Sir Walter Ralegh: A BiographyStebbing, W. (William)
History
Sir Walter Ralegh: A Biography
Stebbing, W. (William)
Biography; Raleigh, Walter, Sir, 1552?-1618
Proceedings were commenced in 1607 on the Attorney-General's Information
to establish the claim of the Crown. Lady Ralegh again knelt before the
King. She implored a waiver of the forfeiture in her and young Walter's
favour. James rejected her petition either silently, or, according to
Carew Ralegh, with the ejaculation, 'I mun have the land; I mun have it
for Carr.' In a petition he addressed to the Long Parliament, Carew
related that she fell down upon her knees, with her young sons beside
her, and in the bitterness of her spirit invoked the vengeance of Heaven
upon those who had so wrongfully exposed her and her poor children to
ruin and beggary. James was used to her supplications for justice, and
to repulsing them. In the previous autumn she had knelt to him at
Hampton Court for her husband's liberty, and been passed without a word.
Ralegh himself wasted upon Carr an eloquent prayer that he would not
begin his first buildings upon the ruins of the innocent. He entreated
him not to 'give me and mine our last fatal blow by obtaining from his
Majesty the inheritance of my children and nephews, lost in law for want
of words.' He made the attempt after his manner of neglecting no
possibility. He can have put little trust in royal justice, and less in
a worthless minion's magnanimity. Early in January, 1608, the Court of
Exchequer decided against the validity of the conveyance. Chamberlain
wrote on January 10, 1608, to Dudley Carleton: 'Sir Walter Ralegh's
estate is fallen into the King's hands by reason of a flaw in the
conveyance. He hath bestowed it on Sir Robert Carr. And though the Lady
Ralegh hath been an importunate suitor all these holidays in her
husband's behalf, yet it is past recall. So that he may say, with Job,
Naked came I into the world, &c. But, above all, one thing is to be
noticed: the error or oversight is said to be so gross that men do
merely ascribe it to God's own hand that blinded him and his counsel.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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