1540, Thomas
Cromwell, Earl of Essex, was executed. Margaret Plantagenet, Countess
of Salisbury, opposed the king and his government, and she was condemned
for high treason. On May 27th, 1541, her earthly career closed. "The
haughty old countess," it is recorded, "refused to lay her head upon the
block, and the headsman had to follow her about the scaffold, and to
'fetch-off' her grey head 'slovenly' as he could."[24] She was nearly
seventy years old.

The following are included in the list of notable men beheaded, and in
most instances we are only able to give their names and dates of
execution, but the story of their careers will be found in the pages of
English history. Henry, Earl of Surrey, beheaded January 19th, 1546-7;
Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, March 27th, 1548-9; Edward Seymour,
Duke of Somerset, January 22nd, 1551-2; Sir Thomas Arundel, February
26th, 1551-2; John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, August 22nd, 1553.
Next comes Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, executed February 22nd, 1553-4.
He was the father of Lady Jane Grey. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk,
suffered death June 2nd, 1572. On February 25th, 1600-1, Robert
Devereux, Earl of Essex, was beheaded.

Sir Walter Raleigh was a many-sided man, the discoverer of North
Carolina, the defender of his country, an author, a court favourite, and
a man of undaunted courage. In the Tower he was long a prisoner, and
there wrote some notable books, and the following hymn:--

"Rise, O my soul, with thy desires to heav'n,
And with divinest contemplations use
Thy time, where time's eternity is given,
And let vain thoughts no more thy mind abuse;
But down in darkness let them lie;
So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die.

"And thou, my soul, inspired with holy flame
View and review, with most regardful eye,
That holy cross, whence thy salvation came,
On which thy Saviour and thy sin did die;
For in that sacred object is much pleasure,
And in that Saviour, is my life, my treasure.

"To Thee, O Jesu, I direct my eye;
To Thee my hands, to Thee my humble knees,
To Thee my heart shall offer sacrifice,--
To Thee my thoughts, who my thoughts only sees;
To Thee myself, myself and all, I give;
To Thee I die, to Thee I only live."

On October 29th, 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was executed at Whitehall
under a sentence which had hung over his head for fifte