e easily make his peace at home while he was safe at a distance.
Another cause of odium had been Manourie's tale of his habit of reviling
the King. That he declared mere lying: 'It is,' he said, 'no time for me
to flatter, or to fear, princes, I who am subject only unto death; yet,
if ever I spake disloyally or dishonestly of the King, the Lord blot me
out of the book of life.'

[Sidenote: _Denial of Stukely's Calumnies._]

Even at this supreme moment he respected the Throne, as much from real
reverence for Royalty, as from fear of harm after him to wife and child.
He did not repeat his protest against the mock conviction of 1603. He
uttered no scorn of the King's betrayal to the Court of Spain of the
plan of his expedition. In general he was content to defend himself; he
was sparing of attacks. Only his 'keeper and kinsman,' Stukely, he could
not pass over in silence. Having received the Sacrament he forgave the
man; but he held himself bound to caution the world against him, out of
charity to others. He repudiated warmly a calumny against Carew and
Doncaster, that they had advised him to fly. He ridiculed the
transparent mendacity of Stukely's story of a promise of L10,000; for
'if I had L1000, I could have made my peace better with it than by
giving it to Stukely.' He disclaimed indignantly the statement Stukely
had attributed to him, that he had been poisoned at Parham's house. Sir
Edward Parham, he said, had been a follower of his; Parham's wife was
his cousin-german; and Parham's cook once was his. As untrue was the
story that he had been conveyed into England against his will. On the
contrary, 150 soldiers held him a close prisoner in his cabin. They
extorted an oath that he would not go to England without their consent;
'otherwise, they would have cast me into the sea.' Unless he had won
over the master-gunner, and ten or twelve others, to return home, and
had drawn the ship to the south of Ireland, he had never got from them.
It had even been alleged that he never meant to go to Guiana, and that
he knew of no gold mine; that his intention only was to recover his
liberty, which he had not the wit to keep. But his friends had believed
in his honesty when he started. He reminded Arundel of the Earl's
request in the gallery of the Destiny that, whether the voyage were good
or bad, he would return to England. Thereupon he had given his word
that he would. 'So you did,' cried Arundel; 'it is true, and they were
the