Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-09-07
AN lLLUsTIsIOUS MARTYR.
Sir walter Raleigh Before Ills Exccu.
ton.

The eve of the day fixed for his execu-
ton Ruleig!: had taken Il final farewell of
his wife, and the interview between the
two had lasted until the abbey had tolled
the hour of l.. All business matters had
been settled, and there WAS nothing,
therefore, on the mind of the condemned
man to interfere with his hopes and
thoughts as TO the unseen world into
which he was about to enter, The King
ms last favor had granted the wife,
speedily to be made widow permission
to bury the body Of her husband after the
headsman had done all his work. at is
well, dear Bessie" said Raleigh, pressing
her III the agony of Il last embrace, "that
thou mny'st dispose OF that dead which
thou hHd'st not always the disposing Of
when alive SO those two parted, never
more to meet ON this side the "cternal si-
lencc. "G1l hold me in my wits !"
sighed the poor dame rs she entered her
coach, stationed under thcNery shadow of
the scaifold, upon which in few brief
hours the blood of her husband was to be
shed. AS s o'clock struck Raleigh held
himself in readiness to quit tue Gate
House. A cup of excellent sack was now
brought him, which lie drank at qualf.
He was asked how he liked it. "As the
fellow" lie replied "who, drinking of
st. Giles's bowl on his way to Tyburn,
said it was good drink if man might
tarry by it," After this rcireshment n
procession was made to the scaifOld, at
the head of which walked the Dean of
Westminster. On the way to the Old
Palace Yard Raleigh met Sir Hugh Bre-
.reton, an old friend, whom he had espe-
cially requested to be present at the exc
cution. "SIr Hugh, to make sure work,
got letter from Secretary Lake to the
Sheriff to see him placed conveniently,
and meeting them the procession as they
came near to the scatiOld, delivered his
letter. But the Sheriff by mishap had
left his spectac!es at home, and put the
letter in his pocket /; in the meantime, Sir
Hugh being thrust aside hy the crowd,
Sir Walter babe him farewell, saying Il
know not what shift You will make, but |
am sure to have place. 1t was n bit
terly cold October morning, rendered all
the more sharp by cutting east wind,
and as Raleigh assembled the scafluld and
prepared to address the vast mob that
thronged the palace yard his limbs, en-
teebled by confinement and ill-hcalth,
trembled so visibly that he could scarce
ly support himself. The Sheriff, observ-
ing this debility, offered to help his ILL.,
fated charge down from the scatfold and
take him to fire, so that being warmed
he might be the better able to deliver his
dying speech. "No, good Mr. Sheriff"
SAID Raleigh, "let us dispatch, for within
this quarter Of an hour mine ague will
come upon me, and if ! be not dead be-
fore then mine enemies will say that /
quake for fear" Then, holding ON by
the rail OF the scailoid, he faced the crowd
an thus began: 81 thank God heartily
that He hath brought me into the light
to die, and that He hath not suffered me
to die in the dark prison of the Tower,
where | have suffered Il great deal of mis-
cry and cruel sickness and | thank God
that my fever hath not taken me at the
time, as | prayed to God it might not. 4"
After this preface, lie proceeded to deal
with the charges brought against him.
He denied that he ever entered into any
plot with France, though he admitted, to
save his life, he had attempted to escape
into France. He deuied that he had ever
been counselled by Lord Carew and 9TH
er Lords to fly the country, on that he had
ever offered Sir Lewis Stukeley money to
assist him in escaping. "But, indeed,
he acknowledge, 81 showed him letter
be an order taken for his debts when he
was gone neither had fl0, 900 to give
him, for if l had had 80 much could
have made my peace better with it other
ways than in giving it to Stukeiey." He
declared that his only object in starting
for Guiana was to discover The mine
which really existed there. He denied
that he ever intended to desert his men
when at Trinidad, as had been alleged, OF
that he had been forced to return home by
his men against his will. Nor was it true
that he had carried with him to sea nu-
merous pieces, and that the only object
of his voyage was to get money into his
hands ; lie had taken out but little mon
ey, and such as he had taken out he had
brought back. "These be the material
points," he concluded, ~ thought good
to speak of, and | am now at this instant
to render up an account to God and ]
protest, as / shall appear before Him,
this that / have spoken is true, and L hope
/ shall be believed.