having first announced that he
died in the faith of the Church of England. When his prayer was done, he
took off his night-gown and doublet, and called to the headsman to show
him the axe. The man hesitated, and Raleigh cried, 'I prithee, let me
see it. Dost thou think that I am afraid of it?' Having passed his
finger along the edge, he gave it back, and turning to the Sheriff,
smiled, and said, ''Tis a sharp medicine, but one that will cure me of
all my diseases.' The executioner, overcome with emotion, kneeled before
him for pardon. Raleigh put his two hands upon his shoulders, and said
he forgave him with all his heart. He added, 'When I stretch forth my
hands, despatch me.' He then rose erect, and bowed ceremoniously to the
spectators to the right and then to the left, and said aloud, 'Give me
heartily your prayers.' The Sheriff then asked him which way he would
lay himself on the block. Raleigh answered, 'So the heart be right, it
matters not which way the head lies,' but he chose to lie facing the
east. The headsman hastened to place his own cloak beneath him, so
displaying the axe. Raleigh then lay down, and the company was hushed
while he remained awhile in silent prayer. He was then seen to stretch
out his hands, but the headsman was absolutely unnerved and could not
stir. Raleigh repeated the action, but again without result. The rich
Devonshire voice was then heard again, and for the last time. 'What dost
thou fear? Strike, man, strike!' His body neither twitched nor trembled;
only his lips were seen still moving in prayer. At last the headsman
summoned his resolution, and though he struck twice, the first blow was
fatal.

Sir Walter Raleigh was probably well advanced in his sixty-seventh year,
but grief and travel had made him look much older. He was still
vigorous, however, and the effusion from his body was so extraordinary,
that many of the spectators shared the wonder of Lady Macbeth, that the
old man had so much blood in him. The head was shown to the spectators,
on both sides of the scaffold, and was then dropped into a red bag. The
body was wrapt in the velvet night-gown, and both were carried to Lady
Raleigh. By this time, perhaps, she had heard from her brother that he
could not receive the body at Beddington, for she presently had it
interred in the chancel of St. Margaret's, Westminster. The head she
caused to be embalmed, and kept it with her all her life, permitting
favoured friends, like Bisho