Part 6 (2/2)
That the royal anger had a better foundation than the mere jealousy of affection or of domination, it is to be feared, is the inevitable inference from the evidence, however concise and circumstantial Had contradiction been possible, Cah and his wife Cecil alluded to Ralegh's offence in 1592 as 'brutish' With all his zeal to indulge the Queen's indignation, he could not have used the ter absence of Court talk on the occurrence is not traceable to any doubt of its true character
Courtiers sierous to be outspoken on a in Queen's household circle Her prudery , the fault It was dangerous for one of her counsellors to be suspected of an attach earnestly to Carew in repudiation of a rue Alh's words to himself of ten years earlier, he declares upon his soul he knows none on earth that he was, or, if he , except to herself, was so criminal that at Court it had to be done by stealth Any show of affection was deeuilt to the reality is not always a wide step
In Ralegh's references and language to his wife h he owed reparation as well as attach feature of their passion is that they loved with true love also, and with a love which grew His published opinions, as in his _Instructions to his Son_, on wives and e, ring harshly and coldly But he did not act on frigid fragments of sententious suspiciousness He was careful for his orldly welfare With death, as it see, his 'sweet Besse,' his 'faithful wife,' as scoffing Harington with enthusiasm called her His constant desire was to have her by his side, but to spare her grieving
[Sidenote: _A Rhapsody_]
[Sidenote: _A Comedy in the Tower_]
When and where they were married is unknown So careful were they to avoid publicity that Lady Ralegh's brother, Arthur Throckh his suspicions were dissipated, and he became an attached friend of the husband's Probably the ceremony was performed after the imprisonment and not before If the threat of detention in the Tower, ainst the lady, Ralegh at all events betrayed no consciousness that she was his neighbour In his correspondence at the time he never speaks of her His business was to obtain his release He understood that allusions to the partner in his misdeed would not move the Queen to kindness Like Leicester, and like Essex, he continued, though married, to use loverlike phrases of the Queen, whenever they were in the least likely to reach her ear The Cecils were his allies against Essex In July, 1592, under cover of an account for the Yeoress, he burst into a wonderful effusion to, not for, Robert Cecil: 'My heart was never broken till this day, that I hear the Queen goes away so far off--whoreat love and desire, in so many journeys, and am now left behind her, in a dark prison all alone While she was yet nigher at hand, that I ht hear of her once in two or three days, my sorroere the less; but even now my heart is cast into the depth of alllike Alexander, hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks, like a ny in the shade like a Goddess; so like Orpheus Behold the sorrow of this world! Once amiss, hath bereaved me of all O Glory, that only shi+neth in misfortune, what is become of thy assurance? All wounds have scars, but that of fantasy; all affections their relenting, but that of woe of friendshi+p, but adversity? Or when is grace witnessed, but in offences? There were no divinity but by reason of coes are brutish and hs, the sorrows, the desires--can they not weigh down one frail reat heaps of sweetness? I one in whoht of mercy, nor any respect of that that was Do with me now, therefore, what you list I am more weary of life than they are desirous I should perish; which, if it had been for her, as it is by her, I had been too happily born' Did ever tailor's bill, though for the olden roses, inspire a like rhapsody! By one writer on Ralegh it has been characterized, so various are tastes, as 'tawdry and fulsoance To contelaring
Elizabeth aroused both fascination and awe in her own period which justified high flights After her goodness and wrath were becoton spoke of her: 'When she smiled it was a pure sunshi+ne that every one did choose to bask in if they could; but anon came a storm, and the thunder fell in wondrousfor the radiance as in deprecating the scowls, though he overrated his ability to conjure that back, and these away In the same July, apparently, on July 26, he played a little coedy of eleven years after His chamber in the Toas the scene The spectators were his Keeper and cousin, Sir George Carew, and Arthur Gorges Gorges was still, like Carew, his friend in 1614, and was sung by hiht nor ever cared to cli worthlessthe Queen was on the Thauise near enough to look upon her On Carew's necessary refusal he wentoff At last they drew out their daggers, whereupon Gorges interposed, and had his knuckles rapped 'They continue,' he proceeds, 'in ood Sir, let nobody know thereof' He adds in a more veracious postscript: 'If you let the Queen's Majesty know hereof, as you think good, be it'
[Sidenote: _The Brick Tower_]
Ralegh thought he understood his royal Mistress, of whom he had written not very respectfully to Carew hie Carew longs to see her; and, therefore, see her' Like others he perceived her weaknesses; he did not appreciate her strength To his surprise she remained offended; and none can blan charround may be ridiculed But she had a sincerer love for purity of h had set an ill example He had broken his trust; the seduction of a n; he properly suffered for it, and not in excess of the offence His confinee Carew since February, 1588, had been Master of the Ordnance in Ireland
He was acting as Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance for England in August, 1592; being confirmed in the post in 1603, and made Master-General in 1609 In virtue of his office he had noell as later apartments in the Brick tohich was considered to be under the charge of the Master of the Ordnance To the Brick tower Ralegh had been sent, and he was committed to Carew's easy custody He had his own servants, whoe on the upper floor of the tower
His friends were granted liberal access to him From hishe could see the river and the country beyond The old Tower story that he was shut up in a cell in the crypt, is a fiction Not even his offices or their emoluments were taken away He could perform the duties by deputy
But fro afterwards he was forbidden to coainst the Irish Lord Deputy_]
[Sidenote: _New Coht restraint He affected indignation at the severity of the penalty hich his 'great treasons,' as he called them in ality, more than questionable as that was Almost from the first he evinced the extraordinary elasticity of nature, which was to be tried a hundredfold hereafter While he protested against the inevitable he carved his life to suit it Froes of despair and of business in the strangest medley He was much exercised about his Irish estate; and he cast his burden upon Cecil: 'Your cousin, the doting Deputy,' Fitzwillia on his tenants for a supposed debt from himself as Undertaker A suh all Munster had scarce so es, had beenthe Queen 1200 a year for a band of worthless soldiers in Youghal, under 'a base fellow, O'Dodall' Perhaps his estimate of the Captain may not be unbiassed A Sir John Dowdall seems to have disputed his title to, and, two years later, to have ejected him from possession of, the manor of Ardmore and other lands demised to hirieved by Lord Deputy Fitzwilliaht it, as it was, 'a sign how s of a rising of the Burkes, O'Donells, and O'Neales need not have been neglected 'I wrote,' he corew's ten days past a prophecy of this rebellion, which when the Queen read shein reality to him He cared not either for life or lands He was becoical confusion, 'like a fish cast on dry land, gasping for breath, with las' Still, he felt bound to point out the pity of it Then too, he reh Admiral, there was the Great Susan, 'which nobody but myself would undertake to set out' It could hardly be more profitable to punish hithen the fleet, or dothe in order, as he alone could, the soldiers and mariners 'that ca for pay So, again, in vain he knew of the warshi+ps of the French League lying in wait for English -stock for all nations His inforh 'this unfortunate accident,' of which neither he nor his correspondents ever state the nature 'I see,' he cries to the High Ad, 'there is a deterrace me and ruin me Therefore I beseech your Lordshi+p not to offend her Majesty any farther by suing for me I am now resolved of the matter I only desire that I may be stayed not one hour from all the extremity that either law or precedent can avow And if that be too little, would God it ithall concluded that I o by, to save labour For the torreater; and, for the body, would others did respect themselves as much as I value it at little' He was always i in misfortunes, till the last extreo on without hi new coht the old
He let not a clue slip frorace he was as active as in his sunniest prosperity, perhaps more so
[Sidenote: _The Prize_]
An accident freed him in September from actual duress His disposition of the fleet of which he continued titular 'General,' though Frobisher and Burgh had royal commissions, proved successful Already a Biscayan of 600 tons burden, the Santa Clara, had been captured and sent to England This was the prize of which, and its prize crew, Ralegh wrote to the High Admiral The squadron under Frobisher deceived and perplexed the Spaniards Sir John Burgh slipped by and made for the Azores His shi+ps spread theues west of Flores They were disappointed of the Santa Cruz, of 900 tons, which on July 29 her officers burnt On August 3 the great Crown of Portugal carack, the Madre de Dios, caed her, and she was prevented fro ashore She was of 1600 tons burden, had seven decks, and carried 800 le lasted fro The captors hotly debated their rival ht were both disabled, and that his soldiers boarded and took the shi+p Burgh accused cunificence of the prize Burgh wrote: 'I hope, for all the spoil that has been made, her Majesty shall receive more profit by her than by any shi+p that ever caland' The purser of the Santa Cruz deposed that the Madre de Dios contained precious stones, pearls, areat crosses and a jewel of dia She had 537 tons of spices The pepper alone was represented by Burleigh as worth 102,000 It fell to the Crown's share
She carried fifteen tons of ebony, beside tapestries, silks, and satins
After a store she reached Dartles rushed upon the carcase The ports of arrival looked like Bartholomew Fair, said an eye-witness The Council ordered the search of all trunks and bundles conveyed from Plymouth or Dartmouth It sent Robert Cecil post-haste to hinderSir John Hawkins, next chief adventurer after Ralegh, had written already to Burleigh to say that for the partition of the spoil 'Sir Walter Ralegh is the especial round how her Majesty's portion h was permitted to quit the Tower After a stay of two days in London, he was despatched ards He travelled as a State prisoner in charge of a keeper, Blount As he went, he wrote, on Septe secretly the fine goods: 'If Iup, if it be upon the wildest heath in all the way, I mean to strip them as naked as ever they were born For it is infinite that her Majesty hath been robbed, and that of the s'
Cecil was in front, and on September 19 reached Exeter He had turned back all he met on the road from Dartmouth or Plymouth He could smell the them 'I fear that the birds be flown, for jewels, pearls, and amber; yet I will not doubt but to save her Majesty that which shall be worth the journey
My Lord, there never was such spoil! I will suppress the confluence of the buyers, of which there are above 2000' He adds: 'I found an arold, and a fork and spoon of crystal with rubies, which I reserve for the Queen Her Majesty's captive comes after me, but I have outrid him, and will be at Dartmouth before hied praise He testified freely to Cecil's zeal He wrote on Septeive the Queen 10,000 for that which is gained by Sir Robert Cecil co dohich I speak without all affection, or partiality, for he hath more rifled h in a h's exertions, in a very interesting letter to Sir Thoh arrived with his keeper, Mr Blount I assure you, Sir, his poor servants, to the nuoodly men, and all the mariners, came to him with shouts of joy; I never saw a man more troubled to quiet them But his heart is broken, as he is extremely pensive, unless he is busied, in which he can toil terribly Thebetween him and Sir John Gilbert ith tears on Sir John's part But he, finding it is known that he has a keeper, whenever he is saluted with congratulations for liberty, doth answer, ”No, I aland's poor captive” I wished him to conceal it, because here it doth direater arace hireedy to do anything to recover the conceit of his brutish offence'
[Sidenote: _Division of the Spoil_]
Cecil, Raleigh, and Williareere appointed joint coh's chests They paid the ave 20_s_ in addition to each froh and Hawkins had jointly written to the High Ad for convoy for the carack They coh wrote to Burleigh from the Tower, that its value he estimated at 200,000 It turned out to be 141,000 Whatever it was, the general rule for distributing the value of privateer prizes was a third to the owner, a third to the victuallers, a third to the officers and crew Elizabeth contributed 1100 tons of shi+pping out of 5000, and 1800 out of 18,000 So she was entitled to a tenth, that is, frootiation with Sir George Carew, to add 80,000 for the Queen
'Four score thousand pounds is more than ever a man presented her Majesty as yet If God have sent it for oodness will accept it If her Majesty cannot beat me from her affection, I hope her sweet nature will think it no conquest to afflict h and Hawkins, who between them had, they said, spent 34,000 To Lord cumberland, who had spent only 19,000, arded 36,000, and 12,000 to the City of London, which had spent 6000 Ralegh, as, he boasted, 'the greatest adventurer,' grievously coh He asserted also that, while he had deprived Spain in 1591 of 300,000, he had lost in Lord Thoe 1600 He reckoned up, besides, the interest he had been paying on 11,000 since the voyage began The Queen was grasping in such matters So, too, was her Lord Treasurer Sir John Fortescue, Chancellor of the Exchequer, had to remonstrate: 'It were utterly to overthrow all service if due regard were not had of h, with the rest of the Adventurers, ould never be induced to further adventure if they were not princely considered of' He added in a courtly strain: 'And herein I found her Majesty very princely disposed'