former letters. These are in answer of your last of October 8th, wherein you advertise of the arrival of the Conde Gondomar at Lerma, and of his entertainment by that duke. It seemeth unto us here in England that he hath gone but very slowly in his journey, and divers (seeing how long time he hath spent in the way) do make conjecture that it proceedeth from the small affection that he judgeth to be there toward the effecting of the main business. Saying, if the ambassador were assured that his master did so really desire the speedy effecting thereof, as is pretended, he would have made more haste homeward; and that it hath not been sincerely intended, but merely used by that state as an amusement to entertain and busy his Majesty withal, and for the gaining of time for their own ends. And this is muttered here by very many; but I hope we shall ere long receive such an account from thence of their proceedings as will give sufficient satisfaction.

For my own part, I must confess I am yet well persuaded of their intentions. For, if there be either honour, religion, or moral honesty, in them, the protestations and professions which I have so often heard them make, and you likewise daily advertise hither, are sufficient to persuade a man that will not judge them worse than infidels, to expect sincere dealing in the business. And whensoever I shall perceive that they go about to do otherwise, I must confess myself to have been deceived, as I shall ever be, on the like terms while I deal with inmost care. But, withal, I

shall judge them the most unworthy and perfidious people of the world; and the more for that his Majesty hath given them so many testimonies of his sincere intentions toward them, which he daily continueth, as now of late, by the causing Sir Walter Ralegh to be put to death chiefly for the giving them satisfaction, Whereof his Majesty commanded me to advertise you, and concerning whom you shall by the next receivé à Declaration, shewing the motives which induced his Majesty to recal his mercy, through which he had lived this many years a condemned man.

In the meantime, I think it fit, that to the duke of Lerma, the confessor, and the secretary of state, you do represent his Majesty's real manner of proceeding with that king and state; and how, for the advancing of the great business, he hath endea voured to satisfy them in all things. Letting them see, how, in many actions of late of that nature, his Majesty hath strained upon the affections of his people; and especially in this last concerning Sir Walter Ralegh, who died with a great deal of courage and constancy, and, at his death, moved the common sort of people to much remorse, who all attributed his death to the desire his Majesty had to satisfy Spain. Farther, you may let them know, how able a man Sir Walter Ralegh was to have done his Majesty service, if he should have been pleased to employ him. Yet, to give them content, he hath not spared him, when, by preserving him, he might have given great satisfaction to his subjects, and had at

command, upon all occasions, as useful a man as served any prince in Christendom. And, on the contrary, the king of Spain is not pleased to do any thing which may be so inconvenient unto him as to lessen the affections of his people, or to procure so much as murmuring or distractions among them; and, therefore, it is to be expected that, on his part, they answer his Majesty at least with sincere and real proceeding, since that is all they are put to, the difficulties and hazards being indeed on his Majesty's side.

And, truly, I should think it fit that, not by way of commination, but as it were out of zeal to the peace and amity betwixt these two crowns, you did intimate to the duke, and the other ministers, how impossible you held it to have peace long continued betwixt their Majesties, if, in this business, wherein so much hath been professed, there should be found any indirectness. But herein you must be cautious and temperate. For, as on the one side you and I well know that this stile most persuades with them, so, on the other side, the decency and buen termine that is to be observed betwixt great princes, will hardly admit of threats or revenge for a wooing language. But this I know falleth into so discreet a hand, that I little fear the handsome carriage of it; and I hope that before these letters arrive with you, we shall hear from you in such a stile, that this advice of mine shall be of no use.

• Rushworth's Historical Collections, folio, 1682, 1, 9.

CHAPTER X.

Sir Walter's History of the World....His letter to Sir R. Cotton....Anecdote....His miscellaneous writings....Poetry....Music....His patronage of learn ing....The charge af impiety....Mr. Hume's ob servations upon him....His character....His zeal in friendship.Conspiracy...Moral to be derived from his story...His person-His wife....His son Walter....His •His son Carew....His Instructions to his son and to posterity.

THE rapid succession of conspicuous circumstances in the life of a celebrated public character, does not alway afford us the leisure which we require for the due notice of other objects of biographical attention. Thus, although in the preceding chapters we have accompanied Sir Walter Ralegh, as far as obtainable records have enabled us, through the eventful part which he supported on the theatre of public life, some attention is still due to his more private hours, as well as to other points of biographical interest, before we close the scene; and which perhaps could less conveniently have been afforded them in any other place.

1:

Of the manner in which many of these hours were employed, particularly those of his long imprisonment, we have very conspicuous testimonies in such of Sir Walter's writings as have been committed to the press; among which the most extensive is his History of the World. It was published, as hath been already observed, in the year 1614; and the eleventh and last edition, which is the best, was edited by Oldys, in folio, in 1736. Beginning with the creation, Sir Walter has, in this work, given us the flower of recorded story to the end of the second Macedonian war; and having reviewed the three first monarchies of the world, he leaves Rome triumphant in the fourth, about a century and a half before the birth of our Saviour, comprehending a period of nearly 4000 years. Ranking in that class of historians who prefer the exercise of judgment in selection to that of genius in adorning, his industry and penetration are highly conspicuous, and his stile is the best model of his age. His superior manner of treating Greek and Roman story, has justly excited regret that he has devoted so many pages to Jewish and Rabinical learning, and that he has not permitted himself a greater latitude in those more fascinating subjects. If, in this great work, he has, to use the words of an eminent critic, produced an historical dissertation, but seldom risen to the majesty of history, still the variety of its learning, and the elegance of its stile, are sufficient to secure him a dis