Perhaps it was some thought of this that found expression in her
passionate outburst when she learnt of the birth of Mary Stuart's
child: "The Queen of Scots is lighter of a fair son; and I am but
a barren stock."
VII. SIR JUDAS
The Betrayal of Sir Walter Ralegh
Sir Walter was met on landing at Plymouth from his ill-starred
voyage to El Dorado by Sir Lewis Stukeley, which was but natural,
seeing that Sir Lewis was not only Vice-Admiral of Devon, but
also Sir Walter's very good friend and kinsman.
If Sir Walter doubted whether it was in his quality as kinsman or
as Vice-Admiral that Sir Lewis met him, the cordiality of the
latter's embrace and the noble entertainment following at the
house of Sir Christopher Hare, near the port, whither Sir Lewis
conducted him, set this doubt at rest and relighted the lamp of
hope in the despairing soul of our adventurer. In Sir Lewis he
saw only his kinsman--his very good friend and kinsman, to insist
upon Stukeley's own description of himself--at a time when of all
others in his crowded life he needed the support of a kinsman and
the guidance of a friend.
You know the story of this Sir Walter, who had been one of the
brightest ornaments of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and might
have added lustre to that of King James, had not his Sowship--to
employ the title bestowed upon that prince by his own queen--been
too mean of soul to appreciate the man's great worth.
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