ked him in
Arthur's Hall. Next Grey was brought on the scaffold. He asserted that
his fault against the King was 'far from the greatest, yet he knew his
heart to be faulty.' He too was ready for the axe, when the Sheriff led
him away to Arthur's Hall, saying the order of the execution was changed
by the King's command, and Cobham was to precede Grey. Cobham came, with
so bold an air as to suggest he had heard; but he prayed so lengthily
that a bystander ejaculated he had 'a good mouth in a cry, but was
nothing single.' He expressed repentance for his offence against the
King. He corroborated all he had said against Sir Walter Ralegh as true
'upon the hope of his soul's resurrection.' The extortion of that
confirmation of his calumnies had been a main object of the whole
disgraceful farce. When he had thus bought his worthless life, the
Sheriff brought back upon the scaffold Grey and Markham to stand beside
him. All three were asked if their offences were not heinous, and if
they had not been justly tried and lawfully condemned. Each answered
affirmatively. Then said the Sheriff: 'See the mercy of your Prince, who
of himself hath sent hither a countermand, and hath given you your
lives.' At this the crowd burst into such hues and cries that they went
from the Castle into the town, and there began afresh. Grey said, 'Since
the King has given me my life without my begging, I will deserve life.'
Henry IV was sceptical as to the magnanimity of James. He wrote to
Beaumont to discover if 'Spanish gold' were concerned in the reprieves;
if Don Juan de Taxis and Cecil had used influence for them; 'for it is
rumoured that these persons, backed by money expended by Ralegh, brought
the thing about.' The faith in Ralegh's endless resources and skill
prevailed in France as in England.

CHAPTER XXII.

A PRISONER (1604-1612).

On December 16, 1603, Ralegh, with his fellow convicts, returned to
London. That would have been the close of an ordinary man's career. To
him alone it did not seem the end, and he resolved it should not be. He
had his life. Liberty and fortune were still to be regained. He looked
around him, and endeavoured to retrieve the scattered fragments of his
wealth. Like all his peers in arms and politics he had ever believed in
the importance of riches. But now he was grasping at the possibility of
continuing by money in lieu of his imprisoned self his schemes of a
Guiana sovereignty. He was striving to constr