So Ralegh gradually came to arrange his life according to its new
limitations. And it came about that those years in the Tower were far
from being the unhappiest in his life. Ralegh, like his friend Spenser
who had died tragically a few years before his imprisonment, knew well
the value of Court life; and though he was not cut off from intelligent
society as completely in the Tower as Spenser was in Ireland; yet he was
cut off from much that had no attraction to Spenser. But in spite of his
disgrace, and in spite of the work he desired to do, he must surely have
found something of the same peace that comforted Spenser among the
savage Irish, before their outbreak took from him his wife and home and
all that was dear to him on earth. There is a strange analogy in what
life offered to the two men. Lady Ralegh was allowed to visit and stay
with her husband, until she offended Waad, who had become governor, by
driving into the courtyard of the Tower in her carriage. Then the
privilege was curtailed. Ralegh had many visitors. Men who had returned
from travels came to tell him their experiences; men who were starting
on some voyage, came to ask his advice and listen to his counsel. Ben
Jonson visited him, and other scholars and poets. Certainly gossiping
cheery Coryat, who amused himself by walking through all countries of
the world, would come and recount his experiences. The Odcombian leg
stretcher, as he liked to call himself, was hail-fellow-well-met with
every man in London and in the principal cities of Europe. A sort of
standing amiable joke was Tom of Odcombe. "There is no man but to enjoy
his company would neglect anything but business."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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