Eliot languished in prison for some time, during which he wrote several works, his _Negotium posterorum_, an account of the parliament in 1625; _The Monarchie of Man_, a political treatise; _De jure majestatis, a Political Treatise of Government_; and _An Apology for Socrates_, his own defence. In the spring of 1632 he fell into a decline. In October he petitioned Charles for permission to go into the country, but leave could only be obtained at the price of submission, and was finally refused. He died on the 27th of November 1632. When his son requested permission to move the body to Port Eliot, Charles, whose resentment still survived, returned the curt refusal: "Let Sir John Eliot be buried in the church of that parish where he died." The manner of Eliot's death, not without suspicion of foul play, and as the result of the king's implacability and the severe treatment to which he had been subjected, had more effect, probably, than any other single incident in embittering and precipitating the dispute between king and parliament; and the tragic sacrifice of a man so gifted and patriotic, and actuated originally by no antagonistic feeling against the monarchy or the church, is the surest condemnation of the king's policy and administration. Eliot was essentially a great orator, inspired by enthusiasm and high ideals, which he was able to communicate to his hearers by his eloquence, but, like Chatham afterwards, he had not only the gifts but the failings of the orator, was incapable of well-reasoned and balanced judgment, and, though one of the greatest personalities of the time, was inferior to Pym both as a party leader and as a statesman. Eliot married Rhadagund, daughter of Richard Gedie of Trebursye in Cornwall, by whom he had five sons, from the youngest of whom Nicholas the present earl of St Germans is descended, and four daughters. The _Life of Sir J. Eliot_, by J. Forster (1864), is supplemented and corrected by Gardiner's _History of England_, vols. v.-vii., and the article in the _Dict. of Nat. Biog._, by the same author. Eliot's writings, together with his Letter-Book, have been edited by Dr Grosart.