[1] Baronet:  This title (S263, note 1) does not confer the right to a seat in the House of Lords.  A baronet is designated as “Sir,” e.g.  Sir John Franklin. [2] This exaction was ridiculed by the wits of the time in these lines: 

“He that hat forty pounds per annum
Shall be promoted from the plow;
His wife shall take the wall of her grannum*—­
Honor’s sold so dog-cheap now.”

The distraint of knighthood, as it was called, began at least as far back as Edward I, 1278. Take precedence of her grandmother.

425.  Impeachment of Lord Bacon (1621).

When James did finally summon a Parliament (1621), it met in a stern mood.  The House of Commons impeached Lord Bacon (S393) for having taken bribes in lawsuits tried before him as judge.  The House of Lords convicted him.  He confessed the crime, but pleaded extenuating circumstances, adding, “I beseech your lordships to be merciful unto a broken reed”; but Bacon had been in every respect a servile tool of James, and no mercy was granted.  Parliament imposed a fine of 40,000 pounds, with imprisonment.  Had the sentence been fully executed, it would have caused his utter ruin.  The King, however, interposed, and his favorite escaped with a few days’ confinement in the Tower.

426.  Execution of Sir Walter Raleigh.

Meanwhile Sir Walter Raleigh (S392) had been executed on a charge of treason.  He had been a prisoner in the Tower for many years (1603-1616), accused of having plotted against the King.[3] Influenced by greed for gain, James released him to go on an expedition in search of gold to replenish the royal coffers.  Raleigh, contrary to the King’s orders, came into collision with the Spaniards on the coast of South America.[1] He failed in his enterprise, and brought back nothing.  Raleigh was especially hated by Spain, not only on account of the part he had taken in the defeat of the Armada (S400), but also for his subsequent attacks on Spanish treasure ships and property.

[3] At the beginning of the reign two plots were discovered:  one, called the “Main Plot,” aimed to change the government and perhaps to place Arabella Stuart, cousin of James, on the throne.  The object of the second conspiracy, called the “Bye Plot,” was to obtain religious toleration.  Raleigh was accused of having been implicated in the Main Plot. [1] It is said that James had treacherously informed the Spanish ambassador of Raleigh’s voyage, so that the collision was inevitable.

The King of that country now demanded vengeance, and James, in order to get a pretext for his execution, revived the sentence which had been passed on Raleigh fifteen years before.  He doubtless hoped that, by sacrificing Raleigh, he might secure the hand of the daughter of the King of Spain for his son, Prince Charles.  Raleigh died as Sir Thomas More did (S351), his last words a jest at death.  His deeper feelings found expression in the lines which he wrote on the fly leaf of his Bible the night before his judicial murder: