f his wound and the weakness
it produced quieted him at first, and then hope began to take the place
of this agony of despair. Meanwhile his treason was taken for granted,
and he was stripped of his appointments. He had been forced to resign
the Wardenship of the Stannaries to Sir Francis Godolphin, and the wine
patent was given to the Earl of Nottingham, who behaved with scant
courtesy to his old friend and comrade. Sir John Peyton, after guarding
Raleigh for ten days at the Tower, was released from the post of
Lieutenant, and was given the Governorship of Jersey, of which Raleigh
was deprived. On the next day, August 1, Sir George Harvey took Peyton's
place as Lieutenant of the Tower, the last report from the outgoing
officer being that 'Sir Walter Raleigh's hurt is doing very well.' It
was evidently not at all severe, for on the 4th he was pronounced cured,
'both in body and mind.' On the 3rd, De Beaumont, the French ambassador,
had written confidentially to Henry IV. that Raleigh gave out that this
attempt at suicide 'was formed in order that his fate might not serve as
a triumph to his enemies, whose power to put him to death, despite his
innocence, he well knows.'

On August 10 there had still been made no definite accusation linking
Raleigh or even Cobham with Watson's plot. All that could be said was
that Raleigh and Cobham were intimate with the plotters, and that they
had mutually accused each other, vaguely, of entering into certain
possibly treasonable negotiations with Austria. On that day De Beaumont
was inclined to think that both would be acquitted. It does not seem
that James was anxious to push matters to an extremity; but the
Government, instigated by Suffolk, insisted on severity. On August 13,
Raleigh was again examined in the Tower, and this time more rigorously.
A distinct statement was now gained from him, to the effect that Cobham
had offered him 10,000 crowns to further a peace between Spain and
England; Raleigh had answered, '"When I see the money I will make you an
answer," for I thought it one of his ordinary idle conceits.' He
insisted, however, that this conversation had nothing to do with
Aremberg. All through the month of September the plague was raging in
London. In spite of all precautions, it found its way into the outlying
posts of the Tower. Sir George Harvey sent away his family, and Wood,
who was in special charge of the State prisoners, abandoned them to the
Lieutenant. On Septem