Note 243 — Chapter V

It begins thus:—“Receive from thy unfortunate husband these, his last lines; these, the last words that ever thou shalt receive from him. That I can live, and think never to see you and my child more, I cannot. I have desired God, and disputed with my reason, but nature and compassion hath the victory. That I can live to think how you are both left a spoil to my enemies, and that my name shall be a dishonour to my child, I cannot—I cannot endure the memory thereof. Unfortunate woman! unfortunate child! comfort yourselves, trust God, and be contented with your poor estate; I would have bettered it, if I had enjoyed it a few years.”—Bishop Goodman, ii., p. 93. Mr. Brewer has, by the discovery of this letter, in the College of All Souls, Oxford, definitively settled the question whether Ralegh did or did not attempt his life in the Tower. Ralegh’s list of his debts, and his beseeching his wife “to take care of them,” are not among the least affecting parts of his letter.