dispose of his body. 'It is well, Bess,' he said, 'that thou mayst
dispose of that dead, which thou hadst not always the disposing of when
alive.' And so, with a smile, they parted. When his wife had left him,
Raleigh sat down to write his last verses:

Even such is time, that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with earth and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days;
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.

At the same hour Lady Raleigh was preparing for the horrors of the
morrow. She sent off this note to her brother, Sir Nicholas Carew:

I desire, good brother, that you will be pleased to let me bury
the worthy body of my noble husband, Sir Walter Raleigh, in your
church at Beddington, where I desire to be buried. The Lords
have given me his dead body, though they denied me his life.
This night he shall be brought you with two or three of my men.
Let me hear presently. God hold me in my wits.

There was probably some difficulty in the way, for Raleigh's body was
not brought that night to Beddington.

In the morning the Dean of Westminster entered the Gate House again.
Raleigh, who had perhaps not gone to bed all night, had just finished a
testamentary paper of defence. Dr. Tounson found him still very cheerful
and merry, and administered the Communion to him. After the Eucharist,
Raleigh talked very freely to the Dean, defending himself, and going
back in his reminiscences to the reign of Elizabeth. He declared that
the world would yet be persuaded of his innocence, and he once more
scandalised the Dean by his truculent cheerfulness. He ate a hearty
breakfast, and smoked a pipe of tobacco. It was now time to leave the
Gate House; but before he did so, a cup of sack was brought to him. The
servant asked if the wine was to his liking, and Raleigh replied, 'I
will answer you as did the fellow who drank of St. Giles' bowl as he
went to Tyburn, "It is good drink, if a man might stay by it."'

This excitement lasted without reaction until he reached the scaffold,
whither he was led by the sheriffs, still attended by Dr. Tounson. As
they passed through the vast throng of persons who had come to see the
spectacle, Raleigh observed a very old man bareheaded in the crowd, and
snatching off the rich night-cap of cut lace whic