s
irrevocably fatal to this wretch. The hearts of the people were open to
the deepest impressions of sympathy, melting into tears at the pathetic
address of the magnanimous spirit who had touched them; in one moment
Sir Lewis Stucley became an object of execration throughout the nation;
he soon obtained a new title, that of "Sir Judas," and was shunned by
every man. To remove the Cain-like mark, which God and men had fixed on
him, he published an apology for his conduct; a performance which, at
least for its ability, might raise him in our consideration; but I have
since discovered, in one of the manuscript letter-writers, that it was
written by Dr. Sharpe, who had been a chaplain to Henry Prince of Wales.
The writer pleads in Stucley's justification, that he was a state-agent;
that it was lawful to lie for the discovery of treason; that he had a
personal hatred towards Rawleigh, for having abridged his father of his
share of some prize-money; and then enters more into Rawleigh's
character, who "being desperate of any fortune here, agreeable to the
height of his mind, would have made up his fortune elsewhere, upon any
terms against his sovereign and his country. Is it not marvel,"
continues the personifier of Stucley, "that he was angry with me at his
death for bringing him back? Besides, being a man of so great a wit, it
was no small grief that a man of mean wit as I should be thought to go
beyond him. No? _Sic ars deluditur arte. Neque enim lex justior ulla est
quam necis artifices arte perire sua._ [This apt latinity betrays Dr.
Sharpe.] But why did you not execute your commission bravely
[openly]?--Why? My commission was to the contrary, to discover his
pretensions, and to seize his secret papers," &c.[74]

But the doctor, though no unskilful writer, here wrote in vain; for what
ingenuity can veil the turpitude of long and practised treachery? To
keep up appearances, Sir Judas resorted more than usually to court;
where, however, he was perpetually enduring rebuffs, or avoided, as one
infected with the plague of treachery. He offered the king, in his own
justification, to take the sacrament, that whatever he had laid to
Rawleigh's charge was true, and would produce two unexceptionable
witnesses to do the like. "Why, then," replied his majesty, "the more
malicious was Sir Walter to utter these speeches at his death." Sir
Thomas Badger, who stood by, observed, "Let the king take off Stucley's
head, as Stucley has done