y accompanied him to his house,
with derisive cries. When Raleigh was afterward attainted, Meeres took
all the revenge he could, and succeeded in making himself not a little
offensive to Lady Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh's letters testify to the
great annoyance this man gave him. It appears that Meeres' wife, 'a
broken piece, but too good for such a knave,' was a kinswoman of Lady
Essex, and the most curious point is that Raleigh thought that Meeres
was trained to forge his handwriting. He tells Cecil:

The Earl did not make show to like Meeres, nor admit him to his
presence, but it was thought that secretly he meant to have used
him for some mischief against me; and, if Essex had prevailed,
he had been used as the counterfeiter, for he writes my hand so
perfectly that I cannot any way discern the difference.[7]

Meeres was ready in the law, and during the month of September sent
twenty-six subpoenas down to Sherborne. But on October 3 he was
subdued for the time being, and wrote to Cecil from his prison in the
Gatehouse that he was very sorry for what he had said so 'furiously and
foolishly' about Sir Walter Raleigh, and begged for a merciful
consideration of it. He was pardoned, but he proved a troublesome
scoundrel then and afterwards.

Early in September 1601, Raleigh came up on business from Bath to
London, meaning to return at once, but found himself unexpectedly called
upon to stay and fulfil a graceful duty. Henry IV. of France, being at
Calais, had sent the Duc de Biron, with a retinue of three hundred
persons, to pay a visit of compliment to Elizabeth. It was important
that the French favourite should be well received in England, but no one
expected him in London, and the Queen was travelling. Sir Arthur Savage
and Sir Arthur Gorges were the Duke's very insufficient escort, until
Raleigh fortunately made his appearance and did the honours of London in
better style. He took the French envoys to Westminster Abbey, and, to
their greater satisfaction, to the Bear Garden. The Queen was now
staying, as the guest of the Marquis of Winchester, at Basing, and so,
on September 9, Raleigh took the Duke and his suite down to the Vine, a
house in Hampshire, where he was royally entertained. The Queen visited
them here, and on the 12th they all came over to stay with her at Basing
Park. By the Queen's desire, Raleigh wrote to Cobham, who had stayed at
Bath, to come over to Basing and help to entertain t