rsion for one of the three greatest Englishmen
of his reign, he had, in butchering Ralegh, been the direct agent of the
Spanish Court. From Spain he sought his real reward. He enhanced his
demand by the immensity of the loss he had inflicted upon England.
Cottington, the instant the news of the execution reached the Legation,
told the Spanish King. Philip III showed, he reported, much contentment
with the hearing. Rushworth, in his _Historical Collections_, has
preserved a letter described as from a great Minister of State to
Cottington. In it the English Agent in Spain was urgently instructed to
enforce upon the Spaniards their debt of gratitude to James, who had
'caused Sir Walter Ralegh to be put to death, chiefly for the giving
them satisfaction.' He was to let them see 'how in many actions of late
his Majesty had strained upon the affections of his people, and
especially in this last concerning Sir Walter Ralegh, who died with a
great deal of courage and constancy. To give them content, he had not
spared a man able to have done his Majesty much service, when, by
preserving him, he might have given great satisfaction to his subjects,
and have had at command upon all occasions as useful a man as served any
prince in Christendom.' A fitting response was made. Cottington was able
to report 'so much satisfaction and contentment as I am not able to
express it.' The Spanish Council of State admitted the obligation to
James for the sacrifice of the brightest jewel of his Crown. It advised
Philip to thank the King of England by an autograph letter. That was
James's payment.

[Sidenote: _Odium of Stukely._]

Ralegh's various persecutors were in the right to enjoy their victory
betimes. They had not the opportunity for long. The country awoke at a
bound to the injury which had been done it. On the miserable tools it
first poured out its indignation. Long before the final catastrophe its
anger had been gathering against Stukely. On August 20 Chamberlain wrote
to Carleton that Sir Lewis Stukely was generally decried. After the
execution no measure in execrations was observed. He was christened Sir
Judas. Stories, probably fictitious, of the contempt with which he was
visited, were greedily devoured. 'Every man in Court,' it was reported,
'declines Stukely's company as treacherous.' The High Admiral, who
himself had battened on plunder from Ralegh, was rumoured to have
threatened to cudgel the betrayer from his door. Stukely ha