soul of honest Sir John Harrington. Essex is christened 'my martyr,'
apparently for having plotted treason against Elizabeth with Tyrone.
Raleigh is received with a pun--'By my soul, I have heard rawly of
thee, mon'; and when the great nobles and gentlemen come to court
with their retinues, James tries to hide his dread of them in an
insult; pooh-poohs their splendour, and says, 'he doubts not that he
should have been able to win England for himself, had they kept him
out.' Raleigh answers boldly, 'Would God that had been put to the
trial.' 'Why?' 'Because then you would have known your friends from
your foes.' 'A reason,' says old Aubrey, 'never forgotten or
forgiven.' Aubrey is no great authority; but the speech smacks so of
Raleigh's offhand daring that one cannot but believe it; as one does
also the other story of his having advised the lords to keep out
James and erect a republic. Not that he could have been silly enough
to propose such a thing seriously at that moment; but that he most
likely, in his bold way, may have said, 'Well, if we are to have this
man in without conditions, better a republic at once.' Which, if he
did say, he said what the next forty years proved to be strictly
true. However, he will go on his own way as best he can. If James
will give him a loan, he and the rest of the old heroes will join,
fit out a fleet against Spain, and crush her, now that she is
tottering and impoverished, once and for ever. But James has no
stomach for fighting; cannot abide the sight of a drawn sword; would
not provoke Spain for the world--why, they might send Jesuits and
assassinate him; and as for the money, he wants that for very
different purposes. So the answer which he makes to Raleigh's
proposal of war against Spain is to send him to the Tower, and
sentence him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, on a charge of
plotting with Spain.