared forfeited, and had been awarded to others. Now his wine patent was taken away, and he would probably have been left destitute but for Cecil's kindly offices. Cecil seems to have acted the part of a true friend and to have earned the gratitude of both Sir Walter and Lady Raleigh. He saved Raleigh's manner of sure-born from confiscation, though many were eager in their suits for it. Cecil says there were no fewer than a dozen asking for it. All that Raleigh lost at present with regard to it was his life interest. He had executed a conveyance in the last days of Elizabeth in which he made over the estate to his wife and son after his death. This he trusted would still hold good. We shall see in the future how his wish to hand down to his son the beautiful estate which he had planted with such care and loved so dearly was to be disappointed with all his other hopes. CHAPTER XIII Sir Walter Raleigh expressed his gratitude to James I for saving his life in two letters, which seem to us unworthy of their writer on account of the high-flown and exaggerated language in which they are written. But we must remember that this was the fashion of the day, and that what appears to us absurd and almost revolting was then looked upon as quite natural. To Cecil also Raleigh expressed his gratitude and added in treaties that he would go on exerting himself in his favor. Good my lord, he writes, remember your poor ancient and true friend that I perish not here where health wears away and whose short times run fast on in misery only. Those which plotted to surprise and assail the person of the king, those that are papists, are at liberty. Do not forget me, nor doubt me. During the first year of his imprisonment he seems to have still cherished the hope that he might be allowed to leave the tower if not to enjoy complete liberty. He asked Cecil if he might not be allowed to live at Sherbourne, adding, or if I cannot be allowed so much I shall be contented to live in Holland where I shall perchance get some employment in the Indies. He was willing, even, to be put under the care of some bishop or nobleman as was then sometimes done with state prisoners. He was in bad health and was anxious to go to Bath to drink the waters. God doth know, he writes, that if I cannot go to Bath this fall I am undone for my health and shall be dead or disabled for ever. But all his hopes were to be disappointed. Cecil had done all he meant to do for him. His policy seems to have been to keep out of the way all such men as he feared might prove dangerous rivals. He bore Raleigh no malice, but he was afraid of his genius and very likely honestly thought that he might be dangerous to the state. Cecil wished to keep all the chief power of the state in his own hands, and he succeeded in so doing. The king himself submitted to his guidance and trusted everything to him. Cecil was afraid of all violent measures and profoundly believed that his own policy was the only true policy. He was afraid of Bacon in the same way that he was afraid of Raleigh, for he did not believe in the schemes of reform which Bacon advocated, and so did his utmost to prevent Bacon from exercising too much influence at court. If we look at Cecil in this way, we shall easily understand his conduct to Raleigh, and shall not need to suspect him of base motives. By degrees it became clear to Raleigh that he could hope for no more mercy from the king in Cecil. Once in March 1604 he was removed from the tower for a short period, but only to be taken to the fleet. This was because King James wished to celebrate Easter by coming with all his court to a grand bear-baiting at the tower. To commemorate his visit he wished to pardon all the prisoners then in the tower, but in order that Raleigh, Cobham, and Gray might not be included in the general pardon, he had ordered them to be removed to the fleet during his visit. Raleigh did not waste the time of his imprisonment in vain regrets, and as he was no longer able to take part in the act of work of life, he devoted his energies to study. A great deal of liberty was allowed in most cases to the state prisoners in the tower. They had their own servants to attend upon them, visitors might come and see them, and they were allowed to take exercise within the enclosure of the tower. The mass of buildings, known as the Tower, covers twelve acres of land. In the center, in the inner ward, stands the White Tower, the oldest part of the building, and adjoining it were the royal apartments with the royal garden. Here at times the English sovereigns had lived, undisturbed by the neighborhood of their prisoners. Around the White Tower is a circuit of walls with towers, and in these the state prisoners were lodged. Inside of them comes an open space, and then the outer circuit of walls. The tower in which Raleigh was lodged was called the Bloody Tower. The origin of the name is not known, though tradition ascribes it to the fact that in it the boy king Edward V and his brother were murdered. From this tower on one side Raleigh looked over the river and could watch the boats and shipping as they passed by, and gaze out on the wide expanse of country beyond. And he had access into a garden called the Lieutenant's Garden, and there was also a pleasant walk along the top of a wall which he used frequently to pace, and which still is called Raleigh's Walk. During some part of Raleigh's imprisonment his wife and his son Walter were allowed to be with him. At other times Lady Raleigh lived in a house on Tower Hill, which she had hired so as to be near her husband, and here probably in the spring of 1605 she gave birth to a second son who was named Karoo. The tower was not a healthy spot, and the plague which had been ravaging London lingered long within its walls. Raleigh's own health suffered severely and he wrote to Cecil in 1604, begging that he would remember his miserable estate, daily in danger of death by the palsy, nightly of suffocation by wasted and obstructed lungs, and now the plague, being come at the next door unto me, only the narrow passage of the way between us, my poor child having leaned this fourteen days next to a woman with a running plague sore and but a paper wall between them, and whose child is also this Thursday dead of the plague. In spite of the plague Raleigh had to stay on in his unhealthy prison. It was fortunate for him that he had the garden in which to take exercise. After he built a small laboratory and devoted himself to chemical studies. The use of this garden was granted him by Sir George Harvey then Lieutenant of the Tower, who treated his prisoner with great kindness. Harvey frequently dined with him and allowed his friends easy access to him. But in 1605 Harvey was succeeded by Sir William Wadd, who had no such friendly feelings toward Raleigh. He objected to the notice which Raleigh attracted, for he could be seen by a passer's buy in the garden, and wrote to Cecil, who was now Earl of Salisbury. Sir Walter Raleigh hath converted a little hen-house in the garden into a still, where he doth spend his time all the day in his distillations. I desire not to remove him, though I want by that means the garden, if a brick wall were built, it would be more safe and convenient. Wadd seemed anxious to make the prisoners feel their position, and in 1607 brought out a new coat of ordinances for the government of the Tower, which though they made no important differences, imposed all kinds of small and vexatious restrictions on the liberty of the prisoners. Raleigh grew famous as a chemist. The Queen Anne of Denmark believed that she owed her recovery from a dangerous illness to a bottle of cordial sent her by him. The Countess of Beaumont, wife of the French ambassador, coming to the Tower one day to see the lions which were kept there, saw Raleigh in his garden and stopped to speak with him, and asked him for a gift of one of his bottles of balsam. Thomas Harriet, the mathematician, was one of Raleigh's most intimate friends. He visited him frequently in the Tower and no doubt aided him in his scientific studies. In 1606 Raleigh's health was again worse, and his physician suggested that he should be removed to a little room which he had had built in the garden adjoining his still-house, where he would be warmer and drier than in his damp lodging in the bloody Tower. Accordingly, in this garden-house he spent part of his imprisonment. His sufferings were much increased by the thought of the position into which his wife and children were brought by his misfortunes. His wife did not always show herself a brave woman in the midst of their trials, and seems even to have gone so far as to blame Raleigh for negligence. Once writing to Cecil, he says, I shall be made more than weary of life by her crying and bewailing. She hath already brought her eldest son in one hand and her sucking child in another, crying out of her and their destruction, charging me with unnatural negligence and that having provided for my own life I am without sense and compassion of theirs. But this was only a passing cloud. On the whole the husband and wife seemed to have clung closely together, and to have been a source of strength and consolation to one another through all their trouble. Raleigh would not submit to be cut off from all share in the interests of his fellow countrymen. He hardly hoped that he would ever again enjoy power and influence. He knew, he said, writing to Cecil, that the best men are but the spoils of time, and certain images wherewith Fortune useth to play, kiss them to-day, and break them to-morrow. Fortune was not likely to kiss him again, but yet a little hope must have dawned upon him when he saw that Prince Henry, James' eldest son, as he ripened into manhood, learned to appreciate his intellect and court his friendship. Prince Henry was the brightest hope of the nation, full of the vigour and freshness of youth he was ready, as Elizabeth had been, to identify himself with the nation, instead of going against it as his father so often did. He was full of sympathy for all that was noble and good, and far from being timid like his father, his brave spirit delighted in military exercises. He was full of enthusiasm for the English semen who had defied the Spanish power in Elizabeth's reign. Most living men, none showed to so great perfection as Raleigh, the qualities which had led men to do deeds of bravery for Elizabeth and for England, and it is easy to understand the admiration which the young Henry felt for him. He was not afraid of openly expressing this admiration at court. No king but his father, he said, would keep such a bird in a cage. Henry took a special interest in all that had to do with the Navy and with shipbuilding. He would go down and himself watch the building of the ships, and take a personal interest in the shipwrights. He asked Raleigh to give him his advice about a ship which he meant to build, and an interesting letter from Raleigh to the prince exists, in which he tells him all the points to be observed in building a good ship. Prince Henry also asked Raleigh's advice about a still more important matter, the question of his marriage. In the unsettled state of European politics the different princes were continually trying to strengthen their position by the marriages of their children. France, England and Spain were each anxious to secure one another's friendship by marriage treaties and engaged in endless negotiations for this purpose. This was just the sort of thing that James delighted in, to treat as an equal with the great European monarchs made him feel the grandeur of his position. But there were difficulties in the way, both of a marriage with Spain and a marriage with France. The great mass of the English were by no means very friendly to Spain. In 1604 a peace had been concluded with Spain which on the whole left matters as it had found them. The death of Philip II in 1598 had greatly altered the attitude and policy of Spain. Philip II had labored to obtain supremacy in European affairs that with him the Catholic faith might triumph. With this view he indulged in schemes which kept Europe in constant anxiety for none felt themselves safe from his aggressions. His death threw all the power in the state into the hands of a man quite unable to carry on his vast schemes. Philip II's son, Philip III, who succeeded him was of a gentle, timid nature, equally free from either vices or virtues, without particular tastes, without strong passions, with no interest, but in religion. He could not be roused even to take an interest in his own marriage, and when his father put before him the portraits of three princesses one of whom he might choose for his bride, he declined to choose for himself, and only said that his father's will was his taste. A man of this kind was sure to be ruled by someone, and Philip III fell entirely under the influence of the Count of Lerma, a courtier whom his father had appointed to attend upon his person. His first order on his accession was that Lerma's signature should be as valid as his own. Everything was left in the hands of Lerma, who watched jealously and anxiously lest anyone else should step between him and the king. He allowed only persons whom he knew to be entirely devoted to him to approach Philip III. He forbade even the Queen to speak with her husband about state affairs. He filled all the important offices with his creatures and exalted his own family to high positions. Lerma was entirely in favor of peace. He had no warlike tastes, and the finances of the country were so exhausted by long years of war that he saw that peace had become an absolute necessity. But though he tried to economize by making peace, he introduced a most extravagant expenditure at home. He ingratiated himself with the Spanish grandees by restoring the splendor of the court which Philip II's stern and unbending character had banished. It was under his influence that the luxury and ceremony of the Spanish court reached an exaggerated development and became a model for all other courts. On court festivities and on the magnificence with which he surrounded the king, Lerma spent as much as Philip II had spent before on war, so that no order was introduced into finances and the real weakness of Spain was unchanged. The people suffered terrible poverty and misery, whilst their rulers reveled in unexampled luxury. End of Section 22 Section 23 of Life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Louise Creighton. This Lubrovoxt recording is in the public domain. Recording by Pamela Nagami. Chapter 13. Raleigh in the Tower. Part 2 Lerma's foreign policy had the result of slowly diminishing the influence of Spain in European affairs. Philip II had struggled to identify his interests with those of the Empire which was in the hands of another branch of his own family. Charles V had ruled over the Empire, Spain and the Netherlands. He had been succeeded by his son Philip II in Spain and the Netherlands by his brother Ferdinand in the Empire. The possessions of the House of Austria had been further broken up by the session of the Spanish Netherlands to the Infanta Isabella. Spain and the Empire together were strong enough to resist all Europe, but Lerma's mind could not grasp great schemes. He did not think of the common interests of the House of Austria. He only wanted peace for Spain, and with this view he tried to form firm alliances with England and with France and consented to make a treaty with the Dutch Republic by which he recognized its independence. Lerma hoped to bring about a firm alliance with England by means of a marriage between young Henry and the Infanta, and he tried to win over by Spanish gold the leading men in the English government and at the English court. The list of names of those who were in receipt of pensions from Spain includes most of the men who then influenced English affairs. Lerma himself accepted a pension of 5,000 crowns. It is difficult to see what can have induced him to do so, and though he accepted Spanish money he did not let himself be won over to Spanish interests. He wished for peace with Spain, but he wanted no alliance and no marriage. The discovery of the gunpowder plot in 1606 showed the English how little Spain's friendship was to be trusted, for the conspirators had been in treaty with Spain and had hoped for aid from her. For a time all talk of a marriage was at an end. The Spaniards then hoped to bind themselves to France by marriage alliances. They offered their Infanta to everybody, James said scornfully, but Henry IV of France was not at all inclined to listen to the overtures of Lerma. During his whole reign he had set himself with vigor to resist the power of the House of Austria. He had fought his way to the crown of France in the teeth of the opposition of Philip II, supported by a strong Catholic party in France. When at last Henry, feeling that in no other way could he become king of France became a Catholic, Philip II vainly tried to prevent the pope from removing the ban of excommunication which had been laid upon him. Henry became king and a stronger king than there had been in France for some time. Once more there was a king in Europe who was able to offer real resistance to the encroachments of Spain. Henry and his great minister, the Duke of Sully, who always remained a protestant, worked together with one purpose. They wished to give France the blessing of religious toleration as far as it was then understood and to bring back prosperity to the people by encouraging industries and agriculture. Abroad they wished to separate, as far as possible, the different branches of the House of Austria which ruled in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, and by uniting themselves with the smaller powers in Europe, with the protestant princes of Germany, the Dutch Republic, the Duke of Savoy, and if possible the King of England, to prevent Spain from proceeding with her schemes of aggrandizement. In foreign politics Henry IV worked in perfect accord with Barnabelt, the great Dutch statesman. He profited as well as the Dutch Republic when Spain was forced to recognize his independence, for in the Dutch Republic he gained a certain ally against Spain under all emergencies. In 1610 the face of European politics was changed. Henry IV, who was just preparing to strike a great blow at the House of Austria, perished by the hand of an assassin as he rode in his coach through the streets of Paris. His son, Louis XIII, who succeeded him was a minor, and the Queen, Mary de Medici, was appointed regent. She was entirely opposed to her husband's views and had always wished for the Spanish alliance. The much-talked-of double marriage with Spain was concluded under her auspices. The young King was married to the Infanta Anne, and the Princess Elizabeth to the Infante Philip of Spain. The Infanta was disposed of, but still Spain was anxious to keep up negotiations with England. Leerma probably never seriously meant that there should be a marriage. The religious difficulty could not be got over, for the Spanish King would not give his daughter to a heretic, and there was no chance that Henry would turn Catholic. All Leerma wanted was by tempting James with these hopes of a Spanish marriage to prevent a marriage which would be contrary to the interests of Spain. Now when Leerma again offered another Infanta only six years old, Digby, the English ambassador in Spain, advised James to listen to him no longer. This was what Salisbury wanted. The Prince, he said, could find roses elsewhere. He need not trouble himself about this Spanish olive. Meanwhile, ambassadors from the Duke of Savoy proposed that a double marriage should be concluded between the son and daughter of the Duke and the son and daughter of the King of England. Henry asked Raleigh's advice on this point, and Raleigh wrote at his request two discourses, one on a marriage between the Lady Elizabeth and the House of Savoy, and the other on a marriage between Prince Henry and a daughter of Savoy. These discourses are both very interesting to anyone who wishes to understand the drift of the politics of the time. Raleigh objected to any marriage between England and Savoy, because he saw no good that could come to England from it. The Duke of Savoy was a weak prince, engaged all his lifetime in a struggle to extend his dominions. There are but two princes, writes Raleigh, that the King hath caused to look after, to Witt, France, and Spain. Friendship with France was in Raleigh's eyes the important thing to secure. He seems to have seen that the chief power in European politics was slowly passing from Spain to France. He had always, even in the days when Spain seemed most powerful, perceived her real weakness. For Spain, he writes, it is the proverb of their own, that the lion is not so fierce as he is painted. His forces in all parts of the world but the Low Countries are far under the fame, and if the late Queen would have believed her men of war, as she did her scribes, we had in her time beaten that great empire in pieces, and made their kings, kings of figs and oranges as in old times. But Her Majesty did all by haves, and by petty invasions taught the Spaniard how to defend himself and to see his own weakness, which till our attempts taught him was hardly known to himself. To conclude, Raleigh thought that there was no need to hurry about the marriage of the Prince who is still very young. While he is free, he writes, all have hope. But a great deal of malice will follow us after he is had from those that have been refused. The French princess was still too young, but it would be better to wait for her. A marriage between England and France would counteract the effect of the marriage between Spain and France. To this view, James inclined, and the Prince, though he strongly objected to marriage with a Catholic, was led to favour it by the hope that the Queen Regent of France might be persuaded to send the Princess over to England to be educated and perhaps converted. Meanwhile a marriage which greatly pleased the English people and Raleigh amongst the number, had been arranged for the Lady Elizabeth, James's only daughter. In 1610 a marriage contract had been signed between her and the young elector of the Palatinate, whose father had been the chief supporter of the Protestants in Germany. At the same time James made a treaty with the princes of the Protestant Union in Germany. In this way England identified herself with the interests of those who were opposed to Spain and to the House of Austria. She also bound herself more closely to the Dutch Republic, for the mother of the young elector was sister to Prince Maurice of Orange, the stockholder of the Republic. On the whole the foreign policy of Salisbury had been crowned with success. He had known the poverty of the country too well to lead it into a war with Spain. Besides this war with Spain would have been impossible for England at the time on account of the disturbed state of Ireland, where the rebels would gladly have made common cause with Spain. So Salisbury secured for England the advantage of peace. At the same time by refusing to conclude a definite alliance with Spain he kept Spain from feeling sufficiently strong to crush the Dutch Republic and Spain was brought at last to acknowledge the independence of that Republic. Meanwhile the ties which bound England to France were strengthened at least as long as Henry IV lived by common support granted to the Protestant cause in Germany. At the beginning of his reign James had hoped that without regard to religious considerations he might form intimate relations with the great powers of Europe. But circumstances were too strong for him. The time had not yet come when religious and political interests could be separated. James found that he was compelled to form ties of friendship with the Protestant princes of Europe rather than with Spain. In all this he was greatly led by Salisbury who as his father had done before him wished that England should put herself at the head of Protestant Europe. But Salisbury did not live to see the marriage of the lady Elizabeth. His health broke down in consequence of his ceaseless labors and he died at Marlborough on his way from Bath to London in May 1612 at the early age of 49. There was little mourning at his death. The king was weary of his yoke. The people looked upon him as the cause of the impositions with which they were burdened. The officials of the government and the courtiers hoped for advancement and liberty to do as they liked. Even Raleigh in his prison must have allowed himself to hope that a change in the government might bring some improvement in his condition. But that same year he lost his best friend. Full of youthful vigor Prince Henry took no care of his health. He was stricken with a fever in the end of October and died on the 6th of November. The queen and her despair at seeing him in his dying condition sent to Raleigh to ask if he could do nothing for him. Raleigh sent a bottle of cordial, saying that it was certain to be useful against anything but poison. The prince drank the cordial and rallied slightly, but soon after passed away. His last conscious words were, Where is my dear sister? He had loved her fondly, and now in his last hours she was kept away from his bedside for fear of infection. It is said that in desire to get to him she disguised herself as a man, and so tried though in vain to penetrate into his room. The people mourned bitterly over their beloved prince. They fancied he must have been poisoned. Dark suspicions were cherished against different men about the court, and these were even shared by the queen. Raleigh's hopes of favor through the friendship of the prince were at an end. The queen seemed still to have remained his friend but could do nothing for him. He had addressed her a letter before asking her to exert herself to obtain his liberation, that he might assist in the plantation of his former colony of Virginia. He must have heard with interest of the new attempt in 1606 to plant this colony, and of the difficulties through which it had to struggle to last in 1611 it was placed on a secure footing. He must have longed to be able to aid in carrying on the work which he had first started. I do still humbly beseech your majesty, he writes to Queen Anne, that I may rather die in serving the king in my country than to perish here. Neither did he lose any of his interest in Guiana. In 1606 and 1608 voyages had been made dither by captains Lee and Harcourt, who found that the natives still remembered Raleigh and spoke of him with affection. Raleigh tried by letters and otherwise to entice Cecil, the queen, or the lords of the council to take an interest in Guiana, telling them of the rich minds of gold which were to be found there, and of the fabulous resources of the country. In 1611 there seems to have been some talk of Camus undertaking a voyage to Guiana. The plan apparently was that Camus was to go to Guiana at the expense of the government, but if he failed to bring back half a ton of gold ore, all the charges of the voyage were to be laid upon Raleigh. If Camus brought back the gold ore, Raleigh was to be said at liberty. In a letter of Raleigh's to the lords of the council on this subject he speaks of the existence of a Spanish settlement, St. Tomé, near the mine, and discusses the number of men which would be necessary to secure the safe passage of the English to the mine. This voyage of Camus never came off, but we do not know what prevented it. After Salisbury's death the government fell almost entirely into the hands of favorites. James had attached himself with extravagant fondness to a young Scott by name Robert Carr, on account of his cheerful disposition and fine person. He lavished gifts upon him and would refuse him nothing. In 1608 Carr, who wished to become a landed proprietor, cast longing eyes on Raleigh's estate of Sherbourne. A flaw in the conveyance of the estate to Raleigh's son gave James some show of legal right in seizing it. No entreaties could move the king. Lady Raleigh, leading her two sons by the hand, threw herself at his feet and begged for mercy. But the only answer she got was, I'm on of the land, I'm on habit, for Carr. Raleigh wrote a letter of entreaty to Carr himself. For yourself, sir, he wrote, seeing your day is but now in the dawn, and mine come to the evening. I beseech you not to begin your first buildings upon the ruins of the innocent, and that their griefs and sorrows do not attend your first plantation. But this, too, was without effect. And in 1609 the manor was granted to Carr. As compensation, a sum of eight thousand pounds in ready money was given to Raleigh, and a pension of four hundred pounds a year granted the Lady Raleigh to be paid during her own lifetime and that of her eldest son. This was a good deal below the value of the estate. We know that shortly afterwards Carr sold it back to the king for twenty thousand pounds. In 1611 Carr was made vicount of Rochester. After Salisbury's death, when James became his own secretary, he used to settle most of the affairs of state in consultation with Rochester. He was strengthened in this course of conduct by the discovery made in 1613 by Digby, his ambassador to Spain, of a list of the Englishmen in receipt of Spanish pay. Faith was the horror of James and Digby, when they discovered on this list the names of most of the privy counselors and of Salisbury himself, but Rochester's name was not there. The result naturally followed that James lost all confidence in his counselors and clung more than ever to his favorite, whom he thought he could bind closely to himself by personal favors. By degrees, power slipped away from the hands of the members of council, and the management of affairs was left in James's hands. Not much good came to the nation from the contrivances of James and Rochester. Neither of them were capable of noble aims or a disinterested policy. Their policy seemed to be made up of petty intrigues, miserable contrivances, and small oppressions, which daily put James more and more out of sympathy with the people he was called upon to rule. With regard to James is hard to understand. His was a mind which was ever planning wide and searching schemes of reform. These he thought could only be carried out by the king, aided by the advice of the lords of the council. For such a work, he thought parliament totally unfit. His temper of mind led him to admire greatly the prerogative. The sovereign placed in an irresponsible position must be the best instrument for carrying out those plans of reform which seemed needful for the good of the nation. So it came about, that he shut his eyes to the pettiness of James's aims and lent himself to aid him in many of his mean and miserable contrivances. He was ambitious of power and wealth for himself, and he hoped to gain these by serving James. He was blind to the temper of the times, and instead of aiding the cause of the people, the true cause of reform, lent his great intellect to patch up the government of James and his favorites. End of Section 23. Section 24 of Life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Louise Creighton. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Pamela Nagami, Chapter 14, The History of the World. Raleigh's discourses about the marriages of the Prince of Wales and the Lady Elizabeth showed with what interest and attention he followed the politics of the day and made himself completely master of them. He seems to have interested himself more in foreign politics than in the religious questions which occupied people's minds at home. Perhaps it was because he did not take up with Zeal the side either of the Puritans or the Episcopalians, that he was so generally credited with being an unbeliever in religion. In his writings he shows himself a sincerely religious man, but in the state of religious feeling at the time, no place was allowed to the tolerant man. Everyone was forced to be a partisan. Raleigh's political knowledge is shown in other tracks besides those about the marriages. One touching a war with Spain is chiefly concerned with his favorite theme, the weakness of the Spanish monarchy. Maxims of State and the Cabinet Council, two treatises on statecraft, are interesting as showing the influence which the study of Machiavelli's writings had had upon him. Though he repeatedly disclaims Machiavelli's conclusions, we cannot fail to see how he had gained in acuteness and political wisdom from the study of the writings of that large-minded political theorist. The maxims of state is particularly interesting from this point of view and is full of pithy and pointed sayings. Others of his tracks are concerned with questions relating to the navy and shipbuilding. But Raleigh in prison could hardly follow the course which English politics were taking. Parliament was becoming a very different thing from what he had known it to be in the days of Elizabeth. He had no idea of the hostile feelings with which James and his Parliament regarded one another. In a treatise called A Discourse on the Prerogative of Parliament, published in 1615, he discussed the king's financial proceedings and bade him improve his position by leaving off all his unpopular ways of raising money and casting himself upon the love of his subjects. James could not stand criticism of his government. It is true that Raleigh threw all the blame upon the evil counsellors whom he thought had misled the king, but James knew, if Raleigh did not, how entirely all that had happened was his own doing. If Raleigh had better understood the position of affairs he would never have hoped to gain favour by sending this treatise to the king. Writing political tracks, however, was not Raleigh's main occupation in the tower. He had thrown himself heart and soul into study and had conceived the ambitious design of writing a history of the world. He had grasped the idea of the unity of history and wished to write a history of his own country, thought that it could not be rightly comprehended unless it was prefaced by a history of the whole world. Men were beginning at this time really to interest themselves in historical study. The early chroniclers had contented themselves with repeating the facts of early history as others had told them before, without any attempt at arrangement or criticism, and had then passed on to tell the events which had happened in their own lifetime. A change was now beginning, and England possessed a few real and careful students of history who following the example of learned men on the continent were trying to master their subject and produce thoughtful and accurate works. Chief among these was William Camden, who passed his life first as second master and afterwards as headmaster of Westminster School. He was a real scholar and student, and the fame of his learning reached the continent and brought him into connection with foreign scholars. In 1640 he published his first great work, the Reliquiae Britannicae, in which he described the countries of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Respect for his learning and the purity of his life made Burley fix upon him as the man most fitted to write an account of the reign of Elizabeth. He gave him for this purpose a large number of state papers and 18 years afterwards, in 1615, Camden published his Annals of England during the reign of Elizabeth. The book was written in Latin, but was translated soon after. It is written with as much impartiality as can be expected from a historian of his own times and is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of those days. Students were also beginning to interest themselves in the history of other countries besides their own. In 1610 a general history of the Turks appeared by Richard Knowles, who had been a fellow of Lincoln College Oxford. He wrote in English with spirit and vigor, and told the story of the growth of the Turkish Empire from the first appearance of the Turks in Europe down to his own times. All over Europe the enthusiasm for study, for learning for its own sake, was advancing. Men like Isaac Kazabon in France and the Scalige in Belgium devoted themselves to the study of classical authors with a view of obtaining correct texts. In England scholars like Sir Robert Cotton were busy collecting literary materials which had been scattered by the dissolution of the monasteries that others might make use of them. In 1602 Sir Thomas Bodley had conferred an inestimable boon upon students by the foundation in Oxford of that great library which has since been known by his name. Amongst the questions which men then studied there were many that seemed to us absurd and worthless. They busied themselves with points of rabbinical lore, with the exact position of the Garden of Eden, with the wanderings of Cain, with discussions as to the spot on which the Ark rested. Long dissertations on points such as these tend to make the first portions of Raleigh's History of the World weary some reading. The story advances so slowly the questions discussed are so entirely wanting an interest to the modern reader that neither beauty of style nor the presence here and there of deep and thoughtful sayings can make it attractive reading. Raleigh was aided particularly in the scriptural parts of his history by other learned men. He was in continual intercourse with the scholars of his time, chief amongst those who helped him was one Robert Burrell, a learned clergyman. We also find him writing to Sir Robert Cotton for the loan of books and manuscripts. To us the interest of the book does not rest upon this kind of learning, though it is another sign of the wonderful many-sidedness of Raleigh that he who shone so in active life as soldier, sailor and statesman should have been able when in prison to throw himself into study of this occult kind. It was late in life for him to undertake a work on so large a scale and it is no wonder that the book was never finished. The six volumes which exist only bring the history down to B.C. 170. Raleigh himself was well aware how hopeless a task he was undertaking and states in his preface his deep feeling of his own unworthiness for it. But he says those inmost and sole piercing wounds which are ever aching while uncured, with a desire to satisfy those few friends which I have tried by the fire of adversity, the former enforcing, the latter persuading, have caused me to make my thoughts legible and myself the subject of every opinion wise or weak. In Raleigh's eyes the great advantage of the study of history was the moral instruction which might be got from it. In a word he says we may gather out of history a policy no less wise than eternal, by the comparison and application of other men's forepast miseries with our own like errors and ill-deservings. It is true that in this way much may be learnt from the study of history, but it is the part of the moral teacher rather than of the historian to point out these lessons. Raleigh confuses the two functions and is too much of a preacher to be a historian. It is not from a historical, but from a literary point of view that we must judge his book. It holds a foremost place among the English prose writings of the time. Till the days of Elizabeth all learned books had been written in Latin and since the days of Wycliffe there had been no great prose writer. But with the revival of poetry prose began to revive also. At first it was elaborate and artificial. A style both of speaking and writing came into vogue by which men seemed to strive to conceal their meaning by the fanciful language in which they clothed it. This affectation was called euphuism, after the novel Euphuis by John Lyle, which is one of the chief though not one of the worst examples of this style. Sir Philip Sidney did not escape the general taint. His pastoral romance called the Arcadia is for the most part written in a fanciful and affected manner, but is at the same time full of true poetical feeling. In his defensive poise he shows himself master of a purer and freer style. This essay is the most remarkable prose writing of the Elizabethan age. It is the beginning of literary criticism. It is graceful and easy, full of witty and pointed sayings, and shows a remarkable advance on anything that had gone before. Then followed Hooker with the ecclesiastical polity, the first books of which were published in 1594. He shows how the English language may be used for purposes of argument and scholarly reasoning, and his style is forcible and unaffected, rising at times into nervous eloquence. But no work shows so well the advance both in learning and in prose writing as the English Bible. The work of translating the Bible was begun in 1607 and was finished in 1611. It was the labor of forty-seven men who divided themselves into six companies and met at Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster. The work of each person was submitted to the rest for criticism. Such high excellence of style, combining perfect simplicity and true poetry with rare vigor and dignity, exists in no other English book, and as the Bible was in everyone's hands, it produced an effect upon both the spoken and written language which no other book could have done. It was in 1614 that Raleigh published his history of the world. As has been said, it is to its literary merits that the book goes its main value. The language is pure and dignified. The sentences may sometimes struck us as long and cumbersome, but they are in the main easy and flowing. They impress the ear with the feeling of completeness. Occasionally, he rises to real eloquence, especially when describing battles. His account of the Punic War is one of the most striking parts of the book. It is when he is dealing with men in their doings that he is at his best. It is then that we seem to see Raleigh's real character much more than when he indulges in philosophical speculations. To illustrate events in the history of the bygone world, he makes digressions about things which happened in his own time, and these, being often the accounts of personal experiences, are of great interest, from the light which they throw upon the character of their writer and of his doings. They make us regret very much that he was not able to bring down his history to his own times. No man could have written a more stirring account of the great events in which he had taken part. Raleigh had hoped that his book might win him favor with James I, but this hope showed how little he understood James's views about the dignity of kings. In his preface, Raleigh spoke of the different English kings and traced the misfortunes of many of them to their own evil doings. Above all, he spoke severely of Henry VIII. James thought that a king was above criticism and that anyone should presume to find fault with his own ancestor was unpardonable presumption. When asked why he did not like Raleigh's history, he replied, it is too saucy in censuring the acts of princes. Other men judged differently. A greater man than James, Oliver Cromwell, writing to his son Richard in 1650 says, Recreate yourself with Sir Walter Raleigh's history. It is a body of history and will add much more to your understanding than fragments of story. In the century after the first appearance of this book, eleven editions of it were sold, so great was its popularity. But Raleigh never published any more, though he seems to have been far on in his preparation of other portions. Other things came in to occupy his attention and to turn his mind once more to the business of active life. Distress at the death of Prince Henry is also said to have left him without courage to resume his writing. Raleigh's literary labors brought him into connection not only with the learned men of his day, but also with men of letters. Besides being a scholar he was also a poet, and as such seems to have been on intimate terms with the great poets and dramatists of those times. He is said to have founded a club in a tavern, called the Mermaid by Cheapside, at which Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, Beaumont, Fletcher, and others met and made merry. Raleigh kept up his intimacy with Ben Johnson while he was in prison. Johnson is said to have aided Raleigh in his history and to have gone abroad as tutor with Raleigh's eldest son. The existence of Raleigh's club at the Mermaid as well as the fact of Ben Johnson's journey with his son are only traditions, but they have as traditions this value that the very fact of their existence proves the intimacy which existed between Raleigh and the playwriters. Raleigh himself was a poet and those poems of his that remain are again a proof of the fullness and many-sidedness of his active nature. His poems for the most part appeared in two collections of English poetry, one of which called England's Helicon, was published in 1600 and the other Davidson's Rhapsody in 1602. They are mostly amorous and pastoral lays and sonnets of the kind that were common in those days. One of a very different kind called the lie is a bitter and powerful satire upon the existing state of things. In it he exclaims against the powers that ruled in England at that time. Go tell the court it glows and shines like rotten wood. Go tell the church it shows what's good but does no good. If court and church reply, give court and church the lie. Tell potentates they live acting by others' actions, not loved unless they give, not strong but by their factions. If potentates reply, give potentates the lie. End of section 24. Section 25 of Life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Louise Creighton. This Lubrivox recording is in the public domain, recording by Pamela Nagami. Chapter 15. Raleigh's Last Voyage, Part 1. The result of Cecil's foreign policy had been to place James at the head of the Protestant Party in Europe. In 1613 it had even seemed possible that war between England and Spain would once more break out. The Spaniards were so alarmed by the attitude of the English that the Spanish ambassador in London was recalled in order that an abler man might be put in his place. The man chosen, Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, afterwards known as the Count of Gandomar, was admirably suited for the purpose. He was deeply impressed with the importance of the task entrusted to him and put his whole heart into it. He found the King anxious for a marriage between his son Charles and a French princess, but he did not despair of bringing back James in time to a Spanish marriage. Circumstances favored him. Rochester, now Earl of Somerset, had been in favor of the French marriage, but on finding it supported by his opponents he informed Sarmiento of his readiness to favor the Spanish scheme. Meanwhile the Parliament summoned in 1614 had shown itself unwilling to listen to the King's demands. James had dissolved it in disgust. He was in great want of money and this helped to make him turn to Spain once more. The Infanta would bring with her a larger dowry than could the French princess. He thought that if he had the King of Spain as his firm friend he should be enabled to do without Parliament. Sarmiento was only too ready to welcome James's approaches he saw that a great struggle between the Protestant powers and the Catholic powers was drawing near and he believed that if England could be drawn away from the Protestants their party would fall to pieces. Negotiations were entered into with Spain for the marriage. At first the Spanish demands were such that even James felt it was impossible to agree to them. But Digby, the English ambassador at Madrid, succeeded in bringing about some slight modifications. He was not in favour of the marriage but after protesting against it to James he had agreed to undertake the charge of the negotiations. James, when he had received the modified demands still hesitated and the opponents of Spain in the English Council determined to do their utmost while the hesitation still lasted to make the marriage impossible. Chief amongst these was Sir Ralph Winwood now secretary. He had been for some years ambassador at the Hague and was devoted to the Protestant cause and entirely opposed to Spain. He turned for support in his views to the man who was the embodiment of the spirit of hostility to Spain the man in whom still breathed the soul of the heroes of Elizabeth's days Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh had often spoken to Winwood of the advantages which might be gained from the colonization of Guyana. It was his darling scheme and he knew that it was a certain way of striking a blow at Spain. He was convinced from what he had heard whilst in Guyana that there was a gold mine there which might be made a permanent source of riches to the king. These tales of possible gold were very attractive to the ears of Villiers the king's new favorite. Somerset had fallen from his high position. He was a prisoner in the tower on a charge of murder. He had been succeeded in the king's favor by Sir George Villiers who had attracted James as Somerset had done by his fine person and cheerful disposition. Villiers and Winwood both exerted all their efforts to persuade the king to give Raleigh his liberty and permission to make an expedition to Guyana. It is strange that James should have listened to them just when he was entering into close negotiations with Spain. It seems as if he had hoped to lessen Winwood's objection to the Spanish marriage by allowing him to have his way in this matter at least. On the 19th of March 1616 a warrant was sent to the lieutenant of the tower bidding him to allow Raleigh to go free under the care of a keeper to make preparations for his voyage. No pardon was granted to Raleigh. His future was to depend solely on his finding the mine. He went out of the tower with a sentence of death still hanging over his head. It is no wonder that after his 12 years of prison life he eagerly seized any opportunity that offered itself of sharing once more the joys and perils of active life. But the chances of success were small indeed. According to the commission given him for his voyage he was to take possession of no territory belonging to any Christian prince to inflict no hurt on any Spanish subject to do nothing which might endanger the existing piece with Spain. He must have clearly seen how difficult it would be to do this seeing that Guiana was already in part colonized by Spain. Winwood no doubt hoped that the expedition might tend to bring about a breach with Spain. Raleigh himself spoke to Bacon perhaps in bravado about seizing the Mexican fleet and when Bacon exclaimed but that would be piracy answered. Oh no! Did you ever hear of men who are pirates for millions? They who aim at small things are pirates. Besides the likelihood of dangerous consequences the expedition was unwise from another point of view. The colony in Virginia had only just succeeded in establishing itself. It would have been well if English colonizing efforts had been directed for the time only to the northern continent of America where there was enough to do and had left the southern continent to Spain. James' conduct in allowing the expedition the possible consequences of which he did not trouble himself to consider is unpardonable. For Raleigh it may at least be said that he had everything to gain and little to lose. Sodomiento had heard with alarm of the proposed expedition. He looked upon it as a clear act of aggression upon Spain and protested against it vehemently. He believed that once upon the seas Raleigh would be sure to turn pirate. If Raleigh really wished to go to Guyana he said that the king of Spain would gladly send some ships to escort him there and would let him bring back as much gold and silver as he needed. But to this Raleigh could not agree. James did his utmost to pacify Sodomiento by promising that the voyage should lead to no breach with Spain and consoled himself by thinking that at least he had no responsibility in the matter. The preparations for the expedition went rapidly forward. Raleigh prepared to venture his all on it. He spent upon it the eight thousand pounds which he had received from the king in part payment for the sure-born estate and his wife sold some property of hers near Mitchum to raise more money. They must have been hopeful of success to be prepared to risk everything on the venture. Others were willing to embark their money on the expedition tempted by the promises of gold or the prospects of successful colonization. A fine new ship called the destiny was built for Raleigh. The expedition altogether numbered twelve vessels two fly boats and a caravelle of these the destiny of four hundred and forty tons burden was far the largest. She was built in the Thames and when completed lay there with most of the other ships whilst the final preparations were made. The fleet attracted much attention and was visited by all the principal persons about the town and court. Among others the French ambassador de Marais came to see the ships. He met Raleigh accidentally on board and had some talk with him. In reporting this talk to his government he said that Raleigh had spoken with bitter discontent of the treatment which he had received and had promised on his return to leave his country and make the King of France the first offer of whatever might fall under his power. The fact that de Marais did not report this conversation till a month after it had taken place tends rather to make us distrust his statements. If Raleigh had really said anything so important de Marais would surely have reported it at once but it is beyond doubt that Raleigh was in communication with Montmorency the admiral of France and had asked him to get permission from Louis XIII for him to take refuge in a French port when he came back. The man through whom these communications were made was a certain Captain Fague from documents which have lately been discovered at Simancas. It appears that Fague and another Frenchman Bell were to join Raleigh and his fleet off the Isle of White with two ships and to aid him in an attack upon the Mexican fleet the profit of which was to be shared by the French. The authority for this is a voluntary statement made by Bell at Madrid in 1618. The Frenchman did not join Raleigh according to Bell because they did not wish to go with people who were yugano. Almost at the last moment an attempt was made to divert Raleigh's expedition to another purpose. The ambassador of the Duke of Savoy was in London asking once more for assistance from James Forrest Master. He suggested to Raleigh how easy it would be for him if a few of the King's vessels were added to his fleet to seize Genoa a port which the Duke of Savoy had long coveted. Genoa was then a rich community of money lenders from whom Spain largely drew her supplies. The fact that this would be an easy way of striking a blow at Spain made Raleigh willingly listen to the ambassador's proposals. Even James seems to have entertained the idea for a moment, but it was put a stop to by the conclusion of a definite peace between Spain and Savoy. Sarmiento tried once more to stop the expedition altogether. James said that it was out of his power to do so, but that he would put the case before the council. When the council met, Raleigh's friends came in force and overruled all objections to the expedition. Winwood was bidden to bear a letter to Sarmiento from Raleigh in which Raleigh stated that he meant to make no attack upon the subjects of the King of Spain. At the same time a list of the vessels which took part in the expedition was given to Sarmiento. Some weeks before, warnings of the possible coming of Raleigh had been sent out from Madrid to the Indies and these were afterwards repeated in a more pressing form. Prospects were not very hopeful for Raleigh. In the commission given in by the king the customary words implying the royal grace and favor had been carefully erased so that the granting of the commission might not constitute a pardon and he was said to be under the peril of the law. He was 63 years old, too old to face the perils and hardships of such an expedition but his courage and energy were as great as ever and he went forth to do what he could though the way must have seemed dark and stormy before him. Even during the very days of his final preparations James was entering into closer relations with Spain and was preparing to lay the formal proposals for the marriage before a special body of commissioners. Early in April 1617 Raleigh sailed out of the Thames with seven of the vessels of his little fleet. The remainder met him at Plymouth. On board his own ship was his eldest son Walter as captain. Young Walter was then in his 24th year a bold open-hearted youth. He had been sent to Oxford in his 14th year and his father had taken care that his studies should be super intended by an able and learned man. He had chosen for his tutor Dr. Daniel Fairclough or Feetley as he was more generally called a fellow of Corpus Christie College, Oxford. Young Walter had another tutor by name Hooker of a Devonshire family for ordinary purposes and so was well looked after. Sir Walter himself wrote at length to Feetley on the subject of his son's training. Feetley says of his views on the subject that they showed themselves to proceed from an excellent temper of wisdom and of love to his son. Young Walter seems to have played many pranks and given his tutor some trouble. After he left Oxford he killed a man in a duel in London and was obliged to leave England for a time. He went on the continent and it is then that he is supposed to have travelled with Ben Johnson who was abroad at the time. Tradition says that in London too for a time Walter was under the charge of Ben Johnson for a story is told of his having once when Ben Johnson had been partaking too freely a final canary, wheeled him in a wheelbarrow into his father's presence and asked that his tutor might have a lesson in sobriety. The son seems to have had his father's brave energetic spirit and must have felt full of eager expectation in starting on his first voyage of discovery. One of Raleigh's ships was commanded by his old and faithful friend Kamus on whose testimony the belief in the existence of the mine rested. There had been some difficulty in getting the crews together the men who had joined who were far from being all that Raleigh could have wished and their character added greatly to the difficulties of the expedition. The orders which Raleigh issued to the commanders of his fleet on the third of May are an admirable proof of his wisdom and show it what perfection of order and discipline he aimed. In every ship divine service was to be read morning and night all swearing was to be punished gambling was forbidden complete obedience to superiors was to be enforced all Indians were to be treated with kindness and courtesy. Rules were also laid down with a view to preserving good health amongst the men and elaborate regulations were made for the management of the fleet. They at first met with much contrary weather which delayed them considerably. One vessel was lost two others were compelled to put back and the whole fleet was obliged to put into cork to recruit. At last on the 6th September they reached Lansarota in the Canaries. The inhabitants saw them approach with alarm. They took the English for the Algerian pirates who then ravaged the Mediterranean and the coasts of Spain and Africa. Raleigh entered into correspondence with the governor hoping to buy provisions from him. In spite of the governor's promises they waited in vain. For mine own part says Raleigh in his diary. I never gave faith to his words for I knew he sought to gain time to carry the goods of the town being seven miles from us into the mountain. In the meanwhile three English sailors were killed in chants skirmishes by the Spaniards who persisted in looking upon them as Turks. But Raleigh steadfastly refused to break the peace by revenging their death and at last went on to Gomera a town on the great Canary to get the water and provisions of which he stood in need. Here he fared better. The wife of the governor was of English descent and in sending letters to her husband Raleigh sent a present to her of six exceeding fine handkerchiefs and six pairs of gloves writing at the same time that if there were anything in his fleet worthy of her she should command it. She sent back answer that she was sorry her barren island had nothing worthy of the admiral and sent with her letter four great loaves of sugar baskets of lemons oranges grapes pomegranates and figs which Raleigh says were more welcome to him than one thousand crowns could have been. Fresh fruit was just what he needed for his sick men. To show his gratitude to the lady he sent her two ounces of ambergris an ounce of extract of amber a great glass of rose water a very excellent picture of Mary Magdalene and a cut work rough. This produced more presents from the lady hens and more fruit. Meanwhile the vessels were taking in water which was done says Raleigh without any offense given or received to the value of a farthing. The governor was so satisfied with their behavior that he sent Raleigh a letter for Sarmiento stating how nobly they had behaved. Misfortunes were already crowding upon Raleigh. At Lanzarota he had been deserted by one of his ships under the command of Captain Bailey who returned to England. Sickness was rife amongst his men and his diary contains little but the melancholy record of one death after another. They were overtaken by storms and beaten about amongst the Cape Verde Islands. One ship was lost and others were damaged. One after another the men were struck down and it seemed as if the best and ablest were fated to die. End of section 25