old bailiff, whose insolent persecution tied him to the estate. In
April, 1610, Meere had the effrontery to offer to prove by a letter,
probably forged, that Ralegh had promised him L100 a-year to conceal a
set of frauds. His own heart cherished a lingering hope of a restoration
of the property after all. In 1612 it seemed to be on the point of
returning to him. Prince Henry expressed his indignation that a place of
so much strength and beauty should have been given away, and had begged
it of his father in the summer. James consented, and compensated Carr
with L25,000 or L20,000. Ralegh and his friends believed that the Prince
meant to bestow it on him with his freedom. On the Prince's death in
November it reverted to the Crown, which sold a lease of it to Sir
Robert Phillips. The transaction was speedily cancelled, and James gave
the place back to Carr for the sum of L20,000, which, if not more, he
had received. Three years later Carr's attainder shifted it over once
again. Villiers might have had it, and refused. He would not, he said,
have his fortune built upon another man's ruins. His contemporaries
thought he might have been influenced also by fear of Bishop Osmund's
curse upon all who should take Sherborne from the bishopric. Had he
accepted it, Felton's dagger would have been considered one of the
curse's instruments. At all events, he did not lose by his generous
sentiment. Eleven manors were bestowed upon him instead, as was recited
in their grant, of the Manor of Sherborne intended for him. Thereupon
the property was sold to Sir John Digby, subsequently Lord Digby of
Sherborne and Earl of Bristol, for L10,000, supplemented by gratuitous
diplomatic services in Spain. Long afterwards, as we shall see, Carew
Ralegh tried to revive the hereditary claim. Ralegh himself ceased to
prosecute it after Prince Henry's death.

CHAPTER XXIII.

SCIENCE AND LITERATURE (1604-1615).

[Sidenote: _Chemical Researches._]

In prison as in freedom, if Ralegh failed in one effort for the
reconstruction whether of his fortune, or of his career, he was always
ready for another. He felt all the tedium of the uphill struggle.
'Sorrow rides the ass,' he exclaimed; 'prosperity the eagle.' Never for
an instant was he dejected to the extent of faltering in the energy of
his protests against the endeavours to suppress him. As Mr. Rossetti has
noted in an exquisite sonnet, his mind remained always at liberty. His
avocations and i