u may keep it when I am dead; and my counsel,
that you may remember it when I am no more. I would not with my will
present you with sorrows, dear Bess--let them go to the grave with me
and be buried in the dust--and, seeing that it is not the will of God
that I should see you any more, bear my destruction patiently, and with
a heart like yourself.

"'First--I send you all the thanks which my heart can conceive, or my
words express, for your many travels and cares for me, which, though
they have not taken effect as you wished, yet my debt to you is not the
less; but pay it I never shall in this world.

"'Secondly--I beseech you, for the love you bear me living, that you do
not hide yourself many days, but by your travels seek to help my
miserable fortunes and the right of your poor child--your mourning
cannot avail me that am dust--for I am no more yours, nor you
mine--death hath cut us asunder, and God hath divided me from the
world, and you from me.

"'I cannot write much. God knows how hardly I steal this time when all
sleep. Beg my dead body, which, when living, was denied you, and lay it
by our father and mother--I can say no more--time and death call me
away;--the everlasting God--the powerful, infinite, and inscrutable
God, who is goodness itself, the true light and life, keep you and
yours, and have mercy upon me, and forgive my persecutors and false
accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious kingdom.

"My dear wife--farewell! Bless my boy--pray for me, and let the true
God hold you both in his arms.

"'Yours, that was; but now, not mine own,

"'WALTER RALEIGH.'"

"Thus a few fond words convey more poetry to the heart than a whole world
of verse.

"We know not any man's history more romantic in its commencement, or more
touching in its close, than that of Raleigh--from the first dawn of his
fortunes, when he threw his cloak before the foot of royalty, throughout
his brilliant rise and long imprisonment, to the hour when royalty rejoiced
in his merciless martyrdom.

"Whether the recital of his eloquent speeches, the perusal of his vigorous
and original poetry, or the narration of his quaint, yet profound 'History
of the World,' engage our attention, all will equally impress us with
admiration of his talent, with wonder at his achievements, with sympathy in
his misfortunes, and with pity at his fall.