THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 181
and though he complained to Sir G. Carew that they " used him unkindly," his inti- macy and trust in Raleigh is shown by a letter written so late as January, 1603, concerning one of their vessels which had made captures of a more than doubtful nature ; in it he says : " I pray you, as much as may be, conceal our adventure, or at the least my name, above any other. For though, I thank God, I have no other meaning than becometh an honest man in any of my actions, yet that which were another man's Pater noster, would be accounted in me a charm." l
At Raleigh's trial, Cecil, at his first intervention in the proceedings, proclaimed both his old friendship for the prisoner and his present sus- picions. " I am divided in myself," he began, " and at great dispute what to say of this gentle- man at the bar. For it is impossible, be the obligation never so great, but the affections of nature and love will show themselves. A former dearness betwixt me and this gentleman tied upon the knot of his virtues, though slacked since by his actions, I cannot but acknowledge ; and the most of you know it." Probably he believed Raleigh guilty, at least of favouring the claims of Arabella Stuart, but at the same time he was the only member of the Court who raised his voice to protect the prisoner from the brutalities of Sir Edward Coke, and Lord Chief Justice Popham.
After the trial Cecil continued his good offices, and it was owing to him that Raleigh's wife and
1 Quoted by Edwards, I. 335.
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