Chapter V: American Colonisation Schemes

Endowed with a rare combination of high qualities and capability, Sir Walter Raleigh may be pronounced one of the most distinguished men of the Elizabethan era. He approved himself a brave soldier, an intrepid sailor, and a thorough disciplinarian; in other directions he was a learned scholar, a profound philosopher, an eloquent orator, and an elegant courtier.

Raleigh’s family traced its lineage from before the Conquest, and Walter could claim descent from, and connection with, three of the best Devonshire houses--the Gilberts, the Carews, and the Champernouns. His father, Walter Raleigh the elder, was the second husband of Catherine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun of Modbury. By a former husband, Otto Gilbert, this lady had two sons, Humphrey and Adrian, destined to distinguish themselves as navigators and colonists, with whom Walter Raleigh was intimately associated in their enterprises.

Walter Raleigh was born, according to Camden, in 1552, at Hayes Barton, East Budleigh, a farmstead in Devonshire, pleasantly situated near the coast.

Information touching Raleigh’s education and the early part of his life is vague and meagre, few facts being on record concerning him prior to 1569, when, it is stated, he left Oxford, where he was first a resident at Christ Church, from which he removed to Oriel. It is supposed that he commenced at Oxford his acquaintance with Sir Philip Sydney, Hakluyt, and Camden.

Camden states, in his _Annales_, that Raleigh was one of a hundred gentlemen volunteers who proceeded to France with Henry Champernoun, Raleigh’s cousin, to the assistance of the Huguenots. The service of the English contingent appears to have commenced about the end of the year 1569. References are made by Raleigh in his _History of the World_ to the Huguenot troubles, and his own connection with them; amongst others, to the conduct of the Protestants at the battle of Jarnac, after the death of the Prince of Condé; and to the retreat at Moncontour, of which he was an eye-witness. It is conjectured that Raleigh spent about six years in France in active service.

It has been discovered by modern historians that in 1577 Raleigh was attached in some capacity to Queen Elizabeth’s court, and that he was also “of the Middle Temple,” but whether called to the Bar, or only lodging in the Temple, or “eating his terms,” is not certain. He had reached vigorous manhood, was twenty-five years of age, of cultivated mind, active temperament, enterprising and ambitious. He was familiar with the exploits of Hawkins and Drake, and was probably fired by the romance of the Spanish Indies. His half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had made several voyages to the Gulf of Mexico and the country afterwards called Virginia in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and it has been considered probable that on one or more occasions Walter was his companion. It is known that he was with Gilbert in an unfortunate expedition to the St. Lawrence in 1578. In the following year he was committed to the Fleet prison for a violent difference with another courtier. He was released after a short confinement, however, and in the same year was stopped when in the act of starting on a piratical expedition against Spain.

At the close of 1579 the Spanish Catholics invaded Ireland. The invading expedition, which came from Ferrol, first landed at Dingle, but not feeling so secure there as they desired, they sailed four miles farther west to Senerwick Bay, and built there the Fort del Ore, upon a sandy isthmus, from which the invaders thought they might easily, if pressed, escape to sea. The Earl of Desmond and the Geraldines coalesced with their foreign co-religionists, casting off their allegiance to Elizabeth. Raleigh was sent to take part with the force then in Ireland upholding the queen’s power, and to assist in exterminating the invaders.

Raleigh left London in January 1580, with one hundred foot soldiers. At the Isle of Wight they were transferred into ships of the queen’s fleet. On the 22nd February, Raleigh wrote from Cork to Lord Burghley, giving an account of his voyage. His arrival was welcome, and timely, to his friend Sir Warham Saint Leger, who was holding Cork with great difficulty, with an insufficient garrison of only forty Englishmen.

It does not appear that Raleigh entered at once upon active duty, as his pay only begins July 13, 1580; he probably served, however, irrespective of this circumstance. In August he was associated with Saint Leger, provost-marshal of Munster, in a commission to try the younger brother of the Earl of Desmond, whom they sentenced to be hung.

In August, Lord Grey of Wilton arrived in Dublin, to relieve Pelham of the chief command in Ireland. He had with him the afterwards famous poet, Edmund Spenser, as his secretary. Raleigh remained in Ireland, and thus were brought together two of the most gifted men of their time; they naturally, as they became known to each other, entered into a close friendship.

In the operations for the suppression of the rebellion that followed, Raleigh took an active and influential part, and was for a time practically governor of Munster. There was much hard work in the campaign, and considerable scope for dash and military capability, which Raleigh exhibited in a high degree, but there was little “glory” to be derived from skirmishes, raids, and forays, or from scouring the woods and ravines for hunted rebels, and it must have been a welcome relief to Raleigh when a summons from London, to which he returned in December 1581, put an end to his military service in Ireland. An established reputation for military prowess had preceded him.

Raleigh, as before stated, was attached in some capacity to the court in 1577, but had not then entered into personal relations, or become a favourite, with the queen, who reappointed him a captain to serve in Ireland, but decreed in connection with the appointment,--“That our pleasure is that the said [Irish] land be, in the meantime, till he [Raleigh] repair into that Our realm, delivered to some such as he shall depute to be his lieutenant there.” “For that he is, for some considerations, by Us excused to stay here.” The Duc d’Alençon, who had at this time come from France to woo the queen, was not very favourably spoken of by Her Majesty. He served probably as a foil to manly, handsome Raleigh, who was now about thirty years of age, and described as “having a good presence in a well-compacted person; a strong natural wit, and a better judgment; with a bold and plausible tongue, whereby he could set out his parts to the best advantage.” He was “about six feet in height, with dark hair and a high colour, a facial expression of great brightness, personable from the virile force of his figure, and illustrating these attractions by a splendid taste in dress. His clothes were at all times noticeably gorgeous; and to the end of his life his person was commonly bedizened with jewels to his very shoes.” The sprightly soldier-poet never lost his decided Devonshire accent, which his royal mistress liked rather than otherwise. For several years he basked in the almost perfectly unclouded sunshine of her smiles, and received openly many distinguishing marks of the queen’s favour. Old writers give some interesting illustrations of the little passages of wit and gallantry that marked their intercourse. On one occasion, it is related, when the queen, with Raleigh in attendance, had to alight from her carriage into a puddle,--roads were bad in those days,--the gay cavalier whipt off his dainty cloak of silk plush, and spread it out as a foot-cloth to protect her feet from the mud. The sacrifice of the cloak was highly appreciated, and proved to have been--although, perhaps, not so designed on Raleigh’s part--an excellent investment.

The personal intimacy and intercourse between the queen and Raleigh were as close as was permissible between a sovereign and a subject. Had the queen given the Duc d’Alençon half the encouragement she gave to Raleigh, his suit would have ended in a royal wedding. Sir Walter did not dare, probably, to make the queen an offer of his heart and hand, but he did not fail to give her an “inkling” concerning his feelings. On a pane in the window of her boudoir or other apartment, he wrote with his diamond ring--

“Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.”

His royal inamorata, holding probably that “there is much virtue in an ‘if,’” replied--

“If thy heart fail thee, then climb not at all.”

Raleigh did not go to Ireland to take over from his lieutenant command of the company of infantry of which he was the nominal commander, but had a confidential place by the queen’s side, and was her counsellor in divers weighty matters.

In 1583, Raleigh came into possession, through the queen’s favour, of the estates of Stolney and Newland, formerly possessions of All Souls’ College, Oxford. He was also favoured with letters patent for the “Farm of Wines,” afterwards one of the principal sources of his wealth. Under this grant each vintner throughout the kingdom had to pay twenty shillings a year for a licence to sell wines. The grant also included a share to Raleigh of fines accruing to the Crown, under previously existing wine statutes. From his wine trade emoluments Raleigh realised at one period about £2000 a year, equivalent to about £12,000 of our money. From certain causes the amount of his receipts from this source declined, and he afterwards resigned his patent to James I. for £1000 per annum.

Meantime, Raleigh’s half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had been making, at great cost, persevering attempts to establish a colony or colonies in North America, but unfortunately without success. Gilbert had obtained a charter for his colonisation project extending for six years from 1578. After repeated failures of his enterprises, particularly in 1579, he gave up, for a time at least, their further prosecution, and lent three of his ships to the Government for service on the coast of Ireland.

Raleigh had always befriended his courageous relative, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and now used all his court influence in his favour. His charter was about to expire. The queen was much importuned to renew it, and reluctantly did so, but refusing permission to her favourite, Raleigh, to take part personally in the enterprise. He expended, however, a large sum in aid of the fresh expedition to North America, which Sir Humphrey was resolved to undertake. One of the five ships that constituted the fleet--the _Ark Raleigh_--was built and fitted out entirely by Sir Walter, at a cost of £2000. The expedition sailed June 11th, 1583, and met with a series of disasters, including the death of its resolute and gallant commander. In this expedition Newfoundland was touched at, and taken possession of by Gilbert in the queen’s name.

Undismayed by Humphrey Gilbert’s repeated and disastrous failures, Raleigh continued to believe in the ultimate success of these American colonisation schemes, and he induced the queen to renew the charter, to which the parties were Raleigh himself, as chief; Adrian Gilbert, a younger brother of Sir Humphrey; and John Davis, a courageous and experienced navigator. These three were incorporated as representing “The College of the Fellowship for the Discovery of the North-West Passage.” Realisation of the queen’s dream, and desire after a shorter route _via_ the north-west to China, was the professed object of the adventurers, but Raleigh was careful to secure subsidiary material advantages, and the charter gave full powers to the adventurers to inhabit or retain, build or fortify, at Raleigh’s discretion, any remote lands that he might find hitherto unoccupied by any Christian power.

Raleigh was financier and managing director, but not the personal conductor of the next American expedition. In April 1584 a small fleet sailed for the West, under the command of Captains Amadas and Barlow. In May they passed the Canaries; in June they fell in with the Bahama Islands. While still far out at sea, delicate odours, sweet as those of “Araby the blest,” were wafted to them from Florida, at which they touched; thereafter sailing northwards, they landed at, and, in name of the queen, annexed the islands then called Roanoke and Wokoken, with the mainland adjacent. In honour of Queen Elizabeth, the newly-annexed country was named Virginia. An ancient writer pronounces the name appropriate, from the country having been discovered in the reign of the Virgin Queen, and also because the country seemed “to retain the virgin purity and plenty of the first creation, and the people their primitive innocence.” Early in 1585 Raleigh sent out a second expedition to Virginia under Sir Richard Grenville; others were afterwards sent, and, under Ralph Lane, settled for a time on Roanoke, but failed to succeed as settlers, or to justify the sanguine expectations of Raleigh, who was by this time very rich, and could well afford to carry out his costly colonisation hobby. He was also befriended by a success that befell his lieutenant, Sir Richard Grenville, who, in returning to England, fell in with a treasure-laden Spanish ship of an estimated value of £50,000, which he captured and brought safely into Plymouth.

In addition to his other rich privileges and possessions, the queen granted to Raleigh a liberty to export broadcloth. This fresh mark of royal favour was disapproved by Lord Burghley, who estimated the increase to Raleigh’s income from the woollen broadcloth trade at the equivalent of £18,000 of our present money. It is to be said for Sir Walter that his enormous wealth was not wasted in vice and debauchery, although personal ambition had probably a good deal to do in directing his expenditure. He probably aspired to the creation of a state in the West, with himself as its chief, that for riches, dignity, and power, would excel the possessions of Spain. His were not the views or aims of the mere grubber after lucre for its own sake, or for his own personal aggrandisement. He was not indifferent to any promise the newly-found region might give of pearls or precious metals, but was equally solicitous concerning its useful mineral, vegetable, and animal products, and he appointed Mr. Thomas Hariot, an able scientific and practical man, commissioner to collect trustworthy information.

At this time, 1584, Raleigh was very much in close attendance on the queen, at one or other of her palaces, at Greenwich or Windsor. His own residence was in the then rural village of Islington. The immense revenue derived from his wine and broadcloth businesses enabled him to indulge in such a scale of expenditure as could only be incurred by a merchant prince or other opulent personage. He leased from the queen, Durham House, situated on the river, in the locality now known as the Adelphi. This was a vast palace, occupied at one time by the bishops of Durham, and afterwards by Queen Elizabeth herself. This stately building was Raleigh’s town house from 1584 to 1603.

In the year 1584, or the year following, Raleigh was knighted, and advanced to various high dignities. He was appointed Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Vice-Admiral of Cornwall and Devon, and he entered Parliament, as one of the two members for Devonshire. He was no carpet knight or mere sinecurist, but to the utmost of his ability discharged faithfully the duties devolving upon him in these various offices, personally as far as possible, or by competent deputies. As Warden of the Stannaries he effected important reforms that greatly mitigated the hardships of the Cornish miners. His discrimination, judgment, and resolution fitted him admirably for judge, and director of administration of the affairs that came within his jurisdiction.

Raleigh’s Virginian colony came to an inglorious end in 1586, but he was successful in another less creditable enterprise. He had sent a small fleet for undisguised predatory purposes to the Azores, that did good business. Its commander captured and brought to England a Spanish noble, Don Pedro Sarmiento, a colonial governor. While his ransom was being collected, Raleigh entertained his illustrious guest in splendid style in his grand town house. In 1587, Raleigh took possession of vast estates in Ireland, assigned to his charge by the queen, as gentleman-undertaker; they were part of the escheated lands of the Earl of Esmond, and embraced forty-two thousand acres in the counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary. He did his best to re-people the desolate regions, and brought over many West of England farmers and farm labourers, but his energetic and well-meant efforts met with only partial success.

Up to this time, 1587, Raleigh had been first favourite with the queen, who had showered wealth and influence upon him. The queen had now, however, other flutterers around her in addition to Raleigh. In 1587 one appeared on the scene, who seemed likely to cut them all out. The queen had reached the mature age of fifty-four years; the young Earl of Essex, the new royal favourite, was only twenty. Essex hated “that knave Raleigh,” as he designated him, and did all he could to make mischief between the queen and her favourite.

Turning to affairs more worthy of Raleigh’s nature and powers, the public offices he held necessitated his frequent and rapid movements from one distant locality to another, and withdrew him from court connection and intrigues. His interest in his Virginian enterprise had never flagged. A third expedition he had despatched had proved disastrous; in May 1587 he sent out another, under Captain John White. Another still, under Sir Richard Grenville, that attempted to follow, was stopped by Government at Bideford. Undismayed and resolute, Raleigh sent out from Bideford, in April 1588, two pinnaces, with help to the unfortunate colonists. These fell into the hands of privateers, and returned to England stripped and helpless. Raleigh had up to this time used the most strenuous endeavours, and had spent a princely fortune, in his attempt to found an American colony, but he was unaided by court or other influence, and public affairs now required the application of his energies in another direction. The advent of the “invincible Spanish Armada” was at hand. Raleigh was one of the nine commissioners appointed to consider the best means of resisting the threatened invasion; two of his captains, Sir Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, were also on the commission, which implies that Sir Walter was an important factor in determining the most important national affairs. In anticipation of the arrival of the Armada he made all necessary preparations for defence, and for assistance in attack, in relation to the counties under his charge, as vice-admiral. He also directed preparations to resist invasion on the east coast--notably at Norfolk. In resistance of the Armada, and assistance in its pursuit and destruction, Raleigh took a prominent part. His ship was amongst those that chased the distressed Spanish galleons northwards. In proof that he had rendered important service in connection with the memorable events, it may be mentioned that on September 5th, 1588, to Raleigh and Drake were consigned equal numbers of wealthy Spanish prisoners, whose ransoms were to be the reward of the achievements of these commanders. Raleigh so distinguished himself in the actions with the Armada by his skill in naval tactics, and his genius for rapid action, as to excite the admiration of Lord Howard, High Admiral, who ever after treated him as a recognised authority in important naval affairs.

In 1589, Raleigh leased his patent rights, title, and interest in the Virginia Colony to a company of merchants, reserving only a royalty upon gold and silver ore that might be raised in the colony. It is not recorded that he ever received profit from this reservation, or from his costly efforts to colonise Virginia, extending over thirteen years. In the settlement of America by Europeans he was the unpaid pioneer. After the defeat of the Armada, Raleigh continued actively occupied in the direction of important schemes in Devonshire, Cornwall, Ireland, and other parts of the kingdom, and was interested also in some privateering enterprises for which the King of Spain--“the natural enemy of England”--and the Armada were convenient covering and excuse. Raleigh’s rovers were not particular as to nationality of vessels attacked; they sacked the English ship _Angel Gabriel_ of a cargo of wine, and took sack and sugar and mace from other vessels, without assurance that these were only reprisals against the Spaniards.

In 1589, Raleigh was associated with Sir Francis Drake in an expedition to restore Dom Antonio to the throne of Portugal, from which he had been ousted by Philip of Spain. Raleigh proceeded with the force up to the walls of Lisbon. The object of the expedition was not achieved, but a good deal of plunder was secured in its course,--Raleigh’s share amounting to £4000. Some of the ships engaged were Raleigh’s own property, amongst them the afterwards famous _Revenge_, the _Crane_, and the _Garland_. These ships were employed as merchantmen or men-of-war, as circumstances might require or interest suggest. The sort of public service they rendered, led to the exploits of their owners and crews being judged with a considerable degree of indulgence by the national authorities, who sometimes overlooked acts of piracy, and in some instances appropriated the proceeds. Raleigh’s men were on this occasion so rash and inconsiderate as to capture two French barques, which brought a sharp reprimand upon Sir Walter, because France and England were at that time at peace with each other. In some cases the cargo of the privateers was “taken over” wholesale by the authorities.

The Earl of Essex, as a courtier and an admirer, had a great advantage over Raleigh, thus so much out of the queen’s sight,--and he made the most of it to his rival’s disadvantage. In August 1589, a contemporary writes, “My Lord of Essex hath chased Mr. Raleigh from the court, and hath confined him to Ireland”; but Raleigh contradicted the rumour of his disgrace. However this may have been, he proceeded to Ireland in 1589, and resided in his own house at Youghal,--his most intimate friends and neighbours there being his cousin, Sir George Carew, who lived at Lismore, and the poet, Edmund Spenser, who had been rewarded for his services, as Clerk of the Council of Munster, with a gift of a manor and ruined castle, Kilcolman, formerly the property of the rebel Desmonds. With Spenser, Raleigh had much close, pleasant, sympathetic intercourse. Much of Spenser’s admirable poetical work was done during his comparative seclusion at Kilcolman, and there Raleigh also, perturbed though his life had been, and unfavourable to cultivation of the muses, exercised his extraordinary literary powers. Spenser had nearly completed his great poem, _The Faery Queen_, the MS. of which was read by Raleigh, who in turn submitted to the friendly criticism of Spenser his _Lamentable Lay_, a eulogy on Queen Elizabeth, under the name of Cynthia. Mr. Edmund Gosse, as a result of the most searching inquiry into the circumstances and evidence, touching the intercourse between Raleigh and Spenser at this time, says that the evidence is conclusive that Raleigh had then written a poem or poems which Spenser “set on a level with the best works of the age, in verse.”

But Raleigh was an energetic man of business as well as a poet, a man of action more than of dreams, and, during his residence in Ireland, he did much in various ways to promote the material prosperity of the people. He defended the rights of the merchants of Waterford and Wexford, and encouraged their export trade in barrel staves by putting two of his own ships to a regular service between Waterford and the Canaries. Traces of his beneficent work in Munster still remain. Sir John Pope Hennessy says:--

“The richly perfumed wallflowers that he brought to Ireland from the Azores, and the Affane cherry, are still found where he first planted them by the Blackwater. Some cedars he brought to Cork are to this day growing at a place called Tivoli. He also introduced a number of plants, before unknown in England,--among others, the potato, which has had such an influence--for good or evil--on the destinies of Ireland and many other countries,--and the tobacco plant, which was not much approved by the queen, and which he had to use very privately. The four venerable yew-trees, whose branches have grown and intermingled into a sort of summer-house thatch, are pointed out as having sheltered Raleigh, when he first smoked tobacco in his Youghal garden. In that garden he also planted tobacco.... A few steps farther on, where the town-wall of the thirteenth century bounds the walls of the gardens of the Warden’s house, is the famous spot where the first Irish potato was planted by him. In that garden he gave the tubers to the ancestor of the present Lord Southwell, by whom they were spread throughout the province of Munster.”

Such were some of the precious gifts brought by Raleigh’s wisely-instructed and zealous agents from across the Atlantic, and conferred by the enlightened patriot upon his country--boons of infinitely greater value than the plate and pearls of which the Spaniards were deprived by the early English rovers.

About the end of 1589 Raleigh returned to England, taking Spenser with him, whom he introduced to the queen, and he was instrumental in obtaining for him, as the first poet-laureate, a pension of £50 a year. Spenser’s _Faery Queen_ was published by royal command.

“The supplementary letter and sonnets to Raleigh express Spenser’s generous recognition of the services his friend had performed for him, and appeal to Raleigh, as ‘the Summer Nightingale, thy sovereign goddess’s most dear delight,’ not to delay in publishing his own great poem, the _Cynthia_. The first of the eulogistic pieces prefixed by friends to the _Faery Queen_ was that noble and justly celebrated sonnet signed W. R., which alone would justify Raleigh in taking a place among the English poets.”--_Gosse_, p. 49.

In 1591, Raleigh’s first published work appeared, being an account of the battle of the Azores, between the _Revenge_ and an armada of the King of Spain. Raleigh sets forth enthusiastically the valour of his gallant and faithful friend, Sir Richard Grenville, as displayed in this contest, one of the most famous in English history, in which Grenville, with one ship containing one hundred men, stood to his guns against a fleet manned by fifteen thousand Spaniards. He ably vindicated Grenville’s conduct, and following historians are agreed that this action was “memorable even beyond credit, and to the height of some heroical fable.” This report has been highly praised by competent critics as attaining the highest level reached by English narrative prose up to the period at which it was written.

About this time, 1591, Raleigh received another valuable gift from the queen, in a long lease of Sherborne, an estate in Dorsetshire, formerly the possession of the dean and chapter of Salisbury. This was, for the future, Raleigh’s favourite country residence.

An expedition was planned at this time that seemed to promise additional wealth and honours to Raleigh. Its objects were to capture the rich fleet of Indian plate-ships, and to take possession of the pearl fisheries of Panama, or to rifle the pearl treasuries. The queen sanctioned and aided the project, and Raleigh threw his whole fortune into it. He was to be admiral of the fleet of fifteen sail, and the chief adventurer, with Sir Martin Frobisher as second in command. The fleet was ready for sea in February 1592, but when the time for sailing arrived, the capricious queen could not, or would not, part with Raleigh, and the fleet sailed under the command of Sir John Burrough.

The courtship of Raleigh and Miss Elizabeth Throgmorton, afterwards Lady Raleigh, a maid of honour of the queen, greatly exasperated his royal mistress, and he was banished for four years from the queen’s presence.

The privateering expedition before referred to, in which Raleigh was so largely interested, proceeded to the Azores. The queen had contributed two ships and £1800, and the citizens of London had given £6000 in aid, but Raleigh retained by much the largest share. Sir John Burrough divided his fleet, and left Frobisher with part of it on the coast of Spain; with his own portion of the fleet he proceeded to the supposed track of the expected richly-laden carracks, to await their coming. The victims came as expected, and fell an easy prey to the spoilers. The _Madre de Dios_, the largest of the treasure-laden carracks, carried what was unprecedented in those days, the enormous cargo of 1800 tons, valued at £500,000. The cargo included rubies, pearls, ambergris, frankincense, ebony, sandalwood, cypress, ivory, carpets, silks, sarsenets, cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, and stores of the most costly productions of India. The unwieldy carrack offered a feeble resistance to Raleigh’s more nimble and mischievous craft, the _Roebuck_, which speedily overcame her. There had been considerable leakage in the valuable cargo, which had been freely tapped at every port called at, and before Sir John Burrough could get on board to take personal command, his sailors had made the best possible use of their opportunity to do a little privateering, each man for his own hand. Even after these deductions, the _Madre de Dios_ was a prize of great value. It was, after many trials and troubles from wind and weather, and narrow escapes from foundering, safely brought into Dartmouth on the 2nd September, being, as it happened, the queen’s birthday.

At this time Raleigh was a prisoner in the Tower, whither he had been sent by the queen for his misconduct. The arrival of the _Madre de Dios_ with such a store of plunder, awoke greed of gain in all directions, and caused excitement and disorder that baffled the authorities.

Sir Robert Cecil, writing from Exeter, 19th September, reports that “for seven miles everybody met on the London road smells of musk or spice, and you could not open a private bag that had not seed pearls in it”; he declares that “there never was such rich spoil.” Lord Burleigh sent down Raleigh, in charge of a keeper, to look after his property--if the term can be applied to plunder--and to restore order. The disgraced favourite received quite an ovation: “His poor servants, to the number of one hundred and forty goodly men, and all the mariners, met him with shouts and joy.” Raleigh was greatly enraged to find so much of the treasure devoured and dispersed. The residue of the property was disposed of, according to the report of a commission of inquiry, which included Sir Francis Drake, Sir Robert Cecil, and four other persons.

From the settlement of the affairs of the _Madre de Dios_ at the close of 1592, Raleigh was occupied with his own business concerns and the discharge of various official duties; amongst others, with the exercise of his judgment and authority, in attempting settlement of the quarrels between English and French fishermen on the south coast, that were rife then, and have continued intermittently, even until this day. He was now about forty years of age, and although his health had suffered from his imprisonment, he was at about the zenith of his vigorous life. He was now married to a well-born lady, worthy of his affection and esteem; he was possessed of a fair competence in wealth and property, the wearer of high honours,--amongst others Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Admiral of Devon and Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries. With these possessions and dignities an ordinary man would have been content to settle down as a provincial magnate, but they did not suffice for a man of Raleigh’s active and sanguine temperament, his enterprising and ambitious nature. His life up to this point had been enlivened by many and important stirring adventures and projects, that had elevated him in position and influence, and made him famous. He had proved himself alert, valorous, and capable alike as a soldier and as a naval commander, and in the last-named capacity had rendered brilliant service in connection with the defeat of the Spanish Armada. As a pioneer colonist and a privateer, he had organised spirited and costly projects, but had been prevented by circumstances from personally conducting his enterprises. The desire to command personally in the expeditions that had been successively fitted at his cost, and that were conducted under his orders and directions, had always been alive in his mind,--and now, as it would seem, the time had arrived for him to realise his cherished dream. He hated the Spaniard as thoroughly as Sir Francis Drake did, and had in common with that redoubtable sea-dog the ruling passion and strong desire to shatter the Spaniard’s power, and to appropriate the Spaniard’s treasure. He was in possession, it may be supposed, of all the information existing and accessible concerning Spanish discoveries and possessions in the West Indies and South America, and touching the mineral wealth and other resources of the settlements and resorts of the Spanish and other adventurers in these quarters. Raleigh had probably by this time had enough of court life and intrigues; he had the strong desire, “with God’s blessing, and the queen’s permission, to sail into the sunset, and conquer for England as much as he may of the fabled golden lands and cities of the West.”

Early in 1594, Captain George Popham, a sea rover, sailing in one of Raleigh’s vessels, made a prize at sea of a ship with letters to the King of Spain, announcing that De Berreo, Governor of Trinidad, had annexed Guiana to the Spanish dominions, under the name of the New El Dorado. The despatches contained interesting particulars respecting the country and its inhabitants. The documents were delivered to Raleigh, in whom they excited lively interest, and they stimulated him to prompt energetic action, which resulted in his sailing from Plymouth, bound “Westward ho,” on the 2nd January 1595, with a squadron of five ships, and an equipment of small craft for river navigation. On the voyage out, two ships were captured, from one of which, laden with wine, the ships of the expedition were stocked. In March they arrived off Trinidad, the southern and western coasts of which were surveyed by Raleigh in a boat,--the ships lying at anchor in the channel known as the Serpent’s Mouth. In his _History of the World_, Raleigh describes some of the natural curiosities he met with at Trinidad, including oysters hanging to the branches of mangrove trees, and a curious liquid pitch, a peculiar product of the island. At the first settlement touched--the Port of Spain--some trading was done with the settlers, and Raleigh endeavoured to worm out any information he could obtain concerning Guiana, stating, with loose regard for veracity, that he was on his way to Virginia, and that his inquiries were prompted by mere curiosity. Very little information they did give him. This much he found out, that De Berreo, the governor, had sent for reinforcements, in anticipation of Raleigh’s arrival. Some of the Indians came on board secretly, and gave harrowing accounts of the horrible cruelties practised upon them by the Spaniards. Raleigh at once marched a part of his force inland to St. Joseph, the capital of the island, which they took by storm, with De Berreo in it. The reports of the Indians as to the hideous cruelty of the governor were fully confirmed. It was a pastime with him to baste the naked bodies of the Indians with boiling fat. Five poor scorched chieftains were found in irons, and near the point of death. They were released, and the town was burned.

Raleigh spared De Berreo, in the hope possibly that he might be useful to him, but De Berreo did his best to bamboozle his captor. The larger vessels of the expedition were left at anchor in the Gulf of Paria, and with a galley, a barge, two wherries, and a ship’s boat carrying a hundred men, with a stock of provisions, Raleigh entered the Orinoco, the flotilla encountering at many points, and in divers ways, formidable difficulties and obstacles in the navigation. Raleigh thus describes the most painful and unpleasant voyage of four hundred miles:--

“We were all driven to lie in the rain and weather in the open air,
in the burning sun, and upon the hard boards, and to dress our meat
and to carry all manner of furniture, wherewith the boats were so
pestered and unsavoury, that what with victuals being most fish,
and the wet clothes of so many men thrust together, and the heat
of the sun, I will undertake there was never any prison in England
that could be found more unsavoury and loathsome, especially to
myself, who had for many years before been dieted and cared for in
a sort far different.”

The provisions ran short, and hunger, added to other hardships, induced a mutinous spirit, repression of which severely taxed Raleigh’s oratorical powers. At length they approached the inner reach of the vast flat delta, with its mud banks and brackish water. They next came to banks, on which wholesome fruits were found. In the purer water they caught edible fresh fish. The abundance and variety of birds and the brilliancy of the plumage of many of them, excited wonder and admiration. Deer came feeding down to the water’s edge; the alligators, with which the river swarmed, were less pleasant objects of contemplation. A handsome young Indian, who leaped into the water from the galley was seized and devoured by these monsters, immediately he touched its surface. Four canoes laden with excellent bread were met with in the river. The Indians to whom they belonged deserted them on the approach of the strangers.

On the fifteenth day, far-off mountain peaks gladdened the sight of the voyagers. On the evening of the same day the flotilla anchored in the main stream of the great river, at a point a little to the east of San Rafael de Barrancas. Here a welcome change of fare was met with. The eggs of fresh-water turtles were found in vast numbers on the sandy islands. The mountain chains to the south, in the direction of Essiquibo, now assumed defined forms, and furnished a grand feature in the splendid panorama. Parties of the native Indians were met with ashore, who entertained the adventurers hospitably with provisions and the “wine” of the country, of which Raleigh’s captains partook with “strict moderation,” yet in sufficient quantity to make them, as their leader has it, “reasonable pleasant.” Raleigh had an elastic moral code; he was far from being straitlaced or squeamish with regard to either honesty or veracity when he had his own purpose to promote. He did not hesitate to tap the cargo of an alien, or even an English trader, for a gratuitous supply to his wine-cellar; if the governor was fool enough to swallow the tale, he did not scruple to tell it, that he had found Trinidad on his way from England to Virginia. Whatever laxity in morals he may have shown in other directions, it must be said to his credit that he was the chivalrous protector of women; his men were given to understand, and they well knew that the penalty would be inflicted if incurred, that death would be the punishment for violence towards an Indian matron or maiden.

Geography was not a strong point with Raleigh and the adventurers. It is scarcely possible for us to measure or appreciate the difference between the state of geographical knowledge then and now, between their dubious scraps and our full and accurate knowledge,--the contrast between their darkness and our light. So crude were their geographical notions, that it has been said of the explorers that they believed that if they could only sail far enough up the Orinoco, they would emerge into the Pacific on the western coast of South America! They traversed about three degrees of west longitude, through a region until then entirely unknown to Europeans, except Spaniards, who had already planted settlements here and there, at vast distances apart. Raleigh’s party passed one of these, but possibly ignored its existence, his majestic idea being to annex the entire territory in the name of the Queen of England. His intercourse with the Indians was everywhere friendly and pacific, and he was assiduous in impressing them with the danger and disadvantage that would result from their having anything to do with the Spaniards otherwise than by driving them out of the country; he strongly recommended England as a safe and benign protector.

On the banks of the Orinoco, Raleigh and his company feasted on pine-apples and other luscious fruits, and made acquaintance with the armadillo and many other strange creatures. At the junction of the Caroni, a southern tributary, with the Orinoco, Raleigh left the main stream, and ascended the branch to the great cataract which stopped his further progress. Raleigh’s description of the great cataract and the adjoining country may be given as a fair specimen of his literary style:--

“When we ran to the tops of the first hills of the plains adjoining to the river, we beheld the wonderful breach of the waters which 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 over 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 the first for a smoke that had risen over some great town. For mine own part I was well persuaded from thence to have returned, being a very ill footman, but the rest were so desirous to go near the said strange thunder of waters, that they drew me on, little by little, till we came into the next valley, where we might better discern the same. I never saw a more beautiful country, nor more lively prospects; hills so raised here and there over the valleys, the river winding into divers branches, the plains adjoining without bush or stubble, all fair green grass, the ground of hard sand, easy to march on, either for horse or foot; the deer crossing in every path, the birds towards the evening singing on every tree, with a thousand several 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 that we stopped to take up promised either gold or silver by his complexion.”

The expedition was not equipped with geologists’ hammers or prospecting tools, but they nevertheless collected, and Sir Walter brought home, a number of specimens, that he thought auriferous quartz richly charged with gold. The white quartz brought home did contain gold, but in such infinitesimal proportion as not to be worth extracting.

The friendly Indians, with whom Sir Walter had much familiar intercourse, finding that he “with greedy ear devoured up their discourse,” entertained him with many wondrous recitals--of pronounced Munchausen flavour--concerning the gold and gems with which the country abounded, and of the wonders in anthropology and natural history that he would meet with, if he went a little farther on. These included tribes of Indians away west, whose eyes were on their shoulders, and their mouths below where their necks should be. In another direction he would meet with men with heads of the form and fit-on of dogs, who spent the day in the sea, and who spoke the Caril language. Sir Walter, to do him justice, does not state that he saw or heard of any of these marvels, except by report at second-hand. It should be remembered, too, that the recitals, reaching Raleigh through interpreters, probably very indifferently qualified, exposed them to the risk of distortion and misapprehension, and conduced to exaggeration rather than accuracy.

The great cataract on the Caroni was the farthest point reached by Raleigh in this exploration. He and his party had now been away from the fleet for about a month. He gave up the hope of reaching Manoa; and the terrific violence of the tropical rains, the sudden floods to which the rivers were subject, and the general aspect of affairs, admonished him to return to the ships with the utmost possible speed. They were carried down at a tremendous pace, without need to use sail or oar. At Morequito, Raleigh had a grave, private conference with an ancient chief, Topiawari. Raleigh solemnly denounced Spain as the enemy and England as the friend of Guiana, and entered into an alliance with him, offensive and defensive, Topiawari to become the ally of England, which would in turn aid him against certain Indians who had given the chief grounds for complaint. The old chief and his people heartily assented, and urged Raleigh to proceed farther inland, if not to Manoa, to a rich city, Macureguari, about four days’ journey distant, where they would find many “statues of gold.” The prospect was tempting, but the adventurers had been, and were, suffering severe privations, and Raleigh determined to hasten back. He exchanged hostages with the chief, engaging to return next year; he took with him the chiefs son, and left with the chief Goodwin, who learned the Indian language, and was found by Raleigh, on his revisiting the country many years later, when Goodwin had almost forgotten the English language.

In the course of their descent of the Orinoco, the adventurers visited a lake where they met with the curious creature, the manatee, or sea-cow. On an island in the Orinoco they had a feast, at which armadillo meat was the principal dainty. After encountering much violent weather in rain-floods, thunder-storms, and intermittent cold winds, they reached the sea. Notwithstanding bad water, scanty food, and weather hardships, only one life was lost in the course of the voyage, that of the young Indian who was devoured by the alligator.

During Raleigh’s absence, his fleet, under the command of Captain Amyas Preston, was active in spoiling the Spaniards, sacking and burning all the towns he could get at, in Venezuela. They were able to do much mischief, but to collect very little plunder. The visits of English captains had waked up the inhabitants to the propriety of preparing for their coming; they hid their most precious portable possessions away among the hills inland, or shipped them off to Spain for safety with the least possible delay. Among other towns devastated was Cumana, concerning which Captain Amyas Preston felt provoked to make the peevish complaint that he “found not the value of a single real of plate.”

Having accomplished all that his resources and circumstances made possible, and prepared the way for future operations, Raleigh brought back his little fleet to England in the autumn of 1595, making a quiet entrance into port,--Dartmouth or Falmouth,--that was in strong contrast with the pomp and circumstance, and noisy enthusiasm, that distinguished the return of Sir Francis Drake from his famous voyage. Raleigh’s spirited achievements do not seem to have been appreciated. He had, as he thought, returned bringing a gift to his queen of a rich empire that would assure his restoration to favour, but he was met with cold neglect, and left in doubt as to whether his report concerning Guiana was to be accepted as a true history or passed by as an idle tale. At this stage of his career he gave conclusive evidence of the diversity of his gifts, the wide range of his capability, his restless activity, and indomitable perseverance. He had distinguished himself as a practical navigator and commander, and as an explorer of regions before unknown. As a diplomatist he had established satisfactory relations with foreign potentates--albeit uncivilised--as allies; he had carried out with safety and success a perilous expedition, and had laid a good foundation for future operations. He had full confidence in his own ability to prosecute these operations successfully, and felt certain that evil and failure would result from his being supplanted, as he seemed to have reason to fear. Of himself and the Guiana chiefs he says: “I rather sought to win the kings than to sack them; I know what others will do when these kings come singly into their hands.”

No author of reputation, probably, who has written works which the world will not willingly let die,--works which have not died,--has done his literary work under greater disadvantages than Raleigh, or has enjoyed so little of the tranquillity of retirement, favourable to literary pursuits. It would appear from the date of publication, the end of the year 1595, that he must have been engaged in writing a book that became famous, while his expedition was actually in progress. In November he submitted a manuscript account of his Guiana voyage and travels, illustrated with a map, to Sir Robert Cecil. In a letter which accompanied it, he expresses his disappointment and surprise at the rejection of such a prize, as was never before offered to a Christian prince. In magnifying the value and importance of the acquisition within reach, he draws freely upon his imagination, and declares that the golden statues with which the city of Manoa abounds--which he has not seen--are worth at least £100,000 each! He urges that, whatever may be done about Guiana, or whoever may be sent to do it, the enterprise may not be soiled by cruelty, and plunder of the Indians. At the close of 1595 his work was published under the somewhat ponderous title, _The Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a Relation of the Great and Golden City of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado, and of the provinces of Emeria, Arromaia, Amapaia, and other countries, with their Rivers adjoining_. The book became famous throughout Europe. Two editions were published in England in 1596, and a Latin translation in Germany. Raleigh’s literary contemporaries at this period included such illustrious men as Shakespeare, Bacon, Hooker, and Marlowe. His book on Guiana is admitted to occupy the foremost place among the volumes describing voyages and discoveries, that appeared towards the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, and has been republished in Hakluyt’s _Voyages_ and Purchas’s _Pilgrim_.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH,

SAILOR, SCHOLAR, POET.