The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Theophilus Cibber
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About two months after, Raleigh was chosen Knight of the Shire for his
county of Devon, and made a considerable figure in parliament, where a
bill passed in confirmation of his patent for the discovery of foreign
countries. During the course of this sessions, he received the honour
of knighthood from her Majesty, a distinction the more honourable to
him, as the Queen was extreamly cautious in confering titles; and
besides the patent for discoveries, she granted him, about the same
time, a power to license the vending of wines throughout the kingdom,
which was in all probability very lucrative to him; but it engaged him
in a dispute with the university of Cambridge, which had opposed one
Keymer, whom he had licensed to sell wine there, contrary to the
privileges of that university.
The parliament being prorogued, Raleigh, intent upon planting his
new colony in Virginia, set out his own fleet of seven sail for that
country, under the command of his cousin Sir Richard Greenville, who
after having visited the country, left behind him an hundred and seven
persons to settle a colony at Roanah; in his return to England,
he took a Spanish prize worth 50000 l. but this was not the only
circumstance of good fortune which happened to Raleigh this year; for
the rebellion in Ireland being now suppressed, and the forfeited
lands divided into Signiories, among those principally who had been
instrumental in the important service of reducing that country; her
Majesty granted him one of the largest portions, consisting of twelve
thousand acres in the counties of Cork and Waterford, with certain
privileges and immunities, upon condition, of planting and improving
the same, to which the other grantees were obliged.
In the year 1586 we find our author so highly advanced in the Queen's
favour, so extremely popular on account of his patronage of learned
men, ard the active spirit he exerted in business, that her Majesty
made him seneschal in the dutchy of Cornwall. But these distinctions
incurred the usual effects of court preferment, and exposed Sir Walter
to the envy of those who were much inferior to him in merit; and even
the earl of Leicester himself, who had formerly been his great patron,
became jealous of him, and set up in opposition to him, his nephew
the young earl of Essex. The Comedians likewise took the liberty to
reflect upon Raleigh's power, and influence upon the Queen; which her
Majesty resented so highly as to forbid Tarleton, the most celebrated
actor of that age, from approaching her presence.
Raleigh, sollicitous for the prosperity of the plantation in Virginia,
sent out new supplies from time to time, some of whom were obliged to
return home; and the general alarm spread over the nation on account
of the Spanish invasion, threw all things into disorder.
About the beginning of the year 1587 he was raised to the dignity of
captain of her majesty's guard, which he held together with the place
of lord-warden of the Stannaries, and lieutenant-general of the county
of Cornwall. From this time till the year 1594, we find Sir Walter
continually engaged in projecting new expeditions, sending succours
to colonies abroad, or managing affairs in Parliament with consummate
address.
In the year 1593, we find Father Parsons the jesuit charging him with
no less a crime than atheism, and that he had founded a school in
which he taught atheistical principles, and had made a great many
young gentlemen converts to them; the most considerable authority
to countenance the suspicions of Sir Walter's religion, is that of
Archbishop Abbot, who in a letter dated at Lambeth, addressed to Sir
Thomas Roe, then an ambassador at the Mogul's court, expressly charges
Sir Walter with doubting God's being and omnipotence[7]; but it is
highly probable Sir Walter's opinions might be misrepresented by his
enemies, or wrong conclusions drawn from those which he maintained;
and it would be a shocking injustice to the memory of so great a man
to suspect him of irreligion, whose writings contain not the least
trace of it, and whose History of the World in particular breathes a
strong spirit of real and genuine piety.
In the heighth of his favour with the Queen, he fell under her
majesty's displeasure, for being enamoured of Mrs. Elizabeth
Throgmorton, one of the Queen's maids of honour, whom he debauched;
and such it seems was the chastity of these times, that a frailty of
that sort was looked upon as the highest offence Her Majesty was so
exasperated, that she commanded him to be confined several months, and
after his enlargement forbid him the court, whence the poor lady was
likewise dismissed from her attendance about the maiden queen, who
appeared in this case the champion of virginity. Sir Walter soon made
her an honourable reparation by marriage, and they were both examples
of conjugal affection and fidelity. During the time our author
continued under her majesty's displeasure for this offence, he
projected the discovery of the rich and extensive empire of Guiana,
in the south of America, which the Spaniards had then visited, and
to that day had never conquered. For this purpose, having collected
informations relating to it, he sent an old officer to take a view
of the coast, who returned the year following with a very favourable
account of the riches of the country, which he had received from some
of the principal Cassiques upon the borders of it. This determined
Raleigh's resolution, who provided a squadron of ships at a very
great expence, and the lord high admiral Howard, and Sir Robert Cecil
conceived so good an opinion of the design, that both concurred in
it. He personally engaged in the attempt, and with no great number
of ships so far explored the unknown country, that he made greater
progress in a few months than the Spaniards had done for many years,
and having satisfied himself of the certainty of the gold mines of the
country, he returned home with honour and riches the latter end of the
summer 1595, and in the year following published in quarto An Account
of the Voyage and Discoveries, dedicated to lord admiral Howard and
Sir Robert Cecil.
The next year Sir Walter was so far restored to the Queen's favour,
that he was engaged in the important and successful expedition to
Cadiz, in which the earl of Essex and lord admiral Howard were
joint commanders, and Raleigh of the council of war, and one of the
admirals. In this, as in all his other expeditions, he behaved with
equal conduct and courage. After his return from the successful
expedition under the earl of Essex, he promoted a reconciliation
between that nobleman and secretary Cecil, in consequence of which
he was himself fully reinstated in the Queen's favour, and had the
command of captain of the guard restored to him with other marks of
her forgiveness.
In 1597 he was employed in the island voyage as rear admiral, the earl
of Essex having the chief command, and the lord Thomas Howard the post
of vice-admiral. The design of it was to defeat and destroy at Ferol,
as well as in the other ports of the enemy, the Spanish fleet intended
for a new expedition against England and Ireland; and to seize upon
such Indian fleets of treasure, as they should meet with belonging to
the king of Spain, to conquer, restrain, and garrison, most of the
Isles of the Azores, and especially the Terceras. But the success of
this expedition did not answer the greatness of the preparations for
it; the jealousy of the earl of Essex the commander, obstructing the
services which Sir Walter's abilities might otherwise have performed.
In the council of war, which was held before the isle of Flores, it
was resolved that the general and Sir Walter should jointly attack the
island of Fyal; where the latter waited seven days for his lordship,
and hearing nothing of him, called a council of war, in which it was
determined that Raleigh should attempt the town himself, which he did
with astonishing bravery and success. Essex finding himself deprived
of the honour of taking Fyal, was exasperated to such a degree, that
he broke some of the officers who had behaved with great gallantry
under Raleigh, and some of his sycophants alledged that Raleigh
himself deserved to lose his head for breach of articles in landing
without his lordships orders. Upon their return to England the earl
endeavoured to transfer the miscarriages of the expedition upon
Raleigh, and gained to his side the populace, whom Sir Walter never
courted, and whose patronage he scorned; but the Queen herself was not
well pleased with the earl's conduct, since it was judged he might
have done more than he did; and his proceedings against Sir Walter in
calling his actions to public question, were highly disapproved [8].
The next important transaction we find Raleigh engaged in, was in
1601, when the unfortunate earl of Essex, who had calumniated him
to the king of Scotland, and endeavoured all he could to shake his
interest, was so ill advised by his creatures, as to attempt a public
insurrection. Raleigh was active in suppressing it: the earl pretended
that the cause of his taking arms was to defend himself against the
violence of his personal enemies, the lord Cobham and Raleigh having
formed a design of murdering him; tho' on the other hand it is pretty
certain, that Sir Ferdinand Gorges, one of the earl's accomplices,
afterwards accused Sir Christopher Blount, another of them, for
persuading him to kill, or at least apprehend, Sir Walter; which
Gorges refusing, Blount discharged four shots after him in a boat.
Blount acknowledged this, and at the time of his execution asked Sir
Walter forgiveness for it; which he readily granted.----While the earl
garisoned his house, Sir Walter was one of those who invested it,
and when his lordship was brought to his trial, he with forty of the
queen's guard was present upon duty, and was likewise examined with
relation to a conference which he had upon the Thames the morning
of the insurrection with Sir Ferdinando Gorges. At the execution of
Essex, six days after, in the Tower, Raleigh attended, probably in his
character of captain of the guard, and stood near the scaffold that
he might the better answer if Essex should be desirous of speaking
to him, but retired before the earl's execution, because the people
seemed to take his appearance there in a wrong light; tho' he
afterwards repented of it, as the earl expressed an inclination to see
and speak with him before his death, which was in all probability to
have asked Raleigh's forgiveness for having traduced, and calumniated
him in order to colour his own rash designs.
In 1602 our author sold his estate in Ireland, to Mr. Boyle,
afterwards earl of Cork, and about Midsummer he settled his estate of
Sherbone on his son Walter, on account of a challenge which he had
received from Sir Amias Preston, who had been knighted at Cadiz by
the earl of Essex; which challenge Sir Walter intended to accept, and
therefore disposed his affairs in proper order. The cause of their
quarrel does not appear, but they were afterwards reconciled without
proceeding to a duel[9].
The death of Queen Elizabeth on the 24th of March 1602-3 proved
a great misfortune to Raleigh; James her successor having been
prejudiced against him by the earl of Essex, who insinuated that
Raleigh was no friend to his succession, nor had any regard for his
family. And these prejudices were heightened by secretary Cecil in his
private correspondence with that pusilanimous, jealous prince, before
he ascended the Throne of England, or at least immediately upon that
event; for tho' Raleigh and Cecil had united against Essex, yet
after the ruin of that earl and his party, their seeming friendship
terminated in a mutual struggle for a superiority of power. But there
is another important cause of James's disgust to Sir Walter, which is,
that he, lord Cobham, and Sir John Fortescue, would have obliged the
king to articles before he was admitted to the throne, and that the
number of his countrymen should be limitted; which added to the
circumstance of Sir Walter's zeal to take off his mother, inspired his
majesty with a confirmed aversion to him; and indeed the tragical end
of the queen of Scots is, perhaps, the greatest error with which the
annals of that glorious reign is stained. Raleigh in vain endeavoured
to gain the affection of the new king, which he attempted by
transfering on secretary Cecil the blood of the earl of Essex, as well
as that of his royal mother; but this attempt to secure the affections
of a weak prince, ended in his ruin, for it exasperated Cecil the more
against him; and as Sir Walter was of an active martial genius, the
king, who was a lover of peace, and a natural coward, was afraid that
so military a man would involve him in a war, which he hated above all
things in the world. Our author was soon removed from his command as
captain of the guard, which was bestowed upon Sir Thomas Erskin, his
majesty's favourite as well as countryman[10], the predecessor to the
earl of Mar, whose actions, performed in the year 1715, are recent in
every one's memory.
Not long after his majesty's ascending the throne of England, Sir
Walter was charged with a plot against the king and royal family; but
no clear evidence was ever produced that Raleigh had any concern in
it. The plot was to have surprized the king and court, to have created
commotions in Scotland, animated the discontented in England, and
advanced Arabella Stuart, cousin to the king, to the throne. Arabella
was the daughter of lord Charles Stuart, younger brother to Henry lord
Darnly, and son to the duke of Lenox. She was afterwards married to
William Seymour, son to lord Beauchamp, and grandson to the earl of
Hertford; and both were confined for the presumption of marrying
without his majesty's consent, from which they made their escape, but
were again retaken. Lady Arabella died of grief, and Mr. Seymour lived
to be a great favourite with Charles I. Raleigh persisted in avowing
his ignorance of the plot, and when he came to his trial, he behaved
himself so prudently, and defended himself with so much force, that
the minds of the people present, who were at first exasperated against
him, were turned from the severest hatred to the tenderest pity.
Notwithstanding Sir Walter's proof that he was innocent of any such
plot, and that lord Cobham, who had once accused him had recanted, and
signed his recantation, nor was produced against him face to face, a
pack'd jury brought him in guilty of high treason. Sentence of death
being pronounced against him, he humbly requested that the king
might be made acquainted with the proofs upon which he was cast. He
accompanied the Sheriff to prison with wonderful magnanimity, tho'
in a manner suited to his unhappy situation. Raleigh was kept near
a month at Winchester in daily expectation of death, and in a very
pathetic letter wrote his last words to his wife the night before he
expected to suffer[11], in which he hoped his blood would quench
their malice who had murdered him, and prayed God to forgive his
persecutors, and accusers. The king signed the warrant for the
execution of the lords Cobham and Grey, and Sir Griffin Markham, at
Winchester, pretending, says lord Cecil, to forbear Sir Walter for
the present, till lord Cobham's death had given some light how far he
would make good his accusation. Markham was first brought upon the
scaffold, and when he was on his knees, ready to receive the blow
of the ax, the groom of the bedchamber produced to the sheriff his
Majesty's warrant to stop the execution; and Markham was told that he
must withdraw a while into the hall to be confronted by the Lords.
Then Lord Grey was brought forth, and having poured out his prayers
and confession, was likewise called aside, and lastly Lord Cobham was
exposed in the same manner, and performed his devotions, though we do
not find that he said one word of his guilt or innocence, or charged
Raleigh with having instigated him; all which circumstances seem more
than sufficient to wipe off from the memory of Raleigh the least
suspicion of any plot against James's person or government.
He was remanded to the Tower of London with the rest of the prisoners,
of whom Markham afterwards obtained his liberty, and travelled abroad.
Lord Grey of Wilton died in the Tower; Lord Cobham was confined there
many years, during which, it is said, he was examined by the King in
relation to Raleigh, and entirely cleared him; he afterwards died in
the lowest circumstances of distress.
In February following a grant was made by the King of all the goods
and chattels forfeited by Sir Walter's conviction to the trustees of
his appointing for the benefit of his creditors, lady and children.
After 12 years confinement in the Tower, in March 1615 he was released
out of it, by the interposition of the favourite Buckingham; but
before he quitted that place he saw the earl of Somerset committed
there for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, and afterwards condemned,
which occasioned Sir Walter to compare his own case with that of the
earl's, and to remark, 'That the whole History of the World had not
the like precedent of a King's prisoner to purchase freedom, and his
bosom favourite 'to have the halter, but in scripture, in the case
of Mordecai and Haman;' on hearing which, the King is said to have
replied, that Raleigh might die in that deceit, which afterwards
proved true, for the King pardoned the infamous Somerset, a murderer,
and executed Raleigh, a brave and an honest man, equally to the
astonishment of the world. Sir Walter being now at large, had the
means of prosecuting his old scheme of settling Guiana, which he
had so much at heart, that even during his imprisonment, he held a
constant correspondence with that country, sending thither every year,
or every second year, a ship, to keep the Indians in hopes of being
relieved from the tyranny of the Spaniards, who had again encroached
upon them, and massacred many, both of the inhabitants and of
Raleigh's men. In these ships were brought several natives of the
country, with whom he conversed in the Tower, and obtained all
possible informations concerning it. Upon such informations he offered
his scheme for prosecuting his discovery to the court before he
undertook it in person: nor were there any doubts either as to the
improbability of the design, or its unlawfulness, notwithstanding the
peace made with Spain, otherwise the King would not have made such
grants, as he did, even at that time, which shews that he was then
convinced, that Sir Walter had in his first voyage discovered and
taken possession of that country for the crown of England, and
consequently that his subjects were justly intitled to any benefits
that might arise from its discovery, without the least respect to the
pretensions of the Spaniards: Besides, when Sir Walter first moved the
court upon this subject, the Spanish match was not thought of, and the
King's necessities being then very pressing, he may be presumed to
have conceived great hopes from that discovery, though he might
afterwards change his opinion, when he grew so unreasonably fond of
that match.
In 1616, he obtained a royal commission to settle Guiana at the
expence of himself and his friends; he was appointed General, and
Commander in Chief of this enterprize, and Governor of the new
country, which he was to settle with ample authority; a power was
granted him too, of exercising martial law in such a manner as the
King's Lieutenant General by sea or land, or any Lieutenants of the
counties of England had. These powers seem to imply a virtual pardon
to Raleigh, and perhaps made, him less solicitous for an actual one.
Meantime Gondemar the Spanish ambassador, by his address, vivacity,
and flattering the humours of James, had gained a great ascendency
over him, and began to make a great clamour about Raleigh's
preparations, and from that moment formed schemes of destroying him.
The whole expence of this expedition was defrayed by Raleigh and his
friends; the fleet consisted of about seven sail. On the 17th of
November, 1617, they came in sight of Guiana, and soon after to
anchor, in five degrees off the river Caliana, where they remained
till the 4th of December. Raleigh was received with great joy by the
Indians, who not only assisted him with provisions, and every thing
else in their power, but offered him the sovereignty of their country
if he would settle amongst them, which he declined to accept.[12] His
extreme sickness for six weeks prevented him from undertaking the
discovery of the mines in person, and was obliged to depute captain
Keymis to that service; and accordingly on the 4th of December,
ordered five small ships to sail into the river Oronoque. When they
landed, they found a Spanish garrison between them and the mine,
which sallying out unexpectedly, put them in confusion, and gave them
battle. In this conflict young Raleigh was killed, and by a fatal
mistake, captain Keymis did not prove the mine, but burnt and
plundered the Spanish garrison, and found amongst the governor's
papers one, which informed him, that Raleigh's expedition had been
betrayed, and that he was to be sacrificed to the Spaniards. Upon
Keymis's unsuccessful attempt, Raleigh sharply rebuked him for his
mistake, and a deviation from his orders, which so much affected that
captain, that he shot himself in his own cabin, and finding the wound
not mortal, he finished his design by a long knife with which he
stabbed himself to the heart. In this distressful situation Raleigh
returned home, and found on his arrival at Plymouth, a declaration
published against him; at which he took the alarm, and contrived to
convey himself out of the kingdom in a vessel hired for that purpose
by an old officer of his; but changing his opinion in that respect, he
proceeded in his journey to London.
Yet thinking it proper to gain time for the appeasing his majesty,
by the assistance of one Maneuric a French quack, he counterfeited
sickness for several days, during which he wrote his apology. However
on the 7th of August he arrived at London, where he was confined in
his own house; but having still good reasons not to trust himself to
the mercy of the court, he formed a design to escape into France,
which Sir Lewis Stackley, who was privy to, and encouraged it,
discovered, and Sir Walter being seized in a boat upon the river below
Woolwich, was a second time, on the 10th of August, committed to the
Tower; but tho' his death seemed absolutely determined, yet it seemed
difficult to find a method of accomplishing it, since his conduct in
the late expedition could not be stretched in law to such a sentence.
It was resolved therefore, to sacrifice him to the resentment of
Spain, in a manner so shameful, that it has justly exposed the
conduct of the court to the indignation of all succeeding ages, and
transmitted the pusillanimous monarch with infamy to posterity. They
called him down to judgment upon his former sentence passed fifteen
years before, which they were not then ashamed to execute. A privy
seal was sent to the judges to order immediate execution, on which
a conference was held Friday the 24th of Oct. 1688, between all the
judges of England, concerning the manner, how prisoners who have
been attainted of treason and set at liberty, should be brought to
execution. In consequence of their revolution, a privy seal came to
the King's-Bench, commanding that court to proceed against Sir Walter
according to law, who next day received notice of the council to
prepare himself for death; and on Wednesday the 28th of that month, at
8 o'clock in the morning, was taken out of bed in the hot fit of an
ague, and carried to the King's-Bench, Westminster, where execution
was awarded against him. The next morning, the 29th of October, the
day of the lord-mayor's inauguration, a solemnity never perhaps
attended before with a public execution, Sir Walter was conducted by
the sheriffs of Middlesex to the Old Palace Yard in Westminster, where
mounting the scaffold, he behaved with the most undaunted spirit, and
seeming cheerfulness. The bishop of Salisbury (Tohon) being surprized
at the hero's contempt of death, and expostulating with him upon it;
he told him plainly that he never feared death, and much less then,
for which he blessed God, and as to the manner of it, tho' to others
it might seem grievous, yet for himself he had rather die so than in a
burning fever. This verifies the noble observation of Shakespear, that
all heroes have a contempt of death; which he puts in the mouth
of Julius Caesar when his friends dissuaded him from going to the
Senate-House.
Cowards die many a time before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders, I have heard of yet,
It seems to me most strange, that men should fear,
Seeing that death, the necessary end,
Will come, when it will come.----
Sir Walter eat his breakfast that morning, smoaked his pipe, and
made no more of death, than if he had been to take a journey. On the
scaffold he conversed freely with the Earl of Arundel and others of
the nobility, and vindicated himself from two suspicions; the first,
of entering into a confederacy with France; the second, of speaking
disloyally of his Majesty. He cleared himself likewise of the
suspicion of having persecuted the Earl of Essex, or of insulting him
at his death. He concluded with desiring the good people to join with
him in prayer, to that great God of Heaven, "whom (says he) I have
grievously offended, being a man full of vanity, who has lived a
sinful life, in such callings as have been most inducing to it: For I
have been a soldier, a sailor, and a courtier; which are courses of
wickedness and vice." The proclamation being made that all men should
depart the scaffold, he prepared himself for death, gave away his hat
and cap, and money to some attendants that stood near him. When he
took leave of the lords, and other gentlemen that stood near him, he
entreated the Lord Arundel to prevail with the King that no scandalous
writings to defame him, should be published after his death;
concluding, "I have a long journey to go, and therefore will take my
leave." Then having put off his gown and doublet, he called to the
executioner to shew him the axe, which not being presently done; he
said, "I pray thee let me see it; don't thou think I am afraid of it;"
and having it in his hands he felt along the edge of it, and smiling,
said to the sheriff; "This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician
for all diseases." The executioner kneeling down and asking him
forgiveness, Sir Walter laying his hand upon his shoulder granted
it; and being asked which way he would lay himself on the block, he
answered, "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head
lies." His head was struck off at two blows, his body never shrinking
nor moving. His head was shewn on each side of the scaffold, and then
put into a red leather bag, and with his velvet night-gown thrown
over, was afterwards conveyed away in a mourning coach of his lady's.
His body was interred in the chancel of St. Margaret's Church,
Westminster, but his head was long preserved in a case by his widow,
who survived him twenty-years.