Thomas Hariot, the Mathematician, the Philosopher and the Scholar Part 5

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 doc.u.ments 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 :

[SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S ' NOTE OR REMEMBRANCE '

_for his speech on the Scaffold_ Oct. 29 1618.]

Two fits of an agew.

Thankes to G.o.d.

of calling G.o.d to witness.

note

That He Speake iustly & truely.

I.) Concerning his loyalty to _ye_

King. French Agent,

& Comission fro ye french King.

2.) of Slanderous fpeeches touching

his majty. a french man.

Sr L. Stukely.

3.) Sr L. Stukely. My lo: Carewe.

4.) SrL. Stukely. My lo: of Danchaster.

5.) Sr L. St: S' Edward Perham.

6.) Sr L. St. A letter on london hyway l0000li.

7.) Mine of Guiana.

8.) Came back by constreynt.

9.) My L. of Arundell.

10.) Company ufed ill in ye Voyadge.

11. Spotting of his face & counterfeiting sicknes.

12 The _E. of_ Eflex.

Lastly, he deiired ye company to ioyne with him in prayer. &c.

_[Brit. MM. Add._ MSS. 6789.]

Every paragraph of the speech is noted, but not quite in the order of the speech as variously reported by those who witnessed the execution and heard it. Circ.u.mstances occurred after Sir Walter began to speak, which may have caused the slight change in the order as here set down.

This argues in favor of its being a note prepared beforehand. If so It must have been written shortly before the speech, because the order for the execution was not given in the King's Bench Court till the afternoon of the 28th, and the execution was fixed for early the next morning.

There is a little confusion of the tenses, but this is not strange considering that the note was penned by a third person. The last two lines, below the number 12, may have been added by Hariot afterwards, as they are in the past tense and third person, and are separated from the rest of the note by a dash. This point is not numbered. It is possible that thefirst five lines were also added subsequently, as they are not numbered, and are placed near the top of the paper, as if interpolated, but they are in the same handwriting, and apparently were written with the same pen and ink.

At all events, whether written by Hariot before or after the deed, it is a precious contemporary doc.u.ment, and is another proof, if any more be needed, of the genuineness of the reported dying speech, and, consequently, that the famous 'Spanish papers' recently reproduced are forgeries and false. It requires no great stretch of the imagination with this little messenger in hand to believe that the ingenious teacher and friend of his youth, and for nearly two score years the constant companion of his manhood, pa.s.sed that dreadful night with Sir Walter in the Gate House at Westminster, and after ' dear Bess' had taken her leave at midnight, penned out this note of remembrance for his friend's morning guidance, that nothing should be forgotten in case the ague returned, which he feared even more than death.

A little more than a month after the execution of his friend, Hariot is found in his observatory at Sion taking observations of the comet of December 1618. His valuable observations are preserved among his mathematical papers. During the eleven years following his primitive observations of the ' Hariot' comet of 1607, first at Ilfracombeand later at Kidwely, great advances had been made in the science of astronomy, chiefly in consequence of the invention of the telescope, and the discoveries by means of it. No mathematician in Europe was probably further advanced in this science than Hariot.

What particular discoveries belonged to him and what to Galileo, Kepler and other contemporaries, it is very difficult to determine, since it is now positively known that from 1609 or 1610 Hariot was a manufacturer and dealer in lenses, or perspective gla.s.ses, as well as in perspective trunks or telescopes; and that he was in correspondence with Kepler, and probably with Galileo. He was easily the chief of astronomers in England, and is known to have possessed the earliest books of Galileo and to have sent them to his disciples, Lower and Protheroe, in Wales.

Respecting this comet of 1618, he was in correspondence with Alien and Standish of Oxford and other scholars at home and abroad.

In 'Certain Elegant Poems, Written By Dr. [Richard] Corbel, Bishop of Norwich. R. Cotes for Andrew Crooke, 1647, 16- The mirth-loving Bishop, in 'A Letter sent from Doclor Corbetto MaJler [Sir Thomas] Ailebury, Decem. 9. 1618' [on the Comet of that year] is the following allusion to Hariot:

_Burton_ to _Gunter_ Cants, and _Burton_ heares From _Gunter,_ and th' Exchange both tongue & eares By carriage : thus doth mired _Guy_ complaine, His Waggon on their letters beares _Charles_ Waine, _Charles_ Waine, to which they fay the tayle will reach And at this diftance they both heare, and teach.

Now for the peace of G.o.d and men, advise (Thou that haft wherewithall to make us wise) Thine owne rich ftudies, and deepe Harriots mine, In which there is no drosse, but all refine, O tell us what to trust to, lest we wax All stiffe and tupid with his paralex ; Say, shall the old Philofophy be true ?

Or doth he ride above the Moone think you ? _etc._

After the departure of the ' Blazing Starr' of December 1618, very little is known of Hariot, except that he lived at Sion while his patron the Earl was still in the Tower, where he was probably frequently visited by his man of science. The following letter, dated the 19th of January 1619, to him at Sion from Sir Thomas Aylesbury is interesting as showing the great interest taken in his old master by his ' loytering scholar.' Many other letters of this stamp, breathing love and ardent friendship, are found among the Hariot papers, from Sir William Lower, Sir John Protheroe, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Dr Turner, and Sir Thomas Aylesbury. Here is a sample:

Sr, Though I have bene yet soe little a while att New Mar-kett, that I have not any thing of moment to ympart; yet I thinke it not amisse to write a bare salutacons, and let yo know, that in theise wearie journeys I am often times comforted wth the remembraunce of yor kind love and paynes bestowed on yor loytering scholar, whose little credit in the way of learning is all-waits underpropped wt the name of soe worthie a Maister.

The Comet being spent, the talke of it still runnes current here; The Kings ma before myc.u.mming spake w' one of Cambridge called Olarentia, (a name able to beget beleefe of some extraordinarie qualities) but what satisfaction he gave, I cannot yet learne; here are papers out of Spayne about it, yea and fro Roome, wc I will endevor to gett, and meane yt yo shall partake of the newes as tyme serves.

Cura ut valeas et me ames, who am ever trulie and unfaynedlyr yors att Commaund. THO: AYLESBURIE.

Newmarkett. 19, Jan. 1618/1619

_Addressed:_ To my right woorthie frend Mr. THOMAS HARRIOT

att Syon, theise, fro Newmarkett.

Between 1615 and 1620 there are evidences of Hariot's failing health. He was greatly troubled with a cancerous ulcer on the lip. How early this began is not apparent. In 1610 his friend Lower cautions him to be careful of his health. There is in the British Museum among the Hariot papers the drafts of three beautiful letters in Latin written from Sion in 1615 and 1616 to a friend of distinction, name not mentioned, who had been recently appointed to some medical office at court, in which he describes himself and his disease.

These letters show great resignation and Christian fort.i.tude. He seemed to be getting better in 1616, and expressed himself as somewhat hopeful.

The progress of the cancer and other troubles cannot now probably be traced, but he is found in the summer of 1621 lodging with his old friend Thomas Buckner, in Threadneedle Street, near the Royal Exchange, in the parish of St Christopher. Buckner had been one of Raleigh's '

First Colonie ' to Virginia in 1585 with Hariot, and Hariot, now in 1621, had come up from Sion probably for medical advice near the hospital. On the 2gth of June he made or executed his Will, and died three days after at Buckner's, on the and of July 1621. He was buried the next day, according to the wish expressed in his will, in the old parish church of St Christopher in Threadneedle Street.

Sifte viator, leviter preme, Iacet hic juxta, Quod mortale fuit, C. V.

THOMae HARRIOTT.

Hic fuit Doftiffimus ille Harriotus de Syon ad Flumen Thamefin, Patria & educatione Oxonienfis, QVM omnes fcientias Caluit, Qui in omnibus excelluit, Mathematicis, Philofophicis, Theologicis.