He was of course right, and Freeman was wrong.

But that is not all.

Freeman could easily have put himself right if he had chosen to take the trouble.

Edwards's Life of Raleigh appeared in 1868, and a copy of it is in Freeman's library at Owens College.

Edwards gives an account of the Ark Raleigh, which was built for Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh advancing two hundred pounds.
Freeman, however, need not have read this book to find out the truth.
For "the Ark Raleigh" occurs fourteen times in a Calendar of Manuscripts from 1581 to 1590, published by Robert Lemon in 1865.
When Freeman was brought to book, and taxed with this gross blunder, he pleaded that he "did a true verdict give according to such evidence as came before him." The implied analogy is misleading.
Jurymen are bound by their oaths, and by their duty, to find a verdict one way or the other.