CHAPTER XVII. 1618. Liberation of Raleigh.-Occurrences during his imprisonment.-His expedition to Guiana.-Return,—imprisonment,-death.-King's antipathy to young Raleigh.-Declaration by authority of the motives for putting Raleigh to death.-Proof that he was sacrificed to Spain.—Reform of the royal expenditure.-Condemnation of the lord treasurer for corruption. AFTER a tedious imprisonment of more than twelve years, the ill-treated Raleigh had obtained in an evil hour the liberty which he had so long solicited in vain; and it now becomes necessary to resume the thread of his disastrous story. Nothing in the whole life of this illustrious person reflects so much true glory on his memory as the manner in which he had occupied his time and his thoughts during the long period of his involuntary seclusion from the world. "Then active still and unrestrain❜d, his mind And with his prison-hours enrich'd the world." That admirable work, the period and circumstances of the writer considered, the "History of the world," and several occasional pieces, were the valuable products of this season of adversity: he also found spirits for the pursuits of chemistry and me dicine, 1 'dicine, sciences, which had long shared his attention, and the former of which he had the advantage of cultivating in common with his fellow prisoner the earl of Northumberland and the little group of natural philosophers whom this nobleman was permitted to assemble around him within the precincts of the Tower. The fortitude which in such a situation rendered Raleigh complete master of the excellent abilities with which nature had endowed him, appears the more admirable from the peculiar cruelty of a fortune which seemed never weary of pursuing him with fresh injuries and disappointments. It has been mentioned, that at the time of Raleigh's conviction, the property of Sherborne castle, his principal estate, had been preserved to his heirs by a conveyance of it to his eldest son, which had been executed under the former reign. After his attainder, also, the king had been pleased to grant him his lifeinterest in it: pecuniary distress therefore, and the ruin of his family, were not at first added to the weight of his afflictions. But two or three years afterwards, the rapacious scrutiny of some of the courtiers had discovered a flaw in this conveyance, and chief-justice Popham, the same judge who presided at Raleigh's trial and sanctioned all its atrocious iniquity, gave it as his judgement that the instrument was bad in law, though the error was nothing. more than the accidental omission of a word by the transcriber. Carr, then in the plenitude of his favor and insolence, petitioned the king to grant him this estate, the only remaining support of a wretched prisoner, . prisoner, and the bread of his unhappy children ; and Raleigh as a last resource was induced to address to the unfeeling minion the following letter of eloquent expostulation : "Sir,-After some great losses and many years sorrows, (of both which I have cause to fear I was mistaken in the end,) it is come to my knowledge that yourself, whom I know not but by an honorable fame, hath been persuaded to give me and mine our last fatal blow, by obtaining from his majesty the inheritance of my children and nephews, lost in the law for want of a word. This done, there remaineth nothing with me but the name of life, despoiled of all else but the title and sorrow thereof. His majesty, whom I never offended, (for I hold it unnatural and unmanlike to hate goodness,) stayed me at the grave's brink; not, as I hope, that he thought me worthy of many deaths, and to behold all mine cast out of the world with myself, but as a king who, judging the poor in truth, hath received a promise from God that his throne shall be established for ever. "And for yourself, sir, seeing your fair day is but now in the dawn, and mine drawn to the evening, your own virtues and the king's grace assuring you of many favors and much honor, I beseech you not to begin your first building upon the ruins of the innocent; and that their sorrows, with mine, may not attend your first plantation. I have been ever bound to your nation, as well for many other graces, as for the true report of my trial to the king's majesty : against whom had I been found malignant, the hearing hearing of my cause would not have changed enemies into friends, malice into compassion, and the minds of the greater number then present into the commiseration of mine estate. It is not the nature of foul treason to beget such fair passions. Neither could it agree with the duty and love of faithful subjects, especially of your nation, to bewail his overthrow who had conspired against their most natural and liberal lord. I therefore trust, sir, that you will not be the first that shall kill us outright, cut down the tree with the fruit, and undergo the curse of them that enter the fields of the fatherless. Which, if it please you to know the truth, is far less in value than in fame. But that so worthy a gentleman as yourself will rather bind us to you, (being, sir, gentlemen not base in birth and alliance that have interest therein,) and myself with my uttermost thankfulness will ever remain ready to obey your commands. "WALTER RALEIGH." It will readily be conceived, that to him who could need such a remonstrance it would be addressed in vain Carr persevered in his suit, and obtained it at the hands of a prince regardless alike of justice and of mercy when compliance with his favorites was in question. Lady Raleigh, who kneeled with her children at the king's feet to deprecate the meditated injury, received no other answer from this vicegerent of the deity, as he was pleased to style himself, than the following words, "I mun ha' the land, I mun ha' it for Carr;" and the spoliation was completed; the king granting to lady Raleigh and her son son a miserable sum of 8,000l. under the name of compensation. Prince Henry, the warmest admirer and best friend of Raleigh in his adversity, seems to have witnessed with violent indignation this new act of iniquity, perpetrated by a man whom he hated; and some time after he begged, or rather demanded, that Sherborne should be bestowed on himself. The king, who disliked, and perhaps dreaded, to oppose him in wishes thus expressed, at length consented; and bought back his grant to Carr for 25,000l. It is not doubted that it was the purpose of Henry to restore his acquisition to the rightful owner; but his lamented death almost immediately afterwards, precluded the performance of this act of justice, and Sherborne was again bestowed by the monarch on his rapacious favorite. The loss of his princely patron almost overwhelmed the long tried fortitude of Raleigh. To cultivate the esteem and conciliate the affections of Henry had been for some years the principal object of his solicitude, as it was to the coming reign alone that he could look forward with the hope of restoration to liberty, to favor, and to active life. Among the writings of Raleigh there are several which prove this, particularly two discourses written in 1611, partly by command of the prince, in which he discusses and opposes the marriages with Savoy then proposed for Henry and for his sister; and a letter on ship-building addressed to him. The "History of the world" was also, as he states, "directed" to the prince; whose death he mentions as |