The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-27

IN the appropriation OF PUBIC MONIES
needed to the material progress of your
labors splendid building, if required,
will l dare say, be provided; the mechan-
ical appliances needed in the work as
outlined by your committee will no doubt
be forthcoming with ready welcome and
profusion, and when your task is done
a splendid statue carved into the classic
outlines of the great and immortal Raj
eigh or a towering and majestic shaft
erected to the memory of his noble life
and character, accordingly as your taste
and Judgment may prescribe, will stand
upon this wave-beaten island, where the
pride of two nations can point to it
England and America-and where his
sainted spirit can look down from the
skies upon the gratitude and homage Of
grateful and remote posterity. Then
at last would the hand of eternal justice
that reaches through the realms of time
and stops not on the margin of eternity,
be outstrutched to wipe away the tears
of disappointment that the fate Of his
colonies evoked. How heavily those tears
must have fallen 4t5 years ago now, but
how manfully they were suppressed by
the resoluteness of a patient magnani-
with most interesting reality in the
words of his own heart, penned by his
own hand and addressed to his bosom
friend and comrade, whose genius found
kindship in his own and whose COM
partnership was one of the sweets of his
life-I refer to the Incompatible Shake
speare. l shall ask you to let me read
those words embodied in a letter which
crossed my path few seasons ago, and
for which / am indebted to the kindness
of my learned friend, Capt. VIM. Day,
Of Raleigh.
In rambling through the labyrinths of
the library OF that cultured gentleman
and great belles-lettres scholar, | found
booklet, whose striking title attracted
me. 1t was entitled THE Insomnia OF
Shakespeare and the Causes Thereof"
passed a few very happy hours with it.,
and among it's novel and interesting pro-
auctions l found what purported to be a
reproduction of the following letter writ
ten by Sir Walter Raleigh to w. Shake
speare. 1t is dated at the Mermaid the
memorable tavern where the literati Of
London met in the halcyon days of Eng
lish literature, March Goth, 1909, and is
as follows:
ITO VIM. shakespeare: Full we'll do
know my dearest Will, that often hast
thou wondered of the fate of thy fifty
pound sterling which, with a hundred
times as much of mine own, was adj
ventured to found an empire in America.
Great were our hopes, both of glory and
of gold. in the kindness of Powhatan.
But it grieves me much to say that all
hath resulted in infelicity and an I'M
happy end. Our ships were wrecked or
captured by the knavish Spaniards. Our
brave sailors all persisted. AS / was
blameworthy for thy risk, l send by the
messenger your $50 which you shall not
lose by my overhopeful vision.
send a package of a new herb
from the Chesapeake, called by the ma
tives, tobacco. Make it not into tea as
did one of my kinsmen, but kindle and
smoke it in the little tube the messenger
will bestow. Be not deferred if thy gorge
at first rises against it, for when thou
art wonted, it. is balm for all sorrows
and beam of Paradise. (Who would not
wish to have substituted box of modern
Live Indian or Cincos?) And now my
sweet Will. whom my soul loveth, why
CONTEST thou not as of yore 20 The 'Mer-
maid that | may have speech with thee?
Thou knowest that from my youth up
| have adventured all for the welfare and
glory of our Queen Elizabeth. On sea and
on land and in many chimes. have
fought the accused Spaniards, and am
honored by our sovereign and among
men, and have won both gold and fame;
but all this would l give and more for
1.-THE of the honor which, in the coming
time, shall assuredly be thine. Thy
Kingdom is of the Imagination, and
therefore hath no'imit or end. Thy
wise sayings are ever with me. Thou
art the immediate jewel of my soul as
myself hast written. When am bruised
with adversely l remember thy saying:
He fghteth as one weary of his life,
and my courage comes; and even when
l consider the solemn end of all, and that
| do march the way to dusky death, still
in thy words do l hope for grace by
Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous
sins"
If Mr. President, he were living today,
every tear of the disconsolate would be
wiped away by this intended demonstra-
ton of a peoples and a nations love.
But 1 am about to find myself di-
crossing, and allured from the practical
features OF my SUBJECT by INC Impulse
OF that sweet and commendable senti-
ment that inspired our coming and that
brought us here,
Our nations part in the contemplated
celebration is one of practical business,
as we'll as proper sentiment, and as
have said l cannot doubt that through
our most efficient representation in both
Houses of Congress, she will bear her
part by liberal appropriations and other
wise, as she has never failed to do in
the past The Congress cannot fail to
see and realize your need of that action,
as much for the national recognition of
your broad and catholic aims and pur-
poses and from the broad and national
spirit and influence it is intended to dis
seminate as from the tangible practical
conveniences it will offer to facilitate
YOUR labors and alleviate their difficult
ties.
nation of ancestral pride, bound TO
the mother country by cherished sentl-
ments of filial devotion, chained to her
by commercial intercourse that conquers
distance and defies the ocean wave; bullt
upon the foundation stones quarried by
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