great favour with the king; and having no fortune, they contrived to lay the foundation of his future greatness upon the ruins of sir Walter Ralegh. Whereupon they called the conveyance of Sherburn in question in the exchequer chamber, and for want of one single word (which word was found notwithstanding in the paper-book, and was only the oversight of a clerk) they pronounced the conveyance invalid, and Sherburn forfeited to the crown; a judgment easily to be foreseen without witchcraft, since his chiefest judge was his greatest enemy, and the case argued between a poor friendless prisoner and a king of England. Thus was Sherburn given to sir Robert Car, (after earl of Somerset ;) the lady Ralegh a with her children humbly and earnestly petitioning the king for compassion on her and her's, could obtain no other answer from him, but that he mun have the land, he mun have it for Car. She being a woman of a very high spirit, and noble birth and breeding, fell down upon her knees, with her hands heaved up to heaven, and in the bitterness of spirit beseeched God Almighty to look upon the justness of her cause, and punish those who had so wrongfully exposed her and her poor children to ruin and beggary. What hath happened since to that royal family is too sad and disastrous for me to repeat, and yet too visible not to be discerned. But to proceed: prince Henry, hearing the king had given Sherburn to sir Robert Car, came with some anger to his father, desiring he would be pleased to bestow Sherburn upon him, alleging that it was a place of great strength and beauty, which he much liked, but, indeed, with an intention to give it back to sir Walter Ralegh, whom he much esteemed. The king, who was unwilling to refuse any of that prince's desires, (for indeed they were most commonly delivered in such language as sounded rather like a demand than an entreaty,) granted his request; and to satisfy his favourite, gave him twenty-five thousand pounds in money, so far was She was the only daughter of sir Nicholas Throgmorton, who was arraigned in queen Mary's time, and acquitted. See Fox's Acts and Monu meuts. the king or crown from gaining by this purchase. But that excellent prince, within a few months, was taken away, how and by what means is suspected by all, and I fear was then too well known by many. After his death the king gave Sherburn again to sir Robert Car, who not many years after, by the name of earl of Somerset, was arraigned and condemned for poisoning sir Thomas Overbury, and lost all his lands. Then sir John Digby, now earl of Bristol, begged Sherburn of the king, and had it. Sir Walter Ralegh, being of a vigorous constitution and perfect health, had now worn out sixteen years' imprisonment, and had seen the disastrous end of all his greatest enemies; so that new persons and new interests now springing up in court, he found means to obtain his liberty, but upon condition to go a voyage to Guiana, in discovery of a gold mine; that unhappy voyage is well known, almost to all men, and how he was betrayed from the very beginning, his letters and designs being discovered to Gondamore, the Spanish ambassador, whereby he found such opposition upon the place, that though he took and fired the town of St. Thoma, yet he lost his eldest son in that service, and being desperately sick himself, was made frustrate of all his hopes. Immediately upon his return home he was made prisoner, and by the violent pursuit of Gondamore, and some others, who could not think their estates safe while his head was upon his shoulders, the king resolved to take advantage of his former condemnation sixteen years past, being not able to take away his life for any new action; and, though he had given him a commission under the broad seal to execute martial law upon his own soldiers, which was conceived by the best lawyers a full pardon for any offence committed before that time, without any further trouble of the law, cut off his head. Here justice was indeed blind, blindly executing one and the same person, upon one and the same condemnation, for things contradictory; for sir Walter Ralegh was condemned for being a friend to the Spaniard, and lost his life for being their utter enemy. Thus kings, when they will do what they please, please not him they should, God; and, having made their power subservient to their will, deprive themselves of that just power whereby others are subservient to them. To proceed: Mr. Carew Ralegh, only son of sir Walter, being at this time a youth of about thirteen, bred at Oxford, after five years came to court; and, by the favour of the right honourable William earl of Pembroke, his noble kinsman, hoped to obtain some redress in his misfortunes; but the king, not liking his countenance, said he appeared to him like the ghost of his father, whereupon the earl advised him to travel, which he did until the death of king James, which happened about a year after. Then coming over, and a parliament sitting, he, according to the custom of this land, addressed himself to them by petition to be restored in blood, thereby to enable him to inherit such lands as might come unto him either as heir to his father, or any other way; but, his petition having been twice read in the lords' house, king Charles sent sir James Fullerton (then of the bedchamber) unto Mr. Ralegh, to command him to come unto him; and, being brought into the king's chamber by the said sir James, the king, after using him with great civility, notwithstanding told him plainly, that, when he was prince, he had promised the earl of Bristol to secure his title to Sherburn, against the heirs of sir Walter Ralegh, whereupon the earl had given him, then prince, ten thousand pounds, that now he was bound to make good his promise, being king; that therefore, unless he would quit all his right and title to Sherburn, he neither could nor would pass his bill of restoration. Mr. Ralegh urged the justness of his cause; that he desired only the liberty of a subject, and to be left to the law, which was never denied any freeman. Notwithstanding all which allegations, the king was resolute in his denial, and so left him. After which sir James Fullerton used many arguments to persuade submission to the king's will; as, the impossibility of contesting with kingly power, the not being restored in blood, which brought along with it so many inconveniences, that it was not possible without it to possess or enjoy any lands or estate in this kingdom; the not being in a condition, if his cloak were taken from his back, or hat from his head, to sue for restitution. All which things being considered, together with splendid promises of great preferment in court, and particular favours from the king not improbable, wrought much in the mind of young Mr. Ralegh, being a person not full twenty years old, left friendless and fortuneless, and prevailed so far, that he submitted to the king's will. Whereupon there was an act passed for his restoration, and, together with it, a settlement of Sherburn to the earl of Bristol; and, in show of some kind of recompense, four hundred pounds a year pension, during his life, granted to Mr. Ralegh after the death of his mother, who had that sum paid unto her during life, in lieu of jointure. b Thus have I, with as much brevity, humility, and candour, (as the nature of the case will permit,) related the pressures, force, and injustice committed upon a poor oppresssed, though not undeserving family, and have forborne to specify the names of those who were instruments of this evil, lest I should be thought to have an inclination to scandalize particular, and perchance noble, families. Upon the consideration of all which, I humbly submit myself to the commons of England, now represented in parliament, desiring, according to their great wisdom and justice, that they will right me and my posterity, according to their own best liking; having in my own person (though bred at court) never opposed any of their just rights and privileges, and for the future being resolved to range myself under the banner of the commons of England; and, so far forth as education and fatherly instruction can prevail, promise the same for two sons whom God hath sent me. b Sir Walter Ralegh discovered Virginia at his own charge, which cost him forty thousand pounds. He was the first of all the English that discovered Guiana, in the West Indies. He took the islands of Fayall from the Spaniard, and did most signal and eminent service at the taking of Cadiz. He took from the Spaniard the greatest and richest carack that ever came into England: another ship likewise, laden with nothing but gold, pearls, and cochineal. Like desert woods with darksome shades obscured. Like truthless dreams, so are my joys expir'd. Rise, O my soul, with thy desires to heaven. Shepherd, what's love, I pray thee tell. Sweet violets, Love's paradise, that spread. Sweet were the sauce would please each kind of taste. Th' offence of the stomach, with the word of disgrace. THE END. 90 71 486 AA 30 A30 716 ibid. 697 707 722 706 713 ibid. 715 719 736 718 736 732 |