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' TouNG FOLKS' Heroes of His tort 
 
 RALEGH 
 
 HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE MAKEPEACE TOWLE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "VASCO DA GAMA " *' PIZARKO " "MAGELLAN' 
 ** MARCO POLO" ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BOSTON 
 LOTHROP, LEE AND SHEPARD CO. 
 
Copyright, 1881, 
 By Lee and Shepaeix 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Sir Walter Ralegh was famous in several 
 fields of action. His younger manhood was spent 
 in the midst of the most brilliant royal court which 
 English palaces ever held. Later, he proved his 
 courage and military prowess in more than one 
 bitterly contested battle-field and naval conflict. 
 In middle life, and again in old age, he braved the 
 great deep and the perils of savage lands, in the 
 sturdy attempt to make discoveries, and to settle 
 English colonies in the new world. His love of 
 his own land, and his hatred of her enemies, were 
 always ardent ; nor did he permit the harsh ill- 
 treatment to which he was subjected by the hos- 
 tility of his rivals, the intrigues of Spain, the 
 caprices of Queen Elizabeth, and the insurmount- 
 able dislike of King James, to dampen or dull the 
 fire of his patriotism. 
 
 Ralegh was the wittiest man, and one of the 
 most scholarly men of Elizabeth's court. He was 
 fond of books ; and as an author, he took rank 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 with the great literary lights of the Elizabethan 
 age. Chivalrous in feeling, brave in action, court- 
 ly in manner, handsome in person, a faithful hus- 
 band, a devoted father, a valiant soldier, a vigorous 
 and persevering explorer, and a wise and states- 
 manlike thinker, his career was full of absorbing 
 and often exciting interest, as the pages which 
 follow will doubtless prove it to have been, to those 
 who read them. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Ralegh's Boyhood and Youth . 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 
 Ralegh a Soldier 
 
 CHAPTER JII- 
 
 Ralegh a Courtier 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Ralegh as a Colonizer 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Invincible Armada 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Ralegh a Prisoner 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Ralegh's First Voyage 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Adventures on the Orinoco 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Ralegh's Return Home 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Sea-fights with the Spaniards 
 
 l6 
 
 32 
 
 48 
 64 
 79 
 96 
 
 113 
 
 130 
 147 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Essex Conspiracy . . • • • • 165 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Ralegh Charged with Treason . • • ,182 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Tried for his Life 195 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Twelve Years in thu. Towkr . . • • • 212 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Ralegh's Second Voi^^ge 227 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Ralegh's Return 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 The Final Scene 257 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTPLfVTIONS. 
 
 Ralegh spreading his Cloak before the Queen . • • • 35 
 Ralegh's Servant attempts to put out the Fire ... 60 
 Ralegh showing the Portrait of Queen Elizabeth . • .122 
 
 Ralegh Urging and Encouraging his Men 150 
 
 Ralegh's Narrow Escapb • » ^Ti 
 
 Ralegh in Prison ....••••••• 224 
 
 Death of Ralegh's Son .•..237 
 
 The Final Scene a?' 
 
ralegh: 
 
 HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGE3. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 RALEGH'S BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 
 
 N the south of England, bordering upon 
 the British Channel, lies the pleasant and 
 picturesque county of Devon. The gentle 
 beauties of its landscape, and its mild and healthy 
 climate ; its vales, and downs, and woodlands ; its 
 lofty cliffs stretching along the coast ; its pretty 
 bays, inlets, and rivers, winding amid rich mead- 
 ows and sloping hills ; its fine farms and dainty 
 dairies ; and its quaint old cities and towns, snug 
 villages, and hoary manor-houses, have long been 
 noted, and are described in glowing colors by 
 travellers and poets. 
 
 Not the least picturesque of the Devon rivers is 
 the Otter, which flows into the Channel at the 
 
2 RALEGH : 
 
 eastern end of the county. The Otter runs through 
 a country of prosperous farms and ancient settle- 
 ments ; and along its banks nestle many cottages 
 and hamlets centuries old. 
 
 Close to the Otter, just outside the village of 
 Budleigh, there still stands, where it has stood for 
 at least four centuries, a plain and now half- 
 ruined farmhouse, snugly settled beneath lofty 
 oaks and amid thrifty apple orchards. The Otter 
 flows in full sight of the small-paned, irregular win- 
 dows. Behind the old house, the hills rise to 
 thickly-wooded summits. 
 
 The venerable homestead has, no doubt, seen 
 many changes in the progress of four hundred 
 years ; nor would those who dwelt within its walls 
 in the time of bluff Henry the Eighth, probably 
 recognize it, could they come to life again, and 
 revisit the once familiar scene. Yet some vestiges 
 of its ancient condition remain. 
 
 A table, clumsily carved and worn with age, still 
 stands in the spacious sitting-room, where, it is 
 said, it has stood for at least three centuries. 
 Should you visit the house, its good dame would 
 eagerly lead you up the narrow staircase, and, con- 
 ducting you into a musty, low-ceilinged chamber, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 3 
 
 would proudly tell you that it was in this room that 
 the famous Sir Walter Ralegh was born. 
 
 A short distance from the house, too, stands a 
 curious church, older even than the house itself; 
 and in this church may be seen a quaint oaken 
 pew, richly carved with a family coat-of-arms, 
 where, for centuries, the Raleghs sat and wor- 
 shipped. As each master of Hayes — this was 
 the name of the house and farm which have been 
 described — passed away from earth, he was sol- 
 emnly borne into the church of All Saints, and 
 thence to the ancient family tomb near by. 
 
 At the modest farmhouse of Hayes there lived, 
 about the middle of the sixteenth century, a poor 
 gentleman named Walter Ralegh. But though poor, 
 he was a man of high breeding and of noble blood, 
 and belonged to a family which had long been 
 rich and powerful. He was nearly related to many 
 of the nobility and great landlords of his neighbor- 
 hood, and often received visits from them at his 
 modest homestead of Hayes. Mr. Ralegh was a 
 quiet gentleman, who took little part in the stirring 
 events of his time, and preferred living in his 
 rustic retreat at Hayes, to plunging into the ex- 
 citements and pleasures of London life. He is 
 
4 RALEGH : 
 
 therefore little heard of in history ; further than 
 that he was a man of gentle manners and an 
 amiable nature, we hear nothing of him. 
 
 His wife, however, was a person of marked 
 traits, and of many noble virtues. She was a lady 
 of very high degree, the daughter of Sir PhiHp 
 Champernon, a proud Norman squire, and a de- 
 scendant of the Courtenays, the famous English 
 emperors of Constantinople. She had first wedded, 
 when a fair and haughty young girl, a valiant 
 knight named Sir Otho Gilbert, and had given 
 birth to three stalwart sons — John, Humphrey, 
 and Adrian Gilbert — all of whom played an heroic 
 part in the events of their time, and attained, by 
 their valorous deeds, the dignity of knighthood. 
 
 After Sir Otho's death, his beautiful wife had 
 been won by the modest and gentle Walter Ralegh, 
 and had been content to leave the proud social cir- 
 cles of which she was a brilliant ornament, and to 
 share with her impoverished second husband his 
 rustic abode and his scanty fortune. Four sons 
 were the issue of this singular but happy love- 
 match. With the three elder, this story has little 
 or nothing to do. 
 
 The fourth, who first saw the light in the very 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 5 
 
 year that Queen Mary ascended the throne of 
 Britain — 1552 — was named after his father, Wal- 
 ter Ralegh. 
 
 In his very babyhood, this boy was noted through 
 the country around Hayes for his exceeding beauty. 
 His regular features, his rosy complexion, his big, 
 bright, brown eyes, and his quick precocity, were 
 the talk of the farmers and their dames. His 
 father and mother were wondrously proud of him, 
 and fairly doted on him ; he was the favorite and 
 the pet of the household, from the day he was born 
 to that on which he left Hayes to seek adventure 
 and fame in the wide world beyond. 
 
 The good father and the ambitious mother 
 mourned that they were too poor to give him 
 such an education as was due to the son of an 
 ancient English family, and the descendant of 
 imperial ancestors. Walter Ralegh received his 
 early education at his mother's knees ; and was 
 brought up in the homely, simple, high-bred fash- 
 ion of the English country-houses as they were in 
 the days of the Tudor kings and queens. 
 
 Very early in his boyhood, Walter Ralegh showed 
 a high spirit of courage, a fondness for the lusty 
 sports of the Devon country side, a love of out-door 
 
6 RALEGH : 
 
 recreations and trials of physical strength, and a 
 fondness for the excitements and dangers of the 
 chase. As soon as he could mount a horse, he 
 was seen galloping about the rustic roads, where 
 he outrode all his comrades, and became the un- 
 questioned leader of their pastimes. He was a 
 muscular as well as a handsome young fellow, tall, 
 well-formed, and manly for his age, full of cour- 
 tesy, and pleasant, engaging ways, which made 
 him a hero among the lads who shared his sturdy 
 sports. 
 
 There was no rural recreation, indeed, in which 
 he did not take part with keenest ardor, and did 
 not soon become an adept. On many an early 
 summer day, he was wont to follow the shady 
 streams which wound through the forests in his 
 neighborhood, with angler's hook and line ; and as 
 he cast his line for the wary trout, dreamed, no 
 doubt, many a dream of the adventures and ambi- 
 tions he would have one day in the big, bustling 
 world far beyond his rural home. There were 
 other days on which, in company with his sport- 
 loving father, he galloped over the breezy hills of 
 Dartmoor, his packs of hounds running and yelp- 
 ing at his side, and followed the flying deer across 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. / 
 
 dell and down, and through the cool thickets, 
 rejoicing mightily when at last the victim of the 
 chase was brought down, and the hunting-horns, 
 echoing from hill to hill, announced the result of 
 the chase to all the country round. 
 
 About thirty miles from Hayes, in the midst of 
 dense forests, varied, here and there, by blooming 
 apple orchards, there stood a grim and hoary cas^ 
 tie, whose lofty towers rose above the trees amid 
 which it was nestled. It was, even in those days, 
 an ancient edifice. Its walls were thickly clothed 
 with sturdy ivies ; some portions of it were already 
 uninhabitable from decay ; and rooks made their 
 nests, and cawed and fluttered in the now deserted 
 halls of this ruined part. Just behind the castle, a 
 noble park stretched out, with its rich, turfy lawns, 
 and its grass-grown and much-neglected avenues ; 
 while beyond, the woods were full of deer and 
 other game, and offered fine hunting-grounds for 
 the occupants of the gloomy old place. 
 
 In this ancient and remote castle, which was 
 known as Compton Castle, lived two brothers, who 
 had already become noted for their spirit, valor, 
 and love of adventure. They were Humphrey and 
 Adrian Gilbert, the half-brothers of young Walter 
 
6 RALEGH ! 
 
 Ralegh. Although still young, Humphrey and 
 Adrian had been much abroad in the world, and 
 had seen some military service. Both of them 
 were fond of dangerous expeditions, and were 
 expert navigators ; and they liked to talk of the 
 many exciting scenes which they had witnessed, 
 and in which they had taken an active and some- 
 times an heroic part. 
 
 They both had a warm affection for their young 
 half-brother, who was always welcomed to Comp- 
 ton Castle with open arms. The Gilberts, no 
 doubt, perceived in him a spirit of enthusiasm 
 and adventure akin to their own ; and encouraged 
 him by their stories and their praise to look eagerly 
 forward to a stirring career in the bustling world. 
 
 The happiest days of Walter Ralegh's boyhood, 
 indeed, were spent in the quaint halls and forests 
 of Compton. He would often gallop over there on 
 his favorite horse, and remain for weeks at a time 
 in the congenial companionship of the two young 
 soldiers. He never tired of sitting by the big fire- 
 place, on a winter's night, and, as the huge logs 
 blazed, hearing them relate their adventures till 
 long after midnight ; and he never was so joyous 
 as when following them to the hunt. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. Q 
 
 So spirited and imaginative a boy was not likely 
 to neglect the hardy pleasures of the seaside, near 
 which he lived. It was but a short ride from 
 Hayes to the stormy coast of the British Channel ; 
 and many a long day did Walter spend in sight of 
 its angry waters, and of the sturdy craft which con- 
 stantly came and went. That part of the coast, in 
 those days, was studded with humble cottages, the 
 homes of a colony of sailors, who hastened thither, 
 after a voyage, to seek rest and recreation in the 
 midst of their families. These sailors were a very 
 talkative set ; they were only too glad if they could 
 find any one to listen to their thrilling narratives 
 of battle, shipwreck, and discovery. 
 
 Walter's intimacy with his half-brothers, Hum- 
 phrey and Adrian Gilbert, had given him an ardent 
 taste for the sea, and for the adventures which 
 those who follow the sea are sure to encounter. 
 His fancy had been fired by their enthusiasm for 
 discovery, and he already began to long to take 
 part in those voyages to seek out new lands, which, 
 in his time, had become more frequent than for- 
 merly. 
 
 He eagerly, therefore, scraped acquaintance with 
 the scarred and weather-beaten sailors who, ever 
 
lO RALEGH : 
 
 and anon, made their appearance at the cottages 
 on the coast near Hayes. These rough men took 
 a fancy to the bright-eyed, inquisitive lad, who 
 plied them with innumerable questions, and lis- 
 tened with open mouth and dilated pupils to their 
 homely tales and rude descriptions. He would sit 
 for hours on the benches just outside the cottages ; 
 and having drunk in a succession of exciting 
 stories, would gallop back to Hayes, to pass a 
 sleepless night, or to dream of being himself the 
 hero of battles with savages, or of obstinate con- 
 flicts with Spanish galleons ; or of gazing, rapt in 
 wonder, on the tropical splendors of America and 
 the Indies. 
 
 Walter's ambition to become an adventurer was 
 still further fed by what he read and heard about 
 the daring voyages and conquests of his time. 
 Already, there had sprung up in his heart a warm 
 love of, and pride in, his native England. He 
 eagerly devoured the accounts of the glorious 
 achievements of the Spaniards and the Portu- 
 guese in the field of discovery. He read with 
 breathless interest the thrilling and inspiring sto- 
 ries of Vasco da Gama, of Columbus, of Pizarro 
 and Cortez, of Magellan and Albuquerque, and 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. II 
 
 fancied himself the future hero of similar ex- 
 ploits. The EngUsh had grown very jealous of 
 the success of the Spaniards and Portuguese. 
 They prided themselves on being the masters of 
 the sea, and of the art of navigation ; nor did they 
 yield to the Spaniards in courage, enterprise, and 
 contempt of danger. They were resolved to be- 
 come the rivals of Spain in discovery ; and they 
 coveted the possession of the rich, distant lands 
 which yet remained to be conquered and colonized 
 by European valor. 
 
 In Ralegh's boyhood, several English navigators 
 had already won glory and renown by their suc- 
 cessful voyages and conquests. Stout old John 
 Hawkins had made his voyage to Africa ; and 
 Drake, although only six years older than Ralegh, 
 had become famous in Devonshire as a voyager to 
 the West Indies, and had engaged in many sea- 
 fights with Spanish cruisers. 
 
 It is very likely that, in these early days, young 
 Ralegh saw and talked with Drake and Hawkins ; 
 for both lived at no great distance from him. At 
 all events, their example filled him with ardor and 
 impatience. He learned to hate the Spaniards 
 with all the warmth and spirit of boyish hatred ; 
 
1 2 RALEGH : 
 
 and was eager to take his part in the fierce rivalry 
 and hostility which now raged between Spain and 
 England. His blood boiled when he heard of an 
 English ship being taken by a Spanish cruiser ; 
 and thrilled with delight when the news came that 
 a Spanish merchantman, with its rich cargo from 
 the Eastern seas, had been gallantly attacked and 
 brought into port by an English privateer. 
 
 His father and mother did not fail to encourage 
 his adventurous disposition. They saw that he 
 was made of heroic stuff, and his mother was too 
 proud of her famous sons, Humphrey and Adrian 
 Gilbert, not to be ambitious of the future of her 
 youngest boy. She indulged in fond dreams of 
 his coming greatness and fame ; and was too sure 
 of his courage and intelligence, to fear to trust him 
 amid the perilous conflicts of the world. Mean- 
 while she directed his studies, and persuaded 
 him to work as hard as possible with his books, 
 that he might be the sooner prepared to enter 
 upon the stirring career to which he looked for- 
 ward so eagerly. With his sturdy recreations and 
 his books, his gallops over to Compton Castle, and 
 his afternoon visits to the sailors' cots, time sped 
 rapidly with young Walter Ralegh ; and almost 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 13 
 
 before he knew it, the day arrived when he was 
 to leave his pretty rustic home on the banks of 
 the Otter, and to go up to Oxford to enter the 
 University. 
 
 He was scarcely fifteen when this important 
 change in his life took place ; but his quickness to 
 learn had enabled him, even at that age, to be- 
 come fully qualified to enter college. We may 
 well believe that it was not without many a sigh of 
 regret that he left the quiet and beloved scenes of 
 his home, and that his parting from father and 
 mother, brothers and boon companions, brought a 
 pang to his warm boyish heart. 
 
 But he was a brave young fellow, and his ambi- 
 tion had grown with his years ; and he looked 
 eagerly forward to a career in Oxford, the prizes 
 of which glittered before his fancy, and the self- 
 dependent life at which appealed strongly to his 
 manly nature. 
 
 An autumn day in 1567, then, found him with 
 his good father, seated in a quaint little room at 
 Oriel College, which is still pointed out to the 
 modern visitor as that once occupied by the great 
 Sir Walter. It looked out upon the ivy-grown 
 quadrangle, with its jutting windows and its broad 
 
14 RALEGH : 
 
 Stone pavement ; and Walter watched the students 
 in their hats and gowns, as they passed to and fro, 
 with great interest. 
 
 He soon found himself the centre of a large 
 circle of gay college youths, into whose pleas- 
 ures and frolics he entered with as much ardor as 
 he had done into the pastimes of his Devon home. 
 He was, at Oriel, as in Devon, the hero and leader 
 of his companions, the foremost in their sports 
 and escapades, as well as the rival of the first in 
 scholarship. The students liked the frank, grace- 
 ful, courtly, and good-natured youth ; and he quite 
 as quickly attracted the attention of the more sober 
 dons and professors. It was not long before Wal- 
 ter Ralegh was known as one of the brilliant lights 
 of Oriel, the pride alike of his classmates and his 
 instructors. Sometimes the University was visited 
 by great nobles, and men of high distinction ; and 
 young Walter Ralegh thus made the acquaintance 
 of many statesmen and soldiers, who inspired his 
 ambition, and deeply interested him with their con- 
 versation and comments on the events of the 
 time. 
 
 The great Lord Bacon, who, in after years knew 
 Ralegh well, tells us a little anecdote of Ralegh's 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 5 
 
 college life, which shows that even thus early his 
 soldierly qualities were well developed. " Whilst 
 Ralegh was a scholar at Oxford," relates Lord 
 Bacon, " there was a cowardly fellow, who hap- 
 pened to be a very good archer ; but having been 
 grossly abused by another, he bemoaned himself to 
 Ralegh, and asked his advice what he should do 
 to repair the wrong that had been offered to him. 
 ' Why,' promptly answered Ralegh, ' challenge him 
 to a match of shooting ! ' " 
 
 These happy and triumphant college days, how- 
 ever, came suddenly to an end. A temptation was 
 offered to Ralegh to set out suddenly upon a 
 stirring career of war and adventure, which his 
 spirited and ambitious nature could not resist ; 
 and before he had been at Oriel three years, he 
 one day bade adieu to its tranquil cloisters, em- 
 braced his young friends, and throwing himself 
 upon his horse, galloped away to London. There 
 he would meet his valiant cousin, Henry Champer- 
 non, and, with him, would depart for far different 
 scenes from those of ancient and scholastic Ox- 
 ford. 
 
I 6 RALEGH: 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RALEGH A SOLDIER. 
 
 T happened that, at this time, a bitter 
 conflict was going on in France, between 
 the persecuted Huguenots, or Protestants, 
 and the cruel government of the Catholic King 
 Charles the Ninth. The poor Huguenots had 
 long been down-trodden, and visited with the most 
 relentless tyranny. But they had survived all 
 these injuries, and now included in their number 
 many of the ablest and noblest men in France. 
 Among these were the great Prince of Cond^ and 
 Admiral Coligny. At the head of the Huguenot 
 party was the brave and brilliant Queen of Na- 
 varre. 
 
 Of course the English, who had now become 
 ardent Protestants, warmly sympathized with the 
 cause of the Huguenots. Queen Elizabeth, who 
 had succeeded her sister Mary on the English 
 throne, did not dare to openly espouse the Hugue- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 7 
 
 not side ; but she connived at the expeditions 
 which were formed by spirited young EngHshmen, 
 and which repaired to France to join their arms 
 with those of the vaHant Conde and Coligny. 
 
 One of the most active young cavaUers, who 
 saw in the Huguenot conflict an opportunity to 
 engage in an exciting enterprise, and to win the 
 laurels of war, was Henry Champernon, Walter 
 Ralegh's cousin. Champernon gathered about 
 him a force of one hundred ambitious youths, the 
 flower of English blood and chivalry ; many of 
 them the sons of noblemen of high rank. The 
 skilful fingers of fair maidens worked for them a 
 richly-embroidered banner, on which their motto, 
 ^'Finem det mihi virtus,'' was emblazoned in gold 
 and silver thread. Their costumes were costly 
 and brilliant ; and four vessels were anchored in 
 the Thames, ready to speed them to the shores of 
 France when the appointed hour came. 
 
 Walter Ralegh hastened up to London with 
 high hopes and fluttering heart. His cousin 
 Champernon greeted him, on his arrival at the 
 quaint old inn which was the rendezvous of the 
 band of adventurers, with a warm embrace ; and 
 Ralegh was soon " hail fellow well met " with all 
 
1 8 RALEGH : 
 
 the young cavaliers who were to be his comrades 
 in the approaching voyage and adventures. He 
 hastened to make every necessary preparation ; 
 and ere long found himself fully equipped with a 
 bran-new suit of military clothes, and armed with 
 the best weapons that London afforded. 
 
 It was on a hazy, September day, in 1569, that 
 the band of youthful warriors went on board the 
 vessels, and the little fleet, with colors flying and 
 the voyagers gathered on the decks, floated down 
 the Thames toward the sea. As the white cliffs 
 of England faded from the view, the more level 
 and inviting coast of France appeared in the hori- 
 zon ; and the next morning the fleet had lost sight 
 of land altogether. 
 
 After a smooth passage, unbroken by any note- 
 worthy incident, though the voyagers kept an 
 anxious lookout for French and Spanish cruisers, 
 the towers and spires of La Rochelle, the head- 
 quarters of the Huguenot forces, appeared beyond 
 the boisterous waves of the Bay of Biscay. The 
 port was soon reached, and the four vessels an- 
 chored at the dock. 
 
 A great multitude of the inhabitants were gath- 
 ered on the wharves to welcome the brave young 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. IQ 
 
 Englishmen, who formed in line and marched 
 through the crowd to their quarters in the fortress, 
 their embroidered banner waving in the sunlight 
 at their head. After resting and refreshing them- 
 selves, they repaired to the Queen of Navarre, 
 who, with the young princess, greeted them with 
 tearful gratitude, and encouraged them with elo- 
 quent words and brilliant promises of renown. It 
 was not without a thrill of satisfaction that Cham- 
 pernon and his companions learned that they would 
 not be compelled to lie idle long at La Rochelle, 
 but would at once proceed to the battle-field and 
 enter upon active service. 
 
 A few days after their arrival the young cav- 
 aliers set out to join the Huguenot army under 
 Coligny. Their first experience, however, was an 
 untoward one ; for, as they were advancing to join 
 their arms with those of the French rebels, they 
 met the retreating forces of the Count of Nassau. 
 But the English band had, soon after, occasion to 
 show their valor and mettle at the famous battle 
 of Moncontour. 
 
 Walter Ralegh's career in the conflicts of France 
 remains to this day shrouded in obscurity ; for no 
 account remains of his exploits, or those of his 
 
20 RALEGH : 
 
 comrades. But we may well believe that they 
 proved themselves valiant and sturdy, and that 
 they shared the laurels of the self-devoted Hugue- 
 nots in their struggle for their religious liberties. 
 
 It is, however, probable that Walter Ralegh was 
 in Paris when the dreadful massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew took place, in 1572; and that he, with 
 the chivalrous Sir Philip Sidney and other English 
 knights, took refuge in the house of the English 
 ambassador, to escape the fury of the myrmidons 
 of the French king. He remained in France 
 about six years, and during that long period, not 
 only engaged in the civil war, but took careful note 
 of all he saw and heard. He had an inquiring 
 mind, and was eager to store it with knowledge ; 
 and it was in France, too, that he undoubtedly 
 acquired that ripe polish and courtliness of bearing 
 which were in years to come to so well serve his 
 fortunes at home. 
 
 He afterwards wrote accounts of some of the 
 curious things which he observed in France. One 
 of these curiosities he thus describes : " I saw 
 certain caves in Languedoc which had but one 
 entrance, and that very narrow, cut out in the 
 midway of high rocks, which we knew not how to 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 21 
 
 enter by any ladder or engine ; till, at last, by cer- 
 tain bundles of straw, let down by an iron chain, 
 and a weighty stone in the midst, those that de- 
 fended it were so smothered that they rendered 
 themselves prisoners, with their plate, money, and 
 other goods therein hidden." 
 
 At last Walter Ralegh returned home to England. 
 He had gone forth a slim and ruddy-cheeked youth 
 of seventeen. When he once more trod his native 
 ground, he was a tall, broad-shouldered, bronze- 
 featured young man of twenty-four ; his rich, brown 
 hair fell in long, curly locks to his shoulders ; his 
 lip and chin were covered with a glossy beard. 
 He was conspicuous for his manly beauty, and his 
 soldier-like, yet refined and graceful manners. 
 
 After paying a visit to his parents in Devon, he 
 returned to London, there to pursue his fortunes in 
 the great urban world. He took rooms in the 
 Middle Temple, a building for the most part occu- 
 pied by lawyers ; but Ralegh had other and more 
 stirring ambitions than to become an advocate. 
 At this time he led a life of pleasure, awaiting the 
 course of events, confident that new fields of ad- 
 venture and action would soon stretch out before 
 him. 
 
22 RALEGH '. 
 
 Such an opportunity soon occurred. A war 
 broke out in Holland, where the proud Don John 
 of Austria, the brother of the King of Spain, was 
 striving to subject the brave Dutch to his despotic 
 rule. Queen Elizabeth hastened to send aid to 
 the oppressed people. An expedition, under the 
 command of Sir John Norris, set out for Holland, 
 and in this Walter Ralegh eagerly sought and 
 readily obtained a command/ 
 
 This adventure was a brief but brilliant one. 
 Norris met the forces of Don John at Rinemant, 
 and by a shrewd stratagem succeeded in routing 
 the haughty Spaniard and his troops. In this 
 achievement Ralegh took a conspicuous and heroic 
 part. His long and perilous service in France 
 had trained him into a daring, accompHshed, and 
 skilful warrior. He had learned to love the din of 
 the battle-field, the stirring sound of trumpet and 
 drum, the impetuous onset, and the desperate 
 encounter arm to arm. It was sweet to him to 
 follow, with clattering hoof and hoarse voice, the 
 fast-retreating foe ; to mount the deserted citadel, 
 and plant the victorious banner on its summit. 
 
 He was not a little disappointed, therefore, to 
 find the campaign in Holland so brief. But on 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 23 
 
 returning once more to London, he found a new 
 and very different sort of adventure ready for his 
 undertaking. 
 
 His half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, whose 
 ambition had long been excited by voyages of dis- 
 covery, had made up his mind to set out upon 
 such a voyage himself. His destination was the 
 still mysterious continent of America. He busied 
 himself getting together and fitting up a small 
 squadron of vessels, of which he himself proposed 
 to take the command ; and Walter Ralegh reached 
 London just in time to enter with eager delight 
 into Sir Humphrey's plans. Sir Humphrey was 
 only too glad to assent to his brave young broth- 
 er's prayer that he might go on the expedition, 
 too; and Walter made all haste to complete his 
 preparations for the voyage. 
 
 In due time the squadron dropped down the 
 English Channel, and put to sea. Walter was on 
 the flag-ship with Sir Humphrey. It was his first 
 experience of " life on the ocean wave," and he 
 took the keenest interest in all that went forward 
 on shipboard. He watched the various operations 
 of the seamen ; the methods of ascertaining the 
 longitude and latitude of the ship's position ; the 
 
24 RALEGH : 
 
 various arrangements and management of the 
 sails ; and the discipline which was imposed on 
 the crew. As his own duties were light, he spent 
 much of his time while on board in study. He 
 made it a rule only to allow five hours for sleep ; 
 and to devote at least four hours a day to his 
 books. Meanwhile, he shared the rough life of 
 the sailors, and endured the same hardships of 
 sea life to which the humblest of the men were 
 subjected. He treated them, moreover, as his 
 equals, and was never tired of listening to their 
 yarns of the perils they had witnessed and the 
 strange lands they had seen. 
 
 All of a sudden, one morning, an event took 
 place which resulted in a fatal loss to the expedi- 
 tion. The crew of one of the largest ships rose in 
 mutiny. The officers were deprived of their com- 
 mands, and before Sir Humphrey Gilbert could 
 recover possession of the ship, it had parted com- 
 pany with the rest, and had sailed away. Nor was 
 this desertion the only misfortune he was destined 
 to encounter ; for soon after the mutineers had 
 departed, some Spanish cruisers bore down upon 
 the squadron, and fiercely assailed it. The cruisers 
 proved too strong for Sir Humphrey's ships, and 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 2$ 
 
 his only course was to put on all sail and get away 
 from them. In this he succeeded ; but only after 
 several of his ships had been badly damaged by 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 In this sad plight the squadron put in at Ports- 
 mouth, and all thought of resuming the expedition 
 was abandoned. Walter Ralegh now found his 
 time once more on his hands, and returned to 
 London, to keep a sharp eye out for new adven- 
 tures. He had, at least, attracted the attention of 
 Queen Elizabeth and some of her greatest court- 
 iers. Among these was the elegant and chivalrous 
 Earl of Leicester, who, at this period, was the 
 queen's special favorite. Ralegh succeeded in 
 winning Leicester's friendship ; and this event was 
 destined to have an important influence on the 
 young man's after life. 
 
 A bitter rebellion had recently broken out in 
 Ireland, owing to the oppressions of the English. 
 It at last became necessary to send thither a con- 
 siderable force to put down the revolt ; and in this 
 force Ralegh went as captain of a company of 
 cavalry. Although he was eager once more to test 
 his warlike mettle, he did not like the service on 
 which he was being sent to Ireland. He shrank 
 
26 RALEGH ; 
 
 from shedding the blood of a people who were 
 struggling for their liberty. '' I disdain this 
 charge," he said to the Earl of Leicester, "as 
 much as to keep sheep." 
 
 But Ralegh's ambition prevailed over his scru- 
 ples. He was determined to rise and to win war- 
 like fame ; and so he suppressed the better im- 
 pulses of his heart, and went forth to fight the 
 Irish rebels. 
 
 Once on Irish soil, he plunged with vigor and 
 ardor into the campaign. On every field he showed 
 dauntless valor, and won the admiration and devo- 
 tion of his men. His compunctions soon disap- 
 peared, and he became severe, and even cruel, to 
 the Irish whom he fought and captured. 
 
 On one occasion, having noticed that, after an 
 English force had left an encampment, the Irish 
 swarmed into it, he lay in ambush for them with 
 his troop, and succeeded in capturing a number of 
 them. He observed that one of these prisoners 
 had a bundle of rope under his arm. 
 
 **What are you going to do with that rope?" 
 Ralegh sternly asked the man. 
 
 *' Hang the English churls," was the fierce and 
 rash reply. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 2J 
 
 " Is it SO ? " returned the captain. " It shall 
 now serve for an Irish rebel." 
 
 And he forthwith ordered the man to be hung 
 with his own rope. 
 
 Another adventure of Ralegh's, which happened 
 during his sojourn in Ireland, is more to his credit. 
 He was going, with his company, to take posses- 
 sion of the castle of a certain rebellious lord near 
 Cork. On the way, the rebels were waiting in 
 ambush near a river, in order to attack him by sur- 
 prise. Their plot nearly succeeded ; for Ralegh's 
 force was small, and was advancing in a careless, 
 disorderly fashion. After a sharp fight, however, 
 the little English troop prevailed over their assail- 
 ants. In the midst of the struggle, a friend of 
 Ralegh's, named Moyle, fell with his horse into a 
 deep bog near the scene of conflict. He was sur- 
 rounded by several of the Irish, who would speed- 
 ily have put him to death, had not Ralegh, per- 
 ceiving his friend's peril, hastened to his rescue. 
 Just as he reached Moyle, he was suddenly thrown 
 from his horse by an Irishman, and was forced to 
 fight his friend's assailants on foot, standing ankle- 
 deep in the bog. At least twenty Irishmen at- 
 tacked him ; but with sword and pistol the gallant 
 
28 RALEGH : 
 
 cavalier held them at bay, until his soldiers could 
 come up and drive them back. This heroic deed 
 was soon known throughout Ireland, and gave 
 Ralegh a high reputation for courage. 
 
 The next scene of his service was at the siege 
 of a fort at Smerwick, in southern Ireland. Ralegh 
 commanded the operations of the siege ; and when 
 the fort was at last taken, he entered the town at 
 the head of his troops, and dealt a terrible ven- 
 geance upon the Irish rebels for their resistance. 
 Many of them were put to death in the streets. 
 This massacre, in which Ralegh himself probably 
 took part, is a dark blot on his renown. 
 
 At last, Ralegh was made the military governor 
 of the province of Munster. This was a high 
 trust and distinction for so young a soldier ; but 
 he soon proved that he was well fitted to fill such 
 an office. Many stories are told of his deeds of 
 gallantry, and his hair-breadth escapes during the 
 progress of the war. More than once his horse 
 was killed under him, and his life was in the most 
 serious peril ; but his coolness and pluck always 
 brought him safe out of danger. He thus won 
 the devotion and love of his soldiers wherever he 
 was in command. They proudly followed a chief 
 so fearless and so knightly. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 29 
 
 One of the last of Ralegh's exploits while in 
 Ireland was his adventure at a castle called Bally, 
 and his capture of Lord Roche, its proprietor. 
 Lord Roche was one of the most powerful of the 
 Irish rebels, and had gathered a large force of his 
 adherents and retainers, to defend Bally Castle 
 from capture by the English. 
 
 This bold lord had long been a source of annoy- 
 ance to Ralegh ; and at last he made up his mind 
 to make the noble rebel a prisoner. Unfortu- 
 nately, Ralegh had but a small force at his com- 
 mand. Bally Castle was twenty miles from Cork, 
 in which city Ralegh had his headquarters ; and it 
 was no easy matter to march troops that distance, 
 and take the castle by surprise. Yet Ralegh set 
 out early one morning with his little troop, which 
 was to be followed as speedily as possible by an- 
 other company. 
 
 He had not got far on the road when he learned 
 that an ambush of eight hundred Irishmen lay 
 in wait for him just ahead. He quickly led his 
 soldiers aside, across some fields, and by rapid 
 marching and adroit movement escaped this dan- 
 ger. But it was not the last which he was to 
 encounter on his way ; for on approaching Bally, he 
 
30 RALEGH : 
 
 was confronted by a mob of some five hundred 
 villagers and farm-laborers, rudely armed, but 
 resolved to check his advance. By a skilful 
 manoeuvre, Ralegh managed to elude these, as he 
 had done the body of Irish in ambuscade; and, 
 selecting six stalwart and trusty comrades, he hur- 
 ried up to the castle gates. There he demanded 
 an interview with Lord Roche. The guard replied 
 that he might enter, but that only two of his com- 
 panions could go in with him. As Ralegh and 
 two of his soldiers entered the gates, however, 
 the other three managed to slip in behind them 
 without being perceived. While Ralegh and his 
 comrades ascended into the castle hall, these three, 
 who had remained behind, suddenly reopened the 
 gates, and before the Irish guard knew what was 
 going forward, the entire English troop were drawn 
 up in battle array in the courtyard. 
 
 Meanwhile Ralegh, confronting Lord Roche in 
 the castle hall, told him plainly that he must go 
 back with the English to Cork. At first the 
 sturdy baron refused ; but finding that his castle 
 was in full possession of Ralegh's soldiers, and 
 that resistance was useless, he reluctantly yielded. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 3I 
 
 That night, which was a wild and stormy one, 
 Ralegh and his troop set out from Bally Castle, 
 with the captured lord in their midst. On their 
 way back to Cork, they were repeatedly assailed by 
 guerilla bands of the Irish ; but in each instance 
 the assailants were driven back, though several of 
 Ralegh's bravest soldiers were left mortally wounded 
 by the roadside. 
 
 When he entered Cork with his formidable pris- 
 oner, he was greeted with an excited welcome by 
 his brother officers and the garrison ; the news of 
 the exploit, which was the most brilliant and dar- 
 ing of the war, extended not only through Ireland, 
 but reached the ears of the queen and her court 
 at home ; and Ralegh's praises resounded far and 
 near. 
 
32 RALEGH 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RALEGH A COURTIER. 
 
 ALTER RALEGH at last returned home 
 from Ireland, crowned with the laurels 
 of military fame, and eager to pursue the 
 upward path towards higher renown and power. 
 He was now thirty years of age, and in the full 
 ripeness of manly bearing and beauty ; and had 
 already seen enough of active and stirring service 
 to give him a thorough knowledge of the world, and 
 a yet more ardent desire to play a great part in its 
 affairs. It was not long before he appeared upon 
 a far more brilliant scene than the mihtary camp, 
 or the grim, rude fortress. 
 
 One day, the ancient palace of Greenwich, 
 which stood on the banks of the Thames, a few 
 miles below London, presented a lively and bril- 
 liant scene. The palace was thronged with court- 
 iers, arrayed in all the gorgeous colors and glitter- 
 ing ornaments which the ingenuity of the age 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 33 
 
 could devise. Grave statesmen, all beruffled, and 
 their white beards carefully trimmed and daintily 
 pointed ; fine young cavaliers, sparkling with gems, 
 attired in rich velvets and long plumes, and armed 
 with gold-hilted swords ; stately dames, with heavy 
 and gayly trimmed trains ; beautiful belles of high 
 degree, grouped in dazzling knots, were gathered 
 on the thick green lawn beneath the palace portals ; 
 while the trumpets gave forth inspiriting sounds, 
 and lines of soldiers were drawn up along the bank. 
 
 Presently there was a stii^ and a flutter in the 
 gorgeous crowd ; for now appeared, descending 
 the broad flight of steps, with proud and majestic 
 mien, the tall and slender figure of the maiden 
 Queen of England. 
 
 The haughty Elizabeth was then in the mature 
 ripeness of middle age, but she still preserved not 
 a few remnants of the beauty of her youth. Her 
 form, though slight, was straight and well propor- 
 tioned. Her complexion was still wonderfully fair 
 and smooth ; her large blue eyes were still bright 
 and expressive. One of her greatest beauties was 
 her white, small, and delicate hands. She was 
 very proud of her hands ; and one old envoy, 
 who often talked with her, says that at every 
 
34 RALEGH : 
 
 audience he had with her, she kept pulling off 
 her gloves, so as to display them. Her hair was 
 a light red, and very plentiful, and most carefully 
 arranged. Her face was full of pride ; but when 
 she was pleased, her expression melted into one of 
 the most engaging sweetness. Her voice, too, was 
 clear and musical, and added to the charm of her 
 gracious smile. Her person was fairly ablaze with 
 the largest and most precious jewels, for which she 
 had an extravagant fondness : and her attire was 
 splendid, far beyond that of any of the ladies of her 
 court. A large, fan-like collar of richest lace rose 
 from her slender neck above her head behind ; and 
 her golden tresses were combed high from her 
 forehead. 
 
 On this afternoon, a heavy shower had just 
 passed over ; and even now the sun, bursting 
 through the fast-vanishing clouds, cast its rays 
 upon the trees still dripping with glittering drops. 
 
 The queen, surrounded by the gay group of 
 ladies and courtiers, set forth upon a promenade 
 through her park, chatting affably with this one 
 and that, as, with stately carriage, she passed 
 along. Musical laughter rang through the copses 
 of oak and chestnut ; fine-bred dogs trotted and 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 3$ 
 
 scented in the midst of the party ; and it seemed 
 that the court of Elizabeth was indeed a merry and 
 a mirthful one. 
 
 Pretty soon the queen came to a place where a 
 muddy spot, formed by the recent rain, crossed 
 her path. Her dainty feet were incased in hand- 
 some shoes, and when she saw the puddle, she 
 stopped, perplexed how to cross it without soil- 
 ing them. At that instant one of the courtiers, 
 more elegantly attired than the majority of his 
 companions, stepped forward, and throwing off his 
 richly embroidered cloak, spread it over the muddy 
 place, and bowed gallantly to the queen. Eliza- 
 beth, delighted at so chivalrous an act, rewarded 
 the cavalier with her brightest smile, and lightly 
 tripped across the extemporized carpet thus laid 
 for her. 
 
 The courtiers and ladies glanced with admira- 
 tion, not unmingled with envy, at the young gal- 
 lant who had so readily pleased their mistress ; and 
 during the rest of the promenade, Elizabeth kept 
 him at her side, and gave him many a gracious and 
 grateful glance. 
 
 The cavalier — who was none other than Walter 
 Ralegh -^ was well fitted to attract the favor of 
 
36 RALEGH : 
 
 the sentimental queen. He was at that time six 
 feet high, nobly formed, as straight as an arrow, 
 and had a fine, manly bearing, which distinguished 
 him above the other courtiers. His dark hair 
 fell in luxuriant ringlets over his neck ; his clear, 
 ruddy complexion and bright eyes and fine brown 
 beard added to the attractiveness of his appearance ; 
 while the grace and eloquence of his speech 
 charmed all who talked with him. 
 
 Ralegh pleased the queen also by the splendor 
 of his dress. His white satin vest, his brown, 
 finely-flowered doublet embroidered with pearls, 
 his rich sword-belt, his fringed white satin garters, 
 his buff-colored shoes studded with jewels and 
 tied with dainty white ribbons, his wide hat, to 
 which the long black plume was fastened with an 
 enormous ruby, made him a gorgeous object 
 indeed. 
 
 After this incident in the park, Ralegh very 
 rapidly rose in the favor of the queen, and in 
 position at her pleasure-loving court. Elizabeth, 
 being fond of handsome, and especially of witty 
 and eloquent young men, grew more and more 
 attached to him every day. He was almost con- 
 stantly at the palace, and his brother courtiers 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 37 
 
 whispered in his ear that he would soon be the 
 ruling favorite. He enjoyed all the sweets of 
 praise and flattery, and began to dream dazzling 
 dreams of the power and riches which seemed 
 almost within his grasp. It was not long before 
 he became known as a polished poet. His verses 
 were read in the luxurious halls of the palace with 
 exclamations of delight; while the tales of his 
 military exploits were eagerly repeated from mouth 
 to mouth. 
 
 It was not long after the adventure of the cloak, 
 that Ralegh was standing, one day, in the recess of 
 a window of the palace, a little apart from the spot 
 where the queen was chatting vivaciously with the 
 wits and beauties of her court. Seizing a moment 
 when his royal mistress's glance was directed to- 
 wards him, he pulled a diamond ring off his finger, 
 and with the diamond quickly scratched a line on the 
 window-pane, and then sauntered leisurely away. 
 
 EUzabeth saw him do this, and burning with 
 curiosity to know what the cavalier had traced, 
 escaped from the group around her, and hurried 
 to the window. There she read, written in a 
 dainty hand, this Ime : 
 
 « Fain would I climb, but that I tear to fall." 
 
38 RALEGH : 
 
 She understood the meaning at once ; and taking 
 her own diamond, she wrote, just underneath, the 
 following response, completing the rhyme : 
 
 " If thy heart fail thee, do not climb at all." 
 
 Ralegh was filled with joy on reading this en- 
 couraging reply ; for he knew that the queen 
 meant to hint to him that he should grow bolder 
 in his attentions toward her. This hint he was not 
 slow to accept. He became more ardent than ever 
 in his advances to the susceptible royal lady, and 
 she received them with a coquettish pleasure which 
 made Ralegh's heart beat high with hope. It is 
 very likely that he soon began to flatter himself 
 that the maiden queen might yet bestow her royal 
 heart and hand upon him ; and it is certain that 
 he bent all his energies to win her affection. 
 
 But he had at least one formidable rival in pur- 
 suit of the queen's special favor. His old friend, 
 the courtly Earl of Leicester, had once been the 
 favorite, but had fallen under Elizabeth's displeas- 
 ure. But the impulsive and jealous young Earl of 
 Essex attracted her notice, and was as determined 
 as Ralegh himself to win her exclusive pref- 
 erence. There grew up a bitter rivalry between 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 39 
 
 the two ; but Elizabeth was a skilful coquette, 
 and succeeded in making each of her lovers think 
 that he was the favored one. 
 
 Meanwhile, Ralegh plunged with all the ardor 
 and vigor of his nature into the gay and giddy pas- 
 times of the court ; and there never was a royal 
 court more absorbed in dazzling pageantry and 
 chivalric pleasures than that of Elizabeth. There 
 were famous tournaments in the royal pleasure- 
 grounds, over which the queen, decked out in all 
 her extravagant finery, presided, and in which she 
 dispensed the prizes of victory with her own royal 
 hand. Sometimes the jousting was between two 
 bands of richly attired cavaliers, who met with 
 stout combat of lances on the field, and contested 
 the palm in closely-serried ranks. At other times, 
 the tournament would be held between two an- 
 tagonists alone, who struggled with obstinate 
 pluck to send each other sprawling upon the 
 thick turf. Elizabeth and her high-born dames 
 watched these encounters with breathless interest ; 
 and pleased indeed was she, when she could award 
 the palm of triumph to her favored Walter Ralegh. 
 This, indeed, often happened ; for there was no 
 more stalwart or skilful arm, no more impetuous 
 
40 RALEGH : 
 
 courage than his among all the warriors and nobles 
 of the court. 
 
 Other diversions served to beguile the time. 
 There were Italian masquerades, held in the palace 
 halls late at night, when all the lords and ladies 
 appeared in costumes the most magnificent as 
 well as quaint and curious ; and in these the hand- 
 some figure of Walter Ralegh was one of the most 
 conspicuous and attractive. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was very fond of making what 
 were called " progresses " through her dominions. 
 She would journey, with a numerous and brilliant 
 retinue, from castle to castle and from hall to 
 manor-house, receiving the lavish hospitalities of 
 her great nobles, who were, of course, only too proud 
 to receive their sovereign beneath their roofs, and 
 placed no Umit on the expense of her entertain- 
 ment. In these progresses, Walter Ralegh often 
 formed one of her gay escort ; and thus he shared 
 the splendid festivities which graced her sojourn in 
 the various places, and at the same time made 
 familiar acquaintance with some of the most power- 
 ful patricians, statesmen, and soldiers in England. 
 
 Splendid, indeed, in its galaxy of brilliant and 
 talented men, was at that time the court of the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 4' 
 
 maiden queen. Besides Ralegh, there were the 
 loble and chivalrous Sir Philip Sidney, whose life 
 ivas a romance of adventure, heroism, and gal- 
 lantry ; the sage and sedate Lord Burleigh, whose 
 shake of the head was so significant ; the graceful 
 Sir Christopher Hatton, who, at fifty, was noted as 
 the finest dancer in the kingdom, and who was one 
 of Ralegh's most formidable rivals for the affection 
 of the queen ; young Francis Bacon, already begin- 
 ning a career which was to become so lofty, and 
 was to end in a gloom so dismal ; and many 
 another knight and noble, whose names still live 
 in the history of that picturesque time. 
 
 But Ralegh's life at court, favored and prosper- 
 ous as it was, was not without its trials and tribu- 
 lations. So rapid an elevation as his was sure to 
 arouse many enemies. Sir Christopher Hatton 
 was full of jealous anger to see the queen lavish- 
 ing her smiles upon this upstart young cavalier, 
 and wrote piteous letters to her, begging her to 
 snub Ralegh ; which she answered with such 
 cunning coquetry as to soothe the love-sick 
 knight's agitated soul. 
 
 Old Lord Burleigh, too, the queen s wisest and 
 most trusted counsellor, disliked Ralegh, and tried 
 
42 RALEGH : 
 
 to win the queen away from him ; but Ralegh's 
 handsome face and form, the sweet speeches he 
 whispered into her ear, the ever flattering gallantry 
 of his manner towards her, his poetry and his wit, 
 were too strong to be overcome by the gray- 
 headed old statesman's protestations. 
 
 The preference of the queen and the flatteries 
 of the court seem to have been a little too much 
 for Ralegh's self-control ; for he grew somewhat 
 haughty and arrogant, and thus alienated from him 
 many who had at first been his ardent friends and 
 admirers. 
 
 Despite all this, Ralegh's star was still in the 
 ascendant. As time advanced, he received proof 
 after proof of the queen's affection for him ; nor 
 could all the eflbrts of his enemies displace him 
 from her heart. 
 
 Elizabeth took it into her head, at one time, to 
 get married ; and casting her eye abroad for a 
 husband of royal rank, picked out an ugly, pock- 
 marked little prince, the Duke of Anjou, as her 
 spouse to-be. It became necessary to send an 
 embassy to Holland, where the duke was, to ar- 
 range the matter. The Earl of Leicester, Ra- 
 legh's early friend, had now become reconciled to 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 43 
 
 the queen ; and he was selected to be the chief 
 envoy. With him went Ralegh and Sir Philip 
 Sidney, and a fine array of young noblemen and 
 officers. They crossed over to Holland in fifteen 
 gaily decked-out vessels. 
 
 The embassy was received with great pomp by 
 William the Silent, Prince of Orange, and was 
 entertained with lavish splendor. With this great 
 soldier and statesman Ralegh soon became inti- 
 mate. William liked the spirited young courtier, 
 and Ralegh venerated the hero of so many bitter 
 struggles; and after the rest of the English em- 
 bassy had gone home, Ralegh still lingered a while 
 with his new and famous friend. The projected 
 marriage with the Duke of Anjou never came to 
 anything ; for after all, Elizabeth could not make 
 up her mind to accept so repulsive a person as her 
 husband. 
 
 Not long after Ralegh's return from Holland, he 
 received new evidences of the queen's favor. He 
 was appointed *' Warden of the Stannaries," or 
 Cornwall and Devon mines, from which he derived 
 each year a large income. Then, two years later, 
 he succeeded his old rival, Sir Christopher Hatton, 
 as captain of the Queen's Guard ; so that now he 
 
44 RALEGH : 
 
 was charged with the protection of her person, and 
 attended her in gorgeous attire, at the head of his 
 troop, wherever she went. The Queen's Guards 
 were all selected for their size and good looks, and 
 their uniform was the most showy in England. 
 Other substantial favors which the queen conferred 
 on Ralegh, were the right to export broadcloths, 
 which brought him enormous profits ; the " farm- 
 ing of wines," which gave him the right to grant 
 licenses everywhere in England to sell wines, an- 
 other large source of income ; the office of Lord 
 Lieutenant of Cornwall ; and that of Vice Admiral 
 of Devon. 
 
 Already Ralegh had received certain estates in 
 Ireland, which had been confiscated from their 
 rebellious native owners ; and now, with all the 
 other privileges and licenses which have been 
 mentioned, he was fast becoming a very rich man ; 
 and the richer he grew, the more splendidly and 
 extravagantly did he dress, and the more parade 
 did he make of his state and show. Meanwhile the 
 conviction of Anthony Babington, a rich Catholic 
 gentleman, for plotting to assassinate the queen, 
 enabled Elizabeth to lavish a larger gift than ever 
 before upon her favorite ; for she gave Ralegh aU 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 45 
 
 Babington's large estates, which lay in five coun- 
 ties, and included several manors, castles, and fine 
 parks and game preserves. 
 
 It was towards the close of his life at court, that 
 Walter Ralegh first saw a fair young girl, whose 
 career was afterwards to be strangely mixed up 
 with his own. Lady Arabella Stuart, who had 
 royal blood in her veins, and who, it then seemed, 
 might very likely reign over England as its queen, 
 arrived at the court ; and, though she was but 
 twelve years of age, at once attracted Ralegh's 
 attention, not only by reason of her extraordinary 
 beauty, but by her surprising brightness of mind. 
 It is said that she was already a finished French and 
 Italian scholar, and that her dancing and musical 
 talents would have done credit to an accomplished 
 court damsel of twenty-five. Ralegh saw this 
 young paragon for the first time at a supper given 
 in her honor at the house of old Lord Burleigh ; 
 and, though he himself was more than double her 
 age, was so fascinated by her that he forgot to use 
 his knife and fork. Lord Burleigh, observing his 
 intentness, whispered to him, with a sly look, — 
 
 "Ah, Walter, 'tis a pity she is not more than 
 fifteen." 
 
46 RALEGH : 
 
 " It would be a very happy thing," replied Ra* 
 legh, with a smile. He little thought how his fate 
 was to be woven with that of the fair and bright 
 young Arabella in darker days to come. 
 
 Not long after this remarkable meeting, Ralegh's 
 star began to decline at court. Elizabeth, senti- 
 mental as she was, was also fickle ; her fancy 
 lightly passed from one gallant to another. For 
 some time Leicester, who had once been her sole 
 favorite, and who desired to regain her favor, had 
 been growing jealous of his young friend Ralegh's 
 ascendancy ; and he had put forward the youthful 
 and impetuous Earl of Essex, for the purpose of 
 dividing the queen's affections. His plan seems 
 to have at last succeeded ; for Elizabeth now took 
 a violent fancy to Essex, and Ralegh soon found 
 that his power over her heart was waning. 
 
 At last, a mysterious quarrel, the cause of which 
 is not certainly known, took place between them. 
 It was probably brought about by Ralegh's jeal- 
 ousy. At all events, the queen affronted him before 
 the whole court, and Ralegh retired to his cham- 
 bers overwhelmed with humiliation and grief. But 
 his proud and adventurous spirit was not to be 
 quelled or daunted, even by so serious an event. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 47 
 
 He soon recovered his haughty bearing, and 
 showed EUzabeth and the courtiers that he was far 
 from being crushed by her displeasure. Finding 
 that his influence at court was waning, he turned, 
 like the courageous man he was, to a more stir- 
 ring occupation than that of dangling about a 
 fickle queen in palaces and castles. Happily, an 
 opportunity was not long in presenting itself; and 
 Ralegh seized it with the eager enthusiasm of one 
 whose ambition longed for conquest and the renown 
 of discovery. 
 
48 RALEGH ; 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RALEGH AS A COLONIZER. 
 
 HILE Ralegh had been at court, he had 
 by no means confined himself solely to its 
 pleasures and gayeties. He had never 
 lost his boyish love of the sea, his hatred of Eng- 
 land's Spanish rival, or his ardent desire to emulate 
 the triumphs of Vasco da Gama, Cortez, and Co- 
 lumbus. His thoughts were ever wandering away 
 to far distant and savage climes. He often gazed 
 longingly after the fleets which set forth, from 
 time to time, on new voyages of discovery; and 
 fancied his own name linked with those of the 
 great colonizers of the age. 
 
 It seems that, for many years, it had been a 
 conjecture of the navigators, that China and the 
 rest of Asia might be reached by sailing northwest- 
 ward from Europe. Vasco da Gama had found a 
 passage to the East around the Cape of Good 
 Hope ; and Magellan had discovered a similar 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 49 
 
 passage by way of Cape Horn. Both of these 
 expeditions had succeeded by southern passages. 
 Could not, it was asked, passages be found to the 
 same goal by proceeding northward also ? 
 
 This idea finally took a strong hold on the mind 
 of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Ralegh's gal- 
 lant and ambitious half-brother. With a sturdy 
 vigor all his own, Gilbert had no sooner con- 
 ceived the project than he set about putting it 
 into execution. His zeal had been greatly stim- 
 ulated by the voyage of the intrepid Sir Francis 
 Drake. That sturdy sailor returned from his voy- 
 age around the world in 1580, in the good ship 
 - Golden Hind," bringing with him not only aston- 
 ishing stories of the countries and peoples he had 
 seen, but his vessels laden with precious treasures 
 which he had taken from Spanish galleons. Mean- 
 while, Frobisher had made his successful voyages 
 to the North American coast. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert's design now was to es- 
 tablish a colony in Newfoundland, and make that 
 the basis of expeditions to the northwest. In this 
 project his brother, Walter Ralegh, eagerly joined 
 him. The two brothers fitted out a small fleet of 
 five vessels, in one of which, the " Squirrel," the 
 
50 RALEGH : 
 
 doughty Sir Humphrey himself sailed, Ralegh 
 remaining at home. This fleet set out from Plym- 
 outh in the early summer of 1583. Ralegh then 
 affectionately embraced his brother, and with 
 much emotion bade him adieu. He was destined 
 never to see Humphrey's handsome face again. 
 
 The expedition was unfortunate from the start. 
 Scarcely had the vessels got to sea, "when one of 
 them, the "Ralegh," deserted its companions. 
 Having at last reached the American coast, Gilbert 
 found it impossible to establish his intended colony 
 there ; for his men were restless and lawless, and 
 at last insisted on returning to England. Gilbert 
 found himself forced to yield to their angry de- 
 mand, and accordingly re-embarked. The vessel 
 in which he himself sailed, the " Squirrel," proved 
 to be very unseaworthy, and his officers begged 
 him to go on board a sounder ship. But the gal- 
 lant commander replied, — 
 
 " No ; I will not forsake my little company going 
 homeward, with whom I have shared so many 
 storms and perils." 
 
 When the " Golden Hind," the best of the ships, 
 came near to the " Squirrel," Sir Humphrey called 
 out cheerily to those on board, — 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. $1 
 
 " Be of good heart, my friends ; we are as nea/ 
 to heaven by sea as by land ! " 
 
 It was the last time his comrades on the 
 " Golden Hind " ever heard his voice. That night 
 the *' Squirrel " was sailing a little in advance of 
 the other ships. As they looked, the sailors on 
 the " Golden Hind " saw the commander's frail 
 bark lurch and heave, and then sink suddenly and 
 forever beneath the waves. Thus the brave Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, in the flower of his age, and 
 in the zenith of his renown, found a watery grave. 
 
 Ralegh was overwhelmed with grief when the 
 "Golden Hind" reached home, bringing the news 
 of his heroic brother's death. But this sad intelli- 
 gence, far from discouraging him, only lent new 
 energy to Ralegh's schemes. But he no longer 
 thought of Newfoundland, or the northwest pas- 
 sage to Asia. He turned his attention to the 
 milder and richer regions of the southern coast of 
 North America. He knew that while the Span- 
 iards had won and still held Florida and Mexico, 
 the coast just north of Florida, and that of north- 
 ern South America, had not as yet been settled by 
 any rival colony. He had, at this time, still 
 enough influence with Queen Elizabeth to obtain 
 
52 RALEGH: 
 
 her aid in his new plans ; and obtained from her 
 the right to establish colonies in any region not 
 already occupied, and to himself have the absolute 
 government of such colonies as he might plant. 
 
 With his ample wealth, the indefatigable Ra- 
 legh found no trouble in fitting out an expedi- 
 tion ; and, the year after Sir Humphrey's sad end, 
 he sent forth two vessels, commanded by Philip 
 Amadas and Arthur Barbour, to explore the coast 
 of the Carolinas. Ralegh himself was not yet 
 ready to go, for he was resolved to remain at court 
 and face his enemies there. 
 
 The voyage of the two vessels was a very fortu- 
 nate one, and the captains returned to tell a glow- 
 ing tale of what they had seen on the American 
 shores. The balmy atmosphere, the earth teeming 
 with luscious fruits and brilliant flowers ; the fine- 
 looking and friendly savages ; the beautiful harbors 
 and rivers ; the plentiful game and abundance of 
 delicious fish, the magnificent forests, the spice- 
 laden breezes, — these were the subjects of their 
 enthusiastic descriptions. 
 
 The queen, delighted with the account of the 
 expedition which Ralegh gave her, at once named 
 the fair country thus made known by the captains, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 53 
 
 "Virginia," that men might know that the country 
 was explored in the time of the virgin queen. 
 
 Ralegh was wild with delight, and could not 
 rest until he had begun his preparations to follow 
 up this expedition by another and larger one. So 
 busy was he with these engrossing plans, that he 
 was now rarely seen at court. He spent his time 
 inspecting his new fleet, studying his charts, and 
 selecting the men to whom to confide the new 
 venture. A fleet of seven vessels, with one hun- 
 . dred colonists, among whom was a famous math- 
 ematician named Thomas Hariot, and a sea-worn 
 voyager, Thomas Cavendish, set sail in April, 
 1585, under the command of Sir Richard Gren- 
 ville. The second in command was Ralph Lane. 
 Ralegh promised each of the colonists that he 
 should have at least five hundred acres of land in 
 the new country. The fleet in due time reached 
 the lovely and fertile shores of Virginia. But un- 
 happily Grenville, the commander, was a man of 
 fierce and cruel character, and eager to become 
 suddenly rich. No sooner had he landed than he 
 began to treat the kindly-disposed savages with 
 harshness and rapacity. He tried to seize their 
 treasures, and when they resisted, he burned their 
 
54 RALEGH : 
 
 villages, and put them to death. A quarrel, more- 
 over, soon broke out between Grenville and Ralph 
 Lane. At last Grenville, disgusted at the small 
 gains he had made, set sail for England, leaving 
 Lane and the colony behind. 
 
 Lane and his comrades now set to work to estab- 
 lish the settlement, and made choice, for this pur- 
 pose, of the island of Roanoke, where a fort soon 
 rose on the bank. But, resting content with this, 
 the new colonists neglected to build houses, or to 
 plant crops. They seemed to think that they 
 could live on the wild fruits of the earth ; and 
 their heads were full of the dazzling stories of the 
 Spanish discoveries of gold and silver. They 
 imagined Virginia to be the true El Dorado, and 
 instead of settling down to the laborious task of 
 farming, as they should have done, they spent 
 their time scouring about on the main land in 
 search of mines. 
 
 Meanwhile, their treatment of the once gentle 
 natives was so harsh that the Indians soon be- 
 came very hostile. The colonists at first received 
 their supplies of provisions from the neighboring 
 tribes ; but now the Indians refused to give them 
 food. In the many conflicts which the English had 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. $5 
 
 with the natives, they always came off victorious ; 
 but the need of provisions soon reduced the colony 
 to a desperate condition. They found themselves 
 obliged to subsist on shell-fish, and disease soon 
 broke out among the little company. 
 
 A happy accident at last saved them from the 
 agonies of actual starvation. One fine morning 
 the eyes of the colonists were gladdened by the 
 sight of a large fleet of sail in the offing, and ere 
 long the fleet had anchored off Roanoke Island. 
 It proved to be an expedition headed by the gal- 
 lant old sailor, Sir Francis Drake, who was return- 
 ing to England with the large booty which he had 
 taken from the Spaniards in the southern seas. 
 
 The colonists begged Drake to take them back 
 to England with him ; and accordingly all hands 
 set sail, and left Roanoke once more to the native 
 tribes, glad enough at the prospect of getting home 
 again. But Drake had not been gone long be- 
 fore Grenville, who had been sent back by Ralegh 
 with three vessels to carry aid to his colony, arrived 
 at the island. To his utter amazement, he found it 
 quite deserted, and the fort standing there amid 
 the trees. Grenville resolved to leave some of his 
 men there, and return to England; and accord- 
 
56 RALEGH : 
 
 ingly fifteen men, supplied with provisions for two 
 years, remained behind. In the following spring, 
 Ralegh sent out one hundred and fifty colonists, 
 under the command of Captain John White. 
 When these reached Roanoke, they found that the 
 fifteen men who had been left by Grenville had 
 miserably perished, for the most part by the at- 
 tacks of the now hostile Indians while the fort 
 had been utterly destroyed. 
 
 White landed his colonists on the island, and as 
 >est he could, sought to repair the ravages of the 
 tiatives. The huts left by the last colony were, hap- 
 pily, still standing, and White's company at first 
 seemed to thrive in their new and remote home. 
 A number of them had their wives and children 
 with them. Not very long after the landing. Cap- 
 tain White's daughter, the wife of a young colo- 
 nist, gave birth to the first white child ever born 
 in the Virginia colony. The child was christened 
 "Virginia Dare." 
 
 When the ships had got ready to sail for Eng- 
 land again, White made up his mind that he would 
 return in them, give Ralegh an account of what 
 he had found, and procure more stores and colo- 
 nists for the new settlement. But on reaching 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 57 
 
 England, he found that Ralegh was too much 
 occupied with other affairs to lend him the aid for 
 which he had come. So, after a brief stay in 
 England, the persevering captain returned alone 
 to Virginia, in a ship which was bound for the 
 West Indies. 
 
 As, on a hot day in August, White's vessel ap- 
 proached the shores of Roanoke, he was amazed 
 and alarmed to see a great fire raging on the shore. 
 Arrived within a short distance, he caused a trum- 
 pet to be sounded, and with his crew set up a loud 
 cry. But no one appeared to answer his call, and 
 his fears were now raised to their highest pitch, 
 when, instead of any English people, he saw a 
 number of savages running through the bushes on 
 the island. He hastened to land, and ran fran- 
 tically to the huts where he had left his com- 
 panions. The huts were quite deserted. They 
 were, indeed, in a state of ruin. Many of the 
 articles which the colonists had had — books, 
 clothing, and pictures — were strewn about in con. 
 fusion on the ground. 
 
 White searched everywhere in vain for any 
 traces of the colony. He was destined never tc 
 see his fair daughter or her little child again. At 
 
58 RALEGH: 
 
 last, giving up his search, he once more set sail, 
 and after the cruise in the West Indies had been 
 completed, returned home to tell his harrowing 
 tale. Nothing was ever afterwards heard of the 
 colony of Roanoke. 
 
 Ralegh was deeply discouraged when he heard 
 that the result of all his expenditure and exertions 
 had been death and desolation. But he was a man 
 of resolute and fearless character, and he resolved 
 to leave nothing undone to rescue the poor people 
 who had been left to the mercy of the savages, if 
 they still perchance survived. At various times 
 he sent out five separate expeditions, to discover, 
 if possible, their whereabouts, and render them 
 aid. Although engrossed with many other mat- 
 ters, and having spent the greater part of his for- 
 tune, he could not give up his favorite scheme of 
 founding a settlement on American soil. But his 
 sailors, though they penetrated the wilds of Vir- 
 ginia again and again, could find no vestige what- 
 ever of the fate of the devoted little band ; and 
 Ralegh was compelled at last to conclude that the 
 colony had been massacred, one and all, by the 
 Indians of the vicinity. 
 
 One result, very important to the world for good 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. $9 
 
 or ill, followed the return of the men who had gone 
 out with Grenville and Lane, and who had returned 
 to England in Drake's fleet. One of these, as has 
 been said, was a man of considerable learning, 
 named Thomas Hariot. Hariot had taken keen 
 pleasure in exploring the new country, and was 
 careful to write down all that he saw there. He 
 examined all the native products, and minutely 
 described their appearance and properties in his 
 notes. One of these plants, especially, attracted 
 his curiosity, and caused him not only to study its 
 qualities, but to carry it with him to England. 
 He thus described it : 
 
 " There is an herb which is sowed apart by itself, 
 and is called by the inhabitants, Yppowoc. The 
 Spaniards generally call it tobacco. The leaves 
 thereof, being dried and brought into powder, 
 they used to take the fume or smoke thereof, by 
 sucking it through pipes of clay into their stom- 
 achs and heads. We ourselves, during the time 
 we were there, used to suck it after their manner, 
 as also since our return, and have found many rare 
 and wonderful experiments of the virtues thereof, 
 of which the relation would require a volume of 
 itself. The use of it by so many of late, men and 
 
6o RALEGH ; 
 
 women of great calling, as else, and some learned 
 physicians also, is sufficient witness." 
 
 When Hariot saw Ralegh on his return, he did 
 not fail to tell him about this wonderful herb ; 
 and Ralegh, whose curiosity was greatly aroused, 
 caused a jeweller to make him a silver pipe, after 
 the fashion of the rude Indian clay pipes, some of 
 which Hariot had taken care to bring with him. 
 Ralegh then began to smoke the tobacco, and 
 soon grew to Hke it very much, so that, when at 
 home, he was scarcely ever without his pipe. 
 
 On one of the first occasions when he thus 
 indulged himself, he was sitting cosily by his fire- 
 side, pipe in mouth. The smoke was curling in 
 dense, graceful clouds from his mouth. Just as he 
 was puffing out a particularly thick cloud, one of 
 his servants happened to enter the room with a 
 tankard of ale for his master. Seeing the smoke all 
 about Ralegh's head, he thought him on fire ; and 
 without further ado threw the ale full in Ralegh's 
 face, and then ran down stairs with all his might, 
 crying out that his master was burning up. 
 
 Very soon the example of so elegant and fash- 
 ionable a cavalier as Ralegh was followed by many 
 other courtiers, and pipe-smoking came much 
 
Ralegh's Servant attempts to put out the Fike. Page 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 6l 
 
 into vogue among the higher orders of the Eng- 
 lish. Queen Elizabeth, on hearing of the new 
 luxury which Ralegh had found, expressed her 
 curiosity to see him enjoy it, and sat by his side, 
 with eyes wide open, as he puffed the curling 
 smoke from his pipe. It is said that she herself 
 was one day so eager to try the taste and effect of 
 tobacco, that she took Ralegh's pipe in her own 
 royal mouth, but became so dizzy and ill from the 
 effects that she never ventured upon the experi- 
 ment again. 
 
 On one occasion, when she was watching Ralegh 
 smoking, she said to him, — 
 
 ** You are a very witty man ; but I will wager 
 that you cannot tell me the weight of that smoke 
 that comes from your pipe." 
 
 " I can, indeed, your majesty," was Ralegh's con- 
 fident reply. He at once took as much tobacco as 
 would fill his pipe, and exactly weighed it. Having 
 then smoked it up in his pipe, he in like manner 
 weighed the ashes. " Now, your majesty," said he, 
 smiling, " the difference between these two weights 
 is the weight of the smoke." 
 
 The queen acknowledged that she was beaten, 
 and laughingly paid the wager. 
 
62 RALEGH : 
 
 Ralegh's dreams of founding colonies in Amer- 
 ica were sadly dispelled by the fate of those who 
 had gone and perished there; and other events 
 crowding upon him, and with his purse depleted, 
 he was forced, for a while, to forego further efforts 
 with that object in view. He never lost sight, how- 
 ever, of his brilliant projects, and firmly resolved 
 that, some day in the future, he would resume 
 them. Many years after, when heavy misfortune 
 had overtaken him, he wrote of the Virginia col- 
 ony, in a desperate mood, " I shall yet live to see 
 it an Enghsh nation." And he did. 
 
 During all this time he had been engaged in 
 struggling with his rivals and enemies at Eliza- 
 beth's court. He had overcome the queen's anger 
 against him, and once more basked in the royal 
 sunshine. He still displayed such splendor of 
 living as his means would allow, and his renown 
 had been greatly increased by his spirit in attempt- 
 ing to establish colonies in the new world. His 
 vigor and ambition had become Recognized, and 
 he was now in the very front rank of England's 
 famous men. His existence could never be an idle 
 one ; nor did the festivities and gay indolence of 
 court life satisfy the restless aspirations of his 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 63 
 
 soul. Despite the abandonment, for the while, 
 of his designs in America, he found plenty of 
 active employment on his hands, and pursued 
 his career with all his sturdy and unflinching 
 perseverance. 
 
64 RALEGH : 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. 
 
 HE first enterprise to which Ralegh now 
 turned his attention, was the care of those 
 large estates in Ireland which had been 
 granted to him for his military services there. 
 These extensive and fertile lands had been taken 
 away from their Irish owners, who had rebelled 
 against the crown ; and were now pretty much 
 deserted. Ralegh made up his mind to have his 
 acres cultivated, and so he entered vigorously into 
 a scheme for settling English peasants upon them. 
 He himself went to Ireland, and spent several 
 years in improving his estates ; engaging, at the 
 same time, in many occupations and ventures, 
 among others, the building of casks and barrels 
 from the fine Irish timber. But he found so many 
 difficulties in the way of his projects, and was so 
 hindered by the machinations of his enemies at 
 court, that he made up his mind to sell his Irish 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 6^ 
 
 estates, and to return to England. After he had 
 completed the sale, he wrote : " There remains to 
 me but an old castle and domain, which are yet in 
 the occupation of the old Countess of Desmond, 
 for her jointure." 
 
 This Countess of Desmond might, indeed, be 
 called "old." She had been a belle in the court 
 of King Edward the Fourth, and lived in the 
 reigns of no less than nine English sovereigns ; 
 and finally died, it is said, by falling out of an 
 apple-tree, at the wonderful age of one hundred 
 and forty. 
 
 Events soon prepared a fresh and more stirring 
 occupation for Ralegh. One of his most ardent 
 feelings, all his life long, was his bitter hatred of 
 the Spaniards, who, at that time, were the rivals 
 and foes of England alike on land and sea. As a 
 statesman, Ralegh always advised resistance to 
 Spain ; and, as a soldier, no cavalier of the age 
 more eagerly welcomed the prospect of a struggle 
 with that arrogant power. 
 
 The moment was at hand when his desire in this 
 respect was to be fully gratified. The beautiful 
 but hapless Mary Queen of Scots had just been 
 beheaded in London, by the stern command of her 
 
66 RALEGH : 
 
 royal cousin, Elizabeth. The cause of Mary had 
 always been warmly championed by Philip the 
 Second, King of Spain. Her violent death aroused 
 his anger, and gave him the pretext to assail Eng- 
 land which he had long sought. He was deter- 
 mined, if possible, to depose Elizabeth from her 
 throne, and to force the Catholic faith upon her 
 subjects. 
 
 Spain was a very different power in these days 
 from what we see her now. She was a terror to 
 all Europe, and had carried her conquests to the 
 German ocean. She had proved herself more than 
 a match for France, even in those chivalrous days 
 when France was ruled by the brilliant and gallant 
 Francis the First. Philip himself had been the 
 husband of Queen Mary, Elizabeth's sister and 
 predecessor, and imagined that he had some right 
 to interfere in English affairs. He was greatly 
 incensed when Elizabeth restored the Protestant 
 faith ; and he had long designed an attack upon 
 her, in the name of the ancient religion of which he 
 was so redoubtable a champion. 
 
 So Philip now made vigorous preparations to 
 carry out this project. No sooner did the English 
 hear of his purpose, than Sir Francis Drake in- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 6*] 
 
 dignantly declared that he would " singe Philip's 
 beard ; " and with a fleet of twenty-five war ships 
 boldly entered the Spanish port of Cadiz, where 
 he sank thirty-four ships, and captured and took 
 away with him four more, before the Spanish king 
 so much as heard of his attack. 
 
 At last Philip, in spite of this loss, managed to 
 collect and equip a splendid fleet of no less than 
 one hundred and thirty-two war ships ; and on 
 these he put a force of more than fifty thousand 
 soldiers and sailors. The news of this formidable 
 armament filled the English court and the Eng- 
 lish people with dismay ; for its destination was 
 well known to be the English coast. Elizabeth 
 knew but too well how inferior her own navy was 
 to cope with the invading fleet. She had, all told, 
 but thirty-four war ships, and these were manned 
 by less than seven thousand men. But one thing 
 greatly encouraged her. Her Catholic subjects 
 were as loyal as the Protestants, and quite as 
 eager to repel the assault of the Catholic mon- 
 arch. All England was one in this stern re- 
 solve. 
 
 There was no time to be lost ; for the Spaniards 
 were on the point of setting forth. A desperate 
 
6S RALEGH : 
 
 effort must be made to meet and defeat them. The 
 merchant vessels from all the English ports has- 
 tened to the rendezvous selected for them, and 
 prepared to take part in the fight ; while many 
 of the wealthy nobles and courtiers hurriedly set 
 about fitting up vessels at their own expense. Two 
 famous admirals, Lord Howard of Effingham and 
 Sir Francis Drake, were put at the head of the 
 fleet which was thus rapidly formed ; and Drake 
 soon reported that he had succeeded in collecting 
 sixty sail at Plymouth. 
 
 The approaching struggle fired Ralegh with mil- 
 itary ardor. He was anxious to bear his part in 
 inflicting defeat upon the hateful Spaniards. No 
 sooner did the peril become known than he has- 
 tened down to his native shire, to recruit men and 
 strengthen the defences of that part of the coast. 
 He worked with all his wonted vigor, and sent 
 troop after troop of sturdy Cornish and Devon 
 men to the headquarters of the army at Tilbury, 
 where the heroic queen was infusing her own 
 dauntless spirit into the devoted soldiery. One 
 day, Elizabeth appeared before her troops, and thus 
 harangued them : 
 
 "I have but the body of a weak and feeble 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 69 
 
 woman," said she ; " but I have the heart of a 
 king, and of a king of England, too. I think it 
 foul scorn that Spain should dare to invade the 
 borders *of my realm ; to which, rather than any 
 dishonor should grow by me, I myself will take up 
 arms ; I myself will be your general, judge, and 
 rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field." 
 
 An army led by such a monarch was not likely 
 to flinch before the enemy. 
 
 The Spanish fleet had already appeared in sight 
 of the white English cliffs, when Ralegh, having 
 fulfilled his errand in Devon, joined one of the 
 English ships ; and from that time he was one 
 of the bravest among the heroes who so despe- 
 rately fought, and, finally, so splendidly overcame, 
 the presumptuous invader. The stately fleet of the 
 Spaniards sailed slowly and in close array, up the 
 English Channel. Lord Howard, with seventy 
 vessels, was lying in wait for it at Plymouth ; but, 
 instead of issuing forth and attacking the Span- 
 iards when they came opposite to him, he let them 
 pass, and then fell upon them in the rear. He 
 was too wise to join battle with them, and con- 
 tented himself with following them up, shooting 
 away their masts, and worrying them with his 
 
70 RALEGH : 
 
 lighter and swifter craft. The Spanish ships drew 
 still closer together, and advanced up the Channel. 
 Then the bold Drake suddenly issued out of port, 
 seized a big ship which had become so much dam- 
 aged that she had fallen behind, and carried her 
 in triumph into the harbor. As Lord Howard's 
 fleet followed the Spaniards, it every moment grew 
 larger and larger ; for out of every little harbor and 
 inlet, as it went along, ships, barques, and every 
 size and sort of vessel issued, and glided into line 
 behind or at the sides of the English men-of-war. 
 
 At last Lord Howard resolved to make a more 
 vigorous attack upon the enemy. He divided his 
 fleet into four squadrons, of one of which he him- 
 self took command ; the other three were entrusted 
 to Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins. First, Fro- 
 bisher and Hawkins set forth and attacked the 
 Spanish ships off the Isle of Wight, and so gal- 
 lantly handled the Spaniards, that they won the 
 first laurels of the struggle. They followed close 
 upon the enemy as his vessels passed hurriedly 
 through the Strait of Calais, and more than one 
 proud galleon sank beneath the shower of their 
 shots. But now the Spaniards were about to re- 
 ceive a reinforcement from Dunkirk, where a fleet 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. ^I 
 
 under the Prince of Parma was lying in wait to 
 join them. 
 
 Lord Howard saw that no time was to be lost. 
 He decided to deal a deadly blow at the enemy by 
 a cunning and effectual stratagem. He chose a 
 number of his least seaworthy ships, and ordered 
 his men to pack them to the decks with gun- 
 powder and pitch. Then he waited for night to 
 come. When the night was at its darkest, these 
 ships were floated out in the direction of the Span- 
 ish fleet and set on fire. The English watched 
 the result with anxious hearts. The fate of Eng- 
 land hung upon the floating messengers of destruc- 
 tion. They had not long to wait. The burning 
 ships were quickly carried by the wind and tide 
 into the very heart of the Spanish armament. 
 Then followed a scene which beggars description. 
 The night was filled and lit lip by a lurid glare. 
 The explosions of gunpowder were deafening, and 
 seemed to echo each other in their terrible din. 
 Some of the Spanish ships caught fire, and the 
 flames were seen leaping up their stately masts, 
 and shrivelling in an instant the white, wide-spread 
 sails. And now ensued a great commotion amongst 
 the fleet. With all haste, the as yet undamaged 
 
^2 RALEGH : 
 
 galleons hoisted sail, and put out to sea, leaving 
 those which were afire to their fate. A heavy gale 
 now came up to aid the plans of the English, and 
 contribute to the discomfiture of the foe. Many 
 af the Spanish ships were driven upon the French 
 coast north of Calais. 
 
 Howard and Drake did not lose a moment in 
 following up the advantage thus gained. They 
 sailed promptly down upon the distressed Span- 
 ish squadrons, and gave them broadside after 
 broadside. For six terrible hours the rain of 
 the English shot and shell poured unceasingly 
 on the decks and sides of the wavering ves- 
 sels. They finally sailed in all haste northward, 
 the English ships following ; but by the time 
 the Spaniards came opposite the Norwegian coast, 
 the English ammunition gave out, and they were 
 forced to give up the pursuit, and seek their har- 
 bors again. The ships put into port, and took in 
 fresh supplies of provisions, powder, and shot, so 
 as to be prepared for the enemy in case he had the 
 hardihood to repeat his attack. But the precaution 
 proved needless. The ill-fated Spanish galleons 
 were overtaken on the Norwegian coast by a ter- 
 rific tempest. Some of them were stranded there ; 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 73 
 
 some met their fate on the rock-bound shores of 
 Scotland ; and only fifty-three of the gallant array 
 which had set sail from Spain ever returned thither 
 again. Thus was the *' Invincible Armada " of 
 Spain repelled by the valor and genius of Howard 
 and Drake, seconded by such brave men as Haw- 
 kins, Frobisher, and, we may well add, Ralegh. 
 
 The rejoicings at the court of Elizabeth over 
 this magnificent victory may be well imagined. 
 The principal heroes of the fight were received 
 by the queen with delighted and lavish welcome, 
 and received many noble rewards for their con- 
 duct. The court held high festival for several 
 weeks. The days were spent in fine cavalcades, 
 tournaments, and shows ; and the nights were lit 
 up by gorgeous illuminations and fireworks, and 
 were quickly sped in masquerades and balls. 
 Among the rest, Ralegh took a lively part in 
 the/ve rejoicings. He appeared at court in all 
 the splendor of the most costly apparel, and was 
 one of the most conspicuous of the warriors who 
 surrounded the throne of the maiden monarch. 
 He seemed once more to be restored to favor, and 
 began again to cherish hopes of securing the 
 queen's affection. 
 
74 RALEGH : 
 
 But he soon found that the brilliant and hand- 
 some Earl of Essex had completely won her heart. 
 Essex was so bent upon supplanting Ralegh, that 
 he sought a quarrel with him ; and is even said to 
 have challenged him to a duel Ralegh was too 
 proud to remain at court and see another preferred 
 to him in the queen's favor; and so he again 
 departed from it, and once more sought rest and 
 consolation in the remoteness of Ireland. 
 
 There was living at that time at Kilcolman, a 
 lonely castle perched on a lofty summit, and over- 
 looking a lovely lake, an old friend and companion 
 of Ralegh's. This was no other than the famous 
 poet, Edmund Spenser. Spenser had known Ra- 
 legh well in Ireland ten years before ; and not 
 only their common misfortunes, but their mutual 
 love of literature, had drawn them together in inti- 
 mate friendship. They had fought side by side in 
 the old Irish rebellion, and as they marched, had 
 forgotten their hardships and their grim task in 
 their absorbing talks about poetry and history. 
 
 Ralegh now bethought him of the gentle Spenser, 
 and, knowing that he would be right welcome, lost 
 no time in repairing to Kilcolman, and once more 
 enjoying the companionship of his poetic friend. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 7$ 
 
 The days spent in the beautiful seclusion of this 
 retreat were among the happiest that Ralegh ever 
 knew. There, amid the tranquillity of the scene, 
 far from the heart-burnings and mortifications of 
 the royal court, in company with a sweet-natured, 
 affectionate friend, the hours sped only too pleas- 
 antly and swiftly. The two comrades wandered 
 together in the forest, or lolled on the green banks 
 of the glassy lake, and, in their communion, forgot 
 all the carking cares and troubles of the world. 
 Spenser read to Ralegh the poems he had been 
 writing ; and Ralegh brought out poems which he, 
 too, had written, and conned them over to Spenser 
 as they reclined. Spenser has left a record in 
 verse of those happy days, in which he says : 
 
 " He piped ; I sung ; and when he sung, I piped ; 
 By change of turns, each making other merry ; 
 Neither envying other, or envied ; 
 So piped we, until we both were weary." 
 
 Not long before Ralegh's coming, Spenser had 
 begun the great poem which was to make his fame 
 immortal ; and one day, as they sat beneath the 
 shadow of the old castle's ivied wall, he timidly 
 brought out the stanzas he had thus far written, 
 and read them with trembling voice. Then he 
 
76 RALEGH : 
 
 told Ralegh the plan of the poem which his glow- 
 ing fancy had constructed. Ralegh warmly de- 
 clared that the verses were much the finest that 
 Spenser had ever written, and implored him to 
 follow out the plan he had described. But for his 
 eager encouragement, the " Faerie Queen " might 
 never have seen the light ; but his ardent words 
 fired Spenser's ambition, and from that time he 
 labored strenuously upon his great work until it 
 was completed and given to the world. 
 
 When a part of the " Faerie Queen " was fin- 
 ished, Ralegh returned to the court, and made it 
 known to Elizabeth, who was so delighted with its 
 beauty, and also with the eloquent compliments 
 which it showered upon herself, that she took both 
 Spenser and Ralegh for a while into her favor 
 again. But alas for the ingratitude of monarchs ! 
 Spenser was soon neglected, and even found his 
 Irish property taken from him ; and died, at last, 
 in great poverty and misery. 
 
 The kindness with which the queen treated Ra- 
 legh after his return from Ireland, was destined to 
 vanish almost as quickly as it came. It happened 
 that there resided at this time at the court, a beau- 
 tiful, golden-haired young maid of honor, named 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 11 
 
 Elizabeth Throgmorton. No sooner had Ralegh 
 seen her, than he fell violently in love with her. 
 But he was well aware of the extremely jealous 
 ^ nature of the queen. In spite of her preference 
 for Essex, Queen Elizabeth was quite unwilling 
 ' that Ralegh, her less favored lover, should transfer 
 his affections to another. She watched him nar- 
 rowly, and would bluntly upbraid him if he showed 
 especial attention to any of the young ladies of 
 her court. So Ralegh, in paying his court to 
 Elizabeth Throgmorton, was compelled to do so 
 with great caution and secrecy. The young lady 
 fully reciprocated his love, but was as much afraid 
 of the queen as he himself 
 
 It chanced one day, however, that the queen 
 discovered what was going on between her maid 
 of honor and the cavalier. Her rage knew no 
 bounds. She berated Ralegh before her ladies, 
 and forbade him to come to court ; and fiercely 
 ordered the maid to remain a prisoner in her room, 
 and on no account to see Ralegh again. 
 
 This misadventure caused Ralegh once more to 
 turn his thoughts from the court, and to seek a 
 new opportunity for his active spirit. Happily 
 there was always a chance for adventure and for- 
 
78 RALEGH : 
 
 tune, in the expeditions which were constantly 
 setting out to attack and capture Spanish gal- 
 leons ; and Ralegh, in order not only to give 
 himself a stirring occupation, but to divert the 
 anger of the queen, plunged with all his ardor 
 into these schemes of conflict and plunder. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RALEGH A PRISONER. 
 
 N the later years of the sixteenth century, 
 the favorite occupation of many EngHsh 
 adventurers of wealth and noble birth was 
 to fit out squadrons and send them forth to assail 
 and capture Spanish ships on the high seas. The 
 hostility between the two nations still burned with 
 its old ferocity, and was constantly kept alive by 
 their rivalry and greed. The Spanish galleons, 
 laden often with precious cargoes gleaned both in 
 Asia and in America, were rich prizes, which 
 proved very tempting to English privateers; and 
 many were the fierce sea-battles which ensued 
 between them. 
 
 Even Queen Elizabeth herself did not disdain to 
 aid her courtiers in fitting out such expeditions, 
 and was as eager as they that the Spanish galleons 
 should be captured and brought into English ports. 
 When such a prize was secured, the queen herself 
 
80 RALEGH : 
 
 was entitled to a share of the booty. This was 
 nothing more nor less than piracy ; but the cus- 
 tom of those times made it honorable even for 
 men of high rank and reputation to engage in 
 these ventures. 
 
 Walter Ralegh now engaged very actively in 
 fitting out squadrons to attack the Spanish ships. 
 He had always cherished, from earliest youth, a 
 very bitter hatred of Spain and the Spaniards. 
 He looked upon them as the special enemies of 
 England, and he thought it nothing more than 
 right to do them all the injury he possibly could. 
 When, therefore, he had excited the queen's wrath 
 by his courtship of the fair young Elizabeth 
 Throgmorton, his first thought was to occupy 
 himself with a cruise in search of Spanish prizes. 
 The queen was glad enough to separate him 
 from his lady-love, and not only consented to 
 his project, but promised to aid him in it. With 
 his wonted energy and enthusiasm he set to work 
 getting together his ships, and preparing for his 
 adventure. Ere long thirteen vessels were an- 
 chored in the Thames, fully equipped, and supplied 
 with a goodly armament. To these the queen 
 added two more vessels. On this occasion, Ralegh 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 8 1 
 
 resolved that he himself would take command of 
 his expedition. 
 
 Before he set out, however, he made up his 
 mind that he would secretly marry his beloved 
 Elizabeth Throgmorton. He found an opportunity 
 to communicate with her, which was not difficult, 
 as the queen, believing she had cured Ralegh of 
 his love, had released her from confinement. The 
 pair readily found a clergyman who performed the 
 marriage ceremony. Then, after being locked in 
 each other s arms in a long, clinging embrace, the 
 bride and bridegroom, with many vows of unalter- 
 able affection, parted. 
 
 Ralegh hastened to his ships, while his young 
 wife returned to her place at the royal court. He 
 gave the command to set sail the next morning ; 
 and accordingly at sunrise, on the 6th of May, 
 1592, the squadron floated under a fair wind down 
 the Thames, and so out to sea. Ralegh's purpose 
 was to make directly for the Spanish coast, and to 
 attack the Spanish ships anchored in the harbor 
 of Seville. After plundering them, he intended to 
 cross the ocean, and assail the Spanish colony of 
 Panama, in Central America. As his squadron 
 sped lightly over the waves, Ralegh gave himself 
 
82 RALEGH I 
 
 up to bright visions of the riches he was about to 
 gain, and the greater fame which would follow his 
 success. The prospect of winning once more 
 the favor of the queen, and of recovering his in- 
 fluence at court, gladdened his heart, and steeled 
 him to a desperate effort to achieve what he had 
 undertaken. 
 
 He had not been long at sea, however, when he 
 espied, rapidly approaching his squadron from the 
 direction of England, a swift pinnace which was 
 evidently trying to catch up with him. He at 
 once suspected that something was wrong, and his 
 heart was filled with misgiving. He resolved, if 
 possible, to outstrip the pinnace, and putting on 
 all sail, tried to escape her. But the pinnace 
 gained on the squadron with every league, and at 
 last came near enough to give Ralegh a signal. 
 Ere long, the pursuing craft came alongside the 
 flag-ship, and in another moment her commander 
 climbed on board. 
 
 This proved to be no other than the famous 
 navigator, Sir Martin Frobisher. Taking Ralegh 
 apart, he told him that Queen Elizabeth had 
 changed her mind, and had determined that 
 Ralegh should not go in command of the expe- 
 
 \ 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 83 
 
 dition. The queen was most tenderly anxious, 
 said Frobisher, for Ralegh's safety, and could not 
 bear to have him absent from court. Ralegh was 
 almost beside himself with vexation at this turn of 
 affairs. He was forced to banish all the bright 
 dreams in which he had been so freely indulging, 
 and to return to the court, where he would once 
 more become subject to the caprices of the queen. 
 But he could not disobey the royal command ; and 
 so, having with a heavy heart given up the com- 
 mand of his squadron to Sir Martin Frobisher, he 
 reluctantly returned to London in the pinnace. 
 
 He repaired to his lodgings, and exchanging his 
 weather-proof sea-clothing for a gorgeous suit of 
 apparel, lost no time in going to court. On arriv- 
 ing at the palace, he asked for an audience of the 
 queen, and after some delay was admitted to the 
 royal presence. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, who was now about sixty years 
 of age, was more than ever proud and stately in 
 her bearing. No sooner had Ralegh entered her 
 apartment, than, instead of greeting him with her 
 usual smile of welcome, she frowned darkly, and 
 in a haughty tone ordered him not to approach 
 her. Then she broke out into a torrent of bitter 
 
84 RALEGH : 
 
 reproaches, and called him ungrateful and perfid 
 ious, and sharply accused him of having, by his 
 secret marriage with Elizabeth Throgmorton, dis- 
 obeyed her most solemn commands. Ralegh was 
 speechless with amazement. How had the queen 
 learned his secret ? What reply could he make to 
 her angry accusations.^ He had scarcely time, 
 however, to consider his situation ; for the queen, 
 summoning her guards, ordered them to seize 
 Ralegh, and carry him a prisoner to the Tower 
 of London. 
 
 Before he could speak a word of protest againsst. 
 this treatment, he found himself hurried out of the 
 palace. A boat lay in readiness in the river. Into 
 this the unhappy cavalier was roughly placed, and 
 rowed rapidly to the grim prison of which he was 
 now to be an inmate. 
 
 Ralegh soon found himself at the entrance of 
 the Tower which opens upon the Thames. He 
 was led up the gloomy stairway ; and before he 
 could wholly realize that he was really a prisoner, 
 he found himself the occupant of a dark, narrow 
 cell, into which scarcely a glimmer of daylight 
 shone, and the floor of which consisted of large, 
 damp stones. A table, a rude chair, and a low 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 85 
 
 cot against the damp wall, were the only articles 
 of furniture permitted to the prisoner. 
 
 What a change in fortune and surroundings was 
 this ! He who had lived amid all the splendors 
 and ease of a royal court, whose person was even 
 now apparelled in the costliest attire, whose lodgings 
 had been replete with extravagant luxury, whose 
 familiar companions had been princes, nobles, and 
 warriors, now found himself the inhabitant of a 
 miserable cell, and forced to exist on the coarsest 
 and scantiest fare ! Instead of gallantly ploughing 
 the seas, the commander of a brave array of war- 
 ships, dealing doughty blows at England's enemies, 
 and bringing home in triumph galleons laden with 
 the riches of the earth, he must live day by day in 
 this dreary solitude, and comfort himself as best 
 he could with his thoughts and his books. 
 
 Happily, his jailers did not long keep him in 
 these miserable quarters, but gave him a larger 
 apartment in the Tower, from the high-barred win- 
 dows of which he was able to gaze out upon the 
 busy craft which dotted the Thames and busily 
 sped to and fro. The governor of the Tower, 
 Sir George Carew, often came to visit him in his 
 solitude, and gave him the news of the day ; and 
 
S6 RALEGH : 
 
 now Ralegh's table was served as that of a cavalier 
 of rank should be. After a while, he was allowed 
 to write letters to his friends, and even, now and 
 then, to receive them in his prison ; and thus many 
 an hour was pleasantly beguiled. But for one 
 thing he deeply grieved, and that was the absence 
 of his beloved young wife. He had not seen her 
 since his sudden return, and he longed to clasp her 
 once more in his arms. But this the stern and 
 jealous queen angrily denied him. 
 
 It is strange that, despite this cruel treatment 
 on the part of the queen, Ralegh, after the habit 
 of the courtiers of that day, constantly avowed his 
 affection for her, and pretended that his chief sor- 
 row in being shut up in the Tower was that he 
 could no longer see her, and bask in the sunshine 
 of her smiles. The idea of a refined and hand- 
 some knight, such as he, professing that his great- 
 est happiness lay in the love of a capricious and 
 tyrannical old woman of sixty ! 
 
 He spent much of his time while a prisoner in 
 the Tower, writing letters to his various friends, in 
 which he imparted to them his misery at being 
 parted from his royal mistress. To one of them 
 he said : *' I am become like a fish on dry land, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 8^ 
 
 gasping for breath ; with larne legs and lamer 
 lungs." On hearing that the queen was about to 
 take a trip into the interior of England, he ex- 
 claimed, in a letter to his friend, Sir Robert Cecil, 
 " My heart was never broken till this day, that I 
 hear the queen goes so far off, whom I have fol- 
 lowed so many years with so great love and desire 
 in so many journeys, and am now left behind her, 
 in a dark prison all alone. While she was yet 
 nigh at hand, that I might hear of her once in two 
 or three days, my sorrows were the less ; but even 
 now my heart is cast into the depth of all misery. 
 I, that was wont to behold her riding like Alex- 
 ander, hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, the 
 gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her pure 
 cheeks like a nymph, sometimes sitting in the 
 shade like a goddess, sometimes singing like an 
 angel, sometimes playing like an Orpheus." 
 
 This absurd lament about a vain old woman he 
 ended by saying, in despair, " Do with me as you 
 will ; I am more weary of life than they are desir- 
 ous I should perish." 
 
 All these high-flown flatteries and protestations 
 of love for the queen seem to us unworthy of a 
 brave and gallant cavalier and refined scholar, like 
 
SS RALEGH • 
 
 / 
 
 Walter Ralegh. We feel that none of them are 
 sincere ; that they are a pretence, and are written 
 from a motive of ambition. Ralegh, in these 
 rhapsodies, adopted the extravagant style of his 
 time ; it was only by such gross adulation, he 
 thought, that he could soften the queen's heart, 
 and restore himself to his old position of honor 
 and influence. 
 
 One bright summer morning Ralegh was gazing 
 out of his grated window, and listlessly watching 
 the craft on the river sailing to and fro. His 
 thoughts were given up to sorrowful reflections, 
 and his face was clouded by a shadow of sadness. 
 Suddenly, however, an unusual sight presented 
 itself upon the waters of the Thames. A num- 
 ber of splendid barges, gilded and painted in 
 brilliant colors, adorned with rich awnings, and 
 gay with banners, flags, and streamers, were mov- 
 ing slowly, in regular order, down the stream. 
 The barge in the centre was larger and hand- 
 somer than the rest, and above it Ralegh espied, 
 floating in the breeze, the emblazoned standard 
 of England. Another glance sufficed to show 
 him, reclining on ample cushions beneath a mag- 
 nificently embroidered canopy, the queen herselL 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 89 
 
 She was attired in great splendor, glittering with 
 gems, and surrounded by a bevy of the fair ladies 
 of her court. 
 
 Ralegh was, or pretended to be, overcome with 
 emotion. Leaping from his seat by the window, 
 he called loudly for Sir George Carew, the gov- 
 ernor of the Tower. As soon as he saw Sir 
 George, he broke out into a paroxysm of rage. 
 He declared that his enemies had caused the 
 queen to pass by his prison in her barge, purposely 
 to torment and tantalize him ; and he begged Sir 
 George to allow him to go out and follow the 
 barge, promising that, as soon as he had got a 
 sight of her near by, he would return to prison 
 again. But the governor would not permit him 
 to go ; whereupon Ralegh, full of ungovernable 
 anger, fiercely upbraided him. From words the 
 governor and his prisoner came to blows. Pres- 
 ently each drew his dagger ; and the quarrel might 
 have *^oon proved fatal to one or the other, had not 
 Sir Arthur Gorges interposed and separated the 
 combatants. 
 
 Ralegh spent a great deal of his time while in 
 the Tower reading and writing. He was already 
 known as one of the best poets and essayists of 
 
90 RALEGH : 
 
 his time ; and throughout all his busy and often 
 adventurous career he had never lost his early love 
 for books and learning. His ambition was as eager 
 to become a scholar, and to leave literary works 
 which should endure, as it was to obtain wealth 
 and power at home, and to found colonies in dis- 
 tant lands. So it was, that, while he was a pris- 
 oner, many a weary hour was lightened by his 
 books and his pen, and many were the wise 
 things which he wrote at this time. 
 
 He had been in the Tower several months, 
 when one day the news was brought to him that 
 some of the ships which he had fitted up and sent 
 out as privateers had cast anchor in the harbor of 
 Dartmouth, whither they had brought a large 
 Spanish galleon, fairly loaded down with precious 
 spoil. This news was soon confirmed. The 
 Spanish ship, the name of which was ''La Madre 
 de Dios" proved to be loaded with a cargo of 
 spices, drugs, silks, and other articles, the value 
 of which was not less than seven hundred thou- 
 sand dollars of our money. 
 
 The arrival of this great prize soon filled the 
 country with excitement, and Queen Elizabeth 
 herself greeted the event with unconcealed joy. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 9I 
 
 Although "Z^ Madre de Dios " had been captured 
 exactly as pirates take and plunder ships on the 
 high seas, she was no less delighted than her court- 
 iers at the prospect of profiting by it. As Eliza- 
 beth had contributed towards fitting out the fleet, 
 she was entitled to a share of the plunder. Walter 
 Ralegh, too, had a claim upon a large portion of 
 the profits of the expedition, and it was very neces- 
 sary that he should go to Dartmouth, to make a 
 division of the spoil. 
 
 The queen was not yet willing, however, to re- 
 lease him from his captivity. She had not become 
 reconciled to his secret marriage, and was resolved, 
 if possible, to keep him and his young bride apart. 
 Besides, her resentment against him was being 
 constantly inflamed by his bitter rival, the Earl of 
 Essex, who feared the result of Ralegh's return to 
 court. Nor was Essex the only enemy Ralegh 
 had about the queen ; for his haughty bearing had 
 given grave offence to more than one proud noble 
 and dame of high degree. 
 
 At last Elizabeth resolved to permit Ralegh to 
 go to Dartmouth, but ordered that a keeper should 
 go with him and attend him everywhere, night 
 and day, to see that he did not escape. The sail- 
 
92 RALEGH : 
 
 ors of the fleet were becoming very insubordinate, 
 and the queen knew that Ralegh alone had their 
 affection, and could quell their discontent. 
 
 So one day Ralegh found himself breathing the 
 free air, outside his gloomy prison, though he him- 
 self was not yet free. His keeper remained close 
 by his side, and in his unwelcome company Ralegh 
 journeyed down to Dartmouth. 
 
 In spite of his being a prisoner, Ralegh was 
 greeted at Dartmouth, which was not far from his 
 native place, with shouts of joyful welcome ; for 
 however much he might be disliked and feared at 
 the royal court, in his own neighborhood he was 
 greatly beloved. The sailors of the fleet, too, who 
 had been so unruly, gathered about him, and lav- 
 ished upon him every token of their affection. 
 Ralegh bore himself with much dignity, but every 
 one observed the sad expression of his counte- 
 nance. When one of his old friends wished him 
 joy at being free again, he shook his head and sor- 
 rowfully replied, — 
 
 "No, I am still the queen of England's poor 
 captive." 
 
 It took a long time to complete the division of 
 the rich spoil which had been taken with the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 93 
 
 Spanish galleon ; but at last Ralegh found his task 
 finished, and with his keeper, he returned to Lon- 
 don. But he was not again consigned to the dreary 
 solitude of the Tower. He lived for a while under 
 the eye of his keeper, and at last the queen's 
 heart softened towards him, and he was restored to 
 full liberty again. 
 
 And now, for the first time since his marriage, 
 he was to enjoy for a little while the sweet repose 
 and comforts of a happy wedded life. His young 
 wife was all that his warm heart could desire. 
 She was young, beautiful, accomplished, and lov- 
 ing. Ralegh was her hero, and she was completely 
 wrapped up in him and his fortunes. Never did 
 cavalier have a more faithful or more helpful part- 
 ner. She shared with her whole heart his joy.s 
 and sorrows, and she was perfectly happy, now 
 that she could live with him in the luxurious 
 country retreat whither they speedily repaired. 
 
 Not long before, Ralegh had become the owner 
 of one of the finest manor-houses in England. It 
 was called Sherborne, and was not very far distant 
 from his native place. It was a noble mansion, 
 replete with every luxury of the 'ige, imposing to 
 the eye, spacious and conve'iient ; its walls hung 
 
94 RALEGH : 
 
 with rare tapestries, and its ceilings made of the 
 heaviest carved oak. Around the manor-house lay 
 a beautiful park, and in its near vicinity were blos- 
 soming orchards, and cool, pretty groves, and 
 thriving gardens. 
 
 In so lovely a retreat Ralegh spent many happy 
 months. He was ardently fond of country sports, 
 and took the greatest delight in building taste- 
 ful additions to his castle, laying out new gardens, 
 and cutting stately avenues through his park. 
 With him, too, he had his choice library of books, 
 to which he could gratefully turn when wearied 
 with his out-of-door occupations. Around him 
 lived, in stately castles and more modest hunt- 
 ing-houses, many gentlemen of tastes as refined 
 and as sturdy as his own ; and with them he en- 
 joyed frequent and pleasant companionship. In 
 such an existence he seemed to forget for a while 
 that there was such a thing as a royal court, or 
 such a personage as the vain old queen. His am- 
 bition seemed lulled to slumber by his tranquil 
 surroundings. 
 
 But after a while his adventurous spirit again 
 became restless, and he began to think of once 
 more seeking renown and riches by the perilous 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 95 
 
 ventures of the sea. This time, he said to himself, 
 he would go on the projected voyage in person. 
 He would embark on a new expedition towards 
 the setting sun. As he sat amid the shades 
 of Sherborne, he looked eagerly forward to the 
 time when, at sea, he would have " to lie hard ; 
 to fare worse ; to be subjected to perils, to dis- 
 eases, to ill savors ; to be parched and withered ; 
 and, withal, to sustain the care and labor" of a 
 long and doubtful voyage. 
 
96 RALEGH : 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RALEGH'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 ARVELLOUS stories of a certain region 
 in America had long been circulating in 
 England, and throughout Europe. The 
 Spaniards, who had been so bold and successful 
 in their voyages across the Atlantic, and in their 
 conquests of the western nations, told dazzling 
 tales of the riches of those countries, and of the 
 wonderful sights they had seen there. The ac- 
 counts of the Spanish voyages thither had been 
 printed ; and one collection of these thrilling sto- 
 ries had been made in England by Richard Hak- 
 luyt, an intimate friend of Walter Ralegh, who had 
 encouraged him to undertake this work. 
 
 According to the Spanish adventurers, the em- 
 pire of Guiana, on the northern coast of South 
 America, was in truth the land of gold, in search 
 of which so many expeditions had been made ; 
 the very land which had aroused the ambition of 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 97 
 
 Columbus, of Cortez, of Pizarro, of Fernando de 
 Soto, and Ponce de Leon. It was said, indeed, 
 that the vast treasures of the Mexican king, Mon- 
 tezuma, had been carried to Guiana by his ser- 
 vants, when he was subdued and captured by 
 Cortez ; and that the boundless wealth of the Inca 
 of Peru, Atahualpa, had in the same manner 
 been transferred to Guiana, after his overthrow 
 by Pizarro. Very many implicitly believed these 
 stories, and were eager to go to Guiana, and search 
 out and bring home these treasures. Other voy- 
 agers declared that Guiana itself was fabulously 
 rich in gold, silver, and precious gems. Stories 
 were told of a great imperial city, which stood on 
 imposing heights in the interior of the country, 
 where the very troughs at the corners of the 
 streets, at which the horses were watered, were 
 made of solid blocks of gold and silver ; and where 
 " billets of gold lay about in heaps, as if they were 
 logs of wood marked out to burn." 
 
 In this marvellous city there dwelt a king, who 
 lived in the greatest wealth and magnificence. 
 Some of his habits were at least peculiar. There 
 were state occasions on which it was his custom to 
 cover his royal body with turpentine, and then roll 
 
98 RALEGH : 
 
 himself in gold-dust, until he appeared like a living 
 figure of gold. He would then enter his state 
 barge, and thus, in the centre of a group of nobles, 
 arrayed in attire which glistened with gems, would 
 make the tour of a beautiful lake ; in which, at the 
 end of their promenade, the monarch and his court 
 would take a refreshing bath. 
 
 But somehow or other, it always seemed very 
 difficult, if not impossible, to find this rich city and 
 its king. One expedition after another went in 
 search of it, and after a series of bitter and 
 cruel hardships, returned without having found 
 it. Sometimes these expeditions, after enduring 
 hunger and want and cold in the vast South 
 American forests, were massacred by the angry 
 natives. Among other adventurers who tried to 
 find the much-talked-of El Dorado was Gonzalo 
 Pizarro, the brother of that great Pizarro who had 
 conquered Peru. Gonzalo crossed the mountains 
 of South America from Peru with over three hun- 
 dred Spaniards, and a still larger force of natives. 
 A part of his force, under Orellana, managed 
 to reach the river Amazon after many vicissi- 
 tudes. Hastily constructing a rude boat, they de- 
 scended that mighty stream, and, deserting Pizarro, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 99 
 
 made their way back to Europe. Meanwhile 
 Gonzalo and a portion of the force remained in the 
 mountains awaiting the result of Orellana's search. 
 Finding that he did not return, Gonzalo returned 
 to Peru ; but not until his company had been 
 forced to eat their saddles, so near had they come 
 to actual starvation. 
 
 Other expeditions had met a fate not less unfor- 
 tunate. Al] alike had failed to reach the golden 
 city. For a long while the attempt to find El 
 Dorado was abandoned. But some time before 
 Ralegh took up his residence at Sherborne, a 
 bold Spaniard named, Berreo had resolved to un- 
 dertake the task which still remained unfulfilled. 
 Berreo made a successful voyage across the Atlan- 
 tic, and safely reached New Granada, in South 
 America. Thence he set forth, it is said, with 
 seven hundred horsemen, and travelled, first along 
 the banks of the river Negro, and then along those 
 of the river Orinoco. At some points, the adven- 
 turers descended the Orinoco in rough boats, built 
 on the spot. As they advanced, many of the men 
 and horses died from illness and exhaustion, while 
 others fell in the frequent skirmishes which Berreo 
 had with the natives of the country. 
 
lOO RALEGH I 
 
 He thus travelled amid many perils for more 
 than a year. At last he reached a country, from 
 the natives of which he heard about Guiana and its 
 riches ; the city, they said, was not far off. These 
 natives were at first hostile to Berreo, but they 
 soon became friendly with him, and lavished 
 many costly presents upon him. They gave him 
 **ten images of fine gold, which were so curiously 
 wrought, as he had not seen the like in Italy, 
 Spain, or the Low Countries." After remaining 
 with them for three months, Berreo pursued his 
 journey in search of Guiana ; but his force had now 
 so seriously dwindled, and those who still survived 
 grew so clamorous to return home, that he at last 
 gave up his project and went back, not without many 
 hardships and difficulties, to the island of Trinidad, 
 off the South American coast. He did not give up 
 all hope, however, of finding Guiana ; and remained 
 for many years at Trinidad with this purpose in 
 his mind. 
 
 All these stories of El Dorado, and of the at- 
 tempts of the Spaniards to find the marvellous city 
 of gold, excited and absorbed Ralegh in his retreat 
 at Sherborne. He began to believe the most won- 
 derful accounts of the land of Guiana ; and often, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. lOI 
 
 as he sat with his wife by the roaring fire in his 
 great hall, did he tell her of his eager desire to 
 be the successful explorer of that distant region. 
 His hatred of the Spaniards led him above all to 
 crave the distinction of preventing their capture of 
 the golden land, and of himself planting the stand- 
 ard and the authority of Queen Elizabeth in its 
 
 midst. 
 
 So in the year 1594, some eleven or twelve years 
 after Berreo had set forth on his venture, Ralegh 
 made up his mind to enter once more upon his old 
 career of colonization and discovery. He was now 
 in the very prime of life, and the full ripeness of 
 his vigor. At the age of forty-two, he had many 
 years of activity and enterprise before him. He 
 had long ago given up all idea of planting a settle- 
 ment in Virginia; the failure of his former attempts 
 to do so had completely discouraged him. But 
 here was a new and brilliant field of adventure ; 
 and his ambitious nature was stirred by the pros- 
 pect of finding the fabled land. He had never him- 
 self sailed on any of the expeditions which he had 
 fitted up and sent forth upon the ocean. Now, he 
 resolved that he himself would go, and take com- 
 mand of the voyage to America. It would be hard 
 
I02 RALEGH t 
 
 to tear himself away from the companionship of 
 his devoted wife and the luxurious ease of Sher- 
 borne ; but he was too ambitious and too restless 
 to remain there in languor and indolence. 
 
 But before venturing himself upon the ocean, 
 Ralegh resolved to send out a ship to explore the 
 mouth of the Orinoco, up which he would have to 
 pass. He accordingly dispatched his friend, Jacob 
 Whiddon, in a small vessel, to make the explora- 
 tion. Whidden arrived safely at Trinidad, where 
 he landed, and where Berreo pretended to welcome 
 him with warm cordiality. Berreo was at this time 
 governor of Trinidad ; and he himself had, just at 
 this time, nearly got ready a new expedition to 
 search for El Dorado. While, therefore, he pro- 
 fessed to be friendly to Whiddon, he really used 
 every means to delay him, and prevent his sailing 
 to the Orinoco. One after another, Whiddon's 
 sailors were arrested and thrown into prison on 
 various pretexts, until his crew became too small 
 to enable him to continue his voyage. Finally, 
 Whiddon was forced to return to England without 
 having achieved the object for which he had sailed. 
 
 No sooner had Ralegh heard his officer's report, 
 than he decided to delay no longer the prepara- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. IO3 
 
 tions for his own voyage to South America. When 
 he told his wife of liis purpose, she implored him 
 with tears in her eyes not to undertake so perilous 
 a journey. Finding that she could not persuade 
 him to abandon it, she wrote to Sir Robert Cecil 
 a touching letter, begging him to prevail upon 
 Ralegh to remain at home. But Sir Robert re- 
 fused to listen to her prayer. Ralegh went to 
 London, and without loss of time set about col- 
 lecting the ships which were to form his squadron, 
 and a picked company of men to go with him. 
 In his preparations he was actively assisted by Sir 
 Robert Cecil, then a great man at the royal court, 
 and by the gallant admiral, Lord Howard of Effing- 
 ham, who had won the victory over the Spanish 
 Armada. 
 
 At last five stout vessels, amply provided with 
 crews, arms, and provisions, were gathered in the 
 picturesque harbor of Plymouth, near Ralegh's 
 native place. The vessels had on board a number 
 of light, small boats, which were certain to be 
 useful when the adventurers reached the South 
 American rivers. Besides the crews of the ships, 
 about one hundred gentlemen, officers, and soldiers 
 were gathered at the rendezvous ; and Ralegh also 
 
104 RALEGH 
 
 took with him a number of rowers, boat-keepers, 
 and boys. 
 
 On the morning of a misty day in February, 
 1595, everything was ready, and Ralegh, attended 
 by a number of his companions, and attired in 
 all his finery, proceeded on board his flagship. 
 The vessels in the harbor displayed their flags and 
 pennons in honor of the expedition. The quays 
 were crowded with a curious multitude ; and there 
 were gathered many nobles and ladies from the 
 region round about, who had assembled to bid the 
 bold voyagers God-speed and a happy return. Ra- 
 legh stood erect upon the deck, the long feathers 
 in his hat floating in the breeze, and his velvet 
 cloak wrapped about his stalwart form. With 
 quick glance he looked from one ship to the other. 
 The captains signalled to him that they were pre- 
 pared to weigh anchor. Waving his hand to the 
 crowd of his friends on shore, he gave the order 
 to set sail. The ships, with sails set and flags 
 flying, slowly passed out of the harbor ; and 
 presently the fair town of Plymouth, and then the 
 white cliffs of his native Devon, faded from Ra- 
 legh's view. 
 
 The first destination of the squadron was the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. IO5 
 
 Canary Islands, off the African coast ; the same 
 islands on which Vasco da Gama had landed just 
 about a hundred years before. Ralegh's ships 
 reached them without accident, and there took in 
 a fresh supply of water and provisions. Just as 
 the squadron was setting sail again, Ralegh espied, 
 in the distance, a Spanish ship. The temptation 
 to attack and capture her was too strong for him 
 to resist. 
 
 Whenever and wherever Walter Ralegh could 
 inflict injury on the Spaniards, whom he so bitterly 
 detested, he did so with eagerness. He ordered 
 his vessels to bear down upon the new-comer ; 
 and after a brief, hot fight, the Spaniard surren- 
 dered, and the English voyagers boarded her. To 
 Ralegh's delight he found that the cargo of the 
 captured ship consisted of fire-arms ; these he 
 caused to be stowed away in his own squadron, 
 and then let the captive vessel go. 
 
 Proceeding on his voyage, he not long after en- 
 countered and captured another prize. A Flemish 
 ship was sailing homeward with a cargo of fine 
 wines. Ralegh attacked her without hesitation, 
 iind soon made her lower her flag to him. The 
 wine, to the amount of twenty huge hogsheads, 
 
I06 RALEGH ; 
 
 was transferred to his own ship, and the Flemish 
 craft was compelled to return home empty. 
 
 The course of the squadron was now directly 
 across the stormy Atlantic. Ralegh himself, who 
 had long and carefully studied the art of naviga- 
 tion, commanded its movements. Meanwhile he 
 passed many a monotonous hour at sea with the 
 books which he had brought to beguile him on 
 his way. He studied the rude charts of the coast 
 and country whither he was sailing, and read 
 with absorbing interest the accounts of the pre- 
 vious voyages which had been made to those 
 remote regions. The further the ships advanced, 
 the more dazzling became his dreams of the pos- 
 sible conquests and riches which lay before him, 
 and the more impatient he became to reach his 
 destination. 
 
 In a little less than two months after setting out 
 from Plymouth, Ralegh and his five ships came in 
 sight of the island of Trinidad. It was with a 
 thrill of joy that he first spied land in the new 
 world, — that world of which he had heard so 
 much, and which he had so often longed to behold 
 with his own eyes. Anchoring in one of the har- 
 bors of the island, Ralegh's first step was to make 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 10/ 
 
 a careful survey of the coast. He tried to win the 
 good will of the natives, so as to learn as much as 
 possible about the mysterious country he was 
 about to explore. Berreo, the adventurer whose 
 expedition has been described, was still the ruler 
 of Trinidad. Ralegh was resolved to punish him 
 for having prevented Whiddon from going to the 
 Orinoco ; and soon Berreo's conduct towards his 
 own squadron strengthened this resolve. 
 
 Berreo told the Indians of Trinidad that if any 
 of them should dare to go on board any of Ra- 
 legh's ships, or give him any information about the 
 country, such offenders should be promptly hung 
 and quartered. But already Ralegh had won the 
 good will of the natives by the kind manner in 
 which he treated them, and the presents which he 
 lavished upon them. In spite of Berreo's savage 
 threats, the Indians would creep out from the shore 
 in their canoes, under the cover of night, and come 
 alongside the flag-ship. They brought provisions 
 to Ralegh, and were often persuaded to board the 
 vessel. The poor savages loudly bewailed the cru- 
 elty which the Spaniards were constantly inflicting 
 upon them, and soon learned to look to the gallant 
 English commander for relief and protection. 
 
I08 RALEGH : 
 
 They told Ralegh, among other things, that sev- 
 eral of their chiefs were at that moment lying in 
 chains in the town of St. Joseph, and besought 
 him to go to their rescue. 
 
 Ralegh quickly perceived that this was a good 
 opportunity at once to inflict a blow upon his 
 Spanish enemy, and to gain still more securely the 
 good will of the natives. So he made a sudden 
 and vigorous attack upon St. Joseph, which speed- 
 ily fell into his hands. He released the chiefs, 
 who overwhelmed him with their gratitude, and 
 from that time the Indians of Trinidad became 
 devoted to him. Ralegh took occasion to tell them 
 that his sovereign was a great queen, who ruled 
 over a powerful island realm, and who was an in- 
 veterate enemy of the Spaniards ; and he promised 
 always to protect them from Spanish tyranny. 
 
 With the capture of St. Joseph, Berreo himself 
 fell into Ralegh's hands as a prisoner. But Ra- 
 legh, far from delivering the Spaniard over to 
 execution, gave him a spacious cabin in his own 
 ship, and invited him to take his meals daily at his 
 own table. Berreo, who did not suspect as yet 
 that Ralegh had come thither to make the discov- 
 ery of El Dorado, talked freely with him about his 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. ICQ 
 
 own expedition to the Orinoco ; and thus Ralegh 
 gathered a good deal of valuable information. 
 This, with what he was constantly learning from 
 the friendly natives, enabled him soon to perfect 
 his own plans for exploring the main land. 
 
 Ralegh learned that it would be in vain for him 
 to attempt to navigate the river Orinoco with his 
 large ships. The various mouths of this stream were 
 choked up by great sand-banks, and the shifting 
 tides made the channels uncertain and dangerous. 
 It was necessary, therefore, to leave the ships, 
 with a sufficient force to defend them, at the island 
 of Trinidad, and to pursue the journey in the 
 smaller craft which Ralegh had had the forethought 
 to bring along with him. He accordingly an- 
 chored his squadron at a place called Los Gallos, 
 in the Gulf of Paria, at a point on Trinidad nearest 
 to the main land. He chose one hundred men to 
 accompany him on his perilous venture, carrying 
 provisions for a month ; and finally embarked in an 
 old galley, a barge, two light wherries, and a ship's 
 boat. 
 
 Ralegh had with him a young Indian pilot, who 
 professed to be entirely familiar with the coast, 
 and with the dangerously winding channels of the 
 
no RALEGH: 
 
 Orinoco. In crossing the strait between Trinidad 
 and the main land, the frail little fleet of boats met 
 with very stormy weather. The high-rolling bil- 
 lows and the fierce wind reminded Ralegh of the 
 rough passage between Dover and Calais. When 
 at last they reached the coast, and entered that 
 mouth of the river which they first found, the 
 boats became so involved in the network of chan- 
 nels which crossed and recrossed each other, that 
 Ralegh almost despaired of being able either to 
 advance or to retreat again. In the account which 
 he wrote of his expedition afterwards, he said: 
 
 " If God had not sent us help, we might have 
 wandered a whole year in that labyrinth of rivers, 
 ere we had found any way. I know all the earth 
 doth not yield the like confluence of streams and 
 branches, the one crossing the other so many 
 times, and all so fair and large, and so like to one 
 another, as no man can tell which to take. And if 
 we went by the sun or compass, hoping thereby to 
 go directly one way or other, yet that way also we 
 were carried in a circle amongst multitudes of 
 islands. Every island was so bordered with big 
 trees, as no man could see any further than the 
 breadth of the river or length of the branch." 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. HI 
 
 The young Indian pilot, who was sincerely anxious 
 to fulfil his task, proved to be really ignorant of 
 the various channels ; and so the Englishmen were 
 obliged to trust to their own experience and judg- 
 ment. At last they were extricated from their 
 difficulty and peril by a lucky accident. 
 
 The boats happened to turn up a channel which 
 seemed deeper and easier than the rest. After 
 rowing a few hours, Ralegh was surprised and 
 delighted to espy, just on ahead, a little canoe, with 
 three natives, crossing the rapid stream. He or- 
 dered his rowers to make all speed, and, if possible, 
 overtake the canoe. The natives, as soon as they 
 perceived the strange craft making towards them, 
 with white men in it, took fright and hurried their 
 own rowing. But the skilful English oars were too 
 quick for them, and soon the barge (in which was 
 Ralegh himself) overtook the canoe, and the men 
 seized its occupants. 
 
 Ralegh, by many signs, tried to persuade the 
 natives that he was friendly, and had no hostile 
 designs upon them ; and some of the Indians whom 
 he had brought with him soon persuaded them that 
 they had nothing to fear. One of the three 
 natives was an old man, with a wise and solemn 
 
112 RALEGH: 
 
 face, who proved to have a thorough knowledge of 
 the river and the country round about. He was 
 induced, by means of presents and gentle treat- 
 ment, to be the pilot of the expedition, and under- 
 took his task with hearty good will. 
 
 That evening, Ralegh and his comrades landed 
 on a little knoll, which was mostly overgrown with 
 dense reeds and tropical vegetation, and there, amid 
 the stillness of the strange and savage land, — 
 a stillness broken only by the sound of the 
 wild rush of the river's current, — the adventurers 
 feasted on such plain fare as they had brought 
 with them, and slept soundly after their desperate 
 struggling with the formidable waters. The faith- 
 ful Indians kept guard as they slept. They rose 
 bright and early in the morning, and with stout 
 hearts prepared to resume their perilous journey. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. II 3 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ADVENTURES ON THE ORINOCO. 
 
 N launching forth, the next morning, upon 
 the stream, Ralegh and his companions 
 found that their difficulties and dangers 
 were by no means over. Their old Indian guide 
 promised them that after a while they would 
 reach smoother waters, and would find, some dis- 
 tance above, a large Indian village, where they 
 were sure of being hospitably welcomed, and aided 
 in penetrating the interior. 
 
 Meanwhile it was all that the five frail crafts 
 could do to breast the extremely rapid and violent 
 currents. Sometimes the men were obliged to go on 
 shore, and pull their boats over the rapids which 
 they now and then encountered. Then they came 
 upon treacherous shoals, over which they pushed 
 their boats with difficulty, and where they were at 
 times completely stranded. And now the rank 
 rushes and reeds grew so thick on either bank, 
 
1 14 RALEGH : 
 
 and so close to the water's edge, that the adven- 
 turers were stifled for want of air, and could not 
 find a place on the shore where to set their feet. 
 They proceeded thus slowly, and with so many 
 drawbacks, for four weary days ; at the end of 
 which they reached another branch of the river, 
 where they were able to proceed more easily. 
 
 "We fell," relates Ralegh, "into as goodly a 
 river as ever I beheld, called the Great Amana, 
 which ran more directly without windings or 
 turnings than the other ; but soon the flood of the 
 sea left us, and being forced either by main 
 strength to row against a violent current, or to 
 return as wise as we went, we had then no shift 
 but to persuade the companies that it was but two 
 or three days' work, and therefore desired them to 
 take pains, every gentleman and others taking 
 their turns to row. When three days more were 
 overgone, our companies began to despair, the 
 weather being extremely hot, the river bordered 
 with very high trees, that kept away the air, and 
 the current against us every day stronger than the 
 other. But we ever more commanded our pilots 
 to promise an end the next day ; and used it so 
 long as we were driven to assure them from four 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. II5 
 
 reaches of the river to three, and so to two, and so 
 to the next reach. But so long we labored that 
 many days were spent, and we were driven our- 
 selves to harder allowance of our bread even at 
 the last, and we had no drink at all ; while our 
 men and ourselves were wearied and scorched, and 
 we were, withal, doubtful whether we should ever 
 reach our goal or no, the heat increasing as we 
 drew near the equator." 
 
 Still, with all these obstacles and discourage- 
 ments, Ralegh observed with great curiosity and 
 delight the strange country through which, as 
 through a bright, varied panorama, his little flo- 
 tilla was passing. Before his eyes, here and 
 there, stretched broad and fertile plains, which 
 extended to the horizon. The rich grass was soft 
 as velvet, and of a deep, luxuriant green. Stately 
 copses of wide-spreading, lofty trees formed cool 
 and lovely groves in the midst of these charm- 
 ing expanses ; while ever and anon, nimble and 
 graceful deer, with their big, soft brown eyes, 
 and slender legs, peered innocently and fearlessly 
 through the rushes at the voyagers, and even ven- 
 tured to feed and drink on the very bank, within 
 a few feet of the boats. The adventurers gazed 
 
Il6 RALEGH : 
 
 upon these fair scenes with keenest pleasure, for 
 they promised a fairer journey on ahead. 
 
 "On the banks of these rivers," says Ralegh, 
 **were divers sorts of fruits good to eat; flowers, 
 too, and trees of such variety as were sufficient to 
 make ten volumes of travels. We refreshed our- 
 selves many times with the fruits of the country, 
 and sometimes with fowls and fish. We saw birds 
 of all colors ; some carnation, some crimson, or- 
 ange, tawny, purple, and so on ; and it was unto us 
 a great good passing time to behold them, besides 
 the relief we found by killing some store of them 
 with our fowling-pieces." 
 
 After some days, the old Indian guide told 
 Ralegh that they were now quite near the village 
 of which he had spoken. But it would not be 
 well, he said, that all the boats should go thither ; 
 for that might lead the natives to fear that a hos- 
 tile attack upon them was meditated. So Ralegh 
 himself, accompanied only by three or four of his 
 companions and by the guide, proceeded up a 
 branch of the river in the smallest of his boats, 
 and boldly went ashore where the huts of the 
 Indians were grouped together at the river side. 
 The Indians at first stared at the strangers with 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 1? 
 
 faces full of fear and suspicion, and some of them 
 ran into the woods. But the guide hastened to let 
 them know that Ralegh and his comrades were not 
 Spaniards, — who had got a bad name through all 
 that country, by reason of their greed of gold and 
 many deeds of wanton cruelty,— but friendly white 
 men, who had come thither with innocent designs. 
 Then the natives gathered around the strangers, 
 and curiously inspected them. Several young 
 Indians took hold of Ralegh's tunic, and touched 
 his broad hat, and made other demonstrations of 
 friendliness ; for their fears had speedily vanished. 
 The Englishmen went freely into their huts and 
 sat down ; and there they were regaled with such 
 primitive fare as the little village afforded. Ralegh 
 observed that these natives, though living in a 
 savage state, were gentle and simple in character, 
 and were, many of them, handsome and graceful 
 men and women. After he had duly inspected the 
 village, and had made some presents to his kind- 
 hearted hosts, he prepared to return to the ren- 
 dezvous of the boats. On his taking leave of the 
 village, the natives brought him a quantity of 
 bread, fish, and hens, and he took leave of thera 
 with many signs of friendship and cordiality. 
 
Il8 RALEGH: 
 
 Soon after returning to the rest of his company 
 
 the voyage of the boats was continued up the Ori- 
 noco. They had not gone far when they saw two 
 canoes crossing the river. These they speedily 
 overtook, and were dehghted to find that they 
 contained a large quantity of very nice bread, — 
 the nicest, they declared, of which they had par- 
 taken since they had left the shores of old Eng- 
 land. The feast which the men had upon this 
 bread so restored their spirits, that they exclaimed, 
 " Let us go on ; we care not how far." As they 
 progressed they kept seeing other canoes, some of 
 which they captured, while others escaped them. 
 In one of the latter they were surprised and indig- 
 nant to see three Spaniards ; but in vain did they 
 give these enemies chase. Ralegh had now 
 learned from the Indians that the Spaniards had 
 told them that the English were cannibals and 
 robbers, and this made him very careful to always 
 treat the Indians so well that they would see that 
 the Spaniards had lied. 
 
 The adventurers next came upon a number of 
 Indian villages on the banks, at each of which 
 they took occasion to stop. Ralegh was so kind 
 to the savages, that everywhere he went he left a 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 19 
 
 good name behind him, and completely won the 
 affection of the various tribes. If any of his men 
 stole anything from the Indian huts, he not only 
 caused the articles stolen to be returned, but 
 ordered the thieves to be whipped and branded in 
 the presence of the simple folk they had robbed. 
 
 It was not long before all the tribes in the 
 neighboring country had heard all about Ralegh 
 and his companions, and especially about the kind- 
 ness with which he treated the people wherever he 
 appeared among them. As the boats passed up the 
 river, the natives would come flocking down to the 
 banks to greet the strangers, bringing with them 
 their women and children ; and they never failed 
 to offer Ralegh a great abundance of provisions. 
 The Englishmen feasted daily upon fish and fowl, 
 succulent roots, and delicious fruit of many sorts ; 
 and now and then they dined royally on the 
 haunches of venison which the Indians roasted 
 over the big fires and laid before them. Among 
 the fruits which were thus lavishly bestowed upon 
 the new-comers were pineapples of enormous size, 
 and deliciously fragrant and sweet. Ralegh called 
 them "the prince of fruits." 
 
 One day, the boats reached a point on the Ori- 
 
1 20 RALEGH : 
 
 noco where another great river, only second to the 
 Orinoco in width and the force of its current, 
 emptied into it. This was the river Caroni. Near 
 this junction of streams the country was more 
 beautiful and fertile than any which Ralegh had 
 yet encountered in this remote land. The river 
 banks and plains were fairly studded with neat, 
 prosperous Indian villages ; and as the favorable 
 news of Ralegh and his comrades had preceded 
 him thither, their welcome was as warm and 
 gratifying as possible. No sooner had they landed 
 in this region, than the natives flocked about them 
 in great numbers, and showed them in a hundred 
 ways how much the English were trusted and 
 liked. *'They came," says Ralegh, "to wonder at 
 our nation, and to bring us down victual, which 
 they had in great plenty." 
 
 Among the Indians who thus gathered about 
 the voyagers, was a wise old chief named Topia- 
 wari, with whom Ralegh soon became intimate. 
 Topiawari was a man of rare gravity and judg- 
 ment, " and of good discourse," says Ralegh, 
 " though he had had no help of learning or breed." 
 With this old chief Ralegh held many long and 
 mteresting talks, as they sat beneath the cool 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 121 
 
 shade of the trees, whose broad branches arched 
 above the water. Topiawari gave him a minute 
 account of all the tribes in the vicinity, and of the 
 productions and capabilities of the highly fertile 
 land of Guiana ; and in return shrewdly questioned 
 Ralegh about England, Spain, and other European 
 countries. 
 
 One day, as Ralegh and his comrades were sit- 
 ting in the midst of the groups of Indians on the 
 river bank, he told them all about Queen Eliza- 
 beth and her court. He spared no pains to im- 
 press upon their minds what a mighty and gracious 
 sovereign she was. " I dilated," he says, " on her 
 majesty's greatness, her justice, her charity to all 
 oppressed nations, with as many of the rest of her 
 beauties and virtues as either I could express or 
 they conceive." 
 
 Perceiving that the Indians were deeply inter- 
 ested in all the marvels he related about the 
 queen, he beckoned to one of his sailors, and whis- 
 pered in his ear. The sailor hastened down to 
 one of the boats, and in a few moments reappeared, 
 bringing with him a small, square object. Ralegh 
 took it from him, and rising to his feet, held up the 
 object to the astonished natives. 
 
122 RALEGH : 
 
 " Here," he exclaimed, " is the portrait of Queen 
 Elizabeth, her own royal self. Gaze upon the face 
 of the most powerful and brilliant of earthly sov- 
 ereigns." 
 
 The natives crouched before the picture in an 
 attitude of awe mingled with curiosity. It seemed 
 as if they regarded it almost as an idol, for they 
 appeared about to prostrate themselves before it. 
 "They so admired and honored it," says Ralegh, 
 " as it had been easy to have made them idolatrous 
 thereof" They eagerly questioned him about the 
 royal lady for hours together, until he fairly per- 
 suaded them that she was more than mortal. 
 
 In the midst of these primitive people, Ralegh 
 and his companions spent many happy days. 
 Sometimes they went hunting, and made merry 
 feasts with the deer and game they brought in. 
 They fished in the broad and rapid Orinoco, or 
 wandered in parties of two or three through the 
 stately forests, or along the sloping river banks. 
 Ralegh resolved to go up the river Caroni, which, 
 he was told, would lead him into the heart of the 
 rich land of Guiana, It is true that he failed to 
 hear any definite tidings of the golden city which 
 the Spanish voyagers had described in colors so 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I23 
 
 glowing, or of El Dorado, its mighty king. But 
 the old chief, Topiawari, told him that Guiana 
 abounded in fertile valleys, and that there were 
 many gold and silver mines in various portions 
 of it. 
 
 So one day he bade the old chief and his people 
 good-by, and expressed the hope that on his 
 return towards the sea, he should see him again. 
 
 " Alas," exclaimed Topiawari sadly, " I am very 
 old, and Death calls for me daily. But yet I hope, 
 good Englishman, to see you once again." 
 
 Ralegh divided his company into four parties. 
 Three of these parties started forth to explore the 
 country on either bank of the Caroni, by land ; 
 while the fourth took an eight-oared boat, and 
 with great difficulty — for the Caroni, if anything, 
 was more rapid than the Orinoco — ascended the 
 river. Ralegh had been told of a famous cataract, 
 which plunged and foamed over gigantic boulders, 
 some miles above the junction of the streams ; and 
 this he was very anxious to see. He went, there- 
 fore, with the party in the eight-oared boat. It 
 was very slow rowing, but at last the boat came to 
 a place whence the cataract could be seen and 
 heard in the distance. 
 
124 RALEGH : 
 
 Ralegh and his companions made fast their boat, 
 and went on shore. They found themselves at the 
 foot of a lofty hill, which, thickly wooded near its 
 base and along its sides, was seen to be quite bald 
 and bare at its summit. Conducted by one of the 
 natives as a guide, the party ascended the emi- 
 nence, and, after a toilsome climb of several hours, 
 found themselves amid cool breezes and a clear 
 atmosphere at the top. The vision which then 
 met their eyes filled them with wonder and admi- 
 ration. Far below them, on every side, stretched 
 one of the loveliest landscapes which mortal vision 
 ever beheld. Over hill and dale were spread 
 mighty forests, in some directions as far as the eye 
 could reach. Just below, the broad and smiHng 
 valley of the Caroni presented fruitful fields, luxu- 
 riant meadows, snug native villages, and all the 
 brilliant and varied verdure and color of a tropical 
 clime ; while in the distance, the still vaster valley 
 of the Orinoco, with the most fairy-like scenery 
 and picturesque slopes, descended with gentle sweep 
 to the river banks. 
 
 But most striking of all was the series of gigan- 
 tic cascades, which formed what the natives called 
 the " Great Cataract " of the Caroni. The adven- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I25 
 
 turers could distinctly hear its thunderous roar, 
 and see the silvery spray dashed in big sheets into 
 the air. It was such a display of waters as even 
 the most travelled among them had never before 
 seen. 
 
 " We beheld," wrote Ralegh afterwards, " the 
 wonderful breach of waters that ran down Caroni, 
 and might, from that mountain, see the river how 
 it ran in three parts above twenty miles off; and 
 there appeared some ten or twelve overfalls in 
 sight, every one as high above the other as a 
 church tower, which fell with that fury that the 
 rebound of waters made it seem as if it had been 
 all covered over with a great shower of rain. And 
 in some places we took it at first for a smoke that 
 had risen over some great town. For my own 
 part," he continues, "I was well persuaded from 
 thence to have returned, being a very bad walker ; 
 but the rest were all so desirous to go nearer this 
 strange thunder of waters, that they drew me on, 
 by little and Httle, until we came into the next 
 valley, where we might better discern the cataract. 
 
 ** I never saw a more beautiful country, or more 
 lively prospects : hills so raised, here and there, 
 over the valleys ; the river winding into divers 
 
126 RALEGH : 
 
 branches ; the plains adjoining, all green grass, 
 without bush or stubble ; the ground of hard sand, 
 easy to march on, either for horse or foot ; the 
 deer crossing on every path ; the birds, towards 
 evening, singing on every tree with a thousand 
 sweet tunes ; cranes and herons, of white, crimson, 
 and carnation, perching on the river's side ; the air 
 fresh, with a gentle, easterly wind ; and every 
 stone we stooped to pick up promising either gold 
 or silver, by its complexion." 
 
 Ralegh and his party explored the river above 
 the cataract, to see whether the expedition could 
 proceed by it further into the depths of the coun- 
 try ; but the Caroni was at that point so boisterous 
 and rapid, and so full of waterfalls and rocks, that 
 Ralegh decided a longer journey by this way im- 
 possible. The party therefore clambered down to 
 their boat again, and the swift current soon wafted 
 them back to the junction of the two rivers. 
 
 On returning to the place of rendezvous, they 
 found that the other three parties, who had gone 
 exploring on foot, had arrived before them, and 
 were awaiting them with much eagerness and 
 anxiety. Ralegh was welcomed with a hearty 
 greeting, and hastened to ask the parties what 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 127 
 
 they had seen and found. They had many mar- 
 vellous incidents to relate. The leader of one of 
 the parties assured him that they had discovered 
 traces of gold in many places, and in witness of 
 this, he showed Ralegh several pieces of the shin- 
 ing ore. 
 
 " We had with us," said he, " no tools or other 
 appliances with which to get the ore out, and so 
 we tore it out as well as we could with our dag- 
 gers, and even with our fingers. For, sir, the 
 veins in these places lie, most often, a fathom or 
 two deep in the rocks. Near one of the rivers I 
 found of white spar, or flint, a very great ledge or 
 bank, which I endeavored to break by every means 
 I could, because there appeared on the outside 
 some small grains of gold ; but finding no means to 
 work the same upon the upper part, on seeking the 
 sides of the rock, I found a cleft in it from whence, 
 with daggers and the head of an axe, we got out a 
 small quantity of it." 
 
 This story of the finding of gold filled Ralegh 
 and all his companions with dazzling anticipa- 
 tions. It seemed to give promise, after all, of those 
 glittering riches of which they had heard so much, 
 and of a discovery which would carry their renown 
 
128 RALEGH: 
 
 throughout the world. Ralegh himself had another 
 object in making his perilous expedition, besides 
 that of finding the precious metals. It was his 
 ambition to establish the English dominion in 
 America ; to deprive the Spaniards of some of the 
 glory of western discovery, and divide it with 
 them ; to capture possessions for Queen Elizabeth, 
 which otherwise would fall into Spanish hands ; 
 and to secure a place on American soil where 
 English colonists might go, and settle, and thrive. 
 But it was a great source of joy to him that he 
 could carry back to the old country the news, that 
 in this new land which he had explored, and in 
 which he had, by kind treatment, won the affection 
 of the native tribes, there was certainly a vast and 
 unknown treasure of the precious metals. 
 
 No sooner had the parties returned to their old 
 quarters than the natives again flocked to see 
 them, and to bring them, as a proof of their good 
 will, an abundant supply of provisions. The place 
 soon had the appearance, as Ralegh declared, of 
 " a great market, or fair, in England ; " for the 
 natives heaped up their venison and other game, 
 their fruits, herbs and roots, in rows ; and the 
 wearied, hungry, worn-out travellers were invited 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 29 
 
 to pass among the piled-up heaps of good things, 
 and to help themselves, each to that which he 
 most craved Thus the adventurers passed several 
 days, feasting and making merry, and amusing 
 themselves with tne good-hearted natives. 
 
30 RALEGH 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Ralegh's return home. 
 
 NE day, while Ralegh was sitting in front 
 of his tent, chatting and smoking with 
 some of his comrades, he saw a group of 
 Indians approaching him ; and when they came 
 near, he was surprised and delighted to perceive 
 that the foremost of them was his old friend, the 
 chief Topiawari. He hastened to rise and em- 
 brace the aged man, and invite him into his tent. 
 Topiawari, whose tribe dwelt some distance above 
 on the banks of the Orinoco, had conceived such 
 an affection for Ralegh, that when he heard of his 
 return to the junction of the rivers, he could not 
 resist the temptation to talk with the kind and 
 brave Englishman once more. 
 
 The old chief, as has been said, was intelligent 
 and wise far above the rest of the natives whom 
 Ralegh met ; and Ralegh now spent many hours 
 each day talking with him, listening to his accounts 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I3I 
 
 of the neighboring tribes, and planning with him 
 how the Spaniards should be kept out of the 
 country, and how the English should establish 
 themselves there. He found Topiawari eager that 
 the English should become the masters of Guiana, 
 and ready to do anything he could to bring about 
 such an end. Topiawari then asked Ralegh if he 
 would not leave some of his companions behind, 
 so as to aid the natives in repelling the attacks of 
 the Spaniards. It appeared that many of the Eng- 
 lish were as anxious to remain as the natives were 
 to have them. Ralegh told the old chief that his 
 force was already so small that he could with diffi- 
 culty protect himself on his return ; but he con- 
 sented at last to leave two of his most trusted 
 followers, who should remain in the country until 
 another expedition should come thither from Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The two men who were chosen to remain were 
 Francis Sparrey, and a youth named Hugh Good- 
 win. It may be said here that Sparrey, after 
 dwelling several years among the Indians, and 
 meeting with many thrilling adventures, was cap- 
 tured by the Spaniards, and sent in irons to Spain, 
 where he was long kept in prison, and returned at 
 
132 RALEGH: 
 
 last to England seven years after Ralegh's expedi- 
 tion to Guiana. The youth, Goodwin, remained 
 with the Indians a great while, and there Ralegh 
 found him, more than twenty years after, dressed 
 in the native costume, and having become so fixed 
 in all the native ways and habits, that he had 
 almost forgotten his own language. 
 
 Shortly before parting from Ralegh, the old 
 chief, Topiawari, gave him his only son, a fine 
 young Indian, to take with him to England ; "for," 
 said the chief, " I have not long to live ; but if my 
 son goes with you, he will become established as 
 my successor, by the aid of the valiant English." 
 
 Ralegh now began to make his final preparations 
 to descend the rapid waters of the Orinoco, and 
 once more make his way to his ships on the island 
 of Trinidad. After bidding an affectionate adieu 
 to Topiawari and the crowd of natives who bit- 
 terly bewailed his departure, the boats were shoved 
 from the shore, and speedily floated out of sight 
 of the spot where the adventurers had spent so 
 many happy hours. The descent of the river was, 
 of course, far more quick and easy than the ascent 
 had been ; yet it was not without its accidents and 
 dangers. Sometimes the boats plunged and floun- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 133 
 
 dered among perilous rapids, where every moment 
 it seemed as if they would be dashed to pieces. 
 Then one of them would be stranded on a shoal, 
 so that all hands were forced to turn out and push 
 it off again. Sometimes they were assailed from 
 the shore by tribes which were hostile to the In- 
 dians whose friendship Ralegh had won above ; and 
 the voyagers narrowly escaped the arrows, javelins, 
 and big stones which these savages, with many a 
 fierce cry and war-whoop, hurled upon them from 
 behind the canes and reeds which clustered on 
 the river banks. Ever and anon, too, they were 
 threatened by the wild beasts which dwelt in the 
 tropical forests and swamps along their course. 
 Panthers and leopards glared at them, and showed 
 their glistening fangs from between the rank leaves 
 at the water's edge. Alligators and snakes thrust 
 up their shiny, scale-covered heads, and seemed 
 about to approach the boats. Occasionally, the 
 occupants of the boats would go on shore, and 
 engage in a day's hunt, bringing back a welcome 
 supply of deer and birds for their evening meal. 
 
 The descent of the river, too, was not without 
 more than one thrilling adventure and hair-breadth 
 escape. One incident was thus related by Ralegh 
 
134 RALEGH: 
 
 himself, in his narrative of the expedition. One 
 day, when the party had gone ashore to rest, 
 Ralegh, with a number of picked men, went a 
 short way into the interior, to an Indian town 
 called Winecapora. 
 
 "The chief," he says, "was one Timitwara, at 
 whose house, it being one of their feast-days, we 
 found the Indians all as drunk as beggars, and the 
 pots walking from one to another without rest. 
 We, being weary and hot with marching, were glad 
 of the plenty, though a small quantity satisfied us, 
 their drink being strong and heady. After we had 
 fed, we drew ourselves back to our boats on the 
 river ; and then came to us all the lords of the 
 country, with all such kinds of victual as the place 
 yielded, and with their delicate wine of pines, and 
 with abundance of hens and other provisions, and 
 of those stones which we call spleen stones. We 
 understood by these chieftains that their lord, Car- 
 apana, had departed from Emeria, which was now 
 in sight, and that he had fled to the mountains of 
 Guiana, being persuaded by the Spaniards who lay 
 at his house that we would destroy him and the 
 country." 
 
 As the voyagers approached the labyrinth of the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES* 1 35 
 
 mouths of the Orinoco, their hardships rapidly 
 increased. The stormy season had now come on, 
 and the river daily became more tempestuous and 
 hard to navigate. At times, the rowers were 
 almost fain to give up in despair. But Ralegh's 
 soul was full of hope and courage, and he kept 
 constantly encouraging his wearied comrades, and 
 inspiring them with his own dauntless and perse- 
 vering spirit. Involved in the perplexing outlets, 
 the difficulties continually increased. 
 
 " We were now," relates Ralegh, " in a most 
 desperate state. For the same night in which we 
 anchored in the mouth of the river Capuri, where 
 it falls into the sea, there arose a mighty storm ; 
 the river's mouth was at least a league broad, so 
 that we ran, before night, close under the land 
 with our small boats, and brought the galley as 
 near as we could. But she had as much to do to 
 live as could be, and there wanted little of her 
 sinking, and all those who were in her. The 
 longer we tarried, the worse it was ; and therefore 
 I took Captains Gilford and Caulfield and my 
 cousin Grenville into my barge. After it cleared 
 up, we put ourselves into God's keeping, and thrust 
 out into the sea, leaving the galley at anchor, as it 
 
136 RALEGH : 
 
 durst not adventure, except by daylight. And so, 
 being all very sober and melancholy, one faintly 
 cheering another to show courage, it pleased God 
 that the next day, about nine o'clock, we descried 
 the island of Trinidad ; and steering for the near- 
 est part of it, we kept the shore till we came to 
 Curiapan, where we found our ships at anchor ; than 
 which there was never to us a more joyful sight." 
 
 The weather-beaten travellers rested with great 
 comfort at Curiapan, and loitered there, on board 
 the good ships which had awaited them, for several 
 weeks. Ralegh at first thought that, instead of 
 sailing at once for England, he would make a 
 voyage to Virginia, and seek for the colony which 
 he had so long before tried to plant there. But 
 the stormy weather at last compelled him reluc- 
 tantly to give up this project ; and so it happened 
 that Ralegh never saw any part of North America, 
 which he had so ardently desired to settle and 
 civilize. 
 
 The homeward voyage was accomplished with 
 little incident, and with no serious mishap. On 
 the way, Ralegh stopped at several Spanish settle- 
 ments, where he forced the people to furnish his 
 ships with provisions ; for Queen Elizabeth had 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 3/ 
 
 commanded him to do the Spaniards all the injury 
 he could, whenever and wherever he had the 
 chance. 
 
 It was a warm day in the latter part of August, 
 1595, when the ships at last came in sight of the 
 familiar harbor of Plymouth. All on board were 
 wild with joy, on espying the well-known features 
 of the coast, with the reflection that, after all their 
 perils and adventures and hardships, they were 
 about to set foot on their native land once more. 
 Ralegh thought of his sweet wife, awaiting him 
 with beating heart in the luxurious solitude of 
 Sherborne ; and of the queen, who perhaps had 
 forgotten the gallant voyager amid the splendid 
 pleasures and incidents of the court. He won- 
 dered what had been going on in England during 
 his long and weary absence from home ; and was 
 impatient that all the world should hear the thrill- 
 ing nev/s of his explorations and discoveries. 
 
 Anchoring in Plymouth harbor, he lost no time 
 in hastening to Sherborne, where, it may well be 
 believed, he met with a tearfully loving welcome. 
 It seemed delightful to be resting once more in his 
 great hall, and to wander leisurely through his um- 
 brageous park ; to be once more attired in soft 
 
138 RALEGH : 
 
 raiment and gay colors ; to have his books and 
 charts about him, and to greet the host of old 
 friends who flocked to see him when they heard of 
 his return. But, charming as it was to be with his 
 young wife, and to enjoy again the ease and com- 
 fort of Sherborne, it was not long before Ralegh 
 became uneasy to visit London, to present him- 
 self to the queen, and to make known at court the 
 tidings of all he had seen and heard across the 
 seas. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was now an old woman. She 
 had reigned for nearly forty years ; her beauty had 
 long before departed, and with the approach of age 
 she had lost many of the graces and attractions 
 for which she had been renowned in the earlier 
 period of her sovereignty. She had become more 
 and more capricious, irritable, and petulant in her 
 ways at court ; and, strangely enough, she still 
 craved flattery, and demanded the most slavish 
 attentions from those whom she looked upon as 
 her lovers. For Ralegh, however, she had long 
 ceased to feel the liking which she had at one time 
 shown ; and so when one day. he made his ap- 
 pearance, and approached her with all his old 
 deference and elegance of bearing, she plainly 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 139 
 
 betrayed her indifference to him. She did, how- 
 ever, so far acknowledge his great services as to 
 create him a Knight ; so he was thenceforward 
 known as Sir Walter Ralegh. 
 
 The people in general were greatly excited, and 
 rejoiced to hear of his success, and to know that 
 Ralegh had won so important an advantage over 
 the hated Spaniards in Guiana. His praises were 
 in their mouths, and everywhere he went he was 
 greeted as if he were a hero. But his old enemies 
 at court did all they could to deprive him of the 
 renown, as a voyager and discoverer, which was 
 justly his due. Some of them eagerly sought to 
 persuade the old queen that all that Ralegh 
 narrated was a lie. They declared that he had 
 never been across the Atlantic at all, but that 
 while he pretended to have done so, he had really 
 gone down to Cornwall, and had kept himself hid 
 there all these months. They said that there was 
 no such place as Guiana, and that Ralegh only 
 desired to win fame for doing what he had never 
 done. These slanders wounded the valiant voy- 
 ager to the quick. He resolved that he would 
 write a full account of his expedition, and publish 
 it, so that all the world should know what he had 
 
140 RALEGH ; 
 
 really accomplished. So he went down to Sher- 
 borne, and shut himself up for several months ; 
 and when he returned to London, he had finished 
 his book, "The Discovery of Guiana," which 
 was read throughout England with the deepest 
 interest. 
 
 Although Ralegh was now out of favor with the 
 queen, and was therefore but seldom seen about 
 the royal court, he was still one of the most 
 conspicuous figures in London society. After 
 completing his book, he entered with all his old 
 zest into the pleasures and gayeties of the city, 
 and found consolation for the neglect of the 
 queen in the company of many of the most emi- 
 nent men of the day. He was the friend of 
 Lord Bacon, then in the height of his fame as a 
 scholar and philosopher. Sir Robert Cecil, the 
 son of the sage old Lord Burleigh, and one of the 
 rising statesmen of the age, admired and honored 
 the bold discoverer of Guiana ; while even the proud 
 and jealous Essex, who had supplanted Ralegh in 
 the affections of the queen, and was still her ruling 
 favorite, became one of his intimate companions, 
 and for a while a warm friendship existed between 
 the former rivals. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I4I 
 
 Ralegh, a poet and scholar, was very fond of the 
 drama ; and no cavalier of those days was more 
 often seen at the theatres. He was present many 
 a night at the Globe and Blackfriars theatres, 
 where the plays of Shakspere were produced and 
 were managed by the illustrious author himself, and 
 saw Shakspere take the part of the ghost of Ham- 
 let's father. Ralegh thus came to know all the 
 leading dramatists and actors of the time. He 
 was wont to pass evenings of revelry and brilliant 
 wit at the Blue Boar, with Shakspere himself, and 
 "rare Ben Jonson," and held his own with those 
 bright geniuses in the sparkle of conversation 
 which flashed about the heavy-laden tables of the 
 cosy old inn. He told the story of his adventures 
 across the seas, while the poets listened spell- 
 bound to the thrilling narrative ; and it seems cer- 
 tain that Shakspere made use of the accounts of 
 Ralegh in some of his descriptions of strange 
 countries and seas, in his ''Tempest" and "Othello." 
 
 Amid this round of social pleasures, Ralegh did 
 not forget his great project to plant an English 
 settlement in Guiana. Happily he was still a rich 
 man, and could pursue his ambition without assist- 
 'ance from the old queen, who had become indiffer* 
 
142 RALEGH I 
 
 ent to discovery in America. He accordingly 
 fitted out, early in the year after his return, an- 
 other expedition for Guiana. He could not him- 
 self go with it, for he foresaw that an event was 
 about to happen which made his remaining at 
 home necessary ; so he chose Captain Keymis, 
 one of his comrades on the last voyage, to com- 
 mand the new enterprise. 
 
 Keymis reached the Orinoco in safety, and as- 
 cended the stream, as the previous expedition had 
 done. But what was his surprise and grief, on 
 reaching the river Caroni, to find that the Span- 
 iards under Berreo had arrived before him, and 
 were encamped at the junction of the river! He 
 had not sufficient force, unfortunately, to attack 
 them, and was forced to divert his route, and pro- 
 ceed another way up the Orinoco. He penetrated 
 some distance further into the country than Ralegh 
 had done, and made some valuable discoveries. 
 Everywhere he went, he found that the Indians 
 remembered Ralegh with affection, and that they 
 were very anxious that the English should come in 
 large numbers, and drive the hated Spaniards out ; 
 for everywhere the Spaniards went, they robbed 
 and killed the natives without mercy. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I43 
 
 When Keymis returned to England and made 
 his report to Ralegh, the latter resolved that still 
 another party should go out to Guiana. He fitted 
 up another small vessel, which he placed undcj 
 the command of Captain Leonard Berry. This 
 expedition, however, did not achieve more than 
 that of Keymis had done ; but it at least showed 
 the Indians that Ralegh had not forgotten them. 
 
 Meanwhile Ralegh's thoughts and time were 
 absorbed by a bold military project, which had 
 gradually ripened in the minds of English states- 
 men and generals, and in which he burned with 
 a desire to take a stirring part. This was a 
 desperate attack on the Spanish port of Cadiz. 
 England and Spain were still bitter foes. The 
 defeat of the Armada, eight years before, had only 
 fanned the flames of this hostility. King Philip, 
 proud and warlike, had never become reconciled to 
 the destruction of his splendid fleet in the British 
 Channel. He yearned for revenge, and had for 
 years devoted himself to the raising of another 
 naval armament, with which to once more attack 
 his obstinate enemy. This new fleet was now 
 gathered in Cadiz harbor, and the purpose of the 
 English was to assail, and if possible to destroy it 
 
144 RALEGH : 
 
 They also intended to capture the rich and beauti- 
 ful city of Cadiz itself, wherein they were sure to 
 find a great deal of booty to bring away with 
 them. 
 
 Among those who were most eager to make this 
 attack were the gallant Lord Howard of Effing- 
 ham, who had commanded in the battle with the 
 Armada, the Earl of Essex, Lord Bacon, and Ra- 
 legh. The queen, who had grown timid in her old 
 age, at first refused to listen to the plan ; but finally 
 gave her reluctant consent. It was resolved that 
 the English fleet should be commanded by Lord 
 Howard and the Earl of Essex, the former direct- 
 ing the movements of the ships, and the latter 
 leading the land forces. With them, second in 
 command, were to go Ralegh, and Thomas How- 
 ard, the admiral's son. Ralegh at once set to work 
 busily enlisting sailors and soldiers, and preparing 
 for departure. 
 
 In a few weeks the fleet was collected in Plym- 
 outh harbor ; and a noble sight it was to see this 
 forest of lordly vessels, newly fitted and painted, 
 with their flags and pennons floating in the bril- 
 liant June sunlight, their guns peeping grimly from 
 the port-holes, and their decks crowded with gayly 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I45 
 
 dressed soldiers, tough, bronzed sailors, and groups 
 of officers with velvet cloaks and plumed hats. In 
 all, the English fleet comprised seventeen men-of- 
 war and seventy-six smaller craft, most of which 
 were used for the transporting of the soldiers. 
 There were, besides, a large number of pinnaces 
 and other small boats, which were to follow the 
 expedition. The fleet was divided into four squad- 
 rons, one of five vessels, the other three of four 
 vessels each ; and one of these squadrons was 
 placed under Ralegh's command. 
 
 A short time before the day appointed for the 
 sailing of the expedition, a fine fleet of Dirtch men- 
 of-war made its appearance in the channel, and was 
 greeted, as it drew slowly into the harbor, by a 
 deafening shout of welcoming cheers. This Dutch 
 fleet had come to join that of England in the 
 attack upon Cadiz. It consisted of twenty-four 
 vessels, and brought about twenty-five hundred 
 Dutch soldiers, in quaint, prim uniforms, and with 
 stout, sturdy frames. In all, the force of the com- 
 bined squadrons consisted of about sixteen thou- 
 sand soldiers and sailors. 
 
 Ralegh, who had now gathered his quota of 
 men, and had assumed the command of his squad- 
 
146 RALEGH : 
 
 ron, hailed with delight the order of Lord Howard 
 that the armament should set sail. With swelling 
 heart he gazed at the long line of stately vessels, 
 as, four abreast, they slowly sailed out of the har- 
 bor. The guns thundered forth a cheery farewell 
 to old England ; the shouts from the decks were 
 echoed by answering cries from the multitudes 
 who, from the wharves, witnessed the departure ; 
 and then Ralegh turned his gaze seaward, and 
 gave himself up to the visions of the glory he 
 hoped to reap from the dangerous venture on which 
 he had embarked. 
 
 J 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I47 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SEA-FIGHTS WITH THE SPANIARDS. 
 
 HE fleet arrived in sight of Cadiz about 
 a fortnight after setting sail. On the 
 voyage, Ralegh detached his squadron 
 from the rest and sailed on ahead, in order to in- 
 tercept any Spanish vessels which might be going 
 to or coming from Cadiz. He scoured the sea 
 off the Spanish coast, and took several prizes ; and 
 then hastened to rejoin the fleet. When he came 
 near the other vessels, he saw, to his surprise, that 
 the soldiers were disembarking from them, and 
 were taking boats to go on shore. He hastened 
 on board the ship where the Earl of Essex was, 
 and protested against landing the troops. With 
 earnest eloquence he insisted that the Spanish 
 fleet should be attacked and conquered before the 
 town was assailed by the land forces. 
 
 At first the Earl of Essex, who commanded the 
 land forces, was impatient to begin by taking the 
 
148 RALEGH : 
 
 town. Ralegh, however, was determined. He 
 hastened from Essex's ship to that of Lord Howard, 
 the admiral, and persuaded him that the best way- 
 was to first fight the ships. Essex soon came to the 
 same conclusion ; and anxious as he had been at 
 the beginning for the land attack, he was now so 
 glad that the fleet was to go into action first, 
 that, taking his handsome plumed hat, he threw it 
 into the water in his delight. The soldiers were 
 ordered to return on board the ships from the 
 boats, and Lord Howard gave the command to the 
 squadrons to prepare for the conflict. 
 
 The harbor of Cadiz was seen to be crowded 
 with a perfect forest of stately men-of-war. There 
 were many more ships than the attacking fleet 
 contained. They were ranged in compact rows 
 close to the shore, just beneath the towering and 
 frowning castle of Cadiz ; and on either side they 
 were protected by fortresses, whence heavy guns 
 peeped forth to defend them. In all, there were 
 nearly sixty large vessels, four of which were great 
 galleons, which, with their lofty sides and enormous 
 bulk, looked fairly invincible. Besides these, there 
 were twenty galleys moored near by. 
 
 Under cover of the dusk, on the evening of the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 149 
 
 20th of June, 1596, the British ships quietly and 
 rapidly took their position in line. To the gallant 
 Ralegh, whose wise advice had decided the manner 
 of attack, was given the honor of leading it. The 
 ships of his squadron, therefore, assumed their 
 places in the van of the fleet. His own flag-ship, 
 the '^ Water-Sprite," floated in the very front of the 
 entire array. Just behind were the " Mary Rose," 
 commanded by Ralegh's cousin, Sir George Carew, 
 and the "Rainbow," commanded by Sir Francis 
 Vere. In the rear of these were the "Lion," 
 " Dreadnaught," and '' Nonpareil," — all sturdy 
 men-of-war, full-armed, their occupants eager for 
 
 the fray. 
 
 "With the first peep of day," writes Ralegh, 
 describing the battle, " I weighed anchor, and bore 
 down on the Spanish fleet, taking the start of all 
 ours a good distance." It was not long before 
 Ralegh's approach was observed from the Spanish 
 fleet. Instantly a huge galleon, the *' Saint Philip," 
 the largest in the Spanish navy, swung out of her 
 position, followed by the '' Saint Andrew," second 
 only to the other in size. Ralegh thought that these 
 sea-giants were coming to meet him. Instead of 
 that, they sailed for a narrow strait in the harbor, 
 
I50 RALEGH: 
 
 followed by the rest of the Spanish fleet, and cast 
 anchor just under a great fortress, called Fort 
 Puntal. There the big galleons and their sister 
 ships ranged themselves in close array, and awaited 
 the Englishman's attack. 
 
 Ralegh, with the impetuous courage of his char- 
 acter, bore straight down upon this formidable 
 array. The sun's rays were just now streaming 
 over the picturesque town, gilding its pinnacles 
 and spires, and lighting up the whole scene in the 
 harbor. The " Water-Sprite," " Mary Rose," and 
 " Rainbow " led the attacking fleet, their streamers 
 flying and their big sails flapping in the brisk 
 morning breeze. 
 
 As soon as Ralegh had come near enough to the 
 " Saint Philip" and the " Saint Andrew," he ordered 
 his cannorvto open their throats. Then arose the 
 dread din and confusion of naval conflict. To 
 Ralegh's cannon answered those of the Spanish 
 galleons and of Fort Puntal. Ralegh himself passed 
 rapidly from point to point on deck, encouraging 
 and urging on his men, and exposing himself as 
 freely as the rest ; wherever there was faltering, 
 there he appeared, and with burning words inspired 
 the troops to their utmost exertion. 
 
Kalegu uhging and encouraging his Men. Page 150 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I5I 
 
 Ralegh was anxious to fight his way on board 
 ^he mighty " Saint Philip." But he had been 
 ordered not to do so until the fly-boats came 
 up. He fought on desperately for three long 
 hours, but the fly-boats did not arrive. Mean- 
 while, the booming of the cannon, the clouds of 
 ?moke, the shouts and noise, were heard with im- 
 patience by the rest of the English fleet in the 
 rear. The Earl of Essex, burning with eagerness 
 to take his part in the excitement and peril of the 
 fray, at last found it impossible to lie idle any 
 longer, and ordered his flag-ship to pass through 
 the advance line of vessels, and make its way to the 
 front. Ralegh soon found Essex close by his side ; 
 he was now chafing with rage because the fly- 
 boats had not come. In spite of the peril, he 
 jumped into a light skiff, and was rowed over to 
 Essex's ship. He told Essex he would certainly 
 board the " Saint Philip," if the fly-boats did not 
 soon arrive, even though it were against the admi- 
 ral's orders. " For/' said he to the Earl, " to burn 
 or to sink is the same loss ; and I must endure one 
 or other." 
 
 "I will second you," answered the generous 
 Essex, " upon my honor." 
 
152 RALEGH: 
 
 Ralegh hastened back with all speed to the 
 " Water Sprite," where his men were fighting with 
 desperate and leonine courage. No sooner had he 
 mounted to the deck, however, than he perceived 
 that two other vessels of his squadron, the " Rain- 
 bow " and " Nonpareil," had forced themselves into 
 a position in front of his own. Their commanders 
 were eager to bear the peril and win the honors of 
 the sea-fight. But Ralegh was not willing that 
 this glory should be thus snatched from him ; so 
 he ran the ** Water Sprite" between the other two 
 ships, and passing them, again took up his position 
 in the van. Sir Francis Vere, the captain of the 
 " Rainbow," was resolved, if possible, to keep to 
 the front, as well as Ralegh ; so when he saw the 
 " Water Sprite " pass him, he slyly caused a rope 
 to be fastened to her side connecting with the 
 " Rainbow," so as to keep the latter abreast of 
 Ralegh's ship. " But," writes Ralegh, " some of 
 my company advising me thereof, I caused the 
 rope to be cast off, and so Vere fell back into his 
 place. I guarded him, all but his very prow, from 
 the sight of the enemy. I was very sure that 
 none would outstart me again for that day." 
 
 Ralegh now advanced in order to board the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 153 
 
 ^' Saint Philip ; " for fortune had gone against the 
 Spaniards, and the big galleons lay apparently- 
 helpless in the face of their valiant enemy, while 
 the guns of the fort appeared to be silenced. The 
 English commander had, indeed, almost clutched 
 his splendid prize, when it escaped him. The 
 Spaniards, finding that the " Saint Philip " and 
 other galleons would certainly be captured, made 
 haste to let slip, and to run the huge vessel and 
 several of her sister ships aground on the strand. 
 Then the order was hurriedly given to blow them 
 up. The Spaniards preferred destroying their 
 noble vessels to having them fall into EngHsh 
 hands. Ralegh saw the Spanish sailors and sol- 
 diers " tumbling out of the ships into the sea, in 
 heaps, as thick as if coals had been poured out of 
 a sack into many pots at once." Then he heard 
 the deafening roar of the explosions, and the air 
 was straightway filled with flying spars and sails, 
 and shivered portions of the doomed galleons. 
 The water in their vicinity was now alive with the 
 struggling swarms of Spaniards, desperately trying 
 to save themselves. 
 
 **The spectacle," says Ralegh, "was very lamen- 
 table, for many drowned themselves ; many, half 
 
154 RALEGH: 
 
 burned, leaped into the water ; very many hung 
 by the ropes' ends, by the ships' sides, under the 
 water, even to the lips ; many swimming, with 
 grievous wounds, struck under water, and were put 
 out of their pain ; and, withal, so huge a fire and 
 such tearing of the guns in the great ' Saint Philip ' 
 and the rest, when the fire came to them, as, if any 
 man had a desire to see hell itself, it was there 
 most lively figured." 
 
 Victory now perched on the banners of the Eng- 
 lish ; and of all the gallant warriors of that day, 
 Ralegh had been the most persistent, daring, and 
 heroic. It only remained to gather the fruits of 
 the triumph. Ralegh was quick to perceive that 
 the '• Saint Andrew," the largest of the galleons 
 except the ^* Saint Philip," still remained afloat, 
 and hastened to board and capture her, which he 
 did without difficulty. Another Spanish ship, the 
 "Saint Matthew," in like manner fell into his 
 hands. These two were the only vessels, of all 
 the Spanish fleet which had so proudly ridden in 
 Cadiz harbor the night before, which had escaped 
 the flames. In the moment of triumph, the 
 victors were merciful. The English commanders 
 gave orders that all lives should be spared. These 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 55 
 
 orders were rigidly obeyed by the English soldiers ; 
 but the Dutch, whose hatred of the Spaniards was 
 bitter and savage, cruelly slaughtered many of 
 their hapless prisoners. 
 
 In the later part of the battle, Ralegh himself 
 had been severely wounded in the leg. But he 
 had refused to leave the scene of action, or to give 
 up the command of his ship. He was resolved 
 that, in spite of his wound, he would go on shore 
 with the troops, and witness the taking of the 
 town of Cadiz. As he could not ride on horse- 
 back, a litter was prepared for him, and upon this 
 he was lowered into one of the boats, rowed 
 ashore, and taken, on the shoulders of some of his 
 faithful soldiers, to a point whence he could observe 
 the brief but furious struggle which resulted in a 
 second victory for the English. Cadiz was cap- 
 tured and plundered, and although the lives of the 
 people were spared, the castle, fortifications, and 
 the greater part of the town itself, were burned or 
 torn down. To this day, the marks of this mem- 
 orable battle may be seen at Cadiz. 
 
 There was nothing left to do but to collect the 
 spoils, to put the Spanish prisoners on board the 
 fleet, and to set sail again for England. When the 
 
156 RALEGH: 
 
 fleet made its appearance again at Plymouth, it was 
 received by the people with the wildest joy and 
 enthusiasm. The news of the glorious victory had 
 already arrived, and all England was ringing with 
 praises of the valor and victory of its heroes. 
 Spain had now, thanks to Ralegh and his com^ 
 rades, been stripped forever of her ability to injure 
 her English rival ; England's power was supreme 
 on the sea. Strangely enough, at the royal court 
 alone the news was heard without joy, and the 
 visitors were received without a cordial welcome. 
 The avaricious old queen was angry because her 
 share of the spoils taken from the Spaniards was 
 not so great as she had fondly hoped ; and her 
 courtiers were jealous of the warlike renown which 
 Ralegh and Essex had so bravely won. Ralegh 
 was greeted as coldly as he had been before his 
 departure with the fleet. He had long been de- 
 prived of his office as captain of the Queen's 
 Guard ; and even his bravery at Cadiz did not at 
 once win it back for him. Nor did he receive any 
 share of the rich spoils which had been secured by 
 his exertions and those of his comrades. " What 
 the generals have got," he said, ** I know least. 
 For my own part, I have got a lame leg, and 
 

 HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 57 
 
 deformed. I have not wanted good words, and 
 exceeding kind and regardful usage ; but I have 
 possession of nought but poverty and pain." 
 
 Not long after, however, the old queen was per- 
 suaded by Sir Robert Cecil to invite Ralegh to 
 come once more to court ; and so he and his wife, 
 whom the queen had now forgiven, reappeared in 
 the brilliant throng which gathered daily in the 
 halls and corridors of the royal palace. Finally 
 Elizabeth restored Ralegh to his old office of cap- 
 tain of the guard ; and the next day he rode forth, 
 in all the splendor of his uniform, at the queen's 
 side. The Earl of Essex had ceased, for the 
 while, to be jealous of his former rival, and the 
 old days of power and prosperity seemed to have 
 returned to the brave warrior and voyager. 
 
 But the ambition of Ralegh, Essex, and other 
 cavaliers, who had been so elated by their triumph 
 at Cadiz, did not allow them to rest long idle amid 
 the pleasures and indolence of court life. A year 
 had not passed before they became restless to 
 make new ventures for glory and spoils, and to 
 attack once more England's mortal enemy, Spain. 
 It was rumored that King Philip had not even yet 
 given up his intention to avenge his many defeats, 
 
fSS RALEGH: 
 
 and that he was preparing still another fleet with 
 which to invade Ireland. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was anxious for peace and rest, 
 but she was so much attached to Essex that he at 
 last persuaded her to consent to a resumption of 
 the war on the ocean. Essex lost no time in put- 
 ting his design into execution. He at once fitted 
 out a new fleet, of which he himself assumed the 
 chief command. This fleet was divided into two 
 squadrons ; over one Ralegh was placed, and over 
 the other, Lord Thomas Howard. The saiUng of 
 the expedition was postponed for several weeks, 
 owing to the tempests which prevailed. It finally 
 set out early in July, 1597; but the storms still 
 raged, and scarcely had the fleet got well out to 
 sea before it encountered furious gales. 
 
 "The storm so increased," wrote Ralegh after- 
 wards, "and the billows were so raised and en- 
 raged, that we could carry no sail. On Saturday 
 night we made account to have yielded ourselves 
 up to God." They were at last forced to put back 
 to Plymouth, and there the ships lay idle a month. 
 They then started forth afresh, only to be tossed 
 about and separated by new tempests ; but the 
 brave commanders were resolved to risk every 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1$(^ 
 
 peril to achieve their purpose. After the squad- 
 rons had lost sight of each other, and had long 
 wandered the stormy seas in search of each other, 
 they at last came together off the Azores, much to 
 the delight of all on board. Ralegh and Essex 
 fondly embraced, hastily recounted the adven- 
 tures and perils each had had since parting, and 
 then took counsel as to what course they should 
 now pursue. 
 
 It was suspected that a Spanish merchant fleet 
 from the East Indies would soon pass the Azores 
 on its way to Spain ; and Essex resolved to await 
 it, and if possible to capture it. Meanwhile he 
 would take some of the Azores islands, so that the 
 Spanish ships might not find refuge in their har- 
 bors. Accordingly he despatched Ralegh with his 
 squadron to Fayal. Ralegh soon arrived in sight 
 of the town. He gazed on it with surprise and 
 admiration, for it was a handsome town, nestled 
 picturesquely on the shore, and rising upon the 
 hills behind. As the English ships approached, a 
 great commotion was observed in the town. The 
 streets soon filled with people, and Ralegh saw 
 them pouring out upon the hills, and hastening 
 with all their might into the country beyond. 
 
l6o RALEGH : 
 
 Ralegh cast anchor just outside the harbor, for he 
 expected the other squadron to join him there, and 
 aid him in the attack. Above the town loomed a 
 formidable citadel, which seemed ready to defend 
 the town to the last. 
 
 After waiting for the other ships for three days, 
 Ralegh's men became very eager to attack the 
 town without them. They were suffering for want 
 of fresh water, and the sight of the fair and pros- 
 perous town, with its air of comfort and luxury^ 
 roused their cupidity and impatience to the highest 
 point. Ralegh was unwilling to make the attack 
 before Essex arrived ; but at last, giving up the 
 hope that he would soon come, he satisfied his men 
 by declaring that the town should be assailed the 
 next day. 
 
 The sun had not risen next morning, when the 
 boats were lowered from the ships, and two hun- 
 dred and sixty men had rapidly and quietly taken 
 their places in them. In the foremost boat was 
 Ralegh himself; for, whenever he commanded an 
 attack, he always placed himself at the head of his 
 soldiers, and shared the struggles and dangers of 
 battle with them. The boats were swiftly rowed 
 towards the shore. But before they could ap- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. l6l 
 
 proach it, their movements had been discovered ; 
 and when they came near, they were overwhelmed 
 with a tremendous volley from the frowning cit- 
 adel. The men quailed beneath this attack ; one 
 or two of the boats capsized ; and for a moment it 
 seemed as if destruction awaited all of the rash 
 assailants. In vain did Ralegh shout to his men, 
 urging them to push forward ; several of the boats 
 turned back, as if to fly in panic. Then Ralegh, 
 to rally them, did a daring and desperate thing. 
 He ordered his own oarsmen to run his boat 
 straight among the rocks which lay in craggy 
 masses along the shore, and cried out to the others 
 to follow. The men, seeing their beloved com- 
 mander in a position of such extreme danger, and 
 his boat alone exposed to the storm of shot from 
 the citadel, swung their boats around, and hastened 
 to rejoin him. The boats soon came close together 
 again, and made a bold push for the shore. Under 
 the continuous fire of the citadel, they at last 
 secured a landing. Ralegh marshalled his men on 
 the shore, and was now rejoiced to see more boats 
 coming ashore, bringing some Dutch troops who 
 had come with him in his squadron. These, 
 too, landed in safety; and now Ralegh found 
 
I 62 RALEGH : 
 
 himself at the head of a little army of six hun- 
 dred men. 
 
 He at once gave the order to advance, and him- 
 self marched forward at the head of his troops. 
 Still the guns of the citadel rained a perfect tem- 
 pest of shot upon them. Again and again the 
 little band wavered beneath this continual assault. 
 Once the men broke ranks in their distress and 
 fright ; and now again Ralegh showed them a val- 
 iant example. Taking with him a few picked men, 
 he went forward to the bottom of the hill on which 
 the greater part of the town was built. He thus 
 became a mark for the shot of the enemy, which 
 poured remorselessly upon him. Pretty soon Sir 
 Arthur Gorges was wounded in the leg, and fell at 
 Ralegh's side. Then the gallant leader himself 
 was struck, and received several shots in his arm. 
 This spectacle aroused the courage of the men, 
 who rushed forward, and sturdily followed Ralegh 
 up the hill. On entering the town, Ralegh was 
 surprised to find that his approach was no longer 
 resisted. The people had fled ; the soldiers in the 
 citadel abandoned their guns ; and the English 
 and Dutch occupied the town, and quartered them- 
 selves in the deserted houses and gardens. There 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 163 
 
 they found provisions, fruits, and water in plenty, 
 and spent the night in great ease and comfort. 
 
 The next morning at sunrise, the squadron of 
 the Earl of Essex appeared in the harbor. The 
 Earl speedily landed, and as soon as he met Ralegh 
 began to reproach him in angry tones for attacking 
 the town before his arrival. Essex was jealous of 
 the glory which Ralegh would reap from this heroic 
 exploit. At first it seemed as if a bitter quarrel 
 would ensue between the two commanders. But 
 Ralegh earnestly defended himself, and persuaded 
 Essex that his action had not been worthy of 
 blame. 
 
 Essex had now given up all hope of capturing 
 the Spanish ships from the East Indies ; so, after 
 burning the town of Fayal, he gave the order to the 
 fleet to return towards England. The voyage back 
 was prosperous ; and while the ships were home- 
 ward bound, Ralegh took several Spanish galleons, 
 and carried them along with him. Ralegh had 
 thus, from first to last, been the real hero of the 
 expedition. When the commanders reached Lon- 
 don, and the old queen heard the story of their 
 adventures, she bestowed all her smiles on Ralegh, 
 and, to the surprise of all, bitterly upbraided her 
 
164 RALEGH : 
 
 old lover, Essex, for not capturing the East Indian 
 fleet. Essex was angry and disappointed at this, 
 and abruptly retired from court, leaving Ralegh 
 once more in the sole enjoyment of the queen's 
 favor. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. l6S 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ESSEX CONSPIRACY. 
 
 UEEN ELIZABETH was now fast ap- 
 proaching her seventieth year, and the 
 end of her long reign. For fifty years 
 she had swayed the destinies of England. That 
 period had been full of brilliant exploits, of noble 
 literary triumphs, and of stirring events. No court 
 in Europe had shone so brilliantly with genius, 
 bravery, beauty, the splendor of dress and the 
 elegance of manners. Her reign had been illu- 
 mined by a race of illustrious navigators and war- 
 riors, like Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, and Lord 
 Howard of Effingham ; by a glorious band of 
 poets, like Shakspere, Ben Jonson, Spenser, and 
 Marlowe ; by the greatest of English philosophers, 
 Francis Bacon ; by courtiers and cavaliers of the 
 renown of Leicester, Essex, Hatton, and Sir Philip 
 Sidney ; and by statesmen of the rank of Lord 
 Burleigh, Walsingham, Buckhurst, and Sir Robert 
 
l66 RALEGH : 
 
 Cecil. In each of these various fields of fame, Sir 
 Walter Ralegh had proved himself worthy of a 
 place. He had been a navigator with Drake, a 
 soldier with Howard, a poet with Shakspere and 
 Spenser, a philosopher with Bacon, a courtier with 
 Sidney, a statesman with Burleigh and Cecil. In 
 the later years of Elizabeth's reign he was the 
 most conspicuous and the most universally re- 
 nowned of Englishmen. He had still many years 
 to live, and many adventures and vicissitudes to 
 meet. But already, at the age of nearly fifty, he 
 had accomplished enough to estabHsh his renown 
 to all time. 
 
 The queen, even in her old age, had the weak- 
 ness to try to seem young, and to assume the light, 
 frivolous airs of a court belle. She was exces- 
 sively vain of her personal appearance, and used 
 every artifice to conceal her baldness and her 
 wrinkles, and to present to her court a youthful 
 and coquettish aspect. At this time, she painted her 
 face and neck, and wore a red wig. She appeared 
 in low-necked dresses, and in her attire and orna- 
 ments was as showy and splendid as she had been 
 forty years before. Large pearls shone in her 
 ears ; a glittering necklace clasped her wrinkled 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 167 
 
 throat ; a gown of white silk, sown with pearls, 
 enveloped her long, gaunt figure ; and a black silk 
 mantle, trimmed with silver lace, flowed from her 
 bony shoulders to the ground. 
 
 Her last years were troubled by many perplexi- 
 ties and sorrows. Old as she was, she clung to 
 the handsome and impulsive Earl of Essex with a 
 fond and jealous affection. The Earl, however, 
 could not always hide the disgust and annoyance 
 to which her maudlin sentiment subjected him. 
 He had returned from his expedition to the Azores 
 with a heart full of bitterness ; and soon after, his 
 anger was still further aroused by the promotion 
 of his enemy. Lord Howard cf Effingham, to the 
 rank of an Earl. Essex often became very violent 
 in the councils of state, over which the queen pre- 
 sided ; and on one occasion treated the queen with 
 such open disrespect that he was dismissed in 
 deep disgrace. He had been urging her to make 
 a certain appointment. She became petulant, and 
 would not listen to him. He was so angry at this 
 that he turned his back upon her. Elizabeth 
 turned fiercely on her favorite, and gave him a 
 sharp box on the ear ; at the same time pointing 
 to the door, and screeching out, in a shrill voice, 
 
l68 RALEGH : 
 
 " Go, sir, and be hanged." Essex started up, and 
 grasped his sword, and for a moment the aston- 
 ished courtiers thought he would actually draw it 
 upon his sovereign. It was long before the queen 
 forgot or forgave this arrogant insult. 
 
 For a short while after Essex and Ralegh had 
 returned from the Azores, they had kept up an 
 appearance of friendship. Essex had visited Ra- 
 legh in his house on the Strand, and had declared 
 him to be the most delightful companion he had 
 ever met. Ralegh had taken care to treat Essex 
 with the greatest respect. But the old quarrel 
 between them soon broke out afresh, and was des- 
 tined to continue to the day of Essex's unhappy 
 end. Ralegh became closely allied with Sir Rob- 
 ert Cecil, whose wise old father, Lord Burleigh, 
 had recently died ; and together they seemed to 
 have resolved upon the ruin of Essex. 
 
 Unhappily the queen's impulsive favorite laid 
 himself open again and again to the assaults of his 
 enemies. Essex was sent to Ireland to quell the 
 rebellion aroused by the valiant Irish chieftain, 
 Hugh O'Neil. There he so conducted himself as 
 to bring down upon him once more Elizabeth's 
 wrath. She exclaimed, " I am no queen. That 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I69 
 
 man sets himself above me." Essex was even 
 arrested, several profitable offices were taken from 
 him, and he perceived that Ralegh had become one 
 of his most active enemies. 
 
 It was while these quarrels were at their bitter- 
 est, that, on the occasion of the queen's birthday, 
 a great tournament was held in her presence in 
 the tilt-yard at Westminster. The court gathered 
 in all its fine array of silks, feathers, and jewels, to 
 witness the contest. Of all the knights who ap- 
 peared in the arena, Ralegh was the most noticed 
 for the splendor of his armor and ornaments. The 
 very shoes upon his feet were so lavishly decorated 
 with jewels, that they were said to have cost six 
 thousand pounds. His sword and belt fairly glit- 
 tered with large gems. Chains of gold fell from 
 his neck on the highly-burnished breastplate. On 
 one arm he wore conspicuously a long ribbon, 
 which the queen had coquettishly given him as a 
 reward of his devotion. 
 
 When Essex, also gayly accoutred, entered the 
 tilt-yard, and saw his enemy so much more gor- 
 geously arrayed than himself, he became very 
 jealous, and resolved that, at the next tournament, 
 he would not only outdo Ralegh in magnificence 
 
I/O RALEGH: 
 
 of dress, but that he would try to kill him in the 
 contest. 
 
 It was not long before another tournament was 
 held. Essex learned that Ralegh intended to ap- 
 pear in it with still greater splendor than before, 
 accompanied by a company of young nobles, all of 
 whom were to wear orange-colored feathers in 
 their caps. So he made haste to assemble a much 
 larger company of his friends, and caused them to 
 wear feathers exactly like those of Ralegh's party. 
 Essex dressed himself in a complete suit of orange, 
 and entered th^ tilt-yard at the head of his adhe- 
 rents. They soon mingled and became confused 
 with Ralegh's train, and the whole company of 
 knights were thus supposed to be commanded by 
 Essex. This plan of mixing up the two companies 
 succeeded in spoiling the sport of the day, and 
 snatched from Ralegh the triumph of appearing in 
 the greater splendor. 
 
 The fiery and ambitious spirit of Essex could 
 not rest contented beneath the slights of the 
 queen, and the favor with which his enemies, 
 Ralegh and Cecil, were in these days received at 
 court. Despairing of regaining his influence over 
 Elizabeth, he made up his mind to enter into a 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I7I 
 
 desperate plot to seize on power by force. He 
 had still many brave and powerful friends, who 
 were devoted to his fortunes, and who would go to 
 any length to serve him. There were nobles and 
 courtiers, too, who had been ill-treated by the 
 queen and her advisers, and who were ripe for a 
 conspiracy. He called together a small number 
 of these at his house in London, and locking and 
 barring his doors, and sitting in their midst in the 
 dead of night, he unfolded his plot to them. 
 
 He proposed no less treasonable a design than 
 to seize Queen Elizabeth herself, to hold her a 
 prisoner, and to exercise the royal power in her 
 name. He declared that the common people of 
 London were bound to him by ties of affection, 
 and would help to crown the plot with success. It 
 needed but a small band of brave, devoted cav- 
 aliers, he said, to invade the palace, take possession 
 of the queen, throw Ralegh and Cecil into the 
 Tower, and assume the reins of government. The 
 cavaliers eagerly assented to the plot, and on 
 parting, agreed to meet on the next night. Mean- 
 while Essex took means to protect the conspiracy 
 from discovery. He caused his house to be care- 
 fully guarded, and remained within doors, lest he 
 
1/2 RALEGH : 
 
 should be arrested. Among his fellow-conspirators 
 were some of the most celebrated courtiers and 
 soldiers of the day. Sir Ferdinand Gorges, Sir 
 Christopher Blount, the Earl of Southampton (a 
 friend and patron of Shakspere), and the Earl of 
 Rutland, were among the number. 
 
 At last the day on which the plot was to be 
 carried out was fixed ; it was Sunday, the 8th of 
 February, 1601. The evening before, Essex sum- 
 moned all his adherents to assemble at his house ; 
 and they came stealthily and quietly, until the 
 house and court-yard were full of conspirators, armed 
 to the teeth. Ralegh had now heard a report that 
 Essex intended to head a rising ; and on Sunday 
 morning, he sent a message to Sir Ferdinand Gor- 
 ges, at Essex's house, asking him to come at once 
 to his own house in the Strand. Sir Ferdinand 
 was an old friend and comrade of Ralegh's, and 
 the latter was anxious to detach him from the con- 
 spiracy. The conspirator replied that he would 
 meet Ralegh, not at his house, but in a boat on the 
 Thames. Ralegh accordingly set out in a boat 
 from the bottom of his garden, which bordered on 
 the river. He was quite alone. Presently the boat 
 containing Gorges, attended by two cavaliers, drew 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1/3 
 
 near. The interview between the two old friends 
 was short and sharp. 
 
 " I implore you," said Ralegh, " to leave Essex, 
 and hasten out of town, or you will be arrested 
 and thrown into the prison of the Fleet." 
 
 "It is too late," replied Gorges. "You will 
 soon know why. I have pledged myself, and can- 
 not withdraw." 
 
 "What are you pledged to do?" asked Ralegh, 
 anxiously. 
 
 "There are two thousand cavaliers," retorted 
 Gorges, " who are resolved to die this very day, or 
 to live as free men." 
 
 Ralegh parted from his old friend with a sigh, 
 and hastened back to take his part in defending 
 the queen from the attack which was about to be 
 made upon her. He had not gone far in his boat, 
 however, when several shots whizzed by him. 
 Turning around, Ralegh perceived another boat at 
 a little distance away, which was occupied by sev- 
 eral cavaliers. One, whom he recognized as Sir 
 Christopher Blount, an adherent of Essex, was 
 standing up in the bow, and aiming his gun at 
 Ralegh. The latter hastened away, barely escap- 
 ing the shots of his enemy. It appeared that 
 
1/4 RALEGH: 
 
 when Blount heard that Ralegh was going to meet 
 Gorges on the river, he resolved to kill him, and it 
 was only by a narrow chance that his murderous 
 purpose was foiled. 
 
 While these events were going on, the conspira- 
 tors at Essex's house had gathered in the court- 
 yard, and were getting ready to issue forth on 
 their rash venture. Just as they were about to set 
 out, four of the queen's councillors made their 
 appearance at the gate, and demanded admittance. 
 No sooner had they entered, and inquired the 
 cause of the gathering, than Essex ordered them 
 to be arrested and kept as prisoners in his house. 
 Then, putting himself at the head of his com- 
 pany, he rode boldly out into the London streets, 
 shouting to the people, " For the queen ! My life 
 is in danger ! " 
 
 But the citizens, upon whose devotion to him 
 Essex had relied, only stared at him and his caval- 
 cade with astonished and curious eyes. They 
 manifested no disposition to follow him and aid 
 him in his design. Their indifference dampened 
 his spirits at the outset. He kept on, however, 
 in the direction of the " city," still shouting, wav- 
 ing his sword, and followed by his friends. At 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I75 
 
 the same moment, Lord Burleigh had entered the 
 " city," and proclaimed Essex a traitor ; and Lord 
 Nottingham — as Lord Howard of Effingham was 
 now called — was advancing rapidly upon the 
 conspirators with a formidable body of troops. 
 Ralegh, meanwhile, was posted, at the head of the 
 Royal Guard, in the palace, so as to protect the 
 person of the queen. 
 
 When Essex heard of Lord Nottingham's ap- 
 proach, he saw that his plot had failed. He could 
 not, as he had hoped, seize the palace and the 
 queen by surprise; nor could he for a moment 
 cope with Lord Nottingham's troops. It now 
 only remained to return — if indeed it was not too 
 late to return — to his house again. 
 
 With trembling voice, he gave the order to his 
 followers to turn their horses' heads. They soon 
 came to one of the gates of St. Paul's church, 
 where Essex perceived, to his chagrin, that his 
 way was barred by a huge chain stretched across 
 the street. Here, too, was stationed a troop of the 
 queen's soldiers, armed with guns and pikes. 
 These set upon the conspirators, and Essex was 
 soon overwhelmed with grief to see a young cav- 
 alier, who was a dear friend of his, fall dead by his 
 
176 RALEGH: 
 
 side. His own hat was shot from his head, and 
 several of the cavaliers were hurled from their 
 saddles. 
 
 Essex and his comrades then galloped off 
 towards the Thames, which they reached in safety ; 
 there they took boats, and were soon landed at 
 Essex's house. The Earl, finding himself com- 
 pletely foiled, made haste to release the councillors 
 whom he had ordered to be imprisoned, in the 
 hope that he might thus appease the queens 
 wrath ; but at the same time he and his friends set 
 to work fortifying the house as best they could. 
 Then Essex burned all his papers, saying that at 
 least ** they should tell no tales." 
 
 It was not long before the conspirators found 
 themselves assailed by the royal troops. Lord 
 Nottingham, with his force, and Ralegh, with the 
 Royal Guard, surrounded the house on every side, 
 so that no man should escape. Essex soon per- 
 ceived that he could not long hold out against his 
 besiegers, for they numbered very many more than 
 his adherents. At ten o'clock at night, he surren- 
 dered to Lord Nottingham. It was a stormy, dreary 
 night, and the baffled conspirators, closely guarded, 
 were taken to and lodged in Lambeth Palace. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 77 
 
 The next day, they all found a gloomy abode in the 
 Tower of London, the grim jail which had held 
 so many royal and noble prisoners. 
 
 Eleven days after their arrest, Essex and the 
 Earl of Southampton were arraigned before the 
 House of Lords on the charge of high treason. 
 The scene was a memorable one ; for many of the 
 most famous men in England witnessed the trial 
 of him who had been so long the queen's beloved 
 favorite, and who had won the affection of a mul- 
 titude of friends by his courage and generosity of 
 heart. Among his accusers was Francis Bacon, 
 whom Essex had loaded with favors, and who was 
 indebted to Essex for his rapid rise at the bar ; 
 and this ingratitude seemed to affect Essex more 
 than the prospect of his conviction and execution. 
 Ralegh appeared at the trial as captain of the 
 Guard, and gave witness of his interview with Gor- 
 ges. Otherwise he did not take an active part in 
 the trial of Essex, who had become his bitter enemy. 
 
 Essex was found guilty, and was condemned by 
 the Lords to be beheaded. It was only with a 
 cruel pang that the old queen could bring herself 
 to sign the death-warrant of one who had long 
 been so dear to her ; and she never recovered 
 
178 RALEGH: 
 
 from the shock of this act for the rest of her life. 
 Six days after his arraignment, the Earl of Essex 
 was brought out of the Tower, and executed in the 
 presence of an immense multitude. He was, after 
 all, greatly loved by the people, and as the fatal 
 axe fell, a great groan rose from the crowd. 
 
 Of the other leading conspirators, Southampton 
 alone was spared. He was condemned to impris- 
 onment in the Tower. Sir Christopher Blount 
 and two other cavaliers were beheaded a few days 
 after the death of Essex. 
 
 Ralegh, at the head of the Guards, stood near 
 the scaffold on this occasion. Blount had once 
 been his warm friend, and had then turned against 
 him with intense hostility. When Blount mounted 
 the scaffold, he looked around and asked, " Is Sir 
 Walter Ralegh here > " 
 
 Ralegh stepped forward, and confronted the 
 doomed knight. 
 
 " Sir Walter," said Blount, in an agitated voice, 
 " I thank God you are present. I had an infinite 
 desire to speak with you ; to ask your forgiveness 
 ere I died. Both for the wrong done you, and my 
 particular ill intent towards you, I beseech you 
 forgive me." 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 79 
 
 Ralegh warmly grasped his hand, and replied, — 
 
 " I most willingly forgive you, and I beseech 
 God to forgive you, and to give you his divine 
 comfort." He then turned to the multitude, and 
 added, in tones of emotion, " I protest before 
 God that whatever Sir Christopher Blount meant 
 towards me, I for my part never bore him any ill 
 intent." 
 
 He then embraced his unhappy enemy, and in 
 another moment Blount had ceased to live. 
 
 After the death of Essex and his comrades, 
 Ralegh went to the island of Jersey, over which 
 he had some time before been appointed governor. 
 He spent several weeks in fortifying the island, and 
 introduced some reforms into its government. 
 Then he returned to London. He had been a 
 member of Parliament for some years, but had 
 hitherto taken only an occasional part in its pro- 
 ceedings, having been very busy with other affairs. 
 He now attended the sessions, and made many 
 speeches on public questions, taking, in all of 
 them, the side of the liberties of the people. He 
 acquired a high reputation as an orator, and soon 
 won a position of marked influence in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
l8o RALEGH : 
 
 Though Essex and almost all his old enemies 
 were dead, Ralegh seems never to have fully re- 
 gained the favor of Queen Elizabeth. He went 
 to court, but the queen seldom consulted him on 
 affairs of state. Sometimes he attended her in 
 her progresses, but never as a favored cavalier. 
 Yet the queen valued his services, for they were 
 vigilant and faithful. When, wearied for the while 
 of public life and the turmoil of the court, Ralegh 
 escaped from London, and went down to his beauti- 
 ful retreat at Sherborne, he plunged into all the 
 pleasures of the country side with youthful ardor, 
 and fairly revelled in the happiness of domestic 
 life. He now had a bright young son, whom he 
 had named Walter, and who was rapidly growing 
 into manhood. With this lad he roamed the parks 
 and forests, relating his adventures, and teaching 
 the boy those lessons of worldly wisdom, which he 
 himself had learned from a stormy and checkered 
 experience. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth survived her old lover, Essex, 
 just two years. His death filled her with grief, 
 and remorse preyed upon her for signing his death- 
 warrant. From that unhappy day her mind and 
 body began to fail. She ceased to like the show 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. l8l 
 
 and splendor of former days, and grew more and 
 more petulant and morose. To drive away her 
 dismal thoughts, she still kept up her old custom 
 of going to the hunt : and so haughty was her 
 spirit, that even when ill she would refuse to go to 
 bed, or to receive the ministrations of her doctors. 
 At last she grew too feeble to sit up, or walk 
 about the room. She lay all day on some cushions 
 on the floor of her bed-room, fully attired, and still 
 insisted on performing the business of the state. 
 One day, however, it was remarked with alarm 
 that her tongue refused to serve her, and that she 
 could not move her limbs. She lay for some time 
 in this state ; and then, with a soft sigh, breathed 
 
 her last. 
 
 With all her faults and weaknesses, Elizabeth 
 was in many respects a great and wise sovereign. 
 She ruled, in the earlier years of her reign, with 
 an iron will, and a clear, strong intellect. She so 
 increased the power of England that she left it 
 far greater than she had found it. She had worn 
 the crown for half a century, and it passed with a 
 brighter lustre than it had when she received it, to 
 her successor. 
 
I 82 RALEGH 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RALEGH CHARGED WITH TREASON. 
 
 HE new sovereign of England was the 
 Scottish King James, the son of Mary 
 Queen of Scots. He was a second 
 cousin of the dead Elizabeth, and was the first 
 monarch of the house of Stuart. About thirty- 
 seven years of age when he succeeded to the Eng- 
 lish throne, and thus united both the crowns of 
 the British isle, James was a well-read man, fond 
 of learning, shrewd, and ambitious. He was also 
 cowardly and timid and narrow-minded. In mor- 
 als his life was unstained. His favorite pastime 
 was the peculiarly British sport of hunting. In 
 personal appearance, James was very plain. His 
 movements were extremely awkward ; his walk 
 was ungainly, and his voice thick and husky. 
 When he first arrived in England, he greatly 
 amused the court by his broad Scotch brogue. 
 King James had lofty notions of the royal 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. iS^ 
 
 powers, and was always jealous of his Parliament 
 On the other hand, he rarely used his authority 
 like a tyrant. He was always more prone to 
 mercy than to severity. A striking instance of 
 this will be seen as this story progresses. 
 
 When the courtiers learned that the new king 
 was on his way from Edinburgh to London, they 
 hastened, with brilliant retinues, to meet and greet 
 their new master on his way. As he advanced 
 southward, James met everywhere with a hospita- 
 ble welcome, which surprised and delighted him ; 
 for he had been very doubtful how the English 
 would receive him. He knew that there were 
 many Englishmen who preferred other claimants 
 to the throne to himself, and that there was much 
 dissatisfaction that he, a foreigner and a stranger, 
 should assume the sceptre of EUzabeth. 
 
 His fears, however, were soon dispelled. He 
 was entertained each night at some lordly castle 
 or capacious manor-house, and flattered and feasted 
 to his heart's content. Soon the most distinguished 
 statesmen and courtiers, with long trains of liv- 
 eried attendants, began to flock about him. Cecil, 
 Elizabeth's chief councillor, Lord Nottingham, the 
 admiral, Popham, the chief justice, and man/ 
 
184 RALEGH : 
 
 Others, lourneyed far to assure the new monarch 
 of their allegiance and loyal devotion. 
 
 Ralegh was still captain of the Royal Guard. 
 In this capacity, it was his duty to go and meet the 
 king. He accordingly set out with his retinue ; 
 and on reaching Burghley, he encountered the 
 royal party coming southward. Ralegh lost no 
 time in making his obeisances, with the rest, to 
 James. As soon, however, as he entered the royal 
 presence, he was surprised and chagrined to find 
 that the king heard his name with a frown. James 
 greeted him haughtily, and said, making a joke 
 upon his name, — 
 
 " By my soul, man, I have heard but rawly of 
 thee." 
 
 Ralegh did not remain long in the royal com- 
 pany. The king continued to treat him with 
 coldness and disdain, and he saw that he could 
 gain nothing by staying. He soon found out the 
 cause of this singular treatment. Years before, 
 his enemy, the Earl of Essex, in writing to James, 
 had taken care to fill his mind with the most 
 intense prejudices against Ralegh ; another enemy, 
 Lord Henry Howard, had lately still further biased 
 James's i^1nd against him. The king had never 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 185 
 
 forgotten Essex's bitter accusations. It was not 
 long before Ralegh received yet more marked evi- 
 dences of the new king's dislike. One of the first 
 of James's acts was to deprive him of the cap- 
 taincy of the Guard, and to give the office to a 
 Scottish favorite. Then Ralegh was removed from 
 his office of Governor of Jersey. Then his fine 
 house in London, Durham House, was taken from 
 him and presented to a bishop. 
 
 This was, however, but the beginning of Ra- 
 legh's misfortunes and miseries at the hands of 
 King James and his government. Not many 
 weeks elapsed before he found himself not only 
 stripped of all his posts, and of a large portion of 
 his property, but actually put in peril of his life. 
 
 It appears that, some time before the death of 
 Elizabeth, various plots had been organized in op- 
 position to James's accession, and in favor of other 
 claimants to the throne. Among these claimants, 
 the most conspicuous was the fair Arabella Stuart, 
 whom, as we have seen, Ralegh had met and ad- 
 mired for her girlish beauty and brightness years 
 before at Lord Burleigh's house. Arabella was a 
 great-granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, a sister 
 of Henry VIII., just as Jarnes was her great 
 
1 86 RALEGH: 
 
 grandson. Besides, Arabella was the wife of 
 Wiliam Seymour, who was the great grandson of 
 Mary Tudor, another sister of Henry VIII. Many 
 of the English desired Arabella to succeed Eliza- 
 beth, because she was a native English woman, 
 whereas James, as a Scotchman, was regarded as a 
 foreigner. 
 
 Even after James peacefully ascended the throne, 
 plots were being conceived against his rule and his 
 person. One of these plots was started by Wat- 
 son, a Catholic priest, who was enraged because 
 James had not made certain concessions to the 
 Catholics. It was the purpose of Watson and his 
 confederates to seize James and imprison him, and 
 force him to make them pledges that he would 
 give the Catholics greater liberties. In this con- 
 spiracy were some of the most eminent men in 
 England, not only Catholics, but Protestants also. 
 The chief conspirators, besides Watson, were 
 George Brooke, a brother of Lord Cobham, Sir 
 Griffin Markham, and a gallant and generous- 
 hearted nobleman of ancient Uneage, Lord Grey 
 de Wilton. 
 
 The conspiracy was discovered before it could 
 ripen into action. The confederates in vain fled 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 87 
 
 from the capital. They were taken, one after an- 
 other, and thrown into the Tower of London. On 
 their being brought to trial, which was very soon 
 after their arrest, their examination brought to 
 light still another and yet more formidable plot. 
 This was no less than to dethrone King James, 
 and to place Arabella Stuart on the throne in his 
 stead. 
 
 The chief of this last plot was found to be Lord 
 Cobham, the brother of George Brooke, one of the 
 fellow-conspirators of Watson. Cobham was a 
 weak and vacillating man, of uncertain purpose 
 and duplicity of mind. In order to bring his plot 
 to a successful issue, he had entered into some 
 negotiations with Spain, from whose king he hoped 
 to procure a large sum of money to aid his pur- 
 pose. Cobham had been for some time an inti- 
 mate friend of Ralegh, and it was this fact which 
 involved Ralegh in the misfortunes which were 
 speedily to ensue upon the discovery of Cobham's 
 plot. 
 
 One midsummer morning, Ralegh, attired in his 
 resplendent court dress, was leisurely pacing up 
 and down the broad terrace of Windsor Castle. 
 Although he was still disliked and neglected by 
 
1 88 RALEGH-. 
 
 King James, he remained at the royal court, and 
 formed one of the throng of cavaUers who sur- 
 rounded the royal person. He was now waiting 
 for the king to emerge from the Castle. James 
 was going on a hunt in Windsor Forest, and 
 Ralegh intended to accompany him. As he walked 
 up and down the terrace, his eyes wandered over 
 the beautiful, luxuriant landscape before him. 
 The hills, forests, and avenues were clothed in 
 their greenest midsummer glory. Below, the 
 Thames flowed in graceful windings beneath the 
 overhanging trees. The towers of Eton peeped 
 above the groves beyond. The great forest on the 
 other side of the Castle stretched out before him 
 as far as glance could reach. The cavalier's heart 
 must have beat high as he looked upon a scene 
 which his love of nature doubtless revelled in. 
 He had no thought of any sudden misfortune. 
 He had been ill-treated, but the future, at least, 
 seemed cloudless and serene before him. 
 
 As he walked in smiling reverie, Sir Robert 
 Cecil, who was James's chief adviser, as he had 
 been Elizabeth's, came upon the terrace, and ad- 
 vanced to Ralegh with knitted brow. 
 
 " Sir Walter," said he, in a stern voice, " you are 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 1 89 
 
 bidden not to go to the royal hunt to-day. You 
 are commanded to repair to the lords of the king's 
 councils. They have some serious questions to 
 ask you." 
 
 Ralegh, for a moment, was speechless with 
 amazement. He demanded of Cecil what the lords 
 of the council desired of him. 
 
 " The plot of Lord Cobham against the king is 
 discovered," returned Cecil, "and you are sus- 
 pected of being concerned in it." 
 
 With beating heart Ralegh hastened to present 
 himself before the council. He was received with 
 lowering looks and cold, repelling manners. He 
 protested with all the earnestness he could com- 
 mand that he was wholly ignorant of any plot to 
 dethrone the king. He was then disdainfully dis- 
 missed. 
 
 A day or two afterwards, he wrote to the council 
 that he had seen Cobham go to the house of the 
 Spanish ambassador, and that he suspected Cob- 
 ham of secret deaUngs with that personage. 
 Cobham, who had been thrown into the Tower, 
 soon heard of what Ralegh had said. Overcome 
 with anger against his old friend, he at once de- 
 clared that Ralegh had instigated him to plot 
 
 / 
 
1 90 RALEGH : 
 
 against the king. Upon this Ralegh was arrested 
 on a charge of high treason, and was torn from his 
 family and imprisoned in the Tower. 
 
 He saw that he was in a situation of great peril. 
 The king had always disliked him, and would 
 probably show him no mercy. His old friend 
 Cecil was too careful of his own fortunes to defend 
 him. Cobham had solemnly sworn that Ralegh 
 was the chief conspirator. The judges who would 
 try him were devoted to the king's interests. Ra- 
 legh saw before him at last certain poverty and 
 disgrace. It might be that he was standing in the 
 face of death. 
 
 And now he was each day brought before com- 
 missioners, who severely questioned and cross- 
 questioned him as to the plot. Cobham again and 
 again repeated his charges. At last poor Ralegh 
 became desperate. He felt that the only way 
 in which he could preserve his wife and children, 
 whom he most tenderly loved, from beggary and 
 dishonor, was to destroy himself. 
 
 Accordingly one day as he sat in his dark, 
 gloomy cell, in a sudden fit of frenzy he seized his 
 dagger, and plunged it into his breast. Fortu- 
 nately, as he lay bleeding and fainting on his 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. IQI 
 
 couch, a warden of the Tower entered the cell. 
 Physicians were soon called ; the wound was ban- 
 daged up ; Ralegh was strictly watched ; and thus 
 a life so precious to England was with difficulty 
 saved; but saved, alas! for a still sadder end than 
 that which he had designed. 
 
 Reflection caused Ralegh to repent bitterly this 
 attempt upon his life. He now turned his thoughts 
 to meeting and refuting the charge which had been 
 brought against him ; for he was certain to be tried 
 for treason. The only evidence which could secure 
 his condemnation was the assertion of Lord Cob- 
 ham. It so happened that Cobham was confined 
 in a cell near Ralegh's in the Tower. 
 
 It seemed to Ralegh that, as Cobham was an 
 irresolute man, and had had a great affection for 
 him in former days, he might be induced to retract 
 his false accusation. But how could he find means 
 to communicate with Cobham .? Although their 
 cells were close together, the two prisoners were 
 never allowed to meet and speak to each other. 
 They were taken out for their daily walks at differ- 
 ent times, and, aside from these daily walks, they 
 were strictly guarded in their cells. 
 
 Ralegh had a faithful attendant in the person of 
 
192 RALEGH : 
 
 a youth named Coterell. He knew that he could 
 rely on Coterell's fideUty and shrewdness. He 
 therefore one day formed a scheme for communi- 
 cating with Cobham, with Coterell's aid. Taking 
 an apple which had been served to him for dinner, 
 he tied a small note to it. This he gave to Cot- 
 erell, with instructions to throw it into the window 
 of Cobham's cell when the wardens were out of 
 the way. Coterell performed his task so adroitly 
 that Cobham received the note without detection. 
 The note implored Cobham to retract his charge 
 that Ralegh was concerned in the plot to place 
 Arabella Stuart on the throne. 
 
 Cobham, with a sudden generous impulse, at 
 once wrote a reply, which he thrust under the door 
 of the cell. Coterell, who had been impatiently 
 awaiting Cobham's response, hurriedly grasped the 
 note, and hastened to Ralegh. The prisoner 
 opened it with trembling fingers, and read as 
 follows : — 
 
 " I never had any conference with you in any 
 treason ; nor was I ever moved by you to the 
 things I heretofore accused you of. And, for any- 
 thing I know, you are as innocent and as clear 
 from any treason against the king as is any subject 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I93 
 
 living. God so deal with me, and have mercy on 
 my soul, as this is true." 
 
 Ralegh read this confession with a thrill of joy. 
 He felt sure that Cobham's letter would restore 
 him to family, liberty, and honor. It took away all 
 the evidence against him. What was his chagrin 
 when, a few days after, he learned that Cobham 
 had once more charged him with treason, and 
 boldly repudiated the note of confession he had 
 written to him ! It now only remained for Ralegh 
 to put faith in his own ability to repel the charge 
 so boldly repeated, and to rely upon his own inno- 
 cence to defend him in the face of his accusers. 
 He knew that the king was hostile towards him, 
 and that his many enemies would strain every 
 nerve to secure his condemnation. But he sus- 
 tained from this time, in the face of his bitter mis- 
 fortunes, a hopeful, resolute, and dauntless spirit. 
 
 The time for Ralegh's trial was fixed for late in 
 the autumn. Meanwhile, through the long sum- 
 mer, he remained solitary in his dark little cell in 
 the Tower. It was only at rare intervals that he 
 was permitted to clasp to his breast his devoted 
 and loving wife and his pretty children. But he had 
 the great consolation which, throughout his life, he 
 
194 RALEGH : 
 
 had derived from books, and from writing his nar- 
 ratives and essays ; and thus the days sped swiftly, 
 until the time came when he was to be brought 
 before his judges. 
 
 It happened that the plague had spread through 
 London, and was now raging everywhere through 
 the city. The court, and all the well-to-do people, 
 had fled at its approach, and the city was well 
 nigh deserted. The scene of Ralegh's trial was 
 therefore transferred to the ancient town of Win- 
 chester, in south-western England. The coming 
 of this event was looked forward to with much 
 curiosity and excitement, not alone at the royal 
 court, but among the people throughout England ; 
 for Ralegh was a very famous man, and the entire 
 country was interested in his fate. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. I95 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TRIED FOR HIS LIFE. 
 
 N a gloomy morning in November, 1603, 
 the spires and towers of the old city of 
 Winchester were shrouded in fog and 
 mist. But, dismal as was the weather, the quaint, 
 crooked streets were early filled with an unwonted 
 crowd. It was evident that something very unusual 
 was about to take place ; for the greater part of 
 the multitudes which thronged the thoroughfares 
 consisted of strangers to the town. Cavalcades of 
 richly dressed gentlemen and attendants in livery, 
 troops of horse and foot, groups of lawyers in 
 their crimson costumes, and now and then the 
 retinue of a solemn-looking judge, passed and 
 repassed before the curious eyes of the inhabitants, 
 who deserted house and shop to witness the un- 
 familiar scenes which presented themselves in their 
 ordinarily tranquil streets. 
 
 At one end of the town rose the ancient towers 
 
196 RALEGH : 
 
 of a lofty castle ; and it was in the direction of this 
 castle that the tide of the new-comers steadily 
 flowed. Within its court-yard troops of soldiers 
 were drawn up, while about the doors stood sher- 
 iffs, marshals, and other officials of the law. Ever 
 and anon the soldiers saluted a party as it entered 
 the castle portals, — a party consisting of one of 
 the judges in his long, flowing gown, and the offi- 
 cers whose duty it was to escort him. 
 
 In the great hall of the castle, a high bench, 
 above which hung a rich canopy surmounted by 
 the royal arms of England, had been erected ; and 
 below this were other benches, ranged in rows, 
 some parallel, and others at right angles with each 
 other. The hall, in short, had been converted into 
 a court of justice. The various actors of the drama 
 which was about to ensue were already beginning 
 to take their appointed places. The lawyers had 
 come in, and were busy with their books and 
 papers. The tipstaffs were ushering the specta- 
 tors, many of whom were eminent statesmen and 
 nobles of high rank, to the benches set apart for 
 them ; while the clerks were hurridly preparing to 
 take notes of the proceedings. 
 
 Presently a sheriff" commanded quiet, and an- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. IQ/ 
 
 nounced that the judges were about to make 
 their entrance. Preceded by a procession of officials 
 bearing long rods, the grave men who were to pre- 
 side filed in slowly, with solemn countenances, 
 their persons enveloped in long gowns. These 
 judges were all men of note. Among them might 
 be seen the crooked figure and sallow, serious face 
 of Sir Robert Cecil, the king's chief adviser ; the 
 tall form and bronzed features of Thomas Howard, 
 Earl of Suffolk ; the Earl of Devonshire ; the two 
 chief justices, Popham and Anderson ; and the 
 courtly Sir John Stanhope. Never had the halls 
 of Wolvesey Castle — which was the name of the 
 edifice — beheld so brilliant a galaxy of famous 
 and powerful personages. 
 
 Just below the judges' bench, a man of sharp, 
 hard features, with keen eyes, and a firm, thin 
 mouth, promptly took his place. This was Sir 
 Edward Coke, the attorney-general, whose duty it 
 was to conduct the prosecution, and who had 
 grimly resolved that he would strain every nerve 
 to win the decision of the court. Just opposite 
 Coke sat the twelve men who were, as the jury, to 
 decide on the prisoner's guilt or innocence. 
 
 The judges now ordered the sheriffs to bring in 
 
IQS RALEGH : 
 
 the prisoner. There was a period of deathlike 
 stillness. All eyes were strained towards the door 
 at which the prisoner would enter. Then there 
 was a stir outside, and the sound of heavy foot- 
 steps. The door was flung wide open, and Sir 
 Walter Ralegh, led by two officers, appeared ad- 
 vancing through the crowded hall. His handsome 
 face was pale, and his expression mournful ; but he 
 held his head proudly in the air, and his step was 
 firm and resolute, as he entered the box which had 
 been placed for him. He was charged with high 
 treason against the king, and the moment of his 
 trial for that crime had at last arrived. All eyes 
 turned upon him as, after a low bow to the bench 
 of judges, he took his seat ; he answered the look 
 by glancing deliberately around with a calm and 
 confident visage. Then the spectators preserved 
 perfect silence, as the voice of one of the sergeants 
 was heard reading, in clear, rapid tones, the indict- 
 ment which contained the charges against the 
 prisoner. No sooner had he finished, than one of 
 the clerks, looking at Ralegh, said, — 
 
 "What say you. Sir Walter Ralegh, are you guilty 
 or not guilty ? " 
 
 " Not guilty," replied Ralegh, in a prompt, loud 
 voice. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. IQQ 
 
 "Do you desire to challenge any of the jury ?" 
 
 ** I know none of them," said Ralegh, looking at 
 the jury-box, "but think them all honest and 
 Christian men. I know my own innocence, and 
 therefore will challenge none." 
 
 It was now time for Sir Edward Coke, the attor 
 ney-general, to make his address against the pris 
 oner; and as he began in harsh, bitter tones to 
 inveigh against what he declared to be Ralegh'j^ 
 treasonable acts, the crowded hall hung breath- 
 lessly upon his lips. So violent were his attack? 
 that Ralegh again and again sprang to his feet, and 
 hurled back his insults with flushed face and angry 
 tones ; and the scene became more and more ex. 
 citing as the wrath of the two men waxed to 
 greater intensity. The attorney-general did not 
 hesitate to overwhelm the prisoner with odiouf 
 epithets, each of which stung Ralegh into a hotl)> 
 indignant retort. 
 
 " You are the most notorious traitor," said Coke, 
 shaking his finger violently, ''that ever came to 
 the bar." 
 
 " Your words cannot condemn me," was the 
 reply; " my innocence is my defence." 
 
 ** Nay," returned Coke, " I will prove all. Thou 
 
200 RALEGH : 
 
 art a monster ; thou hast an Enghsh face, but a 
 Spanish heart. All Cobham did was at thy insti- 
 gation, thou viper. I will prove thee the rankest 
 traitor in all England." 
 
 " No, no, master attorney," said Ralegh, " I am 
 no traitor. Whether I live or die, I shall stand as 
 true a subject as ever the king hath." 
 
 Finally Ralegh insisted on replying to some of 
 Coke's charges. Rising in his seat, and sweeping 
 the intently listening throng with a rapid glance, 
 he launched forth into a speech so earnest and 
 eloquent that every heart was thrilled by it. He 
 showed that he did not know of Cobham's plot, 
 and had no share in it ; and explained why Cobham 
 had made his false accusations against him. And 
 he went on thus : 
 
 *' It is very strange that I should be thought to 
 plot with Lord Cobham, knowing him to be a man 
 that hath neither love nor following. I was not so 
 bare of sense but I saw that, if ever this state was 
 strong, it was now that we have the kingdom of 
 Scotland united, whence we were wont to fear all 
 our troubles ; Ireland quieted, where our forces 
 were wont to be divided ; and instead of a lady 
 whom time had surprised, we had now an active 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 201 
 
 king, who would be present at his own business. 
 For me, at this time, to make myself a Robin 
 Hood, a Watt Tyler, or a Jack Cade, I was not so 
 mad ! I knew the King of Spain well ; his weak- 
 ness, his poorness, his humbleness, at this time. I 
 knew that six times we had repulsed his forces ; 
 thrice at sea, — once upon our coast, and twice upon 
 his own. Thrice had I served against him myself 
 at sea, wherein, for my country's sake, I had ex- 
 pended, of my own property, forty thousand pounds. 
 I knew that where, beforetime, he was wont to 
 have forty great sail, at least, in his ports, now he 
 hath not past six or seven. I knew that of twenty- 
 five milHons which he had from the Indies, he had 
 scarcely any left. Nay, I knew his poorness to be 
 such at this time, that the Jesuits, his imps, begged 
 at his church doors. And to show that I am not 
 Spanish, as you term me, at this time I had written 
 a treatise to the king on the state of Spain, and 
 reasons against making peace." 
 
 As Ralegh, growing more and more earnest, 
 went on, murmurs of approval and admiration 
 buzzed through the hall. His erect figure, his 
 handsome face, now flushed with animation, his 
 flashing bright eye, his musical voice trembling 
 
202 RALEGH : 
 
 with emotion, heightened the powerful effect pro 
 duced by his glowing words. After showing how 
 absurd the charge against him was, Ralegh turned 
 suddenly to the bench of judges, and said: — 
 
 " My lords, I claim to have my accuser brought 
 here, to speak face to face. The law saith that no 
 man shall be condemned of treason, unless he be 
 accused by two lawful accusers. If you condemn 
 me by bare inferences, without an oath, without 
 witnesses, you try me by Spanish inquisition. If 
 my accuser were dead, or abroad, it were some- 
 thing ; but he liveth, and is in this very house. 
 Consider, it is no rare case for a man to be falsel) 
 accused, aye, and falsely condemned, too. I be* 
 seech you, then, my lords, let Cobham be sent for ; 
 let him be charged, upon his soul, upon his alle- 
 giance to the king ; and if he will then maintain 
 his accusation to my face, I will confess myself 
 guilty." 
 
 Although Cobham was at that very moment 
 guarded in one of the rooms of the castle, Ralegh's 
 demand that he should come into court and be 
 confronted with him, was refused by the judges. 
 It became more and more evident, as the trial went 
 on* that the judges were against the prisoner, and 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 203 
 
 were as eager that he should be condemned as was 
 Sir Edward Coke himself. 
 
 Hour after hour the trial went on. The duel of 
 words between Ralegh and Coke ever and anon 
 rose to a fierce conflict. Nor did the judges them- 
 selves hesitate to launch reproaches at the pris- 
 oner. He defended himself against all these 
 assaults, solitary and alone ; and at every opportu- 
 nity vehemently declared his innocence of the crime 
 which they were trying to fasten upon him. 
 
 At last the speeches and witnesses came to an 
 end. Ralegh calmly took his seat, and awaited the 
 issue. The audience sat breathlessly in suspense. 
 Then the jury were ordered to retire and consider 
 their verdict As the twelve men upon whom 
 Ralegh's fate depended filed out of their box and 
 across the hall, every eye was anxiously fixed upon 
 them. The minutes seemed hours while they were 
 out. A buzz of whispered conversation was heard 
 through the hall. The judges put their heads to- 
 gether, and talked in subdued tones. The officers 
 moved on tiptoe through the room. Ralegh's face 
 was tranquil, and slightly pale ; its expression was 
 firm and resolute. In about a quarter of an hour, 
 the steps of the jury were heard returning to the 
 
204 RALEGH I 
 
 hall. Instantly breathless silence reigned again, in 
 the midst of which the jury resumed their places, 
 standing, in the box. 
 
 In a solemn voice the clerk of the court addressed 
 them : — 
 
 •* How say you, gentlemen, is the prisoner guilty 
 or not guilty of high treason against our sovereign 
 lord, the king } " 
 
 The foreman, in a low, distinct voice replied, — 
 
 " Guilty." 
 
 The word sent a shudder through the listen- 
 ing multitude. But no man had time to exchange 
 his thoughts with his neighbor; for no sooner 
 had the verdict been rendered, than Sir John Pop- 
 ham, Chief Justice of England, prepared to deliver 
 the sentence of the court. Ralegh stood, pale and 
 erect, in his box. Asked if he had anything to 
 say, he replied, in firm tones, *' My lords, the jury 
 hath found me guilty. They must do as they are 
 directed. I can say nothing why judgment should 
 not proceed. You see whereof Cobham hath ac- 
 cused me ; you remember his declaration that 
 I was never guilty. I desire that the king 
 should know the wrong I have suffered since I 
 came hither." 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 205 
 
 The Chief Justice then ordered Ralegh to remain 
 standing, and to receive the sentence of the law. 
 In delivering judgment, Popham was quite as 
 violent as Coke had been. He insulted the pris- 
 oner with many outrageous epithets, and in one 
 part of his address was so abusive that Coke him- 
 self hung his head with shame, and the spectators 
 boldly hissed. At the end, in a tone of voice that 
 betrayed his satisfaction, Popham sentenced Ralegh 
 to death. 
 
 All through the judge's tirade Ralegh stood with 
 silent dignity. His condemnation to death did not 
 excite a quiver or a tremor. He quietly resumed 
 his seat until the marshal of the court came and 
 conducted him out of the hall. But if Ralegh 
 himself remained serene under the awful sentence, 
 the spectators were one and all intensely excited 
 by it. Ralegh's bearing throughout the trial had 
 won the hearts of all who had witnessed it. The 
 audience had come, entertaining hostile feelings 
 towards him, and indulging the hope that he would 
 be condemned. They departed full of admiration 
 and sympathy for him, bewailing his doom, and 
 uttering loud and bitter denunciations against the 
 judges. One of these spectators afterwards said, 
 
206 RALEGH : 
 
 " When I saw Sir Walter Ralegh first, I was so led 
 with the common hatred, that I would have gone a 
 hundred miles to see him hanged. But ere we 
 departed, I would have gone a thousand to save his 
 life." 
 
 The gross injustice and unfairness of the trial 
 were condemned on every hand, and while many 
 had before believed Ralegh guilty of treason, the 
 opinion now generally prevailed that Cobham 
 had falsely accused him, and that he was entirely 
 innocent. History has confirmed this judgment. 
 It was not true that Ralegh conspired to depose 
 King James, and to place Arabella Stuart on the 
 throne ; nor was it true that he, who had been all 
 his life an inveterate foe of Spain, had resolved 
 to betray England in order to favor the interests 
 of the Spanish king. But it is probable that he 
 knew something about Cobham's plot ; that he may 
 for a moment have weakly listened to Cobham's 
 appeal to join him ; and that he failed to expose, at 
 the right time, a conspiracy aimed at the sovereign 
 to whom he professed to be loyal. 
 
 The other prisoners — the priest Watson, George 
 Brooke, Sir Philip Markham, Lord Cobham, and 
 Lord Grey de Wilton — were duly tried and found 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 207 
 
 guilty ; and they were all condemned to suffer 
 the same fate as Ralegh. Early in December 
 Watson was executed at Winchester, expressing on 
 the scaffold deep remorse for his crime. George 
 Brooke met his doom a few days after, with humility 
 and resignation. As for Markham, Cobham, Grey, 
 and Ralegh, they were imprisoned in the Castle, 
 preparatory to being beheaded a few days later. 
 Lady Ralegh, overwhelmed with grief at her hus- 
 band's cruel sentence, and in the desperate hope of 
 saving his life, threw herself with sobs and tears at 
 Cecil's feet, and implored him in touching accents 
 to save his old friend's life. Ralegh himself wrote 
 piteously to the king, declaring his innocence, and 
 saying that " a greater gift none can give, none 
 receive, than life." 
 
 But these prayers seemed to make no impression 
 either on the king or on Cecil, his minister. The 
 king sent two clergymen to the prisoners, bidding 
 them to cherish no hope of being pardoned. He 
 told those who pleaded with him for mercy that his 
 mind was made up that the prisoners should suffer 
 death. Then a message was sent to Cobham, 
 Markham and Grey, telling them to prepare to 
 meet their doom on the morning of Friday, Decern- 
 
208 RALEGH : 
 
 ber loth. Ralegh's life was spared for three days 
 i'onger. He was to die on the morning of Monday, 
 the 13 th. 
 
 The day of the execution of the three conspirators 
 came all too speedily. On the morning of the loth 
 a large crowd gathered in the courtyard of the 
 Castle, where the scaffold had been set up. Down 
 to the last moment, the three condemned men 
 had hoped against hope that the king might 
 relent and spare them. But as the morning sun 
 of the final day shone in on their cells, and 
 no tidings of reprieve arrived, they yielded to 
 despair. 
 
 Markham was the first to be led forth to the 
 scaffold. There stood the executioner, grim and 
 mysterious in his black mask. Sir Benjamin 
 Tichborne, the high sheriff, slowly led Markham up 
 the steps. The prisoner's expression was pale and 
 sorrowful. A friend, standing by, offered him a 
 handkerchief to cover his face. " No," replied 
 Markham, shaking his head, " I can look upon 
 death without blushing." He knelt in prayer, and 
 then embraced those of his old comrades who stood 
 in a sad group around him. All this time Ralegh, 
 the window of whose ceil overlooked the courtyard. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 2O9 
 
 watched the tragic scene with eager eyes and 
 beating heart. 
 
 Just as Markham was approaching the execu- 
 tioner, who stood all ready to do his bloody work, 
 a sudden movement in the crowd attracted the 
 high sheriff's attention. A man was frantically 
 pushing his way toward the scaffold. He breath- 
 lessly ascended the steps, and whispered to Sir 
 Benjamin Tichborne. The latter then turned to 
 Markham, and said that the execution would be 
 delayed a little while. The spectators looked on 
 this mysterious scene with puzzled faces. The 
 prisoner was led down from the scaffold, and locked 
 up in the great hall of the Castle. What could all 
 this mean ? 
 
 It was not long before the sheriff again made his 
 appearance, this time conducting Lord Grey to the 
 scaffold. This brave young noble wore a cheerful, 
 smiling countenance. He was ignorant of what 
 had just taken place, and thought that he was about 
 to die ; but he bore himself like a true cavalier 
 After a long prayer, he walked with erect form and 
 brisk step to the side of the executioner. But 
 instead of giving the executioner the signal to pro- 
 ceed, the sheriff at this last moment turned to Lord 
 
2IO RALEGH : 
 
 Grey, and told him also that his execution would 
 not take place until after that of Cobham ; and he 
 thereupon led Grey, as he had done Markham, into 
 the Castle hall. The mystery was growing deeper 
 and more perplexing every moment. The crowd 
 was puzzled more than ever. With increasing 
 amazement they saw the sheriff reappear, bringing 
 with him Lord Cobham, the last of the three pris- 
 oners whose execution had been set for that day. 
 
 Cobham advanced boldly, and ascended the 
 scaffold with resolute tread. He went through the 
 same preparations as Markham and Grey before 
 him. When he rose from praying, Sir Benjamin 
 Tichborne walked up to him, and said, — 
 
 " There yet remains something to be done. 
 You are now to be confronted with the other pris- 
 oners." 
 
 Leaving Cobham standing and staring with won- 
 der on the scaffold, the high sheriff repaired to the 
 hall, and presently returned, leading Markham and 
 Grey. He stationed them at Cobham's side, and 
 then, standing before them, addressed all three 
 with these questions, — 
 
 ** Are not your offences heinous ? Have you 
 not been justly tried, and lawfully condemned .? Is 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOVAGES. 211 
 
 not each of you subject to due execution, now to 
 be performed ? " 
 
 One after another, the prisoners bowed their 
 heads to each question, in token of assent. 
 
 " Then," said Tichborne, in a loud voice, " behold 
 the mercy of your sovereign, who of himself hath sent 
 hither a countermand, and hath given you your lives." 
 A thrill of excitement and delight passed 
 through the crowd of spectators. The faces of the 
 prisoners were lit up with a sudden joy. The 
 people burst into applause, and the three reprieved 
 men embraced each other. Ralegh, looking from 
 his grated window, saw what had happened, and 
 heaved a deep sigh of relief 
 
 ** If ever I prove a traitor," exclaimed Cobham, 
 « I will not so much as beg my life." 
 
 *' Since the king hath given me my life," cried 
 Grey, "without my begging, I will deserve life." 
 
 Ralegh was soon gladdened by the welcome 
 news that he, too, was to be spared. But neither 
 one of the prisoners was awarded his liberty. 
 They had escaped death, but were still to remain 
 in confinement. In a few days they were con- 
 ducted to London, and found themselves the occu- 
 pants of cells in the Tower. 
 
212 RALEGH*. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TWELVE YEARS IN THE TOWER. 
 
 T was with a weary sigh that Ralegh once 
 more entered the dismal portals of the 
 Tower of London. He knew well what 
 a cheerless abode it was, for he had already been 
 imprisoned there for several months by the an- 
 gry caprice of Queen Elizabeth. Nevertheless he 
 rejoiced that King James had so far relented as to 
 spare his life, and looked forward with hope to a 
 turn of events which would also, ere very long, 
 restore to him his liberty. He little knew that 
 years would elapse before he would walk the earth 
 a free man again. 
 
 He soon found himself placed in a cell in the 
 building called the "Bloody Tower," — the same 
 grim edifice where the young princes had been 
 murdered centuries before. This Bloody Tower 
 overlooked the river Thames on one side, and on 
 the other was bounded by a small but pretty and 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 213 
 
 well-kept garden, which was occupied by the lieu- 
 tenant of the prison. Above this garden stretched 
 a broad, lofty wall, which served as a sentinel's 
 beat, and was also now and then used by the pris- 
 oners for walking in the open air. 
 
 Ralegh therefore found his quarters in the Tower 
 in some respects far from unpleasant. It happened 
 that the lieutenant at that time was an old friend 
 of his, named Sir George Harvey, who was dis- 
 posed to treat him with every kindness and indul- 
 gence. Harvey not only often invited Ralegh to 
 dine with him, but allowed him to receive frequent 
 visits from his many friends, who still clung to 
 him in spite of his misfortunes. At first, Ralegh's 
 wife and young son were allowed to live with him 
 in his quarters, and he was permitted to have the 
 service of three of his family servants. With such 
 privileges, the imprisoned cavalier was able to pass 
 his time in something like comfort and ease. 
 
 Many of the favors which relieved the tedium 
 of his imprisonment he doubtless owed to Sir 
 Robert Cecil, then the all-powerful adviser of the 
 king ; who, although he had been one of Ralegh's 
 judges, was as kindly disposed to him as he thought 
 it for his own interest to be. Soon after his arrival 
 
214 RALEGH: 
 
 at the Tower, Ralegh wrote to Cecil, " Good my 
 lord, remember your poor and ancient friend, that 
 I perish not here, where health wears away, and 
 whose short times run fast on in misery only. 
 Those who plotted to surprise and assail the per- 
 son of the king are at liberty. Do not forget me, 
 or doubt me." This pathetic letter seems to have 
 created a deep impression upon Cecil's heart. 
 
 But though Cecil could soften the bitterness of 
 imprisonment, he could not procure Ralegh's re- 
 lease ; and Ralegh soon perceived that he was des- 
 tined to spend a long period in the Tower. Before 
 many weeks had passed away, a new danger threat- 
 ened the unhappy prisoner and his family. The 
 terrible plague, which had been raging in London, 
 made its appearance among the Tower prisoners. 
 It soon crept to the very room next to that occu- 
 pied by the Raleghs. They were in serious peril 
 of perishing by this dreadful distemper. With 
 heavy heart, Ralegh was forced to part, for a while, 
 from his wife and child, who took lodgings in a 
 street not far from the Tower, so as to at least be 
 near him. Soon after this. Lady Ralegh gave 
 birth to their second son, who was named Carew. 
 
 Scarcely had the danger from the plague disap- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 215 
 
 peared when, one morning, Ralegh's jailor abruptly 
 informed him that he was to be removed at once 
 from the Tower to the yet more dismal prison of 
 the Fleet. At first Ralegh could not understand 
 the reason of this strange and sudden proceeding. 
 But it soon transpired that King James was about 
 to come to the Tower with his court, to witness a 
 bull-fight. Now it was the custom, when the sov- 
 ereign held one of these festivities at the Tower, 
 that he should mark the occasion by releasing all 
 the prisoners within its walls. This custom King 
 James proposed to follow ; and so, in order that 
 Ralegh might not share the clemency granted 
 to his fellow-prisoners, he was removed for the 
 while to the Fleet. Cobham and Grey were, for 
 the same reason, sent to the Fleet with him. 
 
 The king accordingly held the bull-fight without 
 being disturbed by the presence of these prisoners. 
 "On Monday, March 26th," it is related, "the 
 king, queen, and prince, together with the council 
 and the whole court, went down the river to the 
 Tower, in long and gay procession. The crowd 
 of Londoners who had flocked to see the sight 
 was so great that the king and his courtiers could 
 only with difficulty ascend the stairs. Bulls and 
 
2l6 RALEGH I 
 
 Other animals were baited, and many minor amuse- 
 ments added their attractions to the scene. The 
 king then caused all the prisons of the Tower to 
 be opened, and all the prisoners then within them 
 to be released." 
 
 When these festivities had come to an end, 
 Ralegh was brought back again to his old quarters 
 in the Bloody Tower. It was a welcome change, 
 for the miserable cells of the Fleet had made him 
 ill. Sir George Harvey, the lieutenant, continued 
 to treat his prisoner with the most thoughtful 
 kindness. He offered Ralegh the use of his 
 pleasant little garden, — an offer which filled Ra- 
 legh with gratitude, and which he promptly ac- 
 cepted. His happiest hours were spent, for a long 
 time, in this garden. He found, in one corner 
 of it, a hen-house. This he speedily converted into 
 a still. Then he caused a laboratory and a furnace 
 to be built ; and having thus provided himself with 
 the proper conveniences, he passed a great deal of 
 his time making experiments in chemistry. 
 
 Ralegh had always, through his stirring career, 
 kept up with ardor the studies which he loved ; 
 and now, in his imprisonment, instead of moaning 
 and bewailing his loss of liberty, he set cheerily to 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 217 
 
 work on intellectual tasks. He had been an en- 
 thusiastic student of chemistry ; and now, every 
 morning, as soon as he had finished his bath and 
 his breakfast, he hurried down to his little labora- 
 tory, and was soon deeply absorbed in assaying 
 metallic ores, concocting elixirs for medicine, and 
 amusing himself with experiments. 
 
 The many rare and curious plants which were 
 cultivated in the garden afforded Ralegh an oppor- 
 tunity to pursue another science which had long 
 interested him — that of botany. When he was 
 tired of his laboratory, it was always a relief to set 
 to analyzing the stems, leaves, and flowers. Or, if 
 he was in pensive mood, he would lay aside these 
 tasks, and pace up and down the garden, with 
 bowed head and hands clasped behind him, and 
 indulge in reveries of the eventful past, or perhaps 
 drec'm of ambitions still to be fulfilled. He soon 
 became known as a skilful chemist, and the ladies 
 of the court began to apply to him for nostrums to 
 -cure their aches and ills. On one occasion the 
 queen herself, having fallen dangerously ill, applied 
 to him for medicine. He sent her a bottle of cor- 
 dial, which she took ; and she always declared 
 afterwards that she believed that Ralegh had thus 
 
2l8 RALEGH: 
 
 saved her life. Another time, the Countess of 
 Beaumont, wife of the French ambassador, went 
 herself to the Tower, to beg of him a box of his 
 balsam, of whose virtues she had heard high 
 praises. 
 
 Unfortunately for Ralegh, Sir George Harvey 
 was after a while removed from his office as lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower, and was succeeded by Sir 
 William Waad. This man had been one of Ra- 
 legh's judges on his trial, and unlike Harvey, 
 was very unfriendly in his feelings towards him. 
 Waad began to deprive him of some of the privi- 
 leges which Harvey had amiably granted. Ralegh 
 was a very celebrated man, and every day many 
 people came to the Tower to see him. Crowds 
 would sometimes gather on the hill, and gaze over 
 the wall at him, as he walked in the little garden. 
 All this aroused Waad's anger and jealousy ; he 
 disliked to have one of his prisoners made more 
 of than he himself was. So he wrote to Cecil, 
 who had now become Earl of Salisbury : " Sir 
 Walter Ralegh hath converted a little hen-house in 
 the garden into a still, where he doth spend his 
 time all the day in his distillations. I desire not 
 to remove him, though I want, by that means, the 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 2ig 
 
 garden. If a brick wall were built, it would be 
 more safe and convenient." But Cecil did what he 
 could to preserve to Ralegh such few privileges as 
 he had, and i*efused to have the brick wall built. 
 
 Besides the garden, Ralegh had the broad wall 
 for a promenade ; and here he often paced up and 
 down, in full view of the public. Thus the wall 
 came to be known as *' Ralegh's Walk ; " and so it 
 is called to this day. Waad liked these prom- 
 enades before the people as Uttle as Ralegh's oc- 
 cupancy of the garden. *' He doth show himself 
 on the wall," wrote Waad, again, to Cecil, "to the 
 view of the people who gaze upon him ; which made 
 me bold in discretion and conveniency to restrain 
 him again." Waad was also much annoyed by the 
 frequent visits which Lady Ralegh made to her 
 husband, coming thither in a coach ; and by the 
 servants whom Ralegh had about him. So he 
 ordered that after five o'clock in the afternoon the 
 servants should all go and stay in their quarters for 
 the night ; and that wives of prisoners should not 
 lodge in the Tower, or come thither in coaches. 
 
 Under the many restrictions and vexations which 
 Waad imposed upon him, Ralegh's health broke 
 down, and he became, as was natural, very despon- 
 
220 RALEGH : 
 
 dent. His cell in the Tower was damp and 
 cheerless, and he was finally allowed to live, for a 
 while, in the airy and pleasant little laboratory 
 which he had caused to be erected in the garden. 
 
 All this time, Ralegh's friends at court were 
 ceaseless in their efforts to obtain his liberty. 
 The obstinate king remained deaf to their earnest 
 appeals ; but there was one person, very high in 
 rank, who not only listened to them with friendly 
 ear, but became as ardent as any of them in Ralegh's 
 behalf. This was young Henry, Prince of Wales, 
 King James' eldest son and heir. Prince Henry 
 was then in the full beauty and vigor of youth. He 
 was brave and bold, warm-hearted, impulsive, and 
 generous. He was fond of adventure and enter- 
 prise, and was wise and thoughtful beyond his years. 
 In person, he was tall, handsome, and noble-looking. 
 By his character and actions, he had won the love 
 not only of the courtiers, but of the masses of the 
 people. His accession to the throne was looked 
 forward to with the brightest hopes. 
 
 It was not long before Prince Henry learned to 
 admire and esteem the famous prisoner in the 
 Tower. Ralegh's adventurous and checkered career 
 deeply interested him ; and his manners and tem- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 221 
 
 perament won the Prince's warm affection. Henry 
 left untried no effort to secure Ralegh's liberty ; 
 and more than once scolded King James angrily 
 for not setting him free. But the king was not to 
 be persuaded. The prince then took pains to pay 
 Ralegh frequent visits, both to show the world how 
 warm his sympathies were with him, and to enjoy 
 his attractive society. He would sit with Ralegh 
 for hours, and ask him questions about ship-building 
 and the art of navigation, and about Ralegh's expe- 
 dition to South America. Whenever Henry was 
 troubled about any matter, Ralegh was the first 
 person to whom he repaired for comfort and 
 counsel. When it was proposed that he should 
 marry a princess of Savoy, he hurried to Ralegh 
 for advice ; and when Ralegh opposed it, Henry 
 promptly gave up the plan. 
 
 Ralegh was very much pleased to have won the 
 affection of this noble and charming young prince, 
 and warmly reciprocated it. He loved the prince 
 for his many fine qualities ; and he knew that, 
 should Henry succeed to the throne, he himself 
 would not only become free, but would at once 
 assume a high place in the councils of the nation. 
 He would pass from a prison cell to the very heighf 
 
222 RALEGH : 
 
 of power. All these bright visions were doomed 
 to a sad and sudden ending. In May, i6i2, Sir 
 Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, died on a journey 
 from Bath to London. This was a severe blow to 
 Ralegh ; for, although Cecil had taken part in his 
 trial, and had been one of the judges who con- 
 demned him, he had in many ways since shown 
 that his old friendship for Ralegh still survived. A 
 greater misfortune soon succeeded this event ; for 
 young Prince Henry, who was always very reckless 
 of himself, and rashly exposed himself in all kinds 
 of weather, was suddenly seized with a violent 
 fever, and, to the grief of the entire nation, died on 
 the 6th of November. With these two deaths, 
 Ralegh's hopes of freedom once more vanished. 
 
 And now yet other troubles sadly oppressed him. 
 His fair and beautiful domain of Sherborne, where 
 he had spent so many happy days, where his young 
 son Walter had been born and reared, and where 
 his faithful wife had awaited his coming from 
 strange lands across the great deep, was taken from 
 him by King James, and given to Robert Carr, the 
 young Scotch adventurer who had now become the 
 king s favorite. As long as Cecil lived Sherborne 
 had been preserved to him ; but Carr's rapacity 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 223 
 
 overcame all obstacles. No more would Ralegh 
 saunter through those cool groves, or sit on the old 
 stone seat near the house and meditate new 
 ambitions. No more would he rejoice in the 
 growths of the gardens and orchards which he him- 
 oelf had planted with loving care. No more would 
 ae wander in the spacious deer park, or gaze on 
 \he lovely prospect which spread out before him in 
 Hanover Wood. 
 
 But Ralegh in prison had one resource of which 
 the cruelty of kings and the greed of parasites 
 could not easily deprive him. In the companion- 
 ship of his books, and the charming and engrossing 
 occupations of his pen, he found a consolation for 
 all his griefs. He set bravely to work on various 
 literary schemes, which had long been forming in 
 his mind. He varied the pleasant tasks of the 
 laboratory and the garden, by sitting for hours 
 together at his desk, poring over his volumes and 
 planning his projected books. It was fortunate for 
 his renown that he devoted himself to these labors ;, 
 for the works which he wrote while a prisoner in 
 the Tower won him a high place among the writers 
 of his age. The book which most of all redounded 
 to his fame was his " History of the World ;" upon 
 
224 RALEGH : 
 
 which he was engaged for several years. Although 
 ihis history was never finished, it is still read with 
 interest and profit, and is one of the finest literary 
 remains of the period at which it was written. 
 
 Ralegh also wrote essays about the politics of 
 the day, a book on the invention of ships, and one 
 on the art of naval warfare. Other hours he 
 beguiled by describing his voyage to Guiana, and 
 describing that country in all its aspects. Singu- 
 larly enough, instead of winning King James' favor 
 by these literary works, he only increased his 
 dislike. The king thought he discovered in " The 
 History of the World " treasonable doctrines ; and 
 this caused him to resolve more firmly than ever 
 that Ralegh should remain a prisoner. 
 
 All this while Ralegh's wife lived outside the 
 Tower with her two boys ; and it was seldom 
 that she was permitted to visit her husband's cell. 
 The loss of Sherborne, and much of his other 
 property, had left Ralegh very poor ; and it made 
 his heart bleed to think of his wife living in cheap 
 lodgings, and deprived of the many luxuries to 
 which she had been accustomed from childhood. 
 Ralegh begged, in vain, that his family might be 
 allowed to dwell with him in the Tower, as they 
 
Ralegh in Prison . Pa^e 22-* 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 225 
 
 had formerly done. " My wife being now divided 
 from me," he wrote piteously to a friend, " I am 
 driven to keep two houses, to my great impoverish- 
 ing. It is no great matter to desire that my wife 
 may Hve with me in this unsavory place, though a 
 cruel destiny has made it so to me." 
 
 For years one of Ralegh's fellow-prisoners in the 
 Tower had been that bright young Arabella Stuart, 
 with whose beauty and intelligence he had once 
 been so much charmed, and in whose behalf he 
 had been accused of plotting against King James. 
 He had sometimes seen and talked with her, and a 
 warm friendship had grown up between them. 
 Arabella was imprisoned simply because she was 
 of royal blood, and because a few rash men had 
 plotted to put her on the throne. She lingered 
 long a prisoner in the gloomy Tower. At last her 
 confinement and privations undermined her health, 
 and one morning, in the autumn of 1615, Ralegh 
 was shocked to hear that this cruelly persecuted 
 woman had died in her cell. His thoughts must 
 have reverted to the day long before, when he first 
 saw her, radiant in her girlhood, at Lord Burleigh's 
 house ; and of all the stormy and tragic events 
 which had since happened to them both. 
 
226 RALEGH : 
 
 This sad occurrence only preceded by a few 
 months Ralegh's sudden release from his twelve 
 years' imprisonment in the Tower, — an event 
 which, at the time of Arabella's death, he did not 
 in the least foresee. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 227 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Ralegh's second voyage. 
 
 OBERT CARR, the young Scotchman 
 who succeeded in winning King James's 
 favor after Cecil's death, had long ruled 
 the royal councils with absolute will. His beauty, 
 grace, and courtliness of bearing had completely 
 won the king's heart. Besides showering upon 
 this new favorite ample wealth in money and 
 broad estates (among them Ralegh's manor of 
 Sherborne), James had created Carr Earl of Som- 
 erset But in course of time, Carr's conduct be- 
 came so arrogant, and his acts so arbitrary, that 
 the king began to weary of him ; and the ruin of 
 the favorite was completed by the discovery of his 
 having murdered a knight whom he thought to be 
 in his way. Carr was thrown into the Tower, and 
 tried ; and though he was pardoned, he never 
 enjoyed the king's favor again. 
 
 Meanwhile, a brilliant young cavalier named 
 
228 RALEGH '. 
 
 George Villiers won King James's affection, and 
 not long after Carr's disgrace, was installed in his 
 stead as the royal favorite. It was this event 
 which indirectly brought about Ralegh's release 
 from the Tower. Carr, as long as he had been in 
 power, had favored a friendship of England with 
 Spain. But Villiers was very hostile to Spain, 
 and desired the English influence, on the other 
 hand, to be thrown against Spain, and in favor of 
 the Netherlands, which Spain was oppressing. 
 Among those who were eager advocates of this 
 policy was a generous and patriotic statesman, 
 named Sir Ralph Winwood. 
 
 It happened that Winwood and Ralegh had long 
 been warm friends. Winwood had often visited 
 the famous prisoner in the Tower, and had talked 
 much with him about the politics of the day, and 
 especially about Ralegh's travels in Guiana. He 
 knew that Ralegh was now, as he had ever been, 
 the inveterate foe of Spain ; and he saw that, in 
 the struggle which was now going on at the Eng- 
 lish court between the partisans of the Dutch and 
 those of Spain, Ralegh might become of great use 
 to the former. 
 
 Ralegh impressed Winwood with the advantage 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 229 
 
 which England would acquire over the Spaniards 
 if Guiana could be conquered and colonized. He 
 dilated upon the riches of the South American 
 country, and spoke especially of a vast gold mine 
 which he believed to exist in Guiana, and which 
 would, if worked, yield great wealth to the English 
 king. Winwood related all these things to Villiers, 
 the new favorite ; and Villiers, who had no reason 
 to be hostile to Ralegh, at once caught at the idea, 
 and lost no time in urging King James to set Ra- 
 legh at liberty, and to dispatch him once more to 
 Guiana, in search of the promised treasures. 
 
 King James had become very much inclined 
 towards Spain under Carr's influence ; and there 
 was now at the English court a very shrewd and 
 subtle Spanish statesman, the Count of Gondomar, 
 who was exerting himself to the utmost to cherish 
 the king's friendly feeling for his country. But 
 the power which Villiers had obtained over the 
 king's mind at last prevailed. It was determined 
 that Ralegh should be set free, on condition that 
 he would make another voyage to Guiana, and, if 
 possible, take possession of the country in the 
 name of the English crown. But the king insisted 
 that he should on no account do anything, while 
 
230 RALEGH : 
 
 on his expedition, to injure Spain, or any Spaniards 
 whom he might meet. 
 
 Accordingly, on the morning of March 19, 1616, 
 the lieutenant of the Tower entered Ralegh's cell 
 and apprised him that he was no longer a prisoner. 
 Ralegh's heart leaped for joy. He had been de- 
 prived of his liberty for twelve weary years, at the 
 most vigorous period of his life, and he was glad 
 enough to breathe the free air again on any terms. 
 He had entered the portals of the Tower a hale 
 and stalwart cavalier of fifty-two. Now, as he left 
 it, his hair and beard were grizzled, his face was 
 worn and wrinkled, his body was somewhat bent, 
 and his features were grave and sorrowful. With 
 what tearful joy he clasped to his breast his ever 
 faithful wife, and his two young sons I Indeed, at 
 the age of sixty-four, his brave spirit was still un- 
 shaken ; the long captivity had not quenched his 
 ardent and restless ambition. He went forth from 
 his prison with the sentence of death still hanging 
 over his head ; for King James, although he had 
 grudgingly consented to his release, had refused to 
 pardon him. But Ralegh kept up a stout heart, 
 and cheerily set to work upon his preparations for 
 the coming voyage. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 2$ I 
 
 It was many months, however, after his leaving 
 the Tower, before these preparations were com- 
 pleted. Every obstacle was thrown in his way by 
 the Spanish envoy, the vigilant Count of Gondomar, 
 who exerted all his resources to persuade King 
 James to withdraw his consent to the expedition. 
 It was not so easy, moreover, for Ralegh to raise the 
 necessary funds to defray the expenses of his new 
 venture. He was now far from being a rich man. 
 He had been stripped of his profitable posts and 
 offices, and his properties in Ireland and in England 
 had melted away. But what little was left him 
 from the money given to him in payment for 
 Sherborne, he freely laid out on his fleet ; and his 
 devoted wife cheerfully gave up an estate which 
 she had saved from the wreck of their fortune, to 
 complete the equipment of the vessels. A royal 
 grant was also wrung from the king by Villiers. 
 
 With these resources, a fleet was finally got 
 ready in the Thames. It consisted of a new flag- 
 ship, named ** The Destiny," which Ralegh had 
 caused to be built for himself ; eleven other good 
 sized vessels, two fly-boats, and a caravel. Ralegh 
 resolved to take with him his eldest son, Walter, 
 now a fine and spirited young man of twenty-three ; 
 
232 RALEGH : 
 
 and his company consisted of two hundred volun- 
 teers, of whom sixty were gentlemen of rank and 
 education. Among this company were quite a 
 number of Ralegh's relatives, eager to share his 
 perils and triumphs. While the ships lay in their 
 docks in the Thames, a great many people visited 
 them with much curiosity. Every day a crowd 
 gathered on the wharves ; and among these spec- 
 tators were statesmen, courtiers, and nobles, as 
 well as those of inferior condition. 
 
 Before setting sail, Ralegh issued some rules by 
 which the company was to be guided. He enjoined 
 upon them that each day must be opened and closed 
 with religious services, " praising God every night 
 with singing of a psalm at the setting of the watch." 
 Other rules compelled the men to take certain 
 precautions to preserve their health. 
 
 It was on an April day in 1617, a little more than 
 a year after his release from the Tower, that Ralegh, 
 accompanied by his son Walter, set sail down the 
 Thames with a part of his fleet. The rest of the 
 ships joined him at Plymouth, on his way through 
 the Channel. The first days of the voyage were 
 very unpropitious. The fleet was assailed by fierce 
 tempests ; and before Ralegh had lost sight of land, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 233 
 
 one of his vessels sank before his eyes, and two 
 others were sadly disabled. He found it necessary 
 to put in at the harbor of Cork, and to await the 
 subsidence of the storm. Then he set forth again, 
 and now made his way without disaster to the 
 Canary Islands. Here he tarried some time, taking 
 in water and provisions ; nor did he get away from 
 the Canaries before his sailors had had some 
 altercations with the Spaniards there. One of his 
 ships, moreover, deserted him ; and sickness broke 
 out among the crews. Among his company, as it 
 turned out, were many reckless and insubordinate 
 adventurers ; and it was no easy task to preserve 
 discipline on board the ships, and to prevent the 
 men from acting violently when ashore. To add 
 to these misfortunes, the fleet was again and again 
 overwhelmed by pitiless storms. At last Ralegh 
 himself was taken ill and lay in his berth helpless 
 and in danger of death for many weary days. 
 
 As, after leaving the Canaries and the Cape de 
 Verde islands, the ** Destiny," followed by the other 
 ships, ploughed her difficult way across the tem- 
 pestuous Atlantic, the stout-hearted commander 
 lay tossing in his close and narrow quarters, burning 
 with fever, and stifling for want of air. But amid 
 
234 RALEGH : 
 
 all his pain, he never lost his old-time courage, and 
 never once gave up his projects in despair. Toward 
 the latter part of the voyage he was able to sit up 
 on deck, attended by his loving son and devoted 
 companions. Wan and wasted, he gazed yearningly 
 toward the west, hoping daily to see the dim outline 
 of the coast of Trinidad appear in the horizon. At 
 last, his eager longing was gratified. There was 
 the land, like a cloud rising in the far distance ; and 
 in no long time the fleet was anchored securely in 
 the same bay where, twenty years before, Ralegh 
 had greeted the new continent. Ralegh was still 
 so feeble, however, that he was carried on shore in 
 a chair. 
 
 He soon recovered health in the thrilling prospect 
 before him. Many of his fellow-voyagers had died 
 on the way ; but he found that he still had two 
 hundred men to accompany him into the interior. 
 No sooner did he find himself well again, than he 
 wrote to his wife and told her of his illness. " But 
 God," he reverently added, " that gave me a strong 
 heart in all my adversities, hath also now strength- 
 ened it in the hell-fire of heat." 
 
 On landing on the main coast, Ralegh was 
 delighted to find that the grateful natives, after so 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 235 
 
 long a time, had not forgotten him, but still held 
 his name in cherished affection. They crowded the 
 shores, and brought a large quantity of provisions 
 and fruit for the adventurers ; and showed in a 
 hundred ways their delight at Ralegh's long looked- 
 for return. " To tell you," he wrote to his wife, 
 " that I might be here king of the Indians, v/ere 
 a vanity. But my name hath lived among them ; 
 here they feed me with fresh meat, and all that the 
 country affords. All offer to obey me." 
 
 Ralegh's first step, after resting and refreshing 
 his company, was to dispatch several reconnoi- 
 tring parties, in five small ships, up the Orinoco, to 
 search for the great mine of which he had heard so 
 much, and which he had gone thither to find. 
 These ships were commanded by his old friend, 
 Captain Keymis, young Walter Ralegh, and George 
 Ralegh, nephew of the admiral. These companies 
 had not gone far, however, when they came upon a 
 new town named St. Thomas, which had recently 
 been built by the Spaniards on the river bank. An 
 Indian had warned the Spaniards who lived thereof 
 the approach of the English ; and no sooner had 
 Keymis and his comrades moored their boats near 
 the town, and begun to land, than the Spanish 
 
236 RALEGH : 
 
 settlers poured a volley of musketry upon them 
 from an ambush. The English retired to their 
 boats in disorder. Ralegh had warned them, before 
 parting from them, by no means to inflict any 
 injury on the Spaniards they might encounter. But 
 now the Spaniards had attacked them first ; and 
 Keymis, young Ralegh, and the other leaders were 
 resolved that, in spite of the admiral's orders, the 
 Spaniards should be punished for their unprovoked 
 assault. 
 
 The next morning, therefore, the adventurers 
 fiercely attacked St. Thomas. It contained about 
 one hundred and fifty dwellings, which were mostly 
 rude huts. It was defended by rude palisades, and 
 in its centre was a small open square, upon which 
 stood a church and a convent. The English, being 
 more numerous than the Spaniards, soon succeeded 
 in entering the town ; and then there ensued a 
 bitter and bloody struggle. The assailants, under 
 Keymis and young Walter Ralegh, fought their 
 way step by step towards the little square. The 
 narrow street was soon choked up with the bodies 
 of the killed and wounded. 
 
 Just as the conflict was raging most hotly, young 
 Ralegh staggered and fell. He had received a 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 23/ 
 
 severe wound. But he soon sprang to his feet 
 again, and waving his sword, with a clear voice 
 urged his men on. Scarcely had he gone a yard 
 further, when a blow from a Spanish musket once 
 more felled the valiant youth to the earth. This 
 time he was fatally wounded. He gasped and 
 struggled on the ground, and raising himself for an 
 instant on his elbow, he cried, in a choking voice, 
 " Go on. May the Lord have mercy upon me, and 
 prosper you ! " 
 
 Thus died, fighting with impetuous valor, and in 
 the flower of his sturdy youth, Ralegh's eldest son 
 and brightest hope. While the battle raged on, a 
 few devoted adherents tenderly raised young Wal- 
 ter, and carried him to the rear. Ere long, the square 
 had been taken, and the Spaniards had fled into 
 the huts, firing thence upon their foes. From 
 the huts they were soon driven into the forest, and 
 the English found themselves in complete posses- 
 sion of the town. The next morning, a sad and 
 solemn procession of the English soldiers, with 
 reversed arms, drooping flags, and muffled drums, 
 slowly proceeded across the square to the humble 
 church which stood upon it. Borne in their midst 
 was the lifeless body of young Walter Ralegh. 
 
238 RALEGH : 
 
 He was laid, with many sobs and tears, in a grave 
 near the high altar of the church. 
 
 That same day, two more of Ralegh's vessels 
 reached them from Trinidad, bringing a reinforce- 
 ment of men. At the same time, the terrible news 
 of his son's sudden death was sent to the bereaved 
 <^ather. Keymis, now the superior officer, lost no 
 time in going with two launches up the Orinoco, 
 m search of the reputed mine ; but this expedition 
 met with nothing but disaster. An ambuscade of 
 Spaniards and Indians, some distance up the river, 
 so suddenly and fiercely assailed the first launch, 
 that nine of the men were killed or wounded in a 
 few moments. This reverse so dismayed Keymis, 
 that he returned with downcast heart to St. 
 Thomas. George Ralegh's ambition was now 
 aroused, and he resolved to try to succeed where 
 the gallant old Keymis had failed. He selected a 
 force of picked men, and himself ascended the 
 Orinoco some three hundred miles. But he had 
 no better fortune than Keymis in searching for the 
 mine ; while day by day he lost some of his com- 
 rades by the attacks of Spaniards and natives, and 
 by the pestilence which spread among them. 
 
 In no long time George Ralegh returned in 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 239 
 
 despair to St. Thomas, with the sad remnant of 
 his force. The English who had remained in the 
 town had also suffered from the assaults of the 
 enemy, hunger, and disease. Scarcely half of the 
 men whom Ralegh had sent forward from Trinidad 
 still survived. Perils increased every hour. It 
 was evident to Keymis that he could not much 
 longer hold St. Thomas. The only thing left to 
 do was to return sorrowfully down the Orinoco to 
 the fleet. Setting fire to the town, and carrying 
 off every article of value which they found there, 
 the disheartened company boarded their boats, and 
 in a few days had rejoined their fellow-adventurers 
 on the coast. 
 
 Keymis found Ralegh still feeble from his long 
 illness, and overwhelmed with grief at the death 
 of his gallant and beloved son. With tearful eyes, 
 Keymis told his chief the sad story of this event 
 in all its particulars, and added the account of his 
 own failure to find the so ardently wished-for mine. 
 In his irritation and disappointment, Ralegh an- 
 grily upbraided his old comrade for not pursuing 
 his search further ; and told him, in a stern voice, 
 that he should answer for his failure to the king. 
 
 Poor Keymis was completely overwhelmed by the 
 
240 RALEGH I 
 
 weight of the misery caused by his commander's 
 reproofs. He shut himself up in his cabin, and 
 wrote a long letter, accounting for his failure, and 
 giving all the excuses he could for it. This letter 
 he brought and read to Ralegh, and asked him to 
 approve and support it. For once, Ralegh was 
 hard-hearted. He coldly refused Keymis's eager 
 request. 
 
 " Is that your resolution ? " asked the old voy- 
 ager, with trembling voice. 
 
 " It is," responded Ralegh, sternly. 
 
 "I know, then, sir," was the sad reply, "what 
 •course to take." 
 
 Ralegh too soon learned what Keymis meant. 
 
 In a few moments, Ralegh heard a pistol-shot on 
 the vessel. He told a boy to go and see what it 
 meant. The boy soon came back, and said that 
 Keymis, who was in his cabin, had called out, " I 
 have fired the pistol because it has been too long 
 charged." Soon after, the boy went again to Key- 
 mis's cabin, and on opening the door, found the 
 brave old man lying dead on the floor. Failing to 
 kill himself with the pistol, he had stabbed him- 
 self to the heart. He preferred death to disgrace, 
 and to the reproaches of the commander whom he 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 24I 
 
 loved. Ralegh's remorse at having so severely 
 reproved his faithful comrade knew no bounds ; it 
 added all the greater gloom to his already broken 
 
 heart. 
 
 Other troubles hastened Ralegh's decision to 
 return home without making any further effort to 
 discover the great mine. It was now evident to 
 him that the Spanish king had sent word to the 
 Spaniards in Guiana to attack him, and prevent his 
 obtaining possession of the country. He knew 
 that they were much more numerous than his own 
 force, and that another expedition up the Orinoco 
 would probably end, as the others had done, in 
 wretched failure. Besides, his men had now be- 
 come thoroughly disheartened, and were clamor- 
 ing angrily to go back to England. He found it 
 impossible to keep discipline on board the ships. 
 Reluctant as he was to go back without achieving 
 his object and fulfilling his promise to the king, he 
 saw that there was no alternative. While he was 
 hesitating, moreover, two of his vessels deserted 
 the fleet, and sailed away across the Atlantic. 
 This misfortune seems to have at last settled his 
 purpose to return. Old and ill, bereft of that son 
 who had been the pride and joy of his later years, 
 
242 RALEGH : 
 
 saddened by the suicide of Keymis, harassed by 
 his discontented company, and forced to carry 
 home the news of a terrible failure, Ralegh set sail 
 for home in March, 1618. It was not without the 
 darkest forebodings that he slowly approached his 
 native shores. He knew that watchful and trium- 
 phant enemies would gloat over his ignominious 
 return, and would make the most of his misfor- 
 tunes. These forebodings were only too soon to 
 be realized. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Ralegh's return. 
 
 ISASTER followed Ralegh all the way 
 across the Atlantic. The voyage was 
 pursued during the stormy season, and 
 tempest after tempest broke upon the little fleet. 
 In mid-ocean, a storm of such terrific force struck 
 the ships, that they were scattered, and each was 
 forced to make its way alone towards the English 
 coast. Several of the vessels were so badly dam- 
 aged, that it was with infinite difficulty that they 
 could proceed on their way. Ralegh's ship, the 
 ''Destiny," fortunately escaped serious injury, al- 
 though she did not reach England as soon as did 
 one or two of her sister vessels. 
 
 It was not until the middle of June that the old 
 hero was relieved by seeing the dim cliffs of Devon 
 rising in the horizon. He made straight for Plym- 
 outh, and moored the '' Destiny " in that familiar 
 harbor. 
 
244 RALEGH : 
 
 No sooner had Ralegh landed than he was ap- 
 prised by some of his devoted friends, who had 
 hastened to welcome him home, of news which 
 startled and amazed him, and which seemed the 
 crowning blow to his previous crushing misfor- 
 tunes. Each of the captains of his fleet, as they 
 had reached harbor, had been arrested and impris- 
 oned, and the ships themselves had been seized by 
 order of the king. 
 
 Many events of grave moment to Ralegh had 
 happened during his absence. The Count of Gon- 
 domar, the Spanish envoy, had continued to use 
 every effort to excite the king's mind against him. 
 Several of the vessels in Ralegh's fleet had re- 
 turned to England in May, and had brought the 
 intelligence of the fights between the English and 
 the Spaniards on the Orinoco, of the capture of 
 St. Thomas, and of its sacking and burning. 
 Gondomar had eagerly caught at this news to de- 
 nounce Ralegh to King James as a pirate and a 
 traitor. He reminded the king that Ralegh had 
 been commanded in no way to injure the Spaniards 
 in South America, and that Ralegh had solemnly 
 promised to obey. 
 
 Another circumstance had yet more influenced 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 245 
 
 the king in favor of the Spaniards, and therefore 
 against Ralegh, who was Spain's irreconcilable 
 enemy. Prince Charles was now the king's eldest 
 son, and the heir to the crown ; the same Charles 
 who was destined afterwards to become king, and 
 to suffer death on the scaffold. Gondomar cun- 
 ningly proposed that a marriage should be arranged 
 between Prince Charles and the second daughter 
 of the Spanish king. He promised a brilliant 
 dowry with the young princess, and the close alli- 
 ance and friendship of Spain in England's future 
 career. 
 
 This proposal at once attracted King James, and 
 he entered into the plan of the marriage with great 
 earnestness. Villiers, the favorite, who had be- 
 come Marquis of Buckingham, also strongly ap- 
 proved of it. But Gondomar made it appear that, 
 unless Ralegh were punished for his treatment of 
 the Spaniards on the Orinoco, the marriage would 
 not suit the dignity of the King of Spain. The 
 negotiations about this marriage were at their 
 height, when Ralegh sailed into Plymouth harbor. 
 
 It was not long after Ralegh's arrival, that he 
 was* once more clasped in his wife's loving arms. 
 On hearing that the "Destiny" had returned, 
 
246 RALEGH : 
 
 she hurried down to Plymouth. The joy of meet- 
 ing, after so long and painful a separation, was 
 checked by the afflictions through which Ralegh 
 had passed, and scarcely less by the dark out- 
 look which lay before him. His wife told him in 
 broken tones what his enemies were saying and 
 doing against him, and he could not but foresee 
 that his misfortunes had not yet reached their end. 
 
 After remaining a week or two at Plymouth, to 
 settle up the affairs of his fleet, Ralegh and his 
 wife set out together for London. He was resolved 
 to face his enemies, and learn his fate. He never 
 once thought of shrinking from the ordeal before 
 him. As, one afternoon, he was approaching the 
 village of Ashburton, he saw a cavalcade ap- 
 proaching. Presently he recognized, at the head 
 of the horsemen, his relative, Sir Lewis Stukeley, 
 the vice-admiral of Devon. Stukeley came up to 
 Ralegh, and saluting him with a bow, said, — 
 
 " Sir Walter, I have the king's orders to arrest 
 both you and your ships." 
 
 Ralegh heard this with a calm countenance, and 
 gave himself up to Stukeley's custody. He was 
 escorted by Stukeley's retinue back to Plymouth, 
 followed by his grief-stricken wife. Ralegh was 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 24/ 
 
 lodged in the house of Sir Christopher Harris, and 
 remained there while Stukeley examined the fleet, 
 in the hope of seizing its cargo, and himself get- 
 ting possession of it. During these weary days, 
 Ralegh's wife never ceased her entreaties to him 
 to try to escape. In these she was seconded by a 
 faithful old family servant, who had accompanied 
 her when she went to meet her husband on his 
 return. 
 
 Perplexed and wearied, Ralegh, in a thoughtless 
 moment, yielded to these repeated and touching 
 appeals. He asked Captain King, one of his 
 friends, to procure a boat to take him to France. 
 Captain King succeeded in getting one, and had it 
 anchored out in the harbor, beyond the range of 
 the guns in the fort. Very late one night, Ralegh 
 slipped out of the house, and was soon seated in 
 the boat with his faithful friend. A French ship 
 lay at some distance in the channel. The boat- 
 men vigorously plied their oars, and the boat was 
 soon within a quarter of a mile of the vessel 
 Safety was now within Ralegh's reach. In a few 
 minutes he might defy the worst plans of his ene- 
 mies. Freedom would be his, in a land where he 
 would surely be protected. 
 
248 RALEGH : 
 
 But at this last moment, he bravely and sternly 
 changed his mind. To fly was cowardice and dis- 
 honor. His name and fame, more precious to him 
 than life, were at stake. In a resolute voice, he 
 commanded the boatmen to turn and row back to 
 the harbor again. Captain King's protests fell on 
 deaf ears. Ralegh repeated his command. The 
 boat swung around, and Ralegh was soon ashore 
 again, and returned to Harris's house, to await his 
 jailer's movements. 
 
 It was not long after this courageous act of self- 
 devotion, that Stukeley was ordered by the king's 
 council to lose no more time in bringing Ralegh to 
 London. Stukeley made haste to sell out as much 
 of the cargo of Ralegh's fleet as he had been able 
 to lay his avaricious hands on, and to prepare foi 
 departure to the capital. On the 25th of July, h^ 
 set out with his prisoner, who was still accompar 
 nied by his ever-devoted wife. On the way, Ra 
 legh's health gave way, and the cavalcade was 
 obliged to go by slow stages. It then occurred to 
 Stukeley to do a perfidious thing. He had with 
 him a French doctor, whom he ordered to prescribe 
 for Ralegh. At the same time, he bribed the doc- 
 tor to play the spy upon the prisoner. Ralegh, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 249 
 
 who liked and trusted Frenchmen, at once fell into 
 the trap set by his mean and treacherous cousin. 
 He talked freely with the doctor, who repeated all 
 that he said to Stukeley. Captain King, who was 
 also in the party, made a confidant of the French- 
 man, and conversed freely with him about Ralegh's 
 chances of escaping to France. All this was re- 
 peated to Ralegh's enemies. 
 
 As the cavalcade advanced, it happened that 
 they passed within full sight of Ralegh's old and 
 beautiful domain of Sherborne. In all his travels 
 and vicissitudes, the old cavalier had never given up 
 the hope of one day again becoming its possessor. 
 That hope seemed now forever vanished. He 
 looked with longing and sorrowful eyes on the 
 spacious park, the long reaches of luxuriant lawn, 
 and the towers of the house, peeping above the 
 trees. That night was spent at a manor-house 
 near Sherborne, and when Ralegh's old servants 
 heard that he was in the neighborhood, they flocked 
 about the mansion where he was staying, hoping 
 to catch a glimpse of their former beloved master. 
 
 The cavalcade set out early the next morning, on 
 its way to Salisbury. After riding an hour or two 
 Ralegh dismounted and walked along the road. 
 
250 RALEGH : 
 
 The French doctor, whose name was Manourie, 
 walked by his side. Ralegh seized this opportunity 
 to carry out a project which he had just been re- 
 volving in his mind. He saw but too clearly that 
 he was about to be kept a close prisoner and that he 
 would perhaps suffer death. Above all things, he 
 cherished his good name and his fame. He was 
 unwilling that the story of his last Guiana expe- 
 dition should go down to posterity as told by his 
 bitter enemies. He therefore resolved that he 
 would himself write it out, and leave his narrative 
 in such a manner that it would surely reach the 
 public eye. 
 
 He was being hurried as fast as possible to 
 London. His object was to procure a delay of two 
 or three days on the journey, that he might have 
 time to write his account before being shut up and 
 jealously guarded in the Tower. So now, as he 
 walked along with Manourie, he persuaded the 
 doctor to aid him in his design, by giving him an 
 emetic. If he could feign illness, and if Manourie 
 would declare that he was unfit to proceed on the 
 journey, he would gain the delay he so much 
 wished for. 
 
 The plan succeeded perfectly. Ralegh became, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 25 1 
 
 apparently, very ill. On reaching Salisbury, he 
 staggered and fell against a post. On being carried 
 to his chamber, Manourie declared that he would be 
 unfit, for several days, to proceed on his way. 
 Thus Ralegh obtained the opportunity to write his 
 narrative, and to make a complete defence of his 
 conduct in Guiana. 
 
 It happened that King James was at this time 
 on one of his progresses ; and was on the point of 
 arriving at Salisbury. Scarcely, therefore, had 
 Ralegh completed his writing, when Stukeley hur- 
 riedly ordered the cavalcade to set out again. He 
 was afraid lest Ralegh should get access to the 
 king, and try to secure his release ; he suspected, 
 too, that the king would be annoyed to find the 
 prisoner there when he came. As the party passed 
 along through different towns, crowds came out to 
 see the famous captive ; and he received many 
 marks of the affection of the people, and of their 
 grief at his misfortunes. 
 
 Ralegh's fate now seemed so certain to be a 
 speedy death at the hands of the headsman, that 
 his faithful friend. Captain King, and his devoted 
 wife, renewed their supplications to him to endeavor 
 k) make his escape once more ; and so desperate 
 
252 RALEGH : 
 
 seemed his situation, that Ralegh was at last induced 
 to lend his ear to these urgent appeals. An event 
 which soon occurred rather confirmed this inclina- 
 tion. When the party reached Brentford, not far 
 from London, an agent of the French envoy man- 
 aged to speak unobserved to Ralegh. He told him 
 that the French were his friends and were anxious 
 to aid him in escaping. Ralegh was advised to 
 bide his time, and a chance of regaining his freedom 
 might soon occur. 
 
 On reaching London, Stukeley, instead of carry- 
 ing his prisoner at once to the Tower, proceeded to 
 Ralegh's own house in Broad Street. There 
 Stukeley took up his quarters, and to Ralegh's 
 surprise, gave him a great deal of liberty of action. 
 Ralegh was allowed to have his own servants about 
 him, and to retain in the house his ever faithful 
 friend, Captain King. His old friends came to see 
 him, and thought that he was really a free man. 
 But all the while, Stukeley kept a keen and sleep- 
 less watch upon his prisoner. 
 
 The more Ralegh reflected on his position, the 
 more firmly convinced he became that his only 
 hope lay in a successful escape. He soon learned 
 that the French envoy had arranged to get him 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 253 
 
 away, and had secured a barque for the purpose. 
 Meanwhile Captain King had been busy, and had 
 found a small boat, commanded by one of his old 
 boatswains. This boat lay at Tilbury awaiting 
 King's orders. Ralegh was still further encouraged 
 by Stukeley's conduct. The perfidious man now 
 pretended to be Ralegh's friend, and to be willing to 
 help him escape. Ralegh promised him a large 
 sum of money if he would do so, and Stukeley with 
 feigned eagerness yielded to the bribe. 
 
 It only remained to complete the preparations 
 for the escape. This was appointed for the even- 
 ing of Sunday, August 9th, 161 8. Hart, the boat- 
 swain in command of the boat which King had 
 secured, was ordered to moor it at Gravesend. At 
 the designated hour Ralegh, King, Stukeley and his 
 son. Hart, and a page got into two small wherries to 
 go to the boat. They had just launched into the 
 stream, when Ralegh saw another boat push out 
 from the bank and follow them. He called 
 Stukeley's attention to this, but only received an 
 impatient oath in response. 
 
 The faster the men rowed, the more rapid be- 
 came the movements of the pursuing craft. The 
 tide was going out, and it became doubtful whether 
 
254 RALEGH : 
 
 the boats could reach Gravesend under the protec- 
 tion of the darkness. At last, in despair, the 
 wherries were forced to turn and retrace their 
 passage. The pursuing boat instantly turned also. 
 When the wherries reached Greenwich, Stukeley, 
 who had been loudly professing his affection and 
 fidelity to Ralegh, stood up and appeared in his true 
 colors. Laying a hand on Captain King s shoulder, 
 and with a deep frown on his face, he cried, — 
 
 " I arrest you in the name of the king." 
 
 Ralegh looked around in angry surprise. He 
 perceived that Stukeley had basely betrayed him ; 
 and it was not long before Hart, the boatswain, 
 showed that he, too, had been bribed to be false. 
 
 ** Sir Lewis," said Ralegh to Stukeley, sternly 
 shaking his head, " these actions will not turn out 
 to your credit." 
 
 No wonder the people of that time learned to 
 call this traitor " Sir Judas Stukeley." He ordered 
 the boatmen to row directly to the Tower, which 
 was but a short distance away ; and the boat which 
 had pursued the wherries, and which contained a 
 courtier named Herbert, to whom Stukeley had 
 betrayed the projected escape, escorted them to 
 the grim old prison. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 255 
 
 Arrived at the water-gates of the Tower, Ralegh 
 parted with much emotion from his faithful adherent, 
 Captain King. Warmly embracing him, Ralegh 
 said in sorrowful tones, — 
 
 " You need be in no fear of danger. It is I only 
 that am the mark shot at." 
 
 Ralegh was now led into the Tower by his per- 
 fidious keeper, and delivered to the lieutenant ; and 
 soon found himself once more confined in a low, 
 dark cell, within those dreary walls where he had 
 already spent twelve long years of his life. 
 
 The traitors, Stukeley and Manourie, received in 
 due time the reward of their treachery. The French 
 doctor only got twenty pounds. Stukeley received 
 a thousand. But the latter lived to be universally 
 despised and neglected, and finally died a wretched 
 and disgraceful death. 
 
 About a week after Ralegh's return to the Tower, 
 his wife, who was living in great sorrow at their 
 house in Broad street, was also arrested, and taken 
 to the house of a certain London merchant, who 
 was appointed her jailer. It was feared that she 
 might in some way effect her husband's escape. 
 Nor was this the only indignity which was visited 
 upon her ; for her furniture, and even her household 
 
256 RALEGH : 
 
 linen, were seized, and she was forbidden their use. 
 All these proceedings only showed too clearly that 
 the hostility of the king and his court to Ralegh 
 was implacable, and would only be cont^jiat with 
 the shedding of his blood. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 
 
 ALEGH'S enemies had at last succeeded 
 in their combined efforts to destroy him. 
 Once more a prisoner, the outlook before 
 him was quite hopeless. The king had always 
 believed Ralegh to be disloyal to him at heart. 
 Besides, James was at this time slavishly submissive 
 to the influence of the King of Spain ; and that 
 monarch recognized in Ralegh a relentless, and, it 
 might be, powerful enemy. One sturdy friend 
 Ralegh had long had at court. This was the 
 queen, Anne of Denmark; and now, at the last 
 moment, she exerted all her efforts to procure his 
 pardon and release. 
 
 But Queen Anne's influence over her husband's 
 mind had long since vanished ; and she could not 
 hope to prevail against so many formidable foes as 
 now rose up to hurry Ralegh on to his death. King 
 
258 RALEGH : 
 
 James waa so firmly resolved to please the Span- 
 iards, that he offered to send Ralegh to Spain, to 
 be there tried and executed, if the King of Spain 
 so wished. But the latter preferred that King 
 James should do the bloody work himself. 
 
 After some delay, Ralegh was subjected to a kind 
 of examination before the Royal Council, and he 
 then learned upon what charges it was intended to 
 convict him. He was accused of being disloyal, 
 and a secret enemy of the king ; and of having made 
 treasonable remarks about him. Ralegh replied 
 that he had once said, " My confidence in the king 
 is deceived ; " but that, besides this remark, he had 
 never uttered a disrespectful word about James. 
 He was next accused of going to Guiana on the 
 pretence of finding a rich mine, but without 
 really ever intending to seek for it ; and also of 
 having caused the massacre of Spaniards there. 
 His refutation of these charges was complete, but 
 he spoke to deaf ears. 
 
 On being remanded to the Tower, Ralegh was 
 subjected to another indignity. A creature of the 
 court, named Wilson, was set to watching him as 
 a spy. Wilson was ordered to report all that Ra- 
 legh said in unguarded moments ; and he used 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 259 
 
 every cunning device to induce Ralegh to say 
 something which might be used against him. He 
 told Ralegh that if he would disclose all he knew, 
 he would receive the king's pardon. Wilson de- 
 scended to the meanness of opening and reading 
 the letters which passed between Ralegh and his 
 sorrow-stricken wife. Shortly after, Lady Ralegh 
 was herself brought to the Tower; but she was 
 speedily released again. 
 
 Among Ralegh's earliest and most affectionate 
 friends was the famous Lord Bacon. This great 
 man had at last attained the summit of his ambi- 
 tion, and was now Lord High Chancellor. In 
 Bacon, at least, Ralegh hoped to find a brave and 
 eloquent defender. But if he had called to mind 
 how Bacon, who owed his rise to the Earl of 
 Essex, had turned on that generous benefactor in 
 his day of trouble, and had been his most virulent 
 assailant, such a hope should have been banished 
 from Ralegh's heart. Bacon now appeared as 
 Ralegh's foremost accuser. He cudgelled his 
 subtle brain for a legal way to secure Ralegh's 
 condemnation to death, and reported to the king 
 the result of his deliberation. . Bacon decided that 
 Ralegh might be executed under his conviction for 
 
26o RALEGH : 
 
 treason fifteen years before, but advised the king 
 to bring him to trial in the court of the King's 
 Bench. The judges would declare Ralegh amena- 
 ble to death because of the old and almost for- 
 gotten offence. 
 
 It was on the morning of October 28, 161 8, that 
 Ralegh was summoned by his jailer to proceed to 
 his trial. The prisoner was ill, but was forced to 
 rise as best he could, and appear before the judges. 
 
 As, walking feebly and half supported by an 
 attendant, he was walking through the corridor, a 
 faithful old domestic of his, who clung to him 
 more eagerly than ever in his misfortunes, was 
 standing there to see him pass. Addressing 
 Ralegh, he said to him that his head had not 
 been combed. 
 
 " Let those comb it," replied Ralegh, with a sad 
 smile, "who are to have it." Then, after a mo- 
 ment's pause, he added, " Dost thou know, Peter, 
 of any plaster that will set a man's head on again, 
 after it is off.?" 
 
 Taken hastily to Westminster, Ralegh soon found 
 himself confronting the judges, who sat on their 
 bench in their wigs and long robes, glowering sternly 
 upon him. He was not permitted even the pre- 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 261 
 
 tence of a regular trial. The judges began at 
 once to ask him a series of questions, and each 
 time that he tried to respond, they gruffly contra- 
 dicted him. The old conviction of high treason 
 was brought up against him, and he was asked 
 what he had to say in reply. 
 
 " All I can say," replied Ralegh, " is this. The 
 judgment I received to die, so long since, will not, 
 I hope, be strained. I undertook a voyage to do 
 honor to my sovereign, and to enrich his kingdom 
 with gold, of the ore whereof this hand hath found 
 and taken in Guiana. But the enterprise, notwith- 
 standing my endeavors, had no other issue than 
 what was fatal to me, — the loss of my son, and 
 the wasting of my whole estate." 
 
 Montagu, the chief justice, sternly interrupted 
 him by saying that the Guiana expedition had 
 nothing to do with the matter. "Treason," he 
 added, ** is a crime which must be pardoned by 
 express words, not by implication. The king has 
 never pardoned you." 
 
 " If that is your opinion," replied Ralegh, " I can 
 only put myself on the mercy of the king." 
 
 The judges then declared that Ralegh should be 
 executed on the old conviction. 
 
262 RALEGH : 
 
 Rising, and bowing with an air of sorrowful 
 
 dignity, the prisoner said, — 
 
 " My lords, I desire this much favor, that I be 
 not cut off suddenly, but may have some time 
 granted me before my execution, to settle my 
 affairs and my mind. I have something to do in 
 discharge of my conscience ; and I have somewhat 
 to satisfy his Majesty in. I would beseech the 
 favor of pen, ink, and paper; and I now beseech 
 your lordships that, when I come to die, I may 
 have leave to speak freely at my farewell. And 
 here I take God, before whom I shall shortly ap- 
 pear, to be my judge, that I was never disloyal to 
 his majesty ; which I shall justify when I shall not 
 fear the face of any king on earth. And I beseech 
 you all to pray for me." 
 
 On being led out of Westminster Hall, Ralegh 
 was surprised to find that, instead of being taken 
 back to the Tower, he was lodged in the gate- 
 house of Westminster Abbey. This was an old, 
 low building, the upper story of which had long 
 been used as a prison. Ralegh was conducted 
 into one of its cells. His petition for pen and 
 paper was refused ; nor could he now doubt 
 that his other prayer, that time might be given 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 263 
 
 to him to prepare for death, was also to be de- 
 nied him. 
 
 Even before his appearance before the judges, 
 indeed, the warrant for his execution had been 
 drawn up by the false hand of Bacon, and had 
 been signed by King James. The king had left 
 London, so that he might not be annoyed by the 
 commotion which the coming tragedy would excite. 
 A scaffold was erected in haste in the old Palace 
 Yard, near by, as soon as Ralegh had entered his 
 prison door. The next day was Lord Mayor's day, 
 and the great multitude of Londoners would flock 
 to the other end of the town, to witness the civic 
 pageant. It was just the time to put Ralegh out 
 of the way without interruption or disturbance. 
 
 All these things showed that the time of Ra- 
 legh's doom was fixed for an early hour on the 
 morning of October 29, 161 8, and that every pre- 
 caution had been taken to dispatch him immedi- 
 ately after his fate had been sealed by the judges. 
 
 Meanwhile, Ralegh spent his last evening and 
 night on earth in preparation for his doom. De- 
 spite the secrecy with which the coming event was 
 kept, news of it spread quickly through the royal 
 court, and among the upper classes. A number 
 
264 RALEGH : 
 
 of Ralegh's friends hastened to the gate-house to 
 bid him farewell. They found him calm, almost 
 cheerful. To one of them, an old friend from the 
 country, he quietly asked, — 
 
 "You will come to-morrow morning?" 
 
 ** Certainly," said his friend. 
 
 ** But," replied Ralegh, " I know not whether 
 you will get a place. You must take your chance. 
 For my part, I am sure of one." 
 
 A relative, Francis Thynne, observing how 
 buoyantly Ralegh bore himself, said to him, " Do 
 not carry it with too much bravery. Your enemies 
 will complain of it if you do." 
 
 "It is my last mirth in this world;" rejoined 
 Ralegh, " do not grudge it to me. When I come 
 to the sad parting, you will see me grave enough." 
 
 Among those who visited the doomed hero on 
 that last night, was Dr. Tounson, Dean of West- 
 minster ; who naturally asked about his spiritual 
 state. The Dean thus relates the conversation : — 
 
 " When I began to encourage him against the 
 fear of death, he seemed to make so Hght of it that 
 I wondered at him. When I told him that the 
 dear servants of God, in better causes than his, had 
 shrunk back and trembled a little, he denied it not 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 265 
 
 But yet he gave God thanks that he had never 
 feared death. I wished him not to flatter himself; 
 for this extraordinary boldness I feared might come 
 from some false ground. If it sprung from the love 
 and favor of God, and the hope of his salvation by 
 Christ, and his own innocence, then he was a 
 happy man. But if it was out of any humor of 
 vain glory, or carelessness of death, or senselessness 
 of his own state, then were he much to be lamented. 
 He satisfied me then ; as I think he did all his 
 spectators at his death. He was the most fearless 
 of death that ever was known, and the most resolute 
 and confident ; yet with reverence and conscience." 
 
 Later in the night, when Ralegh was left alone, 
 he employed himself in writing some verses on 
 scraps of paper which his jailer had been indulgent 
 enough to give him. 
 
 At the midnight stroke, the saddest trial of all 
 took place. The time had come when Ralegh was 
 to see his faithful and beloved wife for the last 
 time. With heroic resolution, he steeled himself 
 to go bravely through this most sorrowful ordeal. 
 When his weeping wife entered his cell, Ralegh 
 received her with kind, firm voice, and for a 
 moment held her close to his breast. Then, seating 
 
266 RALEGH I 
 
 himself beside her, and taking her hands in his, he 
 tried to cheer and console her. Even at that 
 terrible hour, his mind was still intent upon pre- 
 serving his good name and fame, and justifying 
 himself in the eyes of future generations. He 
 forced his wife to listen, while he told her of the 
 means by which, after his death, she might restore 
 his renown. 
 
 Then the poor wife broke down, and began to 
 talk about their little son, Carew, who would still 
 remain to her. At the mention of Carew's name, 
 Ralegh was for a moment overcome. He told his 
 wife, in broken accents, not to speak of the boy, for 
 he could not bear to think of him. All too soon, 
 the turnkey came to conduct Lady Ralegh out of 
 the gate-house. Straining her to his breast, and 
 showering upon her his farewell kisses, Ralegh bade 
 her good-by. Lady Ralegh had obtained permission 
 to receive her husband's body, and bury it where 
 she wished ; and at this last moment, she told him 
 of this sad consolation. 
 
 " It is well, dear Bess," said Ralegh, with a 
 sorrowful smile, " that thou mayest dispose of that, 
 dead, which thou hadst not always the disposing 
 of when alive." 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 26j 
 
 In another instant, the heavy door of the cell was 
 swung to and locked, and had parted husband and 
 wife forever. 
 
 The rest of the dark hours were spent in writing 
 additions to his will, and giving directions as to the 
 management of such little property as he still had 
 left. It was scarcely dawn when the venerable 
 Dean of Westminster again entered his cell, attired 
 in the robes of his sacred office. With grave 
 voice and manner, he gave Ralegh the final sacra- 
 ment, which the prisoner took with cheerful seren- 
 ity. The Dean then spoke to him of the treason 
 which he had been accused of committing ; and at 
 this solemn moment, Ralegh once more, with great 
 earnestness, declared his innocence. 
 
 Soon after the Dean's departure, an attendant 
 brought Ralegh a cup of sack, which he drank with 
 evident relish. The attendant asked him if it was 
 to his liking. 
 
 " I will answer you," said Ralegh, " as did the 
 fellow who drank of St. Giles's bowl, as he went 
 to Tyburn : * It is good drink, if a man might but 
 tarry by it.' " 
 
 At an early hour the sheriffs, with the Dean of 
 Westminster, entered Ralegh's cell. They told 
 
268 RALEGH : 
 
 him that the time had come for him to proceed to 
 the scaffold. Without hesitation or tremor, the 
 old hero grasped his hat and put it on, and said, — 
 
 ** Sirs, I am ready to follow you." 
 
 The scene, as Ralegh, between the two sheriffs, 
 emerged from the gate-house, and with firm step 
 crossed the street towards the scaffold, was one 
 which, even at that dread hour, must have at- 
 tracted his attention. Around the scaffold, which 
 rose grimly in Old Palace Yard, a barrier had been 
 erected ; within this barrier, the space was packed 
 with people. In the street around it was collected 
 a multitude of courtiers and noblemen on horse- 
 back; while from the balconies of the houses near 
 by, other persons of rank and distinction looked. 
 down upon the sombre spectacle. 
 
 As Ralegh was crossing the street, he observed 
 an old man standing there with a very bald head, 
 which had no covering. Taking off a lace cap 
 which he wore under his hat, Ralegh tossed it to 
 the old man, saying, — 
 
 ** You need this, my friend, more than I do.** 
 
 On entering the barrier, the crowd was so dense 
 and so excited, that Ralegh for a moment was 
 hustled to and fro. But he firmly kept his footing, 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 269 
 
 and the placid smile with which he had made his 
 appearance never left his face. With knightly 
 bearing and erect form he ascended the narrow 
 steps of the scaffold. There stood the headsman, 
 tall, gaunt, and grim, with a black mask over his 
 face, leaning upon the glittering, deadly axe. By 
 his side stood the Dean of Westminster, ready to 
 perform the last sacred offices. On either side of 
 Ralegh were stationed the sheriffs, watchful lest, 
 at the last moment, a rescue might be attempted ; 
 for the sympathies of the crowd were strongly in 
 Ralegh's favor. 
 
 Ralegh turned to the spectators, and began to 
 speak the last words he would utter on earth. 
 
 " I have had fits of ague," said he, " for the last 
 two days. If, therefore, you perceive any weakness 
 in me, ascribe it to my sickness, rather than to 
 myself. I am infinitely bound to God that he hath 
 vouchsafed me to die in the sight of so noble an 
 assembly, and not in darkness, in that Tower 
 where I have suffered so much adversity and a 
 long sickness." 
 
 He then went on to defend himself, with earnest 
 and eloquent words, from the charges which had 
 been made agcainst him; and then, after alluding 
 
2/0 RALEGH ; 
 
 to the treachery of Stukeley, and the French doc- 
 tor, Manourie, he declared that he freely forgave 
 them both. After concluding his defence of the 
 Guiana expedition, and denying that he had ex- 
 ulted in Essex's death, he said, — 
 
 " I have many, many sins for which to beseech 
 God's pardon. For a long time, my course was a 
 course of vanity. I have been a seafaring man, a 
 soldier, and a. courtier ; and in the temptations of 
 the least of these there is enough to overthrow a 
 good mind and a good man. I die in the faith 
 professed by the Church of England. I hope to 
 be saved, and to have my sins washed away by 
 the precious blood and merits of our Saviour, 
 Christ." 
 
 Ralegh then begged for the prayers of those 
 who heard him, and himself knelt in prayer. No 
 sooner had Ralegh risen to his feet again, than, 
 turning to the headsman, he said, — 
 
 *' Show me the axe." 
 
 The headsman hesitated a moment, then lifted 
 the axe so that Ralegh could take hold of it. He 
 tried its edge, to see whether it was sharp enough 
 to do its work and holding up the glittering blade, 
 kissed it. 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 2/1 
 
 "This," said he, "gives me no fear. It is a 
 sharp and fair medicine, to cure me of all my 
 troubles." 
 
 Then, turning to the headsman, and giving him 
 back the axe, Ralegh added, — 
 
 " When I stretch forth my hands, despatch me." 
 He again faced the spectators, and said, " Give me 
 heartily your prayers." 
 
 The doomed man knelt at the block, and his 
 lips were seen moving in silent prayer. He sud- 
 denly lifted his hands, as a signal for the exe- 
 cutioner to strike. But the headsman, for once 
 confused by the scene before him, lost his presence 
 of mind, and did not at once obey the signal. 
 
 Ralegh, seeing that the blow did not fall, cried 
 out, — 
 
 " What dost thou fear ? Strike, man, strike ! " 
 
 The headsman now nerved himself, and swung 
 the axe aloft. It fell with a tremendous blow upor 
 Ralegh's neck, and in another instant had fallen a 
 second time. But the first blow had done its 
 work. The kneeling form was headless. The 
 executioner grasping the bleeding head by the 
 hair, lifted and showed it to the spectators. Sir 
 Walter Ralegh was no more ! 
 
272 RALEGH : 
 
 A quick shudder ran through the multitude, and 
 many groaned at the horrible sight. One man 
 cried out, angrily, "We have not such another 
 head to be cut off." The crowd separated slowly, 
 muttering and crying out against Ralegh's ene- 
 mies ; while his friends who were present departed 
 with tearful eyes. 
 
 The remains of the stout old hero, who had 
 achieved and had suffered so much, and had met, 
 at the age of sixty-six, the unmerited doom of a 
 traitor, were duly delivered to his sorrowing widow. 
 The same day, they were reverently and tenderly 
 laid in a tomb in St. Margaret's Church, just beside 
 Westminster Abbey, and in sight of the scene of 
 his execution. Years after, a tablet of brass was 
 erected in the church, near the spot where Ralegh 
 was laid ; and upon this was engraved the following 
 inscription : — 
 
 " Within the chancel of this church was interred the body 
 of the great Sir Walter Ralegh, on the day he was beheaded, 
 in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, October 29th, 1618. 
 Reader, should you reflect on his errors, remember his many 
 virtues ; and that he was a mortal." 
 
 Thus lived and died one who played a famous 
 and heroic part in his time ; and whose fame, which 
 
HIS EXPLOITS AND VOYAGES. 273 
 
 grew ever brighter after his death, is still green at 
 a distance of more than two and a half centuries. 
 Posterity has awarded him the justice which, while 
 he was living, was denied to him by ungrateful 
 monarchs and relentless enemies. He served Eng- 
 land well, and was an honor to his age ; he was a 
 pioneer of the English settlement on the American 
 continent ; and whatever part he chose to play in 
 the world's affairs, he played resolutely, bravely, 
 and with all the might of mind and hand. 
 

 H JOHN AND BETTYS 
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 how the necessary information is gathered. The securing of this of- 
 ten involves hardship and peril, requiring journeys by dog-team in the 
 frozen North and by launch in the alhgator-filled Everglades of Florida, 
 while the enumerator whose work lies among the dangerous criminal 
 classes of the greater cities must take his life in his own hands. 
 
 •' Every young man should read this story from cover to cover, thereby getting 
 a clear conception of conditions as they exist to-day, for such knowledge will have 
 a clean, invigorating and healthy influence on the young growing and thinking 
 mind." — Boston Globe. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt of 
 price by the publishers 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 
 
U. S. SERVICE SERIES 
 
 By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER 
 
 Many illustrations from photographs taken in work for U.S. Government 
 Large 12ino Cloth $1.50 per volume 
 
 ** There are no better books for boys than Francis Rolt-Wheeler's * U. S. 
 Service Series.' " — -Chicago Record- Herald. 
 
 THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES 
 
 "\17'ITH a bright, active American youth as 
 ■ '' a hero, is told the story of the Fisheries, 
 which in their actual importance dwarf every 
 other human industry. The book does not 
 lack thrilling scenes. The far Aleutian Islands 
 have witnessed more desperate sea-fighting 
 than has occurred elsewhere since the days of 
 the Spanish buccaneers, and pirate craft, which 
 the U. S. Fisheries must watch, rifle in hand, 
 are prowling in the Behring Sea to-day. The 
 fish-farms of the United States are as inter- 
 esting as they are immense in their scope. 
 *• One of the best books for boys of all ages, so 
 attractively written and illustrated as to fascinate 
 the reader into staying- up until all hours to finish 
 it." — Philadelphia Despatch. 
 
 THE BOY WITH THE U. S. INDIANS 
 
 THIS book tells all about the Indian as he 
 really was and is; the Menominee in his 
 birch-bark canoe; the Iroquois in his wigwam in 
 the forest; the Sioux of the plains upon his war- 
 pony; the Apache, cruel and unyielding as his 
 arid desert; the Pueblo Indians, with remains of 
 ancient Spanish civilization lurking in the fast- 
 nesses of their massed communal dwellings; the 
 Tlingit of the Pacific Coast, with his totem-poles. 
 With a typical bright American youth as a central 
 figure, a good idea of a great field of national 
 activity is given, and made thrilling in its human 
 side by the heroism demanded by the little-known 
 adventures of those who do the work of *' Uncle 
 Sam." 
 
 ••An exceedingly interesting Indian story, because it is true, and not merely 
 a dramatic and picturesque incident of Indian life." — N. Y. Times. 
 
 •' It tells the Indian's story in a way that will fascinate the youngster."— 
 Rochester Herald. ^^^ 
 
 Por sale by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt 
 of price by the publishers 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.. BOSTON 
 
HEROES OF HISTORY SERIES 
 
 A NEWLY grouped collection of standard 
 favorites — the kind that never grow old. 
 In school and public libraries and intelligent 
 homes these books are recognized as outweigh- 
 ing any number of the trashy newer juveniles 
 so much in evidence, and for bright boys and 
 girls they hold a high interest. The pleasing 
 new covers, at the same low price, give them 
 a renewed welcome. 
 
 Twenty titles by unsurpassed writers 
 of history for the young : Towle, Headley, 
 Bogart, Watson, and Frost. 
 
 New cover design, \^th side titles. 
 Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents. 
 
 By GEORGE M. TOWLE 
 
 1. DRAKE; The Sea King of Devon. 
 
 2. MAGELLAN; First Around the World. 
 
 3. MARCO POLO; His Travels and Adventures. 
 
 4. PIZARRO; Hie Adventures and Conquests. 
 
 5. RALEGH; His Voyages and Adventures. 
 
 6. VASCO DA GAMA; His Voyages and Adventures. 
 
 7. HEROES AND MARTYRS OF INVENTION. 
 
 By P. C. HEADLEY 
 
 8. FACING THE ENEMY; Life of Gen. W. T. Sherman. 
 
 9. FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE; Life of Gen. U. S. Grant. 
 
 By W. H. BOGART 
 
 10. BORDER BOY; Life of Daniel Boone. 
 
 By HENRY C. WATSON 
 
 11. FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY; Life of Washington. 
 
 12. FRIEND OF WASHINGTON; Life of Lafayette. 
 
 13. GREAT PEACEMAKER; Life of William Penn. 
 
 14. POOR RICHARD'S STORY; Life of FrankUn. 
 
 By JOHN FROST 
 
 15. GREAT EXPOUNDER; Life of Daniel Webster. 
 
 16. LITTLE CORPORAL; Life of Napoleon. 
 
 17. OLD HICKORY; Life of Andrew Jackson. 
 
 18. OLD ROUGH AND READY; Life of Gen. Zachary Taylor. 
 
 19. MILL BOY OF THE SLASHES; Life of Henry Clay. 
 
 20. SWAMP FOX; Life of Gen. Francis Marion. 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 
 
Vear$ ifgo 
 
 By Harriet T; Odmstocb Large izma 
 
 Fioaasely illuSttalecl with full-page draw- 
 ings and chapter headings by George 
 Varian $i^ 
 
 r' wiU. at once be understood ''-at the 
 ** boy ** of the story is Alfred the Great 
 in his youth, but it cannot be undsrstood 
 how delightful a story this is until it is see^ 
 and read. The splendid pictures of George 
 Varian make this book superior among 
 juveniles. 
 
 •• Not a boy lives who will not enjoy this book thoroug-hly. There is a good 
 Sea! of first-class historical information woven into the story, but the best part of it 
 is the splendid impression of times and manners it gives in old Eagland a thousand 
 yeara 9.^0,** — Louisville Courier- Journal, 
 
 ** Mrs. Comstock writes very appreciatively of Little Alfred, who wis after, 
 ward the Great, and from mighty meagre materials creates a story thai hangs to. 
 either well. The illustrations for this Yoiume Are especially beautiful." — Boston 
 Home Journal, 
 
 De Story of Joan of Jirc boys m girls 
 
 By Kate B. Carpenter Illustrated by 
 \ Amy Brooks, also from paintings, and 
 . with map Large l2mo Cloth $1.00 
 
 THE favorite story of Joan of Arc is here 
 treated in a uniquely attractive way. 
 *• Aunt Kate '* tells the story of Joan of Arc 
 to Master Harold, aged li, and to Misses 
 Bessie and Marjorie, aged 10 and 8, respec- 
 tively, to their intense delight. They look 
 up places on the map, and have a fine time 
 while hearing the thrilling story, told in such 
 simple language that they can readily under- 
 stand it all. Parents and teachers mtII also 
 be greatly interested in this book from an 
 educational point of view. 
 
 •'The tale is well told and the children wiU delight la ft.**** Chica^ Post, 
 ♦•loldsosimply and clearly that young" readers cannot fail to be entertallMO 
 CBdizaatracted.**— Congregattonalistt Boston, 
 
 ..= -=— • 
 
 ?or sale by all booksellers or %dnt postpaid oa feceipt of price 
 by tb« pubhshers, 
 
 LOTHROP^'l.EB /H ^?iiF»PARD CO.. BOSTON 
 
Makers of England Series 
 
 By EVA MARCH TAPPAN. Ph.D. 
 
 y^R. TAPPAN'S historical works have 
 -'-^ already become classics for the young, 
 and well do they deserve it, with their enter- 
 taining descriptions, perfect English, and 
 historical value. Such books are the best 
 that can be placed in the hands of children ; 
 and the fact that while being instructive there 
 is never a dull line is the highest commeE- 
 dation that can be offered. 
 
 In the Days of Alfred the Great 
 
 Cloth Fully illustrated Price $1.00 
 
 In the Days of William the Conqueror 
 
 Cloth Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy Price $1.00 
 
 In the Days of Queen Elizabeth 
 
 Cloth Illustrated from famous paintings Price $I.OO 
 
 In the Days of Queen Victoria 
 
 Cloth Illustrated from paintings and photographs Price $I.OO 
 
 MISS TAPPAN reads her authorities 
 intelligently and selects her material 
 wisely, always having her young audience well 
 in mind. She has a clear idea of the require- 
 ments for interesting and stimulating young 
 readers, and arousing in them a desire for fur- 
 ther research. The entire series are admir- 
 ably adapted to this end, and are warmly 
 recommended to the attention of parents, 
 teachers, and librarians. — "^r^," Philadel- 
 phia, Pa. 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
CHILDREN OF OTHER LANDS SERIES 
 
 WHEN I WAS A BOY 
 IN JAPAN 
 
 By SAKAE SHIOYA Illustrated 
 
 from photographs 12mo 
 
 Cloth $.75 
 
 THE author came to America in 1901, 
 received the degree of Master of Arts at 
 the University of Chicago, and took a two 
 years' post graduate course at Yale before 
 returning to Japan. No one could be better 
 qualified to introduce the Japanese to those 
 in America, and he has done it in a way that 
 will delight both children and parents. 
 
 WHEN I WAS A GIRL IN ITALY 
 
 By MARIETTA AMBROSI 12nio Cloth Illustrated $.75 
 
 THE author was born in Tyrol, having an American-born mother of 
 Italian descent, and a Veronese father, and her entire girlhood was 
 spent in Brescia and other cities of Northern Italy. Her story gives a 
 most graphic account of the industries, social customs, dress, pleasures, 
 and religious observances of the Italian common people. 
 
 WHEN I WAS A BOY IN CHINA 
 
 By VAN PHOU LEE 12mo Cloth Illustrated 
 from photographs $.75 
 
 YAN PHOU LEE was one of the young men sent to this country to 
 be educated and matriculated at Yale, where he graduated with 
 honor. This book embodies his recollections of his native country. 
 
 WHEN I WAS A BOY IN GREECE 
 
 By GEORGE DfiMETRIOS Illustrated 12ino Cloth 
 Price, Net, $.60 Postpaid, $.68 
 
 A GRAPHIC account is given of the country and its customs, with the 
 home and school life, tasks and pleasures, of a real boy in a land 
 strange to us. Naturally, much is said of relations with the Turks, and 
 the book has peculiar importance from the Balkan War. The young 
 author was compelled to witness very thrilling scenes before coming to 
 this land of opportunity. 
 
 For tale by all booksellen or seat postpaid on receipt of 
 price by the pubiisliers 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 
 
JUVENILE BOOKS 
 
 By GEORQE CARY EQQLESTON 
 12nio Cloth Illustrated $1.50 each 
 
 JACK SHELBY 
 
 THE scene is laid in Clifty County, Ind., around 1840, and the 
 experiences of four brothers, who take it upon themselves to establish 
 a new home to which they may take their widowed mother and 
 their sisters, give a picture of pioneer life more faithful than any to be 
 obtained from historical work. Much hearty enjoyment is combined with 
 hard labor, and an exciting plot is furnished by the successful efforts of 
 the eldest brother, Jack Shelby, to rid that section of a gang of thieves. 
 
 LONG KNIVES 
 
 THIS is a graphic narrative of adventure, embodying the romantic won- 
 der story of George Rogers Clark's truly Napoleonic conquest of all 
 the region north of the Ohio for the struggling American republic, 
 during the Revolutionary War. The history of that wonderful campaign 
 is in itself a dramatic romance, and with the construction of a personal 
 story of intense human interest as a thread upon which to hang the 
 historical facts, Mr. Eggleston has given it a new and fascinating glamour. 
 
 w^^ 
 
 WHAT HAPPENED AT 
 QUASI 
 
 ' "/'~\UASI" is the name of a peninsula planta- 
 Vj^ tion on the coast of South Carolina, and 
 things happened there — many things. They not 
 only made most exciting times for four school 
 chums who were camping there after a glorious 
 cruise in a dory, but had a most important bear- 
 ing upon the fortune of the family of the two 
 Carolina brothers who had as their guests a boy 
 from New England and one from Virginia. 
 
 For Male by all booksellers, or sent postpaid oa receipt of 
 price by the publishers 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Boston