in the spring of 1606
brought his ill-health to a climax. He thought he was about to suffer an
apoplectic seizure, and he was allowed to take medical advice. The
doctor's certificate, dated March 26, 1606, is still in existence; it
describes his paralytic symptoms, and recommends that Sir Walter Raleigh
should be removed from the cold lodging which he was occupying to the
'little room he hath built in the garden, and joining his still-house,'
which would be warmer. This seems to have been done, and Raleigh's
health improved.

During the year 1606 various attempts were made to persuade the King to
release Raleigh, but in vain. The Queen had made his acquaintance, and
had become his friend, and there was a general hope that when her
father, the King of Denmark, came over to see James in the summer, he
would plead for Raleigh. There is reason to believe that if he had done
so with success, he would have invited Raleigh to return with him, and
to become Admiral of the Danish fleet. But matters never got so far as
this. James I. had an inkling of what was coming, and he took an early
opportunity of saying to Christian IV., 'Promise me that you will be no
man's solicitor.' In spite of this, before he left England, Christian
did ask for Raleigh's pardon, and was refused. When he had left England,
and all hope was over, in September, Lady Raleigh made her way to
Hampton Court, and, pushing her way into the King's presence, fell on
her knees at his feet. James went by, and neither spoke nor looked at
her. It must have been about this time, or a little later, that Queen
Anne brought her unfortunate eldest son Henry to visit Raleigh at the
Tower. Prince Henry, born in 1594, was now only twelve years of age. His
intimacy with Sir Walter Raleigh belongs rather to the years 1610 to
1612.

In February 1607, Raleigh was exposed to some annoyance from Edward
Cotterell, the servant who in 1603 had carried his injudicious
correspondence with Lord Cobham to and fro. This man had remained in
Lady Raleigh's service, and attended on her in her little house,
opposite her husband's rooms, on Tower Hill. He professed to be able to
give evidence against his master, but in examination before the Lord
Chief Justice nothing intelligible could be extracted from him. About
the same time we find Raleigh, encouraged, it would appear, by the
Queen, proposing to Lord Salisbury that he should be allowed to go to
Guiana on an expedition for gold. It is pa