ion.

[73] A small coasting-vessel, made round at stem and stern like the
Dutch boats. The word is still used in some English counties to
denote a _tub_.

[74] Stucley's Humble Petition, touching the bringing up Sir W.
Rawleigh, 4to. 1618; republished in Somers' Tracts, vol. iii. 751.

[75] The anecdotes respecting Stucley I have derived from manuscript
letters, and they were considered to be of so dangerous a nature,
that the writer recommends secrecy, and requests, after reading,
that "they may be burnt." With such injunctions I have generally
found that the letters were the more carefully preserved.

AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF THE LAST HOURS OF SIR WALTER RAWLEIGH.

The close of the life of Sir Walter Rawleigh was as extraordinary as
many parts of his varied history; the promptitude and sprightliness of
his genius, his carelessness of life, and the equanimity of this great
spirit in quitting the world, can only be paralleled by a few other
heroes and sages. Rawleigh was both! But it is not simply his dignified
yet active conduct on the scaffold, nor his admirable speech on that
occasion, circumstances by which many great men are judged, when their
energies are excited for a moment to act so great a part, before the
eyes of the world assembled at their feet; it is not these only which
claim our notice.

We may pause with admiration on the real grandeur of Rawleigh's
character, not from a single circumstance, however great, but from a
tissue of continued little incidents, which occurred from the moment of
his condemnation till he laid his head on the block. Rawleigh was a man
of such mark, that he deeply engaged the attention of his
contemporaries; and to this we owe the preservation of several
interesting particulars of what he did and what he said, which have
entered into his life; but all has not been told in the published
narratives. Contemporary writers in their letters have set down every
fresh incident, and eagerly caught up his sense, his wit, and, what is
more delightful, those marks of the natural cheerfulness of his
invariable presence of mind: nor could these have arisen from any
affectation or parade, for we shall see that they served him even in his
last tender farewell to his lady, and on many unpremeditated occasions.

I have drawn together into a short compass all the facts which my
researches have furnished, not omitting those which are known,
concernin