English literature -- History and criticism; Literature -- Anecdotes; Litterateurs
turn out to your credit;" and on the following day, when they passed
through the Tower-gate, Rawleigh, turning to King, observed, "Stucley
and my servant Cotterell have betrayed me. You need be in no fear of
danger, but as for me, it is I who am the mark that is shot at." Thus
concludes the narrative of Captain King. The fate of Rawleigh soon
verified the prediction.
This long narrative of treachery will not, however, be complete, unless
we wind it up with the fate of the infamous Stucley. Fiction gives
perfection to its narratives, by the privilege it enjoys of disposing of
its criminals in the most exemplary manner; but the labours of the
historian are not always refreshed by this moral pleasure. Retribution
is not always discovered in the present stage of human existence, yet
history is perhaps equally delightful as fiction, whenever its perfect
catastrophes resemble those of romantic invention. The present is a
splendid example.
I have discovered the secret history of Sir Lewis Stucley, in several
manuscript letters of the times.
Rawleigh, in his admirable address from the scaffold, where he seemed to
be rather one of the spectators than the sufferer, declared he forgave
Sir Lewis, for he had forgiven all men; but he was bound in charity to
caution all men against him, and such as he is! Rawleigh's last and
solemn notice of the treachery of his "kinsman and friend" was
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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