m Plymouth to London. Towards the close of
1591 the bishopric of Salisbury, which had been vacant for three years,
was filled by the appointment of Dr. Coldwell. Dean Bennett of Windsor,
and Dr. Tobias Matthew, or Matthews, afterwards Bishop of Durham and
Archbishop of York, father to the wit and letter-writer, Sir Toby, had
declined it on account of a condition that the new Bishop must consent
to part with Sherborne. Ralegh subsequently declared that he had given
the Queen a jewel worth, L250 'to make the Bishop.' He not rarely
concerned himself about vacant bishoprics for his own purposes. His
present fit of ecclesiastical zeal was explained by Dr. Coldwell's
execution of a lease to the Crown in January, 1592, of Sherborne and its
dependencies for ninety-nine years. A rent was reserved to the see of
L260, which, according to the Bishop, was not regularly paid. The Queen
at once assigned the lease to Ralegh. The manor of Banwell, which lay
conveniently for the property, belonged to the see of Bath and Wells.
Elizabeth demanded this of Bishop Godwin. The Bishop in his gouty old
age had contracted a marriage which offended the Queen's notions of
propriety, with a rich city widow. This was employed as a lever to
oblige him to one of the forced exchanges for Crown impropriations
which, though not illegal, friends of the Church styled sacrilege. Sir
John Harington, Elizabeth's witty godson, writing in the reign of James,
is fond of the term. He admits that he himself conveyed one of the sharp
messages by which Elizabeth tried to obtain Banwell. Finally a
compromise was effected. Godwin courageously clung to Banwell, but
redeemed it by the grant in Ralegh's favour of a ninety-nine years'
lease of Wilscombe.

[Sidenote: _Sherborne Castle._]

[Sidenote: _Falconry._]

Ralegh found occupation at Sherborne. We know something of his life
there. We know, though not nearly enough, much more of it than when
Gibbon assigned the absence of the 'details of private life' as a
principal reason for the abandonment of his original decision to take
Ralegh for his literary theme. It was varied and animated. He pursued
amusement and business with equal earnestness. In his _Farewell to the
Court_, which foreshadows the sentiment of this period, though probably
written earlier, he mourns for his 'sweet spring spent,' his 'summer
well-nigh done;' but he had energy for other matters than repining at
'joys expired like truthless dreams.' He buil