before such an assembly of honourable witnesses, and not obscurely in the tower, where, for the space of thirteen years together, I have been oppressed with many miseries. And I return Him thanks that my fever hath not taken me at this time, as I prayed to Him it might not, that I might clear myself of some accusations unjustly laid to my charge, and leave behind me the testimony of a true heart, both to my king and country.” He first defended his attempt to escape to France from Plymouth, "which was, because I would fain have made my peace before I came to England." He then cleared himself of the imputation of having entered into a plot with France, saying, “For a man to call God to witness at any time to a falsehood, is a grievous sin. To call Him as a witness to a falsehood at the point of death, when there is no time for repentance, is a crime far more impious and desperate; therefore, for me to call that Majesty to witness an untruth, before whose tribunal I am instantly to appear, were beyond measure sinful, and beyond hope of pardon. I do yet call that great God to witness, that, as I hope to see Him, to be saved by Him, and to live in the world to come, I never had any plot or intelligence with the French king; never had any commission from him, nor saw his hand or seal; that I never had any practice or combination with the French agent, nor ever knew or saw such a person till I met him in my gallery. If I speak not true, O Lord, let me never enter into thy kingdom!" "The second suspicion or imputation was, that his majesty had been informed I have spoken disloyally of him. The only witness of this was a base Frenchman, a runagate, a chymical fellow, whom I soon knew to be perfidious; for, being drawn by him into the action of freeing myself at Winchester, he, being sworn to secrecy over-night, revealed it in the morning. It is strange that so mean a fellow could so far encroach himself into the favour of the Lords, and be so credited by his Majesty. But this I here speak: it is no time for me to flatter or to fear princes-I who am subject only to death; and for me, who have now to do with God alone, to tell a lie to get the favour of the king were in vain. I confess I did attempt to escape, but it was only to save my life. I likewise confess that I feigned myself to be indisposed at Salisbury; but I hope it was no sin; for the prophet David did make himself a fool, and suffered spittle to fall upon his beard, to escape from the hands of his enemies, and it was not imputed to him a sin: what I did was only to prolong time, till his majesty came. But I forgive that Frenchman, and likewise Sir Lewis Stukely, the wrongs he hath done me, with all my heart; for I have received the sacrament this morning of Mr. Dean, and I have forgiven all men; but in charity to others I am bound to utter this caution against them, and such as they are." He then denied several other matters that had been charged against him, looking over his notes as he proceeded. Turning to the Earl of Arundel, he said: "My lord, you being in the gallery of my ship at my departure, I remember you took me by the hand and said, you would request one thing of me, which was, whether I made a good voyage or a bad, that I would return again to England, which I then promised and gave you my faith I would." "So you did," said his lordship; "it is true, and they were the last words I said to you." After adverting to some further charges of less moment, he thus concluded :-"I will borrow but a little time more of Mr. Sheriff, that I may not detain him too long; and herein I shall speak of the imputation laid upon me through the jealousy of the people, that I had been a persecutor of my Lord of Essex; that I rejoiced in his death, and stood in a window over against him when he suffered, and puffed out tobacco in defiance of him; when as, God is my witness, that I shed tears for him when he died and as I hope to look God in the face hereafter, my Lord of Essex did not see my face at the time of his death; for I was far off, in the armoury, where I saw him, but he saw not me. It is true, I was of a contrary faction; but I take the same God to witness that I had no hand in his death, nor bare him any ill affection, but always believed it would be better for me that his life had been preserved; for, after his fall, I got the hatred of those who wished me well before; and those who set me against him, set themselves afterwards against me, and were my greatest enemies; and my soul hath many times been grieved that I was not nearer to him when he died; because, as I understood afterwards, he asked for me at his death, and desired to have been reconciled to me. "And now I entreat that you all will join me in prayer to that great God of heaven whom I have seriously offended-being a man full of all 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;-that His almighty goodness will forgive me; that He will cast away my sins from me; and that He will receive me into everlasting life. take leave of you all, making my peace with God." So I Proclamation being now made that all should depart the scaffold, Ralegh" embraced," as an eye-witness tells us, "all the lords and others of his friends then present with the most courtly compliments of discourse, as if he had met them at some feast." He entreated the Earl of Arundel to desire the King that no writings defamatory of him might be published after his death, concluding, “I have a long journey to go, and therefore must take my leave." Then having put off his gown and doublet, and given his money, his hat and other articles to his attendants, he called to the headsman to show him the axe. The man appearing to hesitate, Ralegh said, "I pr'ythe let me see it: dost thou think I am afraid of it?" Having felt the edge, "It is a sharp medicine," he said to the sheriff, smiling, "but it is that that will cure all sorrows," and he kissed it. He then entreated the spectators to pray for him, and, kneeling down, was long in prayer. When he rose, the headsman kneeled down and asked his forgiveness, which Sir Walter, laying his hand upon his shoulder, granted, requesting him not to strike till he should lift up his hand as a sign. "Then," said he, " fear not, but strike home." Being asked which way he would lay his head upon the block, he answered, "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies," and he laid himself down. After a brief prayer, he lifted his hand: the signal not being obeyed, he called aloud, "Strike! strike!" and at two blows his head was struck off, his body never shrinking or moving. The extraordinary effusion of blood astonished the spectators, who inferred from it that he might have lived many years. His head, after it had been shown on each side of the scaffold, was put into a red leathern bag, and, with his velvet nightgown thrown over it, was conveyed away in a mourning coach. His body was buried hard by, in the chancel of St. Margaret's Church; but his head was, during her life, preserved in a case by Lady Ralegh, who survived her husband twenty-nine years. After her death, it was buried with her son Carew at West Horsley, in Surrey.* The story has been often told of Master Edward Wymark, a wealthy citizen, a great newsmonger, and a constant Paul's-walker (or frequenter of |