LETTER CXLIX. 1615-1616? now are. His Majestie not knowing of me, hath been my ruine; and his Majestie misknowing of them, hath been the ruine of a goodly part of his estate: but they January?" are all of them now-some living and some dying— come to his Majesties knowledge. But, Sir, how little soever his Majestie knew me, and how much soever he believed them, yet have I been bound to his Majestie both for my life, and all that remains, of which, but for his Majestie, nor life, nor ought else, had remained. In this respect, Sir, I am bound to yield up the same life, and all I have for his Majesties service. To die for the King, and not by the King, is all the ambition I have in the world. WALTER RALEGH. CL. TO SIR GEORGE VILLIERS, AFTERWARDS DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. As printed by OLDYS, from the Original, then in the Library of SIR, LETTER 1 CL. March 17. You have, by your mediation, put me again into the world. I can but acknowledge it, for to pay any part of your favour by any service of mine, as yet it 1615-1616. is not in my power. If it succeed well, a good part of the honour shall be yours; and if I do not also George make it profitable unto you, I shall show myself exceeding ungrateful. To Sir Villiers. Thanks for procuring his release from the In the mean while, and until God discover the success, I beseech you to reckon me among the number of your Tower. faithful servants, though the least able, March 17 [1615-1616]. W. RALEGH. CLI TO PETER VANLORE. As prated by Clays, from a copy made by BROWNE WILLIS of "the ormaal imit of Sir WALTER's own hand," then in WILLIS Library at Whalla Hall. That original draft is stated to have borne the flowing endement :- This letter was shewn unto MATHIAS DENE" ART. at thetime of his examination, on the part and behalf of S: PETER VANDRE, knight, Defendant, against Dame ELIZABETH RADEMA, Wi w. Complainant, 120 Junii, 1623. Signed MARTIN FASTED. Willis, it will be seen, has modernised the spelling. Str Peter Mandore was an eminent merchant in London. Of his suit with Laty Ralegh some notice has been already given. MR. FETER VANDORE, THIS is the letter which I desire you to write to your brother in Amsterdam; and for any assurance you shall give I will again put you in sureties to save you harmless. July 1, 1615. · Brother TIBOTES, W. RALEGH. There is a merchant in Amsterdam that. for the love he bears to my honourable friend Sir WALTER RALEGH, is content to discover somewhat of importance unto him in Guiana, to which country Sir WALTER RALEGH is now 'preparing to go; but he doth require assurance 'from Sir WALTER RALEGH that he himself may be assured to enjoy such part of the commodity discovered as he shall agree upon 1 Sir Adrian Thibaut, a merchant at Amsterdam, apparently brother-inlaw to Vanlore. 'with Sir WALTER RALEGH by his deputy, Mr. 1 "Such as thought to find some great deceit in me in the detaining a great part of the monies adventured, in perusing the Bills of Adventure written by scriveners found above fifteen thousand pounds more than all my charge demanded came unto. But of the money I never received any penny. The monies and provisions adventured with all the other captains amounted to very nearly twenty thousand pounds; for the greatest part whereof I gave the Bills."-Apology for the Voyage to Guiana; in Works of Sir WALTER RALEGH, ed. Oxford, vol. viii. p. 481. LETTER 1616. July 1. FREFA- NOTE TO 1617 1617 PREFATORY NOTE TO LETTER CLII.—RALEGH AND THE *CONSEIL D'ETAT' OF FRANCE. ALL that is yet known of the letter which purports to have been addressed by Sir Walter Ralegh to M. de Bisseaux is due to Mr. Gardner's recent researches at Simancas. Primarily, it rests upon the authority of the story told at Madrid by a Frenchman, named Antoine Belle, who was examined by the Spanish functionaries in that city, on his voluntarily presenting himself (in May 1618) to give information against Ralegh, in accordance with the advice given him in Rome by a Jesuit confessor. Belle told the Spaniards that he and "Captain Faire" (who is called "Faige" in the letter itself, and "Sage" in the letters and examinations addressed by Sir Thomas Wilson to King James) were Ralegh's "intimate friends;” that he, Belle, had known Ralegh for six or seven years, "having had communication with him in London, in the prison in which he was confined." He stated that the first messenger sent by Sir Walter into France was Captain Faige; that by Faige the answer to that first despatch was brought to his employer, "at the Wight;" and that the purport of the embassy was to ask the Admiral Montmorency to intercede with the King of France for the grant to Sir Walter Ralegh of a decree permitting him, at his return, to enter the French ports, and giving assurance that he "might be received with favour and affection." Belle then proceeds to state, in the course of this extremely remarkable “voluntary declaration," that he embarked with Ralegh in London, and that on reaching Plymouth he and Faige were sent, in company, with further despatches to the Admiral Montmorency, and with this letter to De Bisseaux. The Admiral answered, he continues, that he was "urging Sir Walter's business with the King of France." Of the answer of De Bisseaux, Belle says nothing. Nor does he explain how it happened that a letter dated by Ralegh, "Plemouht, ce 14 May, 1616," and sent into France by two "intimate friends" of the writer, came to be shown in Rome, in the original, to a Jesuit confessor, in 1618; and to be brought thence to Madrid, -on its way to the archives of Simancas. Mr. Gardner's voucher is conclusive for the apparent genuineness of the document itself, upon its face. His knowledge of the history of the period is great; and his inferences founded on that knowledge carry authority. But it is no less obvious that the story told by the bearer of the document stands much in need of further elucidation. Both Belle and his companion, Faige, left Ralegh, as the former of them says, at Plymouth, after returning thither with Montmorency's answer,-" because they did not wish to go with people who were Huguenots." To Sir Walter himself they represented that they "were going to Dieppe and Havre, to meet other captains, who were arming ships." When examined at Madrid, Belle deposed that he parted from his comrade Faige at Genoa, leaving him "sick, and imprisoned, on account of some money which he owed." The Spanish magistrates reported to the Council of State that Belle himself was very poor, "and would be glad of fifty or a hundred ducats, to get home to France." And the Council ordered him to be paid the sum last-named. Mr. Gardner adds to his most interesting narrative of the incidents of Belle's examination, which I have thus briefly epitomized, the significant fact that the examinant produced, not only the original letter to De Bisseaux and one of Ralegh's Guianian charts, but also (1) a transcript of the original instructions to Faige-undated and unsigned, but initialled— in which Sir Walter expressed his "wish to take refuge in France for the singular and natural affection which he bears to the King and State; wishing to serve them with his talents and experience;" and (2) a Declaration by Montmorency, engaging himself to obtain the King of France's permission |