Sherborne veyance to son. His Sherborne-estate had been settled by Sir Walter, as we have seen, upon his elder son, toward the close of Queen Elizabeth's "reign"; and, notwithstanding his attainder, the king had granted him his life-interest in it". The knight's enemies were, however, ill-sa- Life-interest in tisfied, as long as any part of his ruin remained incomplete. The con- granted. veyance, formerly made by Sir Walter, was scrutinized with malignant diligence and referred to Sir John Popham, lord-chief-justice of the king's-bench. His Lordship, in a letter written in August, 1605, Flaw in congave it as his opinion, that the deed, wanting some essential words ", could in law convey nothing; yet owned, that the omission of those words was plainly occasioned by the inattention of the clerk who engrossed the deed". Some time afterward, Robert Car, better known by his subsequent title of Earl of Somerset, attracted the favour of His Majesty by those personal accomplishments, which, on this occasion, were so well calculated to ensure him success. Young and fortuneless as he was, he was probably without much difficulty persuaded to take advantage of the flaw in Sir Walter's conveyance, and to sollicit Car sollicits Sherborne of the king. It was on this occasion that Sir Walter addressed the following letter to Car, which in one or two old copies bears date December 1608. Sir WALTER RALEGH to CAR, afterward Earl of SOMERSET. SIR, Sherborne. "After some great losses and many years sorrows (of Letter to car. 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 honourable 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 re 32 See Vol. I. p. 320, and Letter to Wife standing in the paper-book, and was only the in this chapter. 33 See Appendix, No. X. 34 Carew Ralegh writes, for want of one single word, which word was found not-with oversight of a clerk.-See Appendix, No. X. maineth maineth 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. -estate. 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 favours and much honour, 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 of my cause would not have changed enemies into friends, malice into compassion, and the minds of the greatest number then present into the commiseration of mine 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 pleases 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) who have interest therein. And myself, with my uttermost thankfulness, will ever remain ready to obey your commands. 36 See the Harleian and other Collections, and Birch's Works of Ralegh, II. 386. This letter has in general been very, corruptly WALTER RALEGH" " printed.-See Tenison's Baconiana, 8vo, 1679. p.77. A more correct copy has been attempted here from several old manuscripts. This This letter appears, however, to have had no effect upon Car; and the sollicitations of Lady Ralegh on her knees, with her children, to the king, were only answered by I mun have the land, I mun have it for Car. An informtion was exhibited in the exchequer by the attorney-general, and judgment was given for the crown. Sherborne, with the manors belonging to it and other lands which Sir Walter had purchased ", were all granted to Car in 1609; and the king's slender Sherborne requital of eight thousand pounds to Lady Ralegh and her elder son, probably took place at the same time". granted to Car. 1609. the Tower. The advantages of a cultivated understanding have perhaps seldom been more truly recognised, than they were at this time, by Sir Walter Ralegh, in aleviating confinement and supporting this endless Occupations int adversity of fortune. The disposition he made of his time discoverd on this, no less than on other occasions, the superiority of his mind; for in the calm cultivation of his intellectual talents, he found the resource of all others best adapted to relieve his situation, and which a superior mind could alone advert to. His History of the World, and many of his political pieces (which we shall have occasion to dwell upon more at large when we come to the subject of his writings *) were composed in the Tower. We may conclude also, from one of Sir William Wade's letters already quoted, that much of his time was amused in chemical and medical pursuits; for which he appears to have had a strong partiality". The celebrated cordial which he prepared, which was in so high repute in the time of Charles II. and on which a distinct treatise was written in that reign", probably owed its origin to these hours. Among 37 Called Pinford, Primesly, Barton and its borne, though it was afterward valued by the Manor. State at £.5,000, per annum. 38 See Appendix, No. X. and the Case of Carew Ralegh, Esq. at the Committee for Sale of Delinquents' Estates, a MS. in several collections. (See Oldys' Life of Ralegh, p. 147. note c.) 39 See Sir Walter's Apology for last Voyage to Guiana, in Chap. IX. of this work. King James in his Declaration (see Appendix) calls these £.8,000, a competent satisfaction for SherVOL. II. 40 See chapter the last. 4 A manuscript of chemical processes by Sir Walter is still in existence. See Ays cough's Catalogue of Brit. Museum, p. 492. 42 Charles II. commanded Nicholas Le Febure, royal professor of chemistry and apothe cary in ordinary to His Majesty's household, to prepare a quantity of this precious remedy in the exactest manner. Le Febure also compo His cordial. Favoured by the queen and Among his friends and pitiers in this his adverse fortune, were Prince Henry. the queen and the celebrated Henry Prince of Wales. An anecdote has been preserved relative to Her Majesty and Ralegh, by Sir Antho Anecdote of Cobham's exa• mination. 66 ny Welden, which I here repeat upon his authority, and in his own words. Queen Ann, that brave princess, was in a desperate and some believed an incurable disease, whereof the physicians were at the farthest end of their studies to find the cause, at a non plus for the cure. Sir Walter Ralegh, being by his long studies an admirable chemist, undertook and performed the cure; for which he would receive no other reward, but that Her Majesty would procure that certain lords might be sent to examine Cobham, whether he had accused Sir Walter Ralegh of treason at any time under his hand. The king, at the queen's request, and in justice could do no less, sends six lords (which I take were the Duke of Lennox, Salisbury, Worcester, Suffolk, Sir George Carew, and Sir Julius Cæsar) to demand of Cobham, whether he had not under his hand accused Sir Walter Ralegh at Winchester upon that treason he was arraigned for. Cobham did protest never, nor could be; but, said he, that villain Wade did often sollicit me, and not prevailing that way, got me by a trick to write my name upon a piece of white paper, which I, thinking nothing, did. So that if any charge came under my hand, it was forged by that villain Wade, by writing something above my hand without my consent or knowledge. sed a treatise in French under His Majesty's fied in the London Pharmacopoeia, under the title Aromatic Confection, is here subjoined.. R. Zedoary in course powder, and saffron, each lb. distilled water, 3 pints. Macerate for 24 hours, then press and strain. Reduce the strained liquor by evaporation to 14 pint, to which add the following, rubbed to a very fine powder, Compound-powder of crab's-claws, 16 oz.. Smaller cardamom-seeds, husked, make a confection. 2 1 1 2 lb. These These six returning to the king, the rest made Salisbury their spokesman, who said, Sir, My Lord Cobham hath made good all that ever he wrote or said. Where it is to be noted, that this was but an equivocating trick in Salisbury. For it was true that Cobham had made good whatever he had writ (that being but in truth to very nothing)-but never wrote he anything to accuse Ralegh. By which you may see the baseness of these lords, the credulity of the king, and the ruin of Sir Walter Ralegh ".' 43 99 An attachment of peculiar strength, heightened probably by a strong and mutual sense of peculiar merit, appears to have subsisted between Prince Henry and Ralegh. No king but my father would keep saying of such a bird in a cage", was a saying of that glory of the Stuarts, the darling of the nation while he lived, the just object of her sincere and universal lamentation by his untimely death. Prince Henry. 1611. marriages with In the spring of 1611, a double alliance with this crown was proposed by the Duke of Savoy's ambassador; between Prince Henry and the eldest daughter of Savoy, and between the Prince of Piedmont and our Princess Elizabeth, afterward espoused by Frederic, Electorpalatine. On this occasion Sir Walter Ralegh wrote two excellent Writes against discourses, apparently by command of Prince Henry, wherein Savoy. he strongly opposes the proposal. He also dedicated to His Highness some Observations on the Royal Navy, and Sea-service"; which appears thus early in his life to have been a favourite subject with that discerning prince, and on which he probably loved to converse and correspond with a person of the knight's experience. A letter which Sir Walter wrote him touching the model of a ship is still extant, and 43 See the Court and Character of King James, 2d edition, 12mo, 1651, p.35; and a confirmation in the Observations on Mary and James, 4to, 1656, p. 12. The author of Aulicus Coquinariæ makes an absurd reply to this passage by writing, how could Wade tamper with Cobham to write his name to a blank?— when it appears Cobham never signed at all to his examinations, p.'90. 12mo, 1722, II. 165. and Cokes Detection, 45 See them in Dr. Birch's Works of Ra- 46 See the beginning of the Discourse touching a Match between the Princess Elizabeth and the Prince of Piedmont. 44 See Osborn's Misc. Works, 11th edition, 47 See them in Dr. Birch's Works of Ralegh II. 91. is |