duced to an inconsiderable number, and Ralegh appears no more in the wars of Ireland.

с

Holinshed, Ireland, p. 175 and 176, and Leland. In the report which he afterward wrote of Sir Richard Grenville's engagement at the Azores, Ralegh makes the following remarks on the Desmonds. The earl being one of the greatest subjects in that kingdom of Ireland, having almost whole countries in his possession, so many goodly manors, castles, and lordships, the count palatine of Kerry, 500 gentlemen of his own name and family to follow him, beside others, (all which he possessed in peace for 300 or 400 years) was in less than three years after his adhering to the Spaniards and rebellion, beaten from all his holds, not so many as ten gentlemen of his name left living, himself taken, and beheaded by a soldier of his own nation, and his land given by a parliament to her Majesty, and possessed by the English.Sir John of Desmond taken by Mr. John Zouch, and his body hanged over the gates of his native city to be devoured by ravens ; the third brother, Sir James, hanged, drawn, and quartered in the same place. See Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. II, part ii, p, 174, folio, 1509.

CHAPTER II.

Ralegh's introduction at court....He attends Simier to France, and the duke of Anjou to Antwerp....His quarrel with Lord Grey....His second adventure with Gilbert....Obtains letters patent for discoveries.... First voyage to Virginia... - Virginia named... ---Ralegħ in parliament ----Knighted- - - - His patent for wine licences....North-west passage....Second voyage to Virginia....Ralegh's estate in Ireland....Occurrences in Virginia....Third voyage thither....Introduction of tobacco into England....Ralegh appointed seneschall of Cornwall and Exeter and warden of the stannaries. ....Leicester in Holland. ---Ralegh's letter to him--. Leicester's jealousy....Voyages to the South sea and Azores....Ralegh appointed captain of the guard, and lieutenant-general of Cornwall....Fourth voyage to Virginia....Joins the fleet against the armada.... New honours and preferments ----Assigns over his colony.

His services in Ireland were of themselves sufficient to recommend Ralegh to the favour of Queen Elizabeth. But tradition has related an incident, which, however romantic it may appear, has been seriously recorded by grave and approved authors," and which ascribes to his gallantry his first introduction to his

Fuller's Worthies, Devon, &c.

queen

sovereign. The
in her walks met one day,
it is said, with a dirty spot in the road, which made
her hesitate about proceeding. Our gallant young
soldier, whose person was handsome and his address
graceful, threw off his new plush mantle, and spread
it for her Majesty, who trod over the fair carpet,
surprised and pleased at the adventure.

d

The queen admitted him to her court, and he was employed in 1582, first to attend Simier, the artful 1582. agent of the duke of Anjou, her proposed husband, on his return into France; and afterward to escort the duke himself to Antwerp, after the final breaking-off of this intended alliance. In Leicester's Commonwealth, a tract to which Camden has given great credit, we read, that in revenge for Simier's discovery to the queen of Leicester's secret marriage with the widow of Essex, the earl's revenge went so far as to lead him to employ pirates to sink the ambassador at sea; and the author writes, though they missed of this practice (as not daring to set upon

The use of coaches was first introduced by the earl of Arundel shortly after this time, (Anderson I, 421.) Till then, on public occasions, the queen rode behind her chamberlain.

Less credible is Fuller's other story, that Ralegh coming to court, and finding hope of the queen's favour, wrote in a conspicuous place,

Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall:

under which her Majesty wrote,

If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all.

Quarto, 1641, p. 37.

him for fear of some of her Majesty's ships, who, to break-off this designment, attended by special commandment to waft him over in safety), yet the aforesaid English gentlemen were holden four hours in chase at their coming back, as Mr. Ralegh well knoweth, being then present; and two of the chasers named Clark and Harris confessed afterward the whole designment.

When the duke himself left this kingdom, the queen attended him in person as far as Dover, and a splendid retinue of nobles and gentlemen, among whom was Ralegh, waited upon him to Antwerp. Ralegh appears to have made a longer stay there than Howard, Leicester, young Sidney, and others of the retinue; and from the opportunity which he had of becoming personally acquainted with the prince of Orange, to have been honoured by him with some especial commands to Queen Elizabeth. In an essay written by him many years afterward, he ascribes the flourishing state of the Hollanders to the favour and assistance of our crown, which, he writes, the late worthy and famous prince of Orange did alway acknowledge. And in the year 1582, when I took my leave of him at Antwerp, after the return of the earl of Leicester into England, and monsieur's arrival there, when he delivered me his letters to her Majesty, he prayed me to say to the queen from him, Sub umbra alarum tuarum protegimur, for certainly they had withered

in the bud, and sank in the beginning of their navigation, had not her Majesty assisted them.

During the Munster rebellion, a disagreement of some consequence had taken place between Lord Grey and Ralegh. In August, 1582, that nobleman resigned the sword of Ireland; and it was probably soon afterward, that the matter alluded to was brought to a hearing in this country. A crowd of. later writers, vainly attempting to excel the more genuine authority of Sir Robert Naunton, and taking principally conjecture for their guide, have attributed the origin of this dispute to various causes. Some have repeated the preference given to Captain Zouch in the government of Munster; while others have ascribed to Ralegh a too eager pursuit of honour unaccompanied by strict obedience to military command. It is, however, vain for us to attempt to find the true cause, when Naunton himself was ignorant of it, whose words on the occasion are,-I am somewhat confident, that among the second causes of his growth, was the variance between him and My Lord General Gray, in his second descent into Ireland, which drew them both over to the council-table,

e Discourse of the invention of ships, anchors, compass, &c. See Birch's works of Ralegh, 80, 1751, II, 87.

g

[ See end of chap. I.

Oldys, in his life of Ralegh, p. 11, justly censures Naunton.. for an error, in ascribing to Ralegh two expeditions into Ireland, in the early part of his life. The first of these Sir Robert places before the expedition to the Netherlands, and, what is surprising, appears ignorant of Ralegh's long service in France.