From thence to heaven's bribeless hall,c
Where no corrupted voices brawl,
No conscience molten into gold,
No forg'd accuser bought or sold, '
No cause deferr'd, no vain-spent journey,
For there Christ is the King's attorney;
Who pleads for all without degroes,
And he hath angels, but no fees.

And when the twelve grand million jury,
Of our sins, with direful fury,
Against our souls black verdicts give,
Christ pleads his death, and then we live.

Be thou my speaker, taintless pleader!
Unblotted lawyer! true proceeder!
Thou would'st salvation e'en for alms,
Not with a bribed lawyer's palms.

And this is mine eternal plea

To him that made heav'n, earth, and sea;
That, since my flesh must die so soon,

And want a head to dine next noon,

Just at the stroke, when my veins start and spread,
Set on my soul an everlasting head!

Then am I ready, like a palmer fit,

To tread those bless'd paths which before I writ.
Of death and judgment, heav'n and hell,
Who oft doth think, must needs die well.

* His imagination, filled with the forms and proceedings of criminal justice, transfers these images to a higher tribunal.

WRITTEN IN HIS BIBLE.

E'en such is time! which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have ;
And pays us naught but age and dust,
Which, in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wander'd all our ways,
the story of our days.

Shuts up

And from which grave, and earth, and dust,
The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.

SIR WALTER RALEGH'S ANSWER TO SOME THINGS AT HIS

DEATH.

1. I did never receive any direction from my Lord Carew to make my escape, nor did I ever tell Stukely any such thing.

II. I did never name my Lord Hay and my Lord Carew to Stukely in other words or sense, than as my honourable friends, among other lords.

• III. I did never shew unto Stukely any letter wherein there was £10,000 named, or any one pound; only I told him, that I hoped to procure the payment of his debts in his absence.

king.

in

IV. I never had commission from the French

V.

my

I never saw the French king's hand or seal life.

Sundry Collections, and Birch's Works of Ralegh, II, 398,

vi. I never had any plot or practice with the French, directly or indirectly, nor with any other prince or state unknown to the king.

.

VII. My true intent was to go to a mine of gold in Guiana; it was not feigned, but it is true, that such a mine there is within three miles of St. Thome.

VIII. I never had in my thought to go from Trinidado, and leave my companies to come after to the Savage island, as Hatby Fearn hath falsely reported.

Ix. I did not carry with me 100 pieces; I had with me about 60, and brought back nearly the same number.

'x. I never spake to the French Mannourie any one disloyal word, or dishonourable speech of the king. Nay, if I had not loved the king truly, and trusted in his goodness somewhat too much, I know that I had not now suffered death.

• These things are most true, as there is a God, and as I am now to appear before his tribunal seat! where I renounce all mercy and salvation, if this be not truth.

'At my death,

WALTER RALEGH.'

See the end of his Apology for his last voyage to Guiana, and Birch's Works of Ralegh, II, 280.

About nine o'clock on Thursday morning, the 29th of October, (the day of the lord mayor's inauguration, and which, perhaps, was never before attended with a public execution), Sir Walter Raleghi was conducted by the sheriffs to a scaffold erected in Old Palace yard. His countenance was cheerful, he saluted the lords and gentlemen of his acquaintance who were present; and when proclamation for silence was made, he said, I desire to be borne withal, for this is the third day of my fever ; and if I shall shew any weakness, I beseech you to attribute it to my malady, for this is the hour in which it is wont to come. He then directed himself toward a window where Lords Arundel, Northampton, Doncaster, and others sat, and proceeded, I thank God of his infinite goodness, that he hath brought me to die in the light and not in darkness. But, fearing he was not heard by them, he said he would strain his voice, because he wished them to hear him; upon which Lord Arundel and others came to the scaffold, where, when he had saluted them, he proceeded thus.*

Oldys informs us, the knight had on a wrought nightcap under his hat, a ruff band, a black wrought velvet nightgown over a hair-coloured sattin doublet, and a black wrought waist coat, a pair of black cut taffety breeches, and ash coloured silk stockings. (p. 227.)

上 Hargrave's State Trials, I, 229.

SIR WALTER RALEGH'S SPEECH ON THE SCAFFOLD.

As I said, I thank God heartily that he hath brought me into the light to die, and hath not suffered me to die in the dark prison of the Tower, where I have suffered a great deal of misery and cruel sickness. And I thank God that my fever hath not taken me at this time, as I prayed God 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.

There are two main points of suspicion that his Majesty, as I hear, hath conceived against me, and which, I conceive, have specially hastened my coming hither; wherein his Majesty cannot be satisfied, and which I desire to clear and resolve you of.

One is, that his Majesty hath been informed I have had some plot with France; and his Majesty had some reasons to induce him thereunto. One reason, that his Majesty had to conjecture so, was, that when I came back from Guiana, being come to Plymouth, I endeavoured to go in a bark to Rochel; which was, because I would fain have made my peace before I came to England. Another reason was, that upon my flight I did intend to fly to France for saving of my life, having had some terror from above. A third reason was, the French

! Alluding to the reports he received from the court.