l on the accession of the King, fell into an
ungovernable fit of disappointed ambition when Cecil was more strongly
confirmed in his position; and his anger was directed against the King
himself, from whom he now had nothing to expect, and who had brought
with him a family which made the hope of any further alteration appear
impossible. He had let fall the expression in public that the fox and
his cubs must be destroyed at one blow. Negotiations, aiming at the
renewal of the Lady Arabella's claims, had been opened with the
ambassador of the Archduke, who then perhaps felt anxiety lest King
James, under the influence of Cecil, should adhere to the policy of
his predecessor. In order to effect a revolution, Cobham launched into
extravagant schemes which embraced all Europe.

The affair might have been dangerous, if a man of the activity,
weight, and intelligence of Walter Ralegh had taken part in it. Ralegh
does not deny that Cobham had spoken to him on the subject, but he
affirms that he had not heeded the idle words, and had even forgotten
them again:[330] and in fact nothing has been brought to light which
proves his complicity, or even his remote participation, in this plot.
Still without doubt he was among the opponents of the government. If
it is true, as people say, that he made an attempt by means of a
letter to the King to procure the fall of Cecil, it is easily
conceivable that the latter and his friends availed themselves of
every opportunity to involve him in the accusation. Ralegh defended
himself with so much courage and vigour, that the listeners who had
come wishing to see him condemned went away with a tenfold stronger
desire that he might be acquitted. He himself did not deny that he
might be condemned by the cruel laws of England: he reminded the King
however of a passage in the old statutes, in which for that very
reason mercy and pity were recommended to him. The accused were all
condemned. Brook and the priests paid the penalty of death: Markham,
Cobham, and Grey were reprieved when they were already standing on the
scaffold--reprieved moreover by an autograph mandate of James, which
was entirely due to an unexpected resolution of the King, who wished
to shine by showing mercy as well as by severity. The first of these
lived henceforward in exile: the second continued to live in England,
but weighed down by his disgrace: Grey and Walter Ralegh were
imprisoned in the Tower. We shall meet with Ralegh o