454. James I. Naval Expeditions

1618. “This is all that I can fay, o- “

“ ther than I have spent my poor "

“ Estate, lost ( my Son) and my "

“ Health, and endured as many Sorts “

“ of Miseries as ever Man did in "

“ (Hope to) do His Majesty (accepta- "

" hie) Service, and have not, to my "

“ Understanding, committed any ho- "

" stile Act, other than the Entrance "

upon a Territory, belonging (right- ““ ly) to the Crown of England, where "“ the EngUJh were first set upon and "“ stain by the usurping Spaniards, (I "“ invaded no other Parts of the Indies, "“ pretended by the Spaniards .) “

" I returned into England, with" the manifest Peril of my Life, with “" a Purpose not to hold my Life by "" any other Act, than His Majesty’s "“ Grace, and from which no Man, ““ nor any Peril could dissuade me. To "" that Grace, Goodness and Kinglinefs, "“ I refer my self, which if it sliall find "“ that I have not yet suffered enough, “" it may, if it please, add more As- "“ fiiction to the Remainder of a“ wretched Life. "

CC

Sir Walter Notwithstanding all this, and "Raleigh be- whatsoever else could be said in his "headed. Favour, the cruel Sentence was execu-ted upon him, and he was beheaded, inthe Old Palace-Tard, at Westminster,the nine and twentieth of Oliober, 16i S.in the seventy-seventh Year of his Age,and fell a Sacrifice to the Resentmentof the King of Spain, and the mortalHatred, conceived by the Spaniards,against him, for his Exploits, in QueenElizabeth ’s Reign; And an Examplehow little past Services avail, when setin Competition, with the present Passi-ons or Interests of Princes.

I shall here subjoin his Answer tosome Things at his Death, in his ownWords.

... , ^ “ 1 did never receive any Direction

His Answer ce c tat \

to some from my Lord Larew, to make any

Things at “ Escape, nor did I ever tell Stukeley

his Death. “ an y f uc p Thing. I did never name

“ my Lord Hay, and my Lord Carew,

“ to Stukeley, in other Words or Sense,

" than to my honourable Friends, a-

" mong other Lords.

" I did never fnew unto Stiikeley" any Letter, wherein there was ten" Thousand Pounds named, or any" one Pound, only I told him, that I" hoped to procure the Payment of his" Debts, in his Absence. I never had

&c. of the English, Book 111

Commission from the French King. I 1618.never law the French King’s Hand orSeal, in my Life. I never had anyPlot or Practice with the French, di-rectly or indirectly, nor with any ci-ther Prince or State, unknown to theKing. My true Intent was to go toa Mine of Gold in Guiana-, It wasnot feigned, but it is true, that sucha Mine there is, within three Milesof St. Fhomas ’s. I never had in myThoughts to go from Trinidada, andleave my Company to come after tothe Savage Island, as Hat by Fearnehas falsely reported.

" I did not carry with me a Hun-dred Pieces, I had with me sixty,and brought back near the fameNumber. I never spoke to theFrench Manering any one disloyalWord, or dishonourable Speech ofthe King ; Nay, if I had not lovedthe King truly, and trusted in hisGoodness somewhat too much,I knowthat I had not now suffered Death.

" These Things are most true, asthere is a God, and as I am now toappear before his Tribunal-Seat ,where I renounce all Mercy andSalvation, if this be not the Truth:

At my Death.

IV. R.

After having said so much of SirWalter Raleigh it may be expected, thatI should conclude with his Character,which I sliall do from Wilson.

“He had (fays my Author) in the HlS eharac-“ outward Man, a good Presence, in er '

“ a handsome and well-compacted Per-“ son, a strong natural Wit, and a bet-“ ter Judgment, with a bold and plausi-“ hie Tongue, whereby he could set“ off his Parts to the best Advantage.

“ To these he had the Adjuncts of a" General Learning, which, by Dili-" gence and Experience, was augment-“ ed to a great Perfection, being an“ indefatigable Reader, and having a" very retentive Memory. At his Ar-“ raignment at Winchester, his Carriageto his Judges was with great Difcre-" don; humble, yet not prostrate; du-“ tiful, yet not dejected : Towards the" Jury, affable, but not fawning; Notin Despair, nor believing, but hop-ing in them; Carefully persuadingthem with Reasons, not distempe-rately importuning them with Conju-" rations ; Rather shewing Love of<f Life than Fear of Death. Towards

“ the