there to plead their own causes where what advantage he had in the case in controversy I know not, but he had much the better in the manner of telling his tale; insomuch as the queen and the lords took no slight mark of the man and his parts, for from thence he came to be known, and to have access to the lords; and then we are not to doubt how such a man would comply to progression. And whether or no My Lord of Leicester had then cast in a good word for him to the queen, which would have done him no harm, I do not determine; but true it is he had gotten the queen's ear in a trice, and she began to be taken with his election, and loved to hear his reasons to her demands. And the truth is, she took him for a kind of oracle, which nettled them all; yea those that he relied on, began to take this his sudden favour for an alarm, and to be sensible of their own supplantation, and to project his; which made him shortly after sing,

'Fortune, my foe, why dost thou frown.”

To this may be added, that the probability of Leicester's instrumentality in the advancement of Ralegh, appears to be strengthened by the letter from the latter to that powerful favourite, quoted in the preceding chapter.

But the inactive life of a courtier was ill-adapted to the enterprising spirit of Ralegh. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's patent, already mentioned in chap. i, was dated June 11th, 1578, and allowed him six years

from that day for taking possession of the territories which he designed to colonize. His fruitless attempt in 1579, has already been noticed. The great preparations he then made, and the miscarriage of the expedition, had so impaired his fortune, that he was for a time obliged to lay aside the project. He then granted assignments from his general grant to some persons of property, for planting and fortifying about the river Canada; but his assigns proving likewise dilatory, he now once more undertook a voyage in person to Newfoundland to keep his patent in force. It was probably with a view that it should accompany his brother, that Ralegh had built a vessel of 200 tons burthen, which he called Bark-Ralegh At any rate he determined to hold a share in the expedition, though not in person; and accordingly fitted out this bark at his own expence. Sir Humphrey, by the assistance of Sir George Peckham and others, collected four more vessels. The interest which the queen took in his welfare and success, is described in the following letter to him from Ralegh.

'BROTHER, I have sent you a token from her Majesty, an anchor guided by a lady as you see. And farther, her highness willed me to send you word, that she wished you as great good hap and safety to your ship, as if herself were there in person, desiring you to have care of yourself as of that which she tendereth; and therefore, for her sake,

you must provide for it accordingly. Farther she commandeth, that you leave your picture with me. For the rest, I leave till our meeting, or to the re

port of this bearer, who
senger of this good news.

will and protection of God,

would needs be the mes

So I commit

So I commit you to the

who send us such life

or death as he shall please, or hath appointed!
Richmond, this Friday morning,

Your true brother,

W. RALEGH."

To my brother,

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Kt.'

The little fleet was equipped with 260 men, including shipwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, refiners, and musicians. It sailed from Plymouth on 1583. the 11th of June, 1583; and at midnight on the 13th following, Bark-Ralegh, fortunately for her owner, was obliged to part company with the fleet on account of a contagious disease among the crew, and she returned to Plymouth in great distress.*

i The indorsement informs us, that this letter was received March 18th, 158. Pomerey Gilbert, Esq. fort-major at Plymouth, and a descendant of Sir Humphrey, furnished Dr. Birch a copy from the original.-See Dr. B.'s collections in Brit. Mus. No. 4231.

* See Capt. Edward Haies' (who accompanied the expedition) Report of the voyage, in Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 143, he adds, the reason I could never understand sure I am no cost was spared by their owner Mr. Ralegh in setting them forth, therefore I leave it unto God.

3

The tragical conclusion of this voyage was, that after reaching Newfoundland, and taking possession in right of the English crown, two of Sir Humphrey's vessels were lost on their passage home; in one of which he himself suffered, and only one ship of the fleet returned to England.

In a mind less enterprising than Ralegh's the illsuccess of this attempt, and the loss of life and fortune, which his brother had suffered, would have proved sufficient to have damped the ardour of maritime enterprise. His aspiring character, however, rose superior to all these difficulties; and no sooner was his ship returned from the last expedition, than we find him projecting a new one, in which he was himself to be the principal proprietor. The discoveries of Columbus, the conquests of Cortez, Pizarro, and other Spanish leaders, who, under Charles, and his son Philip II, had so surprisingly extended the dominions of their princes, had been the favourite subjects of his early reading and conversation. His noble genius had been so possessed with the idea of such grand and national undertakings, that no trifling personal inconveniences, or particular misadventures, could daunt him from attempting them. The Spaniards had as yet settled only on the middle and southern parts of America, and vast territories remained to the north as fit for settlement, and as easy of conquest. Their way into the gulf of Mexico was by St. Domingo and Hispaniola, where the currents and trade winds run together and set into the bay. VOL. L

D

They came out by the Havanna and the channels of Bahama, since called the gulf of Florida; and as they returned by this gulf found a continued coast to the west of them stretching northward, of which they lost sight by standing away to the east to make the Spanish coast. It was thus pretty evident, that a large extent of country was to be found north of the gulf, which might be worth colonising, and Ralegh projected the attempt.

Having digested his plan of proceeding, he laid it before the queen and her council. The undertaking appeared so rational and practicable, that her Majesty was pleased to grant him her letters patent, in date 4584. March 25th 1584, for himself, his heirs and assigns. to discover such remote heathen and barbarous lands, not actually possessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, as to him or them should seem good; and to hold the same with all prerogatives, commodities, jurisdictions, royalties, and privileges, &c. These letters will be found at large in the Appendix (N° III.)

Our venerable Strabo, Camden, the contemporary of Ralegh, has justly remarked, that he is never sufficiently to be commended for the great pains he took in discovering remote countries, and advancing the glory of the English navigation and trade.'. No sooner was the patent obtained, than two barks, com

1

Walterus Raleghus, magna apud Elizabetham gratia florens, nunquam satis laudato studio remotas regiones detegendi et navalem Angliæ gloriam promovendi.-Ann. Elizab. 1585.