d, very awkwardly, to make the
confessions of Watson and George Brooke in the 'Bye' tell against
Raleigh in the 'Main.' Raleigh's unlucky statement, made at Windsor, to
the effect that Cobham had offered him 10,000 crowns, and an examination
in which Raleigh's friend Captain Keymis admitted a private interview
between Cobham and Raleigh during Count Aremberg's stay in London, were
then read. In the discussion on these documents the court and the
prisoner fell to actual wrangling; in the buzz of voices it was hard to
tell what was said, until a certain impression was at last made by Coke,
who screamed out that Raleigh 'had a Spanish heart and was a spider of
hell.' This produced a lull, and thereupon followed an irrelevant
dispute as to whether or no Raleigh had once had in his possession a
book containing treasonable allusions to the claims of the King of
Scotland. Raleigh admitted the possession of this volume, and said that
Cecil gave him leave to take it out of Lord Burghley's library. He added
that no book was published towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign
that did not pass through his hands. It would be interesting to know
whether he meant that he exercised a private censorship of the press, or
that he bought everything that appeared. At all events, the point was
allowed to drop.

Raleigh now gave his attention to the evidence which Keymis had given
under threat of the rack. That this torture had been threatened, in
express disobedience to the King's order, staggered some of the
commissioners, and covered Sir William Waad with confusion. The
eliciting of this fact seems to have brought over to Raleigh's side the
most valuable and unexpected help, for, in the discussion that ensued,
Cecil suddenly pleaded that Raleigh should be allowed fair play. The
Attorney then brought forward the case of Arabella Stuart, and a fresh
sensation was presented to the audience, who, after listening to Cecil,
were suddenly thrilled to hear a voice at the back of the court shout,
'The Lady doth here protest, upon her salvation, that she never dealt in
any of these things.' It was the voice of the Earl of Nottingham, who
had entered unperceived, and who was standing there with Arabella Stuart
on his arm. Their apparition was no surprise to the judges; it had been
carefully prearranged.

The trial dragged on with irrelevant production of evidence by Coke,
occasional bullying by the Lord Chief Justice, and repeated appeals for
fai