How Raleigh
grieved we learn from his letter to his wife, "I was loath to
write," he says, "because I knew not how to comfort you; and, God
knows, I never knew what sorrow meant till now. . . . Comfort
your heart, dearest Bess, I shall sorrow for us both, I shall
sorrow less because I have not long to sorrow, because not long
to live. . . . I have written but that letter, for my brains are
broken, and it is a torment for me to write, and especially of
misery. . . . The Lord bless and comfort you that you may bear
patiently the death of your most valiant son."
Raleigh came home a sad and ruined man, and had the pity of the
King been as easily aroused as his fear of the Spaniards he had
surely been allowed to live out the rest of his life in peaceful
quiet. But James, who shuddered at the sight of a drawn sword,
feared the Spaniards and had patched up an imaginary peace with
them. And now when the Spanish Ambassador rushed into the King's
Chamber crying "Pirates! Pirates!" Raleigh's fate was sealed.
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