ing Raleigh's imprisonment. He died a few months after
Raleigh's execution. It is very likely that he was useful to Raleigh in
collecting notes and other material. It may even have been his work for
the interesting prisoner in the Tower that caused Jonson's jealous
dislike of Daniel. The younger poet's own account, as Mr. Edwards
pointed out, by no means precludes the supposition that he used material
put together by another hand. At the same time Sancroft's authority
cannot be considered final as regards Raleigh's authorship of the
_Breviary_, for the manuscript did not come into his hands until
nineteen years after Raleigh's death.

No such doubt attaches to the very curious and interesting volume
published nominally at Middelburg in 1628, and entitled _The Prerogative
of Parliament_. This takes the form of a dialogue between a Counsellor
of State and a Justice of the Peace. The dramatic propriety is but
poorly sustained, and presently the Justice becomes Raleigh, speaking in
his own person. The book was written in the summer of 1615, a few months
after the suppression of the _History of the World_, and by a curious
misconstruction of motive was intended to remove from the King's mind
the unpleasant impression caused by those parables of Ahab and of
Ninias. It had, however, as we shall see, the very opposite result. The
preface to the King expresses an almost servile desire to please: 'it
would be more dog-like than man-like to bite the stone that struck me,
to wit the borrowed authority of my sovereign misinformed.' But Raleigh
was curiously misinformed himself regarding the ways and wishes of
James. His dialogue takes for its starting-point the trial of Oliver St.
John, who had been Raleigh's fellow-prisoner in the Tower since April
for having with unreasonable brutality protested against the enforced
payment of what was called the Benevolence, a supposed free-will
offering to the purse of the King. So ignorant was Raleigh of what was
going on in England, that he fancied James to be unaware of the tricks
of his ministers; and the argument of _The Prerogative of Parliament_ is
to encourage the King to cast aside his evil counsellors, and come face
to face with his loyal people. The student of Mr. Gardiner's account of
the Benevolence will smile to think of the rage with which the King must
have received Raleigh's proffered good advice, and of Raleigh's
stupefaction at learning that his well-meant volume was forbidden