Another witness was, however, brought forward – a ship’s pilot called Dyer who claimed he had heard gossip that Ralegh and Cobham were to cut the King’s throat. Ralegh was contemptuous: “What infer you upon this?” he asked.
”That your treason has wings,” Coke retorted.
Ralegh reiterated that they had “not proved any one thing against me, but all by circumstances.” Coke sat down “in a chaffe” and refused to get up again until urged to do so by the commissioners. He repeated the evidence thus far. Ralegh interjected that he was doing him wrong and Coke, goaded beyond reason, finally turned on him in a black fury:
[COKE] Thou are the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived.
[RALEGH] You speak indiscreetly, barbarously and uncivilly.
[COKE] I want words sufficient to express thy viperous treasons.
[RALEGH] I think you want words indeed, for you have spoken one thing half a dozen times.
Ralegh had caught the sympathy of the onlookers and to Cecil’s horror Coke was loudly hissed.
Source:
Lisle, Leanda De. "The God of Truth and Time" After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England. New York: Ballantine, 2005. 267. Print.
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