uct out of the wreck of his
grandeur a refuge for his wife and his boy from the anguish and
dependence of penury. 'Poverty,' he preached to his son, 'is a shame, an
imprisonment of the mind. Poverty provokes a man to do infamous and
detested deeds.'

[Sidenote: _Civilly dead._]

[Sidenote: _Lord Nottingham's Rapacity._]

He was civilly dead. The division of his spoils had commenced before the
trial. He had, as has been mentioned, been dismissed in July from his
island government. In September Godolphin, High Sheriff of Cornwall, had
been directed to take the musters, 'the commission of Lieutenancy
granted to Sir Walter Ralegh being become void and determined.' Early in
1604 he formally returned the seal of the Duchy of Cornwall to Cecil.
His successor was his connexion, Lord Pembroke. He was stripped of the
Rangership of Gillingham Forest, and of the Lieutenancy of Portland,
though he would regret the loss of those offices the less that they
remained in the hands of their joint tenant, his brother, Sir Carew. His
enjoyment of his patent as wine licenser had been suspended, that it
might be considered if the post were a monopoly. The Council came to the
conclusion that it was not. But before Ralegh could collect the arrears
from the vintners he was arraigned. Thereupon, not waiting for the
result of the trial, the King revoked the patent, and granted it to the
Lord Admiral. Nottingham, not content with the profit from new licenses,
claimed the arrears. Lady Ralegh remonstrated. She indignantly computed
to Cecil in 1604 that the Admiral 'hath L6000, and L3000 a year, by my
husband's fall. And since it pleaseth God that his Lordship shall build
upon our ruins, which we never suspected, yet the portion is great and,
I trust, sufficient, out of one poor gentleman's fortune to take all
that remains, and not to look back before his Majesty's grant, and take
from us the debts past, which your Lordship knows were stayed from us by
a proclamation before my husband was suspected of any offence.'
Sherborne was attached. Commissioners for it had been appointed,
Serjeant Phillips and Meere. They had pounced upon the domain, and were
selling stock, felling timber, and dismantling the castle. Cecil
interfered peremptorily by letter, and for a time stayed all
proceedings. He is likely to have 'spoken the one word' about the wine
licence arrears which Lady Ralegh implored. No more is heard of the Lord
Admiral's demand. A more importan