O eloquent, just and mightie Death ! whom none could advise, thou hast perswaded ; what none hath dared, thou hast done ; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou onely hast cast out of the world and despised : thou hast drawne together all the farre stretched greatnesse, all the pride, crueltie, and ambition, of man, and covered it all over with those two narrow words :  Hic jacet.

With this outburst of true eloquence the historian of the world laid down his pen in 1614.  Four short years later the same historian himself, wickedly sacrificed by his hispaniolized monarch, laid down his life on the scaffold, with an apotheosis scarcely less eloquent.  No death recorded in ancient or modern history is more grand or instructive than that of Sir Walter Raleigh, in many respects the greatest man of his age.

On the execution being granted in the King’s Bench Court, on the afternoon of the 28th of October 1618, he asked for a little time for pre- paration, but his request was refused, Bacon having already in his pocket the death warrant duly signed by the King before the meeting of the Court!  Sir Walter then asked for paper, pen and ink; and when he came to die that he might be permitted to speak at his farewell.  To these last requests he appears to have received no reply, but was with indecent haste hustled off to the Gate House for execution early the next morning, the 29th of October, Lord Mayor’s day, when it was expected that the crowd would go cityward.  However, there was a crowd, and probably in consequence he was not prohibited from speaking.  He had prepared himself, and is said to have consulted a ’Noteof Remembrance’ which he held in his hand while speaking.  It is possible, nay, probable that this very same Note still survives in ‘paper-saving’ Hariot’s ‘waste,’ for a precious little waif, all crumpled and soiled, just such a ’ Noteof Remembrance,’ it is believed, as Raleigh held in his hand and consulted during that ever memorable speech, has comedown to us, and is now preserved among the Hariot papers in the British Museum.  It has been recently recognized and identified by Mr Stevens, who has placed it, with other newly discovered documents respecting our philosopher, at the disposition of the Hercules Club.  It is thought to possess internal evidence of having been drawn out before the speech, and is not therefore Hariot’s jottings of remembrance after it.  But positive proof is wanting.

It is beyond all doubt, however, in the well-known handwriting of Hariot, and is presumed to be the ’ note of remembrance’ for the speech, made in the Gate House, probably from dictation, during the night before the execution.  It appears as if hurriedly penned with a blunt quill, and is on a narrow strip of thin foolscap paper such as Hariot used.  It is about twelve inches long and nearly four inches wide, about one-third of the lower part of the paper being blank.  There is no heading, date, or anything else on the paper.  It is rather difficult to read, but every word, letter and point have been made out, and the whole Note is here given, line for line, and verbatim, the heading and press-mark only being added :