By
BY ARTHUR CAYLEY, JUN. ESQ. 177-1848

But who can speak

The num'rous worthies of the maiden reign?

In RALEGH mark their ev'ry glory mix'd;

RALEGH! the scourge of Spain! whose breast with all
The sage, the patriot, and the hero, burn'd:
Nor sunk his vigour when a coward reign
The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd;
To glut the vengeance of a vanquish'd foe.
Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind
Explor'd the vast extent of ages past,
And with his prison-hours enrich'd the world;
Yet found no times in all the long research,
So glorious or so base as those he prov'd,
In which he conquered, and in which he bled.

IN TWO VOLUMES.-VOL. I.

SECOND EDITION,

THOMSON

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY CADELL AND DAVIES, IN THE STRAND,

Edinburgh, printed by Mundell and Son.

MRCOMIN

E45
R16

с

133.205 DEC 2 2 1904

2.2,5

2.v.

PREFACE.

NEARLY two centuries have elapsed since Sir Walter Ralegh resigned his neck to the block, and bequeathed to posterity a singular example, with what cruelty a weak prince can sacrifice the life of a valuable subject.

upon

In the interval, various speculations have been formed his character; and it may be questioned whether, amid the oblivion to which every thing human is prone, the idea of imposture attached to the Knight by some, and the age so inauspicious to literary leisure in which we live, his story shall at this day command any interest with mankind. At least, it will perhaps be said, no effort of genius and eloquence must be wanting in him, who shall endeavour to recommend it at this day to the notice of the Public. shall an unknown writer

What reception, then, experience, who hath no

higher ambition than that of collecting his materials with diligence, and endeavouring to exhibit simple truth in a simple garb? This question leads me to a brief explanation of my inducements to the present undertaking.

ACCIDENTALLY examining the labours of my predecessors in this field, I found that Mr. William Oldys and Dr. Thomas Birch (the only two entitled to notice), in the lives which they had prefixed, the former to his edition of Sir Walter's History of the World, in 1736, the latter to his collection of the knight's Miscellaneous Works, in 1751, had both failed of success in giving the best representation which existing materials afforded of their hero's story. Oldys, though a diligent and accurate collector of facts, appears to have been deficient in taste in the arrangement and display of them; while the conciseness of plan prescribed to himself by Dr. Birch, did not allow him to do the knight justice, had he been so inclined.

In the subsequent age of letters, some writer, we might have hoped had been found, to do this justice to one who deserved so well of his country.