 CHAPTER VI. ROLLY IN DISGRACE, PART II After this fight a tremendous storm arose and did great havoc among the Spanish fleet and also to the fleet of Spanish treasure ships coming home from the West Indies. Thus adds Rolly, it hath pleased God to fight for us and to defend the justice of our cause against the ambitious and bloody pretenses of the Spaniards, who seeking to devour all nations are themselves devoured. Rolly looked upon ceaseless opposition to the Spaniard as the sacred duty of every Englishman. He seems to have grasped the nature of Philip II's vast schemes to restore the Romish faith and place puppet-kings on the thrones of France and Germany. With a monarch who cherished such schemes there could be no possibility of peace, and it was this feeling as much as love of booty that sent the English privateers into the Spanish seas. Grenville's fight in the revenge shows the spirit which animated them. They knew no fear, they counted no costs before they attacked but trusted to their own courage into God. Doubtless the rich booty won in these fights was very welcome, but a larger motive existed besides the love of plunder and in some perhaps was the strongest. Let not any Englishman, writes Rolly, of what religion soever, have other opinion of the Spaniard, but that he useth his pretense of religion for no other purpose but to bewitch us from the obedience of our natural prince, thereby hoping in time to bring us to slavery and subjection. As Rolly grew older and learned more, his opposition to Spain grew more and more statesmen-like. With this view he wished to found colonies that through them England's trade and wealth might grow and she might become more able to resist the encroachments of Spain. In 1592 Rolly planned a new attack upon Spain. The Queen lent him two ships and he fitted out thirteen others. With these he intended to sail toward the Isthmus of Darien and lie and wait there for Spanish treasure ships. This time he started himself with the fleet on the 6th of May 1592. But the next day he was overtaken by a swift pinnace in which was Sir Martin Frobisher bearing a letter from Elizabeth bidding him return at once. On the 11th of May accordingly he left the fleet, giving one squadron in charge to Frobisher and another to Sir John Burroughs. There is some obscurity about the cause of Rolly's recall. It is generally supposed that Queen Elizabeth had found out his intrigue with Bessie Throgmorton and wished to punish him for it. It is supposed by others that she did not like her favorite to run any risk and that his recall had been arranged with himself before he started. Be this as it may, his love affair was known to the Queen immediately after his return and in July 1592 Rolly was lodged in the tower for his offence. Two years before Essex had excited the Queen's bitter anger by his marriage with Frances Walsingham the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. So violent was Elizabeth's anger that in a letter written from court even some months after, we find it said, the Earl doth use it with good temper concealing his marriage as much as so open a matter may be. Not that he denies it to any, but for Her Majesty's better satisfaction is pleased that my lady should live very retired in her mother's house. But Elizabeth could not get on without Essex and her love for him was strong enough to make her overlook his marriage and receive him into favor again. With Rolly it was different. In her first burst of anger Elizabeth committed him to the tower. His enemies did their utmost to keep him in disgrace, so that he remained under the cloud of royal displeasure for a long while and never quite regained his former favor. It is not possible to fix the date of his marriage with Elizabeth Frogmorton, but it seems to have taken place some time in 1592 whether before or after his imprisonment we do not know. From the tower Rolly wrote letters describing in the exaggerated language of the time his despair at being banished from the presence of his royal mistress. In a letter written in July 1592 he describes himself as being become like a fish cast on dry land gasping for breath with lame legs and lame her lungs. In another letter written to Sir Robert Cecil Burley's son in July 1592 when Elizabeth was just starting on a progress he says, my heart was never broken till this day that I hear the Queen goes so far off whom I have followed 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 Alexander, 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, sometime playing like an Orpheus. He ends his letter by saying, do with me as you list, I am more weary of life than they are desirous I should perish. When we think that Raleigh was riding of a woman in her sixtieth year, this language seems absurdly overstrained, but such was the fashion of the day. One day Raleigh saw from the windows of the tower the Queen and her barge, followed by a gay procession of boats, passed down the river. Suddenly, we are told by Sir Arthur Gorgias who was present, he break out into a great distemper and swore that his enemies had brought her majesty thither to break his gall and thunder with tantalous torment, that when she went away he might see his death before his eyes. He swore that he would disguise himself and get a sight of the Queen or his heart would break, as his keepers or George Heru would not consent, a quarrel followed, in which they ended by drawing their daggers. Gorgias thus describes the scene to Cecil. At the first I was ready to break with laughing to see the two scrambled and brawl like madmen, until I saw the iron walking, and then I did my best to appease the fury. As yet I cannot reconcile them by any persuasions, for Sir Walter swears that he shall hate him while he lives, for so restraining him from a sight of his mistress. Gorgias ends his letter by saying that he fears Sir Walter Raleigh will shortly grow to be Orlando Furioso if the bright Angelica persevere against him a little longer. Whilst Raleigh was still in the tower news arrived, that the portion of the fleet which he had dispatched under boroughs had captured a splendid prize, a large Spanish karak, of sixteen hundred tons burden, called la madre de Dios. It was laden with spices, drugs, silks, calicoes, quilts, carpets and colors to the value of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. This rich prize was brought home to Dartmouth. Of course the sailors had managed to pillage something before boroughs was able to take formal possession of the ship and Her Majesty's name. It now remained to divide the spoil amongst those who had shared the expenses of the Enterprise. The chief of these were the Queen, the Earl of Cumberland and Raleigh himself. Elizabeth did not disdain to share as a private person in the expense of fitting out an expedition having no other aim than piracy, and she was content to enrich herself with the spoil. The news of the great prize filled the country with excitement. Merchants hurried to Dartmouth in the hope of making good bargains with the sailors for the plunder they had managed to secure. The port is said to have looked like Bartholomew fair. The Queen appointed commissioners to go down to look after her interest in the capture, the chief of whom was Sir Robert Cecil. She also allowed Raleigh to go down to look after his interests, though she kept to keep her with him to see that he did not escape. The excitement on the arrival of the Madre de Dios caused great confusion. The sailors were mutinous from their desire to lay hands on the booty, and it was absolutely necessary that some commanding spirit should be there to keep order. To bring this to some good effect, wrote Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh is the very man. Sir Robert Cecil was very anxious to reach Dartmouth before Raleigh, and in an amusing letter to his father, Lord Burley, he gives an account of his journey. Whomsoever I met by the way he writes, within seven miles with anything either in cloak or maul, which did but smell of the prizes, either at Dartmouth or at Plymouth, for I assure your lordship I could smell them, such hath been the spoils of amber and musk. I did though he had little about him return him with me to the town of Exeter. I compelled them also to tell me where any mauls or trunks were, and I by this inquisition, finding the people stubborn till I had committed two of them to prison, which example would have won the Queen twenty thousand pounds a week past, I have lighted upon a Londoner in whose possession we have found a bag of seed-pearls, diverse pieces of damask, and et cetera. I do mean my lord forthwith to be at Dartmouth, and to have a privy search there and in Plymouth. I have taken order to search every bag and male coming from the west, and though I fear that the bird be flown for jewels, pearls, and amber, yet I will not doubt to save her majesty, that which shall be worth my journey. My lord there was never such spoil, and thus in haste I humbly take my leave from Exeter, ready to ride to Dartmouth this night at ten o'clock. I will suppress the confluence of these buyers, of which there are above two thousand, and accept they be removed, there will be no good. The name of commissioners is common in this country and in these causes, but my coming down hath made many stagger, fouler weather, desperate ways, nor more obstinate people that I never meet with. From Dartmouth Cecil writes again. As soon as I came on board the Carrick on Wednesday at one of the clock with the rest of her majesty's commissioners, within one hour Sir Walter Raleigh arrived with his keeper Mr. Blount, I assure you, sir, his poor servants to the number of a hundred and forty goodly men, and all the mariners came to him with shouts of joy, as I never saw a man more troubled to quiet them in my life. But his heart is broken, for he is extremely pensive, longer than he is busied, in which he can toil terribly. But if you did hear him rage at the spoils, finding all the short wares utterly devoured, you would laugh as I do which I cannot choose. He be like finding that it is known he had a keeper, when so ever he is saluted with congratulations for liberty, he doth answer. No, I am still the queen of England's poor captive. I wished him to conceal it, because here it doth diminish his credit, which I do vow to you before God is greater amongst the mariners than I thought for. I do grace him as much as I may, for I find him marvelously greedy to do anything to recover the conceit of his brutish offence. From this letter, written by an opponent of Raleigh's, we can judge of his popularity amongst the men of his own country. Raleigh was not, as a rule, a popular man. His manners were haughty and overbearing. But in Devonshire and amongst sailors he seems to have succeeded in winning universal love. The spoil of the Madre de Dios was divided with some difficulty and a good deal of squabbling. Elizabeth's greedy spirit showed itself in her desire to get as much as possible at all costs for herself. Raleigh was very anxious to recover some of the jewels which had been stolen from the ship. He wrote to Burley on September seventeenth. If it please your lordship to send a commission to Alderman Martin and others, to make inquiry into London what gold smiths or jewelers are gone down, and that at their return they may be examined upon oath what stones or pearls they have bought, I doubt not, but many things will be discovered. If I meet any of them coming up, if it be upon the wildest heath in all the way, I mean to strip them as naked as ever they were born, for it is infinite that her majesty had been robbed and that of the most rare things. The Queen of course got the best part of the prophets. She took somewhat more than half of the net proceeds. The Earl of Cumberland got thirty-six thousand pounds having adventured in the Enterprise nineteen thousand pounds. The rest of the adventurers, who share in the expense of the expedition amounted to thirty thousand pounds, only got thirty-six thousand pounds. And Raleigh, after summing up the services that he had rendered the expedition, adds bitterly that, the others only sat still, for which double is given to them, and less than mine own to me. There is something very undignified in the spectacle of the Queen and her courtiers quarreling for the plunder one from Spain by piracy. Elizabeth wished in every way to make the most of her bargain. The sale of certain precious articles was forbidden in the ordinary way of trade, so as to get a better market for the merchandise from the Madre de Dios, so that the prize was probably not of so much benefit to the people as to their Queen. CHAPTER VII Raleigh's First Voyage to Guyana, Pt. 1 After his journey to Dartmouth Raleigh did not go back to the tower, though it is uncertain when he was relieved of the company of his keeper. He was not again received into favour at court, or allowed for some years to exercise his duties as captain of the guard. In May 1593 we find him at Sherbourne Castle. This manner of Sherbourne, which lay upon the road between London and Plymouth, had attracted Sir Walter's admiration as he passed it on his frequent journeys to Devon and Cornwall. It belonged to the Bishopric of Salisbury, which had once been seated at Sherbourne. When Raleigh cast longing eyes upon it, the Queen who was not scrupulous about the way in which she deprived the church of its lands, made the Bishop give her a lease of ninety-nine years of the estate which she made over to her favourite. Raleigh wished to get absolute possession of the estate. When the Sea of Salisbury next fell vacant it was decided to make the gift of it conditional on a promise from the new Bishop that he would convey over to the Queen for the benefit of Raleigh, the estate of Sherbourne. The first man to whom the Sea was offered on these terms refused it, but it was accepted by Dr. Henry Cotton, Pre-Bendery of Winchester in 1598, and the estate of Sherbourne was granted to Raleigh. In return, an annuity of two hundred and sixty pounds was granted to the Sea of Salisbury and perpetuity. From this and such like proceedings of Elizabeth toward the church we may see that the royal supremacy was in its way as oppressive to the clergy as the Pope's supremacy had been. Raleigh made Sherbourne his chief residence and did much to improve it. He shared the taste of the age for building and gardening. A great improvement was made in those days in the homes of the gentry. The days of civil war were past and forgotten. The fortified castles of former times were no longer needed. Men wanted comfort for their daily life, and a new style of domestic architecture sprung up which has since borne the name of Elizabethan architecture. It was a combination of the old Gothic with classical architecture, the taste for which had been called out by the revival of classical learning, and it was admirably fitted for domestic purposes. The comfort of the houses inside was greatly increased. The walls were covered with tapestry or wainscotted with oak. Feather beds were in common use. Stoves began to be used in the houses of the gentry. Cubboards full of silver adorned the walls. China dishes and plates and rare Venetian glass were favored articles of luxury. We read in the Dorsetshire County history that Raleigh first began to build onto the castle at Sherbourne very fairly, but altering his purpose, he built in the park adjoining a most fine house which he beautified with orchards, gardens, and groves of much variety and great delight, so that whether you consider the pleasantness of the seat, the goodness of the soil, or the other delicacies belonging to it, it rests unparalleled by any in that part of the country. In his present retirement at Sherbourne he probably enjoyed the society of his wife and the amusement of planning and laying out his gardens, but he was not a man to delight in leisure. Shut out for a time from any chance of gaining power or influence at court or in the government, his busy mind turned to other schemes. The wealth which Spain was believed to gain from her colonies and conquests in South America filled the English with envy. They saw their own country poor, their queen obliged to be parsimonious, unable to engage in war from the want of the necessary money. To enrich England by founding colonies was, as we have seen, Raleigh's dream. The stories of the conquests of Peru and Mexico by Pizarro and Pérités had filled Europe with wonder and admiration. To gain a like-rich kingdom for his queen, to fill her ex-checker, to extend her power was Raleigh's ambition. But he wished to do it in a different way from the Spaniards. He did not wish to imitate their cruelty to the natives. Instead of making the natives bitter enemies he wished to make them friends, to bring their kings to seek the alliance and protection of England, and by gaining a mighty subject kingdom for Elizabeth, to set her resources on a level with those which the Spanish king was supposed to have. With these thoughts in his mind, Raleigh turned his attention to Guiana. He seems to have laid aside his plans for colonizing Virginia, being dazzled by the wondrous tales that he heard about Guiana. Since the early days of Spanish discovery in America, the natives had poured into the ears of the eager and wondering foreigners, tales of the untold wealth of Guiana, the country that lay round the Great River Orinoco. Fables of the vast city of Minoa, and of Eldorado, passed from mouth to mouth. The name of Eldorado was first given to the king of this wondrous city, afterwards to the city itself. The empire of Guiana had greater abundance of gold than any part of Peru, Minoa for greatness, richness, and its excellent situation far surpassed any city in the world. To this city it was supposed that all the treasure which had been saved from the hands of the Spaniards at the time of the conquests of Mexico and Peru had been carried. Gold was thought to be so plentiful there that the very boxes and tropes were made of gold and silver, and billets of gold lay about in heaps. The men of the country were said to adorn their bodies by powdering them with gold. The Spaniards had spared no pains to explore and gain possession of this land of promise. Between 1530 and 1560, seven or eight Spanish expeditions had attempted to penetrate into it, but the expeditions were unfortunate, and thousands of Spaniards perished in the attempt. Raleigh hoped to succeed where they had failed, and he hoped to succeed, not by conquering the natives but by making friends of them. In Guiana he could best find the wealth which England needed, and in no way could he better aim a blow at Spain than by snatching from her the rich prize which she so coveted. So in retirement at Sherbourne Raleigh planned his first expedition to Guiana. It was a splendid dream for a private individual to cherish, and its difficulties did not daunt Raleigh. His wife, however, was terrified at the thought of the danger which he might run, and she wrote to Sir Robert Cecil, whom she looked upon as a firm friend, begging him to dissuade Raleigh from his undertaking. Now, sir, she wrote, in February 1593, for the rest I hope, for my sake you will rather draw water, Sir Walter Raleigh, from the east, than help him toward the sunset, if any respect to me or love to him be not forgotten. We poor souls that have bought sorrow at a high price, desire and can be pleased with the same alterations that we hold, fearing alterations will but multiply miseries. But Raleigh was not to be dissuaded. Neither indeed was Cecil very anxious to dissuade him, for he himself contributed to the expense of fitting out the expedition. The Lord High Admiral Howard lent a ship, and numbers of gentlemen volunteered on the expedition. In 1594 Raleigh sent Captain Whidden as a pioneer to explore the mouths of the River Orinoco, but Whidden learned little that was new, having met with many difficulties, and returned to England toward the end of the year. Raleigh was now busy with preparations for his own voyage, and on the 6th February 1595 he sailed from Plymouth with a squadron of five ships. He has himself written an account of his voyage, so that we are able accurately to follow his steps. He reached the island of Trinidad on the 22nd of March. Coasting round it he came to Puerto de los Españoles, where some Spaniards came on board to trade with the crew, all which he says I entertained kindly and feasted after our manner, by means whereof I learned of one and another as much of the estate of Guiana as I could. Raleigh was anxious to make himself master of Trinidad before going further. Had he not done so, he says, he would have savored very much of the ass. He took the Spanish city of St. Joseph, and made its governor Don Antonio Baraeo prisoner. He then did his utmost to make friends with the Indians on the island, telling them that he was the servant of a queen who was an enemy of the Spaniards, in respect of their tyranny and oppression, and that she delivered all such nations about her as were by them oppressed. The result of his discourse was, in that part of the world, Her Majesty is now very famous and admirable. The first difficulty which met the adventurers was the navigation of the mouths of the Orinoco. On account of the sand banks and the shifting tides, it was impossible for the ships to go up the mouth of the river. So Raleigh had to decide to leave his ships anchored on the coast of Trinidad, near Los Gallos, and proceed on his expedition in five open boats, which carried one hundred men, and enough provisions for a month. First of all, writes Raleigh, we had as much sea to cross over in our wearies as between Dover and Calais, and in a great billow, the wind and current being both very strong. They took with them an Indian as pilot, who promised to bring them into the Great River Orinoco, but indeed of that which he entered he was utterly ignorant, for he had not seen it in twelve years before, at which time he was very young and of no judgment, and if God had not sent us another help we might have wandered a whole year in that labyrinth of rivers. For I know all the earth doth not yield a like confluence of streams and branches, the one crossing the other so many times, and also fair and large and like one another, as no man can tell which to take. The good chance which befell Raleigh was the capture of an old Indian who really knew the country, and who was able to act as their pilot through the sixteen arms which the Orinoco makes where it falls into the sea. The next difficulty which beset the adventurers was the rapidity of the current. After rowing four days through the intricate branchings of the river, we fell, says Raleigh, 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 enforced 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 desire 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 extreme 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 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 driven to draw ourselves to harder allowance, our bread even at the last and no drink at all, and our men and ourselves so weary and scorched and doubtful with all, whether we should ever perform it or no, the heat increasing as we drew near the line, for we were now in five degrees. The variety of the scenery did something towards cheering them on their way. On the banks of these rivers were diverse sorts of fruits good to eat, flowers and trees of such variety as were sufficient to make ten volumes of herbals. We relieved ourselves many times with the fruits of the country, and sometimes with fowl and fish. We saw birds of all colors, some carnation, some crimson, orange tawny, purple and et cetera, 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 fouling pieces. At last the Indian pilot, Led Raleigh and a few others some way up a branch stream to an Indian village where they were hospitably received and got good store of bread, fish and hens. To reach this village they passed through most beautiful country, plains twenty miles long with the grass short and green where the deer came down feeding by the waterside. After Raleigh returned to the rest of the company he had the good fortune to take two canoes which they found ladened with bread. This excellent bread so delighted the men that they cried, Let us go on, we care not how far. Two other canoes escaped their pursuit, one of which they heard contained three Spaniards. On the bank they found hidden under a bush a refiner's basket with diverse things needed for the trial of metals. They heard that the three Spaniards had a good quantity of ore and gold with them. They tried hard to catch them but in vain. They laid hands however on an Indian who had served as pilot to the Spaniards and gave Raleigh much information about the gold mines. The Spaniards had told the Indians that the English were men-eaters, hoping by this tale to keep them from having any intercourse with the English. But Raleigh compelled his men to treat the Indians so well that they soon perceived the falseness of the Spaniards' tales and felt great love for the strangers. But I confess, writes Raleigh, it was a very impatient work to keep the meaner sort from spoil and stealing when we came to their houses, which because in all I could not prevent I caused my Indian interpreter at every place when we departed to know of the loss or wrong done, and if ought were stolen or taken by violence either the same was restored and the offender punished or else was paid for to their uttermost demand. The result of this treatment was that the Indians came down in crowds to the water banks with their women and children to gaze at the wonderful strangers and bring them food, venison, pork, fowls, fish, excellent fruits and roots, above all the pineapple that Prince of Fruits, as Raleigh calls it. The English were hospitably received at the little towns, some of which were well situated and surrounded with goodly gardens. In one of these towns Raleigh had much talk with an old chief called Topiowari, who was held for the proudest and wisest of all the Orinokwiponi and so behaved himself as I marveled to find a man of such gravity and judgment and of so good discourse that had no help of learning or breed, Topiowari told Raleigh much about the different peoples of that country and promised to come and see him again on his way back. End of Section 11 Section 12 of Life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Louise Creighton. This Librovox recording is in the public domain, recording by Pamela Nagami. Chapter 7 Raleigh's First Voyage to Guyana, Part 2 The onward progress of the travelers was soon stopped by the rapid rise of the rivers caused by the first heavy winter rains. They halted at the beginning of a river called Karoli and three parties went out to explore the country by land. Raleigh with another party went to see some wonderful falls formed by the river Karoli. A strange thunder of waters, he calls them, never saw I a more beautiful country nor more lively prospects, hills so raised here and there over the valleys, the river winding into diverse branches, the plains all fair green grass, the deer crossing in every path, the birds toward evening singing in every tree with a thousand several tunes, the air fresh with a gentle easterly wind, and every stone that we stooped to take up promised either gold or silver by its complexion. The other companies brought back equally favorable reports, but it seemed high time to return, for the river began to rage and to overflow very fearfully, and the rains came down in terrible showers and gusts and great abundance, and with all our men began to cry out for want of shift, for no man had placed the bestow any other apparel than that which he wore on his back, and that was thoroughly washed on his body for the most part ten times in one day. On his way back Raleigh sent for old Tobiowari to have some more talk with him. He came at once and with him, such a rabble of all sorts of people and everyone laden with somewhat as if it had been a great market or fair in England, and our hungry companies clustered thick and threefold among their baskets, everyone laying hand on what he wanted. Raleigh took Tobiowari to his tent and shut out every one but his interpreter. Then he asked Tobiowari's advice as to the means to be employed for conquering Guiana. Tobiowari bade him not attempt to invade the strong parts of Guiana without the help of the nations around, who were enemies of the great Emperor Inga who ruled in Guiana. Raleigh's force was not strong enough to attempt the conquest now, and besides the winter season was unfavorable, and Tobiowari, for these and other reasons, strongly persuaded him to do nothing further at present but to come again the following year. The old Indian chieftain freely gave Raleigh his only son to take with him to England, hoping that under the protection of the English he would rule his land after his death. Raleigh left two Englishmen behind with Tobiowari to learn the language. On his way back Raleigh spent some time in exploring different parts of the river, gaining information from the natives and collecting specimens of ore to take back to England with him. He sent off six men under Captain Camus to explore part of the country on foot, and meanwhile went himself some way up a branch of the river called the Piakowa. He returned again to meet Camus, and they set off in haste to get back to their ships, for their hearts were cold to behold the great rage and increase of the Orinoco. The weather was very stormy and the current so strong that they went a hundred miles a day. At the mouth of the river they were overtaken by a mighty storm, but it was not safe to anchor there, and so they trusted themselves to God's keeping and thrust out into the sea to cross to Trinidad, being all very sober and melancholy, one faintly cheering another to show courage. They reached the coast of Trinidad in safety and found their ships at anchor, than which there was never to us a more joyful sight. Raleigh reached England sometime in August 1595. He came home deeply convinced of the wealth and glory that might be gained in Guyana. The common soldier, he writes, shall hear fight for gold. Those commanders and chieftains that shoot at honour and abundance shall find their more rich and beautiful cities, more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with treasure than either Cortes found in Mexico or Pizarro in Peru, and the shining glory of this conquest will eclipse all those so far extended beams of the Spanish nation. But his enthusiasm failed to inspire others in England. He was still out of favour at court, he had many enemies, and their jealousy went so far that some said he had never been to Guyana at all, but had remained hidden in Cornwall. Others asserted that the ore which he had brought home had been found not in Guyana but in Barbary and carried thence to Guyana. It was these columnese which led him to write and publish his account of this voyage to Guyana, which was widely read and passed through two editions in the first year. People were interested, but the nation was not stirred to make any great effort to win this rich prize. The queen was too old to throw herself with enthusiasm into so great a scheme. Raleigh's unpopularity prevented men from gathering round him and aiding him with all their might to carry out his plans. Still, without a doubt, the story of this voyage produced a great effect. The description of these new and beauteous lands stirred men's imaginations in a way which we can best see in the works of England's greatest poet. It is most likely that Raleigh, who we know was on intimate terms with Ben Johnson knew Shakespeare too, and probably from his own lips Shakespeare heard the story of his voyage. He seems to have been thinking of Raleigh's travels and of the strange tales he had brought home when he makes Othello say, Whereon I spoke of most disastrous chances of moving accidents by flood and field, and portents in my traveller's history, were in of Antwery's vast and desert's idle rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven it was my hint to speak. Such was my process, and of the cannibals that each other eat, the anthropophage and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders. Raleigh's account of his voyage is full of tales that he had heard of strange races of men, above all of the race who are said to have their eyes in their shoulders and their mouths in the middle of their breasts. But the tempest seems most of all to have been inspired by the tales of adventure which passed from mouth to mouth in those days. In this play Shakespeare shows us in Caliban the savage whose peace was disturbed and whose haunts are invaded by the colonists and the explorer. He felt the pathos of the situation, and can awaken our sympathy even with the brutal Caliban when he says, When Thou came first Thou stroked me and made much of me, wouldst give me water with berries and, and teach me how to name the bigger light and how the less that burned by day and night, and then I loved thee, and showed thee all the qualities of the isle, the fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile, cursed be I that did so. The views of the majority of colonists and explorers are expressed in prosperous remark to Caliban, but thy vile race, though thou ditched learn, had that int which good natures could not abide to be with. The savage was far more ready to learn the evil than the good. Caliban exclaims, You taught me language, and my prophet aunt is, I know how to curse. To the savage, the greater knowledge and capacity of the European appeared like magic, and so Shakespeare has represented Prospero as ruling in the island over winds and waves and subduing Caliban by his arts as a sorcerer. Though Raleigh failed to inspire others with his views about Guyana, he did not on that account lose heart. About six months after his return, he sent off at his own expense Captain Lawrence Camus in a ship to explore the Orinoco further. Camus was as enthusiastic as Raleigh himself about the prospects of exploration in Guyana, and says himself that he meant to devote his life to it. In this voyage, however, he failed to do much. The Spaniards alarmed at Raleigh's proceedings had done their utmost to forestall him, and Camus learned from the Indians that a Spanish settlement called Saint Tome had been made near Kareli, with a special view of defending the passage to the mines once Raleigh had got his specimens of ore. The Indians on all sides entreated Camus to turn out the Spaniards. They welcomed the English warmly and seemed to have awaited their return with impatience. Camus had repeatedly to assure them that he had come only to trade, and had not brought a force sufficient to do anything against the Spaniards. He explored some new portions of the river and returned to England in the same year. Raleigh sent out still another expedition before the year was over under Captain Barry, which however did nothing important. But we shall see that Raleigh never lost sight of his projects of colonization in Guyana. He was so firmly convinced of the great results that might be gained from it that he was ready to seize every opportunity to carry out the schemes which seemed to have become part of himself. END OF SECTION XIII. Raleigh was not received again into favorite court on his return from Guyana and was not allowed to go back to his duties as captain of the Queen's Guard. But we are told in a contemporary letter that he lived about town very gallant and he seems to have been on good terms with the chief men about court. He was very often very private with the Earl of Essex and did his utmost to bring about a better understanding between him and Sir Robert Cecil, Burley's son, who by his diligence and careful attention to politics was rapidly becoming an important person in the state and who greatly resented Essex's influence. Meanwhile everyone was terrified by the increasing power of Spain. In the beginning of 1596 the Spanish forces had managed to seize Calais and by so doing had filled the English and Netherlanders with alarm. There was again fear of a Spanish invasion of England, but this time the English determined to be beforehand with Philip II. A fleet was equipped which in combination with the Dutch fleet was to attack the harbor of Calais. This expedition was talked of for a long time. Essex and Raleigh were eager for it. The Queen and Burley, always lovers of peace, had in their old age grown more than ever opposed to war. But at last it became clear that something must be done to stop the growth of Philip's power and active preparations for the expedition were begun. Drake and Hawkins had both lately died, but there were still plenty of brave seamen to fight for their country. It was arranged that the Lord Admiral Howard should command the fleet, while Essex was to command the land forces embarked for the expedition. Raleigh, who was extremely active in the preparations, was to have command of a squadron. Great difficulties were experienced in getting levies of men for the fleet. Raleigh writes to Cecil, As fast as we press men one day they come away another and say they will not serve, and the poor Suivant found me in a country village a mile from Gravesend, hunting after runaway mariners and dragging in the mire from alehouse to alehouse. At last everything was ready, and on the 3rd of June 1596 the fleet set sail from Plymouth and reached Cadeeth on the 20th of the same month. As they waited outside the harbour in a high wind, there lighted a very fair dove upon the main yard of the Lord Admiral ship, and there she sat very quietly for the space of three or four hours, being nothing dismayed all the while. To most of the men this appeared in the light of a good omen to cheer them on their way. In the harbour of Cadeeth was a splendid Spanish fleet consisting of four huge galleons between twenty and thirty warships and fifty-seven well-armed Indian men. In the Allied fleet were thirty-three English ships of war and twenty-seven Dutch beside some transports. Essex's desire was to land his men and begin an attack on the town before attacking the fleet in the bay, and the Lord Admiral, from his care of the Queen's ships, had agreed to this. Myself, writes Raleigh, was not present at the resolution, for I had been sent the day before to stop such as might pass out along the coast. When I was arrived back I found the Earl of Essex disembarking his soldiers, and he had put many companies into boats. The Earl proposed to go on, until such time as I came aboard him and in the presence of all the colonels protested against the resolution, giving him reasons and making apparent demonstrations that he therefore ran the way of our general ruin to the utter overthrow of the whole armies, their own lives, and Her Majesty's future safety. The other gentleman present warmly seconded Raleigh and his wisdom prevailed. He persuaded the Admiral to attack the fleet first, and when he told Essex of this resolution the Earl cast his plumed hat into the sea for joy. Raleigh's advice seems to have been listened to in everything. At his earnest entreaty the charge of leading the body of the fleet was entrusted to him. The attack began the next morning. The mark which Raleigh shot at was the San Felipe, a galleon of two thousand tons burden, the naval wonder of the age, in respect of which he says he esteemed the other galleys but his wasps. Amongst the English the great struggle seems to have been who should be foremost in the fight. Once the commander of another ship, whilst Raleigh was too busy to look behind him, secretly fastened a rope onto Raleigh's ship so as to draw himself up equal with him, but Raleigh being warned of this by one of his company caused the rope to be cut. The victory was soon won. Two of the great galleons were captured, but Raleigh's desire to shake hands with the San Felipe was thwarted. It and another galleon were run aground and blown up by their commanders that they might not fall into English hands. But in this way many Spanish soldiers were destroyed. The spectacle writes Raleigh was very lamentable on their side, for many drowned themselves, many half burnt, leapt into the water, very many hanging by the rope's ends by the ship's side under the water, even to the lips, many swimming with grievous wounds, struck an underwater and put out of their pain, and with all so huge of fire and such tearing of the ordinance in the great Felipe 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. The fleet was beaten in little over three hours, then the English landed their forces and attacked the town. Raleigh was severely wounded in the leg, but he had himself carried ashore on men's shoulders to see how things were going. He was not able to remain there more than an hour in the town, for the torment that he suffered from his wound. He returned to take charge of the fleet as there was no admiral left on board, and he himself was unfit for anything but rest at that time. The town was carried with a sudden fury and with little loss. By the evening it was in the hands of the English, and early in the next morning the citadel capitulated. At break of day Raleigh sent to the admiral for orders to follow the fleet of ships bound for the Indies which lay in the roads of Puerto Real, but Howard and Essex were too busy to attend to him. It was a great mistake not to take vigorous steps to complete the victory by the capture of this great fleet. Raleigh saw what ought to be done, but could get none to second him. In the afternoon the merchants of Cadeeth and Seville offered the generals two millions to spare the fleet. Whereupon, says Raleigh, there was nothing done for the present. Meanwhile much of the merchandise on board the ships was being carried on land by the Spanish sailors, and early next morning the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the admiral of the fleet, whose pride could not brook the idea of his vessels falling into the hands of the English, ordered them to be set on fire, and all the mighty fleet of men of war and merchant men were reduced to ashes. So the English lost the chance of gaining possession of this rich prize, though the loss to the Spaniards was as great as if the ships had been taken by the English. Whilst the fleet was burning the English soldiers were busy sacking the town. Orders were given that there should be no kind of violence or hard usage offered to any, either man, woman, or child, on pain of death. These orders seemed to have been obeyed, except that the Dutch who had done little in the fight showed a desire to revenge themselves on the Spanish women and children for the horrible outrages committed by Spaniards in the Netherlands, but they were restrained by the English. Howard wrote to the Queen's Council, the mercy and clemency that hath been showed here will be spoken of throughout the world. No aged or cold blood touched, no woman injured, but all with great care embarked and sent to St. Mary's Port, and other women and children were likewise sent thither and suffered to carry away with them all their apparel and diverse rich things which they had about them, which no man might search for under pain of death. The town, however, was fired by Essex's orders in four quarters and was left a smoking ruin. Essex gave Council that the English should hold the town of Cuttith, which would have been a perpetual thorn in Philip's side. The position of the city rendered this an easy task, but Howard would not consent. He had done so much as his orders allowed, and he would go no further. He knew that the Queen and Council at home would not second Essex and his desire for a prolonged war. Essex much disgusted had to give way. He next asked that the fleet might go round by the Azores to intercept a rich fleet of Indian men, which he knew was daily expected there. Howard would not consent to this either, but adhered strictly to his orders and sailed back to England. The fleet reached Plymouth again on the eighth of August. Raleigh had hurried back two days before the rest of the fleet, as there was much sickness on board his ship, so he brought the first news of the victory to the Anxious Queen and Council. Writing to Sir Robert Cecil about the battle, he says, The King of Spain was never so much dishonored, neither hath he ever received so great loss. The Earl hath behaved himself I protest unto you by the living God, both valiantly and advisedly in the highest degree, without pride, without cruelty, and hath gotten great honor and much love of all. I hope her most excellent majesty will take my labors and endeavors in good part. Other riches than the hope thereof I have none, only I have received a blow which now I thank God is well amended, only a little eyesore will remain. If my life had ended with all I had then paid some part of the great debts which I owe her. But it is but borrowed, and I shall pay it, I hope, to her majesty's advantage if occasion be offered. The spoils on this occasion were not nearly so great as the court had hoped, and disappointment on this account diminished the cordiality with which the victors were received by the Queen. There was as usual much quarreling over the spoils, and those who had done the most probably got the least. On this point Raleigh writes, What the generals have gotten, I know least, they protest it is little. For my own part I have gotten a lame leg and a deformed. I have not wanted good words and exceeding kind and regardful usance, but I have possession of not but poverty and pain. Though some might be disappointed at the smallness of the spoils, others could see the great importance of this victory. A third of the King of Spain's navy and a great city with its citadel had been destroyed in thirty-six hours by the audacity of a small fleet of English and Dutch. The loss to Philip II was enormous, and once more a stop was put to the growth of his power. Essex and Raleigh and others of the younger nobles were eager to go on. Hatred to Spain burnt as fiercely as ever in their breasts, and they longed to crush her utterly. But Elizabeth was old and worn out, and could no longer share their young enthusiasm. Peace was what she wanted, and now that England was safe she would consent to no more war. Even now Raleigh was not allowed to resume his duties as Captain of the Guard, but he continued on good terms with Essex and Cecil. His relations with Cecil may be judged from the tone of a letter which he wrote to Cecil on the death of his wife. It is worthwhile to quote some portions of this on account of the light which it throws upon the character of the writer. It shows his strength and firmness, in how clearly he saw that a man must be self-summed, not swayed by every blast of passion, but that taking life as a whole he must look upon it as something out of which he has to make the best he can for himself and for others. It appertaineth, he writes, to every man of wise and worthy spirit, to draw together into sufferance the unknown future to the known present, looking no less with the eyes of the mind than those of the body, the one beholding afar off, the other at hand. That those things of this world in which we live be not strange unto us when they approach as to feebleness which is moved with novelties, but that like true men participating immortality and knowing our destinies to be of God we then make our states and wishes, our fortunes and desires all one. It is true that you have lost a good and virtuous wife and myself an honorable friend and kin's woman, but there was a time when she was unknown to you, for whom you lamented then not. She is now no more yours nor of your acquaintance, but immortal, and not needing knowing your love or sorrow. Therefore you shall but grieve for that which now is as then it was when not yours, only bettered by the difference in this that she hath passed the weary some journey of this dark world and hath possession of her inheritance. I believe that sorrows are dangerous companions, converting bad into evil and evil into worse, and do no more service than multiply harms. They are the treasures of weak hearts and of the foolish. The mind that entertaineth them is as the earth and dust, whereon sorrows and adversities of the world do, as the beasts of the field, tread, trample, and defile. The mind of man is that part of God which is in us, which by how much it is subject to passion, by so much it is farther from him that gave it us. Sorrows draw not the dead to life, but the living to death, and if I were myself to advise myself in the like, I would never forget my patience, till I saw all and the worst of evils, and so grieve for all at once, lest lamenting for some one another might not remain in the power of destiny of greater discomfort. Yours ever beyond the power of words to utter. W. Raleigh. CHAPTER VIII Raleigh seems to have continued his efforts to bring about peaceful intercourse between Essex and Cecil. Essex had been much disgusted by discovering on his return from Cuddys that in his absence Cecil had been made secretary. This advancement of Cecil shows how Elizabeth's head was stronger than her heart. She knew that it would be thoroughly displeasing to the favorite whom she fondly loved, but she knew also that Cecil would prove a useful servant, and in this she was not disappointed. Sir Robert Cecil was not a great man, but he was wise and cautious. He had been educated as a statesman and as a natural consequence lacked originality. Diligent and conscientious he had not a spark of genius and could not appreciate it in others. He seems to have wished to serve his queen and country honestly while keeping his eye on his own advantage. He was a stumbling block in the way of Essex, as his father had been in the way of Lester. He had no real sympathy with Raleigh and could not enter into his views, but as long as it served his purpose he kept on friendly terms with him. He was too prudent ever to show hostility to any man, and too courteous ever to treat anyone with insolence, and so without any conscious hypocrisy he may have seemed to Raleigh and his wife a truer friend than he afterwards proved to be. Cecil warmly followed his father in his desire for peace, and his appointment as secretary had greatly increased the strength of the peace party. In his opposition to the peace party Essex seems for a time to have forgotten other animosities and to have made no objections to Raleigh's return to favour at court. In a letter to Sir Robert Sidney, then Governor of Lessing, written by a certain Roland White, who kept Sidney supplied with news from London, dated April 9, 1597 we read, Sir W. Raleigh is daily in court and a hope is that he shall be admitted to the execution of his office as Captain of the Guard before his going to sea. His friends, you know, are of the greatest authority and power here, and Essex gives it no opposition, his mind being full and only carried away with the business he hath in his head of conquering and overcoming the enemy. Another letter of White's, written June 21st, says, Yesterday my lord of Essex rode to Chatham. In his absence Sir W. Raleigh was brought to the Queen by Cecil, who used him very graciously, and gave him full authority to execute his place as Captain of the Guard, which immediately he undertook and swore many men into the place's void. In the evening he rode abroad with the Queen and had private conference with her, and now he comes boldly to the Privy Chamber as he was wont. Though this was done in the absence of the Earl yet it is known that it was done with his liking and furtherance. So, after five years of disgrace, Raleigh was once more favoured with the royal smile, and at this time his power and importance at court seemed to have been great. In 1597 Elizabeth yielded to the entreaties of Essex and gave permission for another attack upon Spain. It was said that Philip was fitting out a new armada wherewith to invade England. Raleigh wrote a paper on these reports called Opinion on the Spanish Alarm, in which he discussed the best means for defending the coast, but expressed his doubts as to the possibility of the King of Spain being in readiness for so great an undertaking. He was as eager as anyone for an attack upon Spain. A fleet was fitted out in which Essex was appointed Admiral and General-in-Chief, whilst Lord Thomas Howard commanded one squadron and Raleigh another. A Dutch squadron also joined the fleet. A Spanish fleet was supposed to be preparing in Ferole, a port on the north coast of Spain for a descent upon Ireland, where the Spaniards hoped to find plenty of support from the disaffected Irish. The object of Essex and Raleigh was to attack Ferole, to destroy the ships there, and also to intercept a rich fleet of India men on its way to Spain. The departure of the English fleet was delayed for a long while by contrary winds. They set sail on the 10th of July, 1597, and fell in with a tremendous storm which lasted five days. The storm so increased, writes Raleigh, and the billows so raised and enraged as we could carry no sail. On Saturday night we made a comp to have yielded ourselves up to God. The fleet had to put back to Plymouth much disabled. One by one the ships came in, each in more miserable condition than the last. Essex would not return till he was an imminent peril of sinking in the sea. Raleigh on reaching Plymouth wrote to Cecil his fears that my Lord General himself will wrestle with the seas to his peril, or constrained to come back, be found utterly heartbroken. Essex was in truth much cast down by these reverses, but the ships were repaired, though they had been so severely damaged that Raleigh wrote of them, we shall not be in any great courage for winter weather and long nights in these ships. Contrary winds prevailed for some time, but on the 18th August at last a fresh start was made. A few days after starting the fleet was again scattered by another storm. Raleigh and his squadron were missing, and the wind blew straight out of Ferrol, which made any further undertaking against that place hopeless. The next thing to be done was to attempt the capture of the fleet of Indiumen, and for this purpose Essex sailed to the Azores, hoping to meet Raleigh there. Raleigh meanwhile had been spending an anxious time, for his ship had been damaged in the storm. He wrote to Cecil, I have never dared to rest since my wrecks, and, God doth judge, I never for these ten days came so much as into bed or cabin. Essex contrived to send to Raleigh by a pinnace, a message to follow him to the islands, and there at last they met again off the island of Flores. Sir Christopher Blunt, a bitter opponent of Raleigh's, and certain other officers had been doing their utmost to excite Essex's anger against Raleigh by making all kinds of insinuations as to his doings. Sir Arthur Gorgias, who was with Raleigh, gives an account of their meeting and says that the Urals seemed the joyfulest man living for our arrival. He told Raleigh the many conjectures and surmises that had been vented of his absence, and with all named to him some of those men who had taxed him secretly with strange reports, yet pretended to love him. According to Gorgias, Essex felt very high esteem for Raleigh. In his, Essex's, greatest actions of service, and in the times of his chiefest recreations, he would ever accept of his consul and company before many others who thought themselves more in favour. From information brought to him by a pinnace just come from the Indies, Essex judged it unlikely that the fleet of Indian men would pass that way. He therefore determined to take possession of some of the islands, and lay them waste as they were the chief places where the Spanish ships coming from the Indies rested and refreshed themselves. Essex and Raleigh were to attack the Isle of Fayowl, which had the best fort, whilst others of the islands were attacked by other commanders. Raleigh's men were still busy getting in water and refreshing themselves on land, when Essex sailed for Fayowl, bidding Raleigh follow as soon as possible. Raleigh followed in all haste and reached Fayowl before Essex. He found it to be a fine town, pleasantly situated on the shore with a strong citadel. The inhabitants as soon as they saw the hostile ships began to take measures for their safety, sending their women and children and as much property as possible up into the country. Raleigh's men were impatient for the attack, but Raleigh knew that Essex would think his dignity deeply wounded if they began before he arrived. They waited two days, their impatience hourly increasing. They were in want of fresh water, and it seemed weary work to wait there cooped up in their little ships when before them lay a fair town and a most delightful country abundantly provided with all they needed. Besides this, the delay was diminishing their chance of booty by giving the inhabitants time to carry off their property. At last, after two days, Raleigh called the Council of War and then it was agreed after much debating to wait one day more and then if Essex did not come to make the attack. The next day was the fourth after their arrival in Fayowl and still Essex did not come, so Raleigh proceeded with 260 men to affect a landing. Some of the Netherlanders who had arrived wished to assist him but Raleigh would not hear of it. As their boats drew near the shore they were greeted with such a shower of shot from the citadel that the men grew dismayed. Even Raleigh's reproachful outcries could not urge them on till he ordered his boatmen to row his own barge full upon the rocks, bidding those follow him who dared. At last a landing was effected and then they were joined by some of the Dutch soldiers so that Raleigh had about six hundred men under his command. He determined to advance straight upon the town and fort instead of trying to gain an easier entrance by a circuitous march, for the day was hot and his men were in urgent need of supplies. As he advanced, however, his men, to Raleigh's great distress, began to break their ranks under the enemy's fire. He determined to try and make others brave by doing that which they dared not do. Accompanied only by eight or ten men he went forward to discover the best way to mount the hill. All the while the shot of the enemy flew thick about him. Sir Arthur Gorgeous, who was with him, had his left leg shot through with a musket-ball, and Raleigh himself was shot through his breeches and doublet sleeves in two or three places. When he had found out all he wanted he gave orders for his men to follow him. He expected an engagement outside the town, but the enemy retired at his approach, and on entering the town he saw that the inhabitants had fled, taking with them all they could. The English found it a very pleasant town with beautiful gardens full of fruit and plenty of fresh water. Here they reposed all night. The next morning before break of day the Earl of Essex was seen bearing down with full sail upon the town. As soon as possible those amongst Raleigh's companions who were jealous of his fame hastened on board the general's ship and did their utmost to fill him with anger at Raleigh's presumption in attacking the town before his arrival. It was not difficult to rouse Essex's jealousy, and when Raleigh, who had put off from the town and his barge, landed on board the general's ship, he was received on all sides with estranged looks, and the Earl, after giving him a faint welcome, began at once to up braid him with his breach of orders. Raleigh defended his conduct and managed to pacify Essex a little. His enemies however did their utmost to fan the quarrel, saying that Raleigh ought to be tried by court-martial and lose his head for disobedience to the general's orders. The wise words of Lord Thomas Howard finally brought about a reconciliation, though Essex never seems to have got over his irritation against Raleigh for carrying off all the glory of this island voyage as it was called. Before leaving Fayowl they fired the town, and after waiting about a little longer in hope of falling in with the Indian fleet they proceeded homewards. On the way back several prizes were captured, but the luck was not with Essex. The chief prizes fell into Raleigh's hands, and Essex came home in a jealous and disappointed frame of mind. The expedition had been a failure. The Spanish fleet at Fayowl had not been destroyed, and the Indian men had not been captured. The only success had been won by Raleigh, who was now taken back into full favour by the Queen. Essex on the contrary was greeted with reproaches for the failure of the expedition. The elevation of the Lord High Admiral Charles Lord Howard of Effingham to the dignity of Earl of Nottingham was a new and bitter grievance to Essex. As he was now also an Earl, Howard was able, as Lord High Admiral, to take precedence over Essex, and Essex could so little endure this that he kept away from court and council altogether. He did not try to disguise his anger and so roused the Queen's indignation, but she could not get on without him for long, and many attempts were made to pacify him. At last Essex was made Earl Marshal of England, which gave him back his old precedence over Nottingham who retired from court and disgust. Before Essex returned to England, the Spanish fleet actually sailed from Fayowl with the object of making a descent upon the English coast, but the same storm which met Essex and Raleigh on their way back from the Azores, scattered and in great part destroyed the Spanish fleet, which was obliged to put back to Fayowl. In 1598 Elizabeth's chief enemy, Philip II, died at the age of 71. His great schemes had not succeeded. He had lost the Netherlands and had failed to establish the power of his house. He had expended such enormous sums of money in the furtherance of his schemes that in spite of the wealth he received from his colonies he left his country financially ruined. After his death, the power of Spain and Europe steadily though slowly declined. But it was formidable enough and the voices of Essex and Raleigh were still for war. Burley and others hoped to establish a lasting peace which might diminish the Queen's difficulties in Ireland, where the rebels always looked to Spain for help. Early in 1598 Henry IV of France had made peace with Philip II and France under a king of Ugano blood, if no longer of Ugano faith, was at last enjoying the blessings of peace and toleration. Elizabeth had long carried on the struggle against Spain and she too, in her old age, wished for peace. But Irish difficulties were again pressing on her and there were many debates in council how they should be met. Raleigh had thought much on Irish affairs and knew more about the difficulties of government in Ireland than most men about the Queen. She often asked his advice, but she would not make him what he so much wished to be, a member of her council. Raleigh longed to shine as a statesman and would undoubtedly have done so had he been permitted, but the jealousy of his enemies kept him from holding any important office in the state. In the debates in council on Irish affairs Essex expressed his opinions with violence, especially in the discussion about filling up the vacant office of Lord Deputy. On one occasion, when the Queen would not listen to him, he so far forgot the respect he owed her as to turn his back upon her in contempt. This was too much for Elizabeth, who in a fit of rage gave him a box on the ear and bade him go and be hanged. Essex laid his hand upon his sword, exclaiming that he would not have put up with such an affront, not at the hands of Henry the Eighth himself and left the court in a passion. Before long a reconciliation was brought about, but it is said that Elizabeth never quite forgot the affront. On August 4, 1598 she lost her faithful and well-tried servant William Cecil Lord Burley, who died at the age of seventy-eight, having served Elizabeth for forty years. During the whole of this time he had been her chief adviser and guide, the very soul of her policy. His death left her lonely, surrounded by younger men whose enthusiasm she could not share, who had not gone through the days of struggle, difficulty, and danger with her. England was going on and leaving her behind. It was no longer the England she had known and loved, and guided through storm and peril. The results of her work were beginning to be seen, but she could not understand them. Men were thinking of her successor, and though she herself would not allow the subject to be discussed, she knew that it was in everyone's thoughts. Essex, the man she most loved, treated her rudely and contemptuously, and yet she still clung to him. She tried to disguise her age by paint and false hair. She is described by a foreign ambassador about this time as having an oblong face, fair but wrinkled, her eyes small yet black and pleasant, her nose a little hooked, her lips narrow and her teeth black. She had in her ears two pearls with very rich drops. She wore false hair and that red upon her head a small crown. Her bosom was uncovered, as all the English ladies have it till they marry. She had on a necklace of exceeding fine jewels. Her hands were small, her fingers long, and her stature neither tall nor low. Her air was stately, her manner of speaking mild and obliging. She was dressed in white silk bordered with pearls of the size of beans, and over it a mantle of black silk shot with silver threads. Her train was very long, the end of it born by a Marchioness. Instead of a change she had an oblong collar of gold and jewels. But false hair and fine dresses could not make Elizabeth a young beauty, and we cannot wonder that Essex was always fretting against the change in which she tried to hold him and struggling after a more active life which would better suit his ambitious spirit. At last it was determined to send Essex himself as Lord Deputy to Ireland with an army of 22,000 men to quell the rebellion of the Earl of Tyrone. It was thought that there Essex would find a field for his warlike energies. He himself went rather unwillingly. He was afraid of what his enemies might do in his absence. But the people with whom he was always a favorite on account of his princely generosity greeted his appointment with enthusiasm and hoped great things from it. Since the defeat and death of the Earl of Desmond Ireland had been nominally at peace. But the severity of the government and the cruelty and exactions of the soldiers had fostered the spirit of discontent amongst the Irish. Spanish agents and Jesuits in disguise had done their utmost to increase this discontent. Ireland was then, as it has ever been, England's most vulnerable point, and it was very important to Spain to keep Ireland in an unsettled condition. At last, in 1592 the discontent broke out in the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, round whom gathered the northern tribes. Elizabeth had done her utmost to secure the fidelity of Hugh O'Neill. He had been partly educated at the English court, and she had given him the Earl of Tyrone. For a time he had been a faithful supporter of the government, but when his power increased he determined to assert his independence. His rebellion had now reached such formidable proportions that it was absolutely necessary to suppress it, and this was the work with which Essex was entrusted. By his conduct in Ireland, Essex disappointed everyone's hopes. His orders had been to proceed at once against Tyrone, but he spent three months in desultory warfare before he marched against him at all. Then his soldiers were so dispirited by sickness that he did not venture to risk a battle. He concluded an armistice with Tyrone against express orders, and hastened back to England, trusting to his popularity in favour with the Queen, to prevent his conduct from being too severely censured. There were rumors of a renewal of the war with Spain, and this made him doubly anxious to be in England again. On his arrival at court he burst in upon the Queen when she least expected him. In her surprise she received him at first with affection, but presently ordered him to his apartment and expressed her displeasure at his disobedience of her orders. Essex's enemies now had a real charge against him. They even accused him of having made a treaty with Tyrone with a view of obtaining his aid in a projected rising. His conduct was examined by the Council, and he was committed to custody. The Queen was extremely irritated against him. She said, I am no Queen, that man is above me. Who gave him command to come here so soon? I did send him on other business. Finally Essex was deprived of his offices and bidden to live a prisoner in his own house during the Queen's pleasure. He allowed his anger against the Queen to vent itself in violent language, which when repeated to her only increased her irritation. His enemies were always at hand to prevent any relenting on her part. Raleigh and Cecil were probably both equally anxious to bring about Essex's ruin. They seemed to have been on very good terms with one another at this time. We find that Cecil's young son was being educated at Sureborn with Raleigh's son Walter under the care of Lady Raleigh. At one time Raleigh seems to have feared lest Cecil might be persuaded to relent towards Essex, and he wrote a letter warning Cecil in strong language against such a course. I am not wise enough to give you advice, he writes, but if you take it for good counsel to relent toward this tyrant you will repent it when it shall be too late. His malice is fixed and will not evaporate by any your mild courses, for he will ascribe the alteration to her Majesty's pucilanimity and not to your good nature, knowing that you work but upon her humor and not out of any love toward him. The less you make him the less he shall be able to harm you and yours, and if her Majesty's favor fail him he will again decline to a common person. Lose not your advantage, he concludes. If you do I read your destiny. This letter is that of a clear-sighted ambitious man who allows no scruples to stand between himself and the attainment of his purposes. Raleigh, Cecil, and Cecil's brother-in-law, Lord Henry Cobham, were looked upon as the chief enemies of Essex at court, and for the time their influence was supreme. In 1600 a monopoly for the sale of sweet wines possessed by Essex fell in, and the Queen did not renew it. Essex seems then to have lost all hope of returning to favor. He determined to risk everything and trusting to his popularity to attempt by force to regain his old influence and state affairs. He seems to have cherished a wild plan of seizing the Queen's person and ruling in her name. He summoned his friends to Essex House and there held frequent conferences with them, till at last the government grew alarmed and summoned Essex to appear before the Privy Council. He excused himself on the ground of indisposition and seeing the suspicion with which he was looked upon determined to make his attempt at once. The force of the conspirators was too small to enable them to attack the court, but the plan was that Essex at the head of two hundred gentlemen should ride through the streets of the city and stir up the people to rise in his favor and deliver him from his enemies, especially from Raleigh and Cobham, who he asserted constantly threatened his life. The night before this desperate attempt, Raleigh, who was then in his townhouse, Durham House, in the Strand, sent for Sir Fernando Gorgias to come and speak with him. Gorgias had served often under both Essex and Raleigh and was now one of the conspirators in Essex House. Essex paid him go and see Raleigh, only he advised him not to go to Durham House but to meet Raleigh on the Thames. Sir Christopher Blunt, another of the conspirators, advised Gorgias to take the opportunity of killing Raleigh, advice which Gorgias scornfully rejected. Durham House had gardens and stairs running down to the Thames, and Raleigh came out in a boat alone to meet Gorgias, who came from Essex House, which was also on the Thames, bringing two gentlemen with him. Raleigh's object seems to have been to try and detach Gorgias from the conspiracy, and he advised him to depart the town presently. But Gorgias replied that it was too late, that there were two thousand gentlemen who would resolve that day to live or die Freeman. He bade Sir Walter go back to the court, for he was like to have a bloody day of it. They parted after a fruitless interview and Raleigh rode back in haste, for a boat came from the stairs of Essex House containing some of the Earl's servants who had orders either to seize or kill Raleigh. The next morning, 8 February 1601, Essex made his foolish attempt. Some of the members of Council came early to Essex House in the hope of stopping the rising peaceably, but they were kept as hostages. Essex opened his gates, and riding out at the head of two hundred gentlemen made his way into the city. There were shouts of, for the Queen, my life is in danger. He tried to rouse the citizens to arms. He told them that his life was threatened by the daggers of Raleigh, Cecil and Cobham, and that he wished to free the Queen from the evil councilors by whom she was surrounded. But the people simply gazed in amazement, and no one stirred. At last Essex plainly saw that his cause was desperate. He made his way back to his house, and that night was obliged to surrender to the Earl of Nottingham. The next morning he was taken to the tower. End of Section 15 Section 16 of Life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Louise Creighton. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Recording, by Pamela Nagami. Chapter 9. Last Days of Elizabeth. Part II In a few days Essex was brought to trial for high treason before a body of twenty-five peers. One of his chief associates, the Earl of South Hampton, Shakespeare's patron and friend, was tried with him. Both pleaded not guilty. Essex tried to defend himself by accusing others. He asserted that Raleigh and Cobham had meant to murder him in his own house. He said of Cecil that he favoured the claim of the Spanish and Fanta to the English Crown. With greater justice he accused Francis Bacon, who appeared against him as Queen's Council of Perfety and Basin Gratitude. Francis Bacon was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, who had been Elizabeth's Lord Keeper till 1579, and had been amongst the greatest of the statesmen who gathered round her throne. His death had called back his son Francis from Paris, where he was completing his education in the house of the English ambassador Sir Amius Polet. Francis had wished to devote himself to literature and politics, but he had no private means, and the death of his father left him without a friend in the government from whom he could hope for advancement. It is true that Lord Burley was his uncle, for Burley and Sir Nicholas Bacon had each married one of the learned daughters of Sir Anthony Cook. But Burley was anxious for the advancement of his own son Robert, who was just the same age as Francis and looked with jealousy on his nephew, in whom he could not fail to see far greater genius than in his own son. At last Francis found a friend and patron in the Earl of Essex. Essex never did anything by haves, and he proved a very warm friend. Bacon had devoted himself to the study of the law. When the office of Attorney General fell vacant, Essex did his utmost to procure it for Bacon. When that was filled up, he tried to get him the office of Solicitor General. When he failed in this too, he tried to make up for it by personal kindness. But no remembrance of the past prevented Bacon from agreeing to appear as counsel for the prosecution at Essex's trial. He had no wish to injure Essex, but he had a strong fear of injuring his own prospects. He did not want to ally his fortunes with those of the fallen favorite, and not content with abstaining from appearing as his friend. He did his utmost to blacken his character. In his speech at Essex's trial he employed all his wit and talent to set the Earl's conduct in the worst light possible. Essex was condemned on the same principle which had led to the conviction of the Duke of Norfolk and Mary Queen of Scots, the principle that every attempt at rebellion must be looked upon as directed against the life of the ruling sovereign. Elizabeth went through a hard struggle before she could make up her mind to sign his death warrant. But she who had allowed the execution of Mary Queen of Scots could not now go against the laws of England to save the life of the man she loved best. Before he was brought to execution, Essex was led by the influence of religion to confess his guilt, and he made known a correspondence in which he had been engaged with the King of Scots. From this it appeared that he had managed to gain James to his side by affirming that Cecil and others were preparing to maintain the Spanish claim to the succession. This probably greatly aggravated Elizabeth's anger against him, for though she must have known that James VI of Scotland would be her successor, she would never acknowledge him as such, and in general hated any allusion to the succession. Essex was executed on the 25th February 1601. The life of the Earl of Southampton was spared, but he was kept a prisoner in the tower for the rest of Elizabeth's reign. Sir Christopher Blunt and three other followers of Essex were also executed. At Blunt's execution Raleigh was present in his capacity as Captain of the Guard. Blunt had been one of Raleigh's bitterest enemies, and now before he laid his head on the block he asked, is Sir Walter Raleigh here? And when Raleigh came forward he said, Sir Walter Raleigh, I thank God that you are present. I had an infinite desire to speak with you to ask your forgiveness ere I died, both for the wrong done to you and for my particular ill intent toward you. I beseech you, forgive me. Raleigh answered, I most willingly forgive you, and I beseech God to forgive you and to give you his divine comfort. Raleigh's chief adversaries at court were gone, but he did not on that account gain a more important position in state affairs. In September 1600 he had been made Governor of Jersey, and he set out at once to visit the island. Lady Raleigh wrote to Cecil about his journey. He was two days and two nights on the sea with contrary winds, notwithstanding he went from Weymouth with so fair wind and weather, as little what and myself brought him aboard the ship. He righteth to me he never saw a pleasanter island, but protesteth unfainately it is not in value the very third part that was reported. Raleigh did not look upon his governorship as a sinecure, and did all he could to increase the prosperity of Jersey. He busied himself with securing the fortifications of the island, he founded a trade between Jersey and Newfoundland, and did his utmost to remove the abuses and oppressions of its government. In 1601 Raleigh went with the Queen on progress. He seems to have left her and come back to London to receive the French ambassador, the Duke of Buron, who had been sent over to consult with the Queen about new aggressions on the part of the Spaniards. From London Raleigh writes to Cecil, I am glad I came hither, for I never saw so great a person so neglected. He proceeded to do his utmost for the entertainment of the French envoy. We have carried them to Westminster to see the monuments, and this Monday we entertained them at the Bear Garden which they had great pleasure to see. As soon as horses could be provided, the Duke of Buron was taken to the vine, a country house near Basing in Hampshire, where the Queen was staying. Here the Queen caused them to be magnificently entertained. Plate and hangings were brought from Hampton Court to make the house fit for his reception. Elizabeth had hoped that a personal interview between herself and Henry IV of France at Dover might have been arranged. Henry sent instead his most trusted minister, the Duke of Sully, to discuss with Elizabeth the means to be taken against Bane and the House of Austria generally. In 1601 Elizabeth opened her last Parliament. The people had not forgiven her the death of her favourite Essex, and as she passed through the streets on her way to the house she was not greeted with the same enthusiastic shouts as of old. The world seemed very gloomy to her, for she had never got over the shock of her favourite's conspiracy and death. The tone of the Parliament which now met must have helped to show her that a new state of things was beginning which she was not able to meet. She could not understand the result of her own work. She had by her caution gained for her people the means of living in freedom, and now they wished to use the freedom which her rule had developed. But her proud Tudor spirit found it next to impossible to bow before the will of Parliament. Till now by strict economy she had managed to be almost independent of parliamentary grants, and so had asserted her superiority over Parliament. Now large supplies were needed for the Irish Wars, and the knowledge that the Crown required these supplies gave Parliament more courage in speaking out than it had shown before in this reign. Raleigh had been in Parliament since 1585. He had soon begun to take an active part in the business of the House, and had made himself very useful on committees. When the question of the subsidies came on, he spoke strongly on the necessity of granting liberally, seeing that Spanish forces were actually in Ireland, and that, the sale of Her Majesty's own jewels, the great loans her subjects have lent her yet unpaid, the continual selling of her lands and decaying of her revenues, the sparing even out of her own purse and her own apparel for our own sakes will not serve. All were agreed that the subsidy must be granted, but there was some little difference as to how it was to be levied. Cecil talked loudly of the willingness which everyone should show to contribute. Neither pots nor pans nor dish nor spoon should be spared when danger is at our elbows. He would have the King of Spain know how willing we are to sell all in defence of God's religion, our Prince, and our country. Bacon concluded a speech with Dolci's tractus parijugo. It is easy to draw with equal yoke. Therefore the poor as well as the rich ought not to be exempted. Raleigh showed his far-sightedness and his sense of justice by his answer. I like it not that the Spaniards, our enemies, should know of our selling our pots and pans to pay subsidies. Well may you call it policy, as an honourable person alleged, but I am sure it argues poverty in the state. And for the motion that was last made, Dolci's tractus parijugo, call you this parijugum, equal yoke, when a poor man pays as much as a rich, and per adventure his estate is no better than it is set at, or but little better, while our estates are three or four pounds in the Queen's books, and it is not the hundredth part of our wealth. Therefore it is neither Dolci's nor par. Unfortunately the sum of money wanted was so large that it had to be levied from both rich and poor. When the question of the subsidy was settled the house proceeded on the twentieth November to make a complaint against monopolies. These monopolies were the means by which the Queen rewarded her favourites and were heavy burdens upon the people. The growing boldness of parliament is shown by its daring to raise its voice against them. One member spoke, of a country that groaned under the burden of monstrous and unconscionable substitutes to monopolitons of starch, tin, fish, cloth, oil, vinegar, salt, and what not. Raleigh rose to answer as regarded tin and stated that since he had held the office of Lord Warden of the Stannery's, the wages of the workmen in the tin mines had increased from two shillings a week to four shillings. There is no poor that will work there but may and have that wages. But he ended by saying, yet, if all others may be repealed, I will give my consent as freely to the cancelling of this as any member of this house. The advisors of the Crown met the complaints by saying that the granting of monopolies was a branch of the prerogative. But the house was determined. A petition on the subject was sent to the Queen who saw the wisdom of giving way. She promised to revoke all illegal patents, and her concession was received by the house with extravagant rejoicings. Her promise, however, does not seem to have been strictly carried out. On several occasions during this session Raleigh spoke out strongly for the freedom of the individual. An act was brought in to compel men to sow a certain proportion of hemp on their land, and Raleigh, speaking on this point, said, For my part I do not like this constraining of man to manure or use his ground at our wills, but rather let every man use his ground to that which it is most fit for, and therein use his own discretion. The bill was thrown out, and later on it was proposed to repeal the Bill of Tillage, made in a time of dearth, according to which every man was obliged to plow the third part of his land. Raleigh spoke in favour of the repeal. Many poor men, he said, are not able to find seed to sow so much ground as they are bound to plow, which they must do, or incur the penalty of the law. Besides, all nations abound with corn, and therefore I think the best course is to set it at liberty and leave every man free, which is the desire of a true Englishman. These statements sound to us like truisms, but they were by no means looked upon as such in those days of monopolies, protection, and over-busy legislation on all points. Raleigh himself by no means fully adopted the principles of free trade. In this same parliament he spoke in favour of restraining the export of ordnance, saying, I am sure here to afford one shipper for majesties was able to beat ten Spaniards, but now by reason of our own ordinance we are hardly matched one by one. I say there is nothing does so much threaten the conquest of this kingdom as the transportation of ordnance. The same man who spoke so strongly for repeal of the statute of tillage was in favour of a bill forbidding the export of ordnance. Raleigh also spoke with much force on a bill for the more diligent resort to church on Sundays. He opposed the bill and showed how it must remain a dead letter, unless an enormous amount of work were thrown on the church wardens who would have to appear at the assizes to give information to the grand jury. He calculated that about four hundred and eighty persons would have to appear at each assize on this subject. What great multitudes this will bring together, he exclaimed. What quarreling and danger may happen, besides giving authority to a mean church warden, how prejudicial this may be. The bill was finally thrown out by one vote. Whilst Parliament was debating the question of the subsidy a new deputy Lord Mountjoy was subduing the rebels in Ireland. He defeated the joint forces of the Spaniards and Irish and compelled Tyrone to submit. Tyrone's final submission came in immediately after Elizabeth's death. She had been failing in mind and body ever since the execution of Essex. To the last she persisted in taking her usual exercises of hunting and riding, and when in March 1603 she grew really ill, she refused to take any sustenance or go to bed. Her kinsman, Robert Carey, went to visit her about this time, and says that he found her sitting low upon her cushions. She took me by the hand and rung it hard and said, No, Robin, I am not well. And in her discourse she fetched not so few as forty or fifty great size. I was grieved to see her in this plight, for in all my lifetime I never knew her fetchest sigh, but when the Queen of Scots was beheaded. On the 23rd of March she grew speechless, and on Thursday morning her spirit passed away, after she had been supposed to indicate by signs that she wished James VI of Scotland to succeed her. So died the great Queen. She had done her work well and nobly, though she could not understand or enter into its results. Whatever may be said of her personal failings it is at least clear that she had guided England wisely through troubleous times. How she had strengthened the people's character was to be seen in ways she little dreamt of. In the struggle for freedom against Charles I. END OF SECTION XII. A few hours after Elizabeth's death a meeting was held at Whitehall consisting of the privy councillors and such peers as were in London, the Lord Mayor, and a few other persons. To them Cecil submitted a proclamation which he had prepared announcing the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England. As Elizabeth had never married the direct line of Henry VIII came to an end at her death. All through her reign much anxiety had been caused by uncertainty about the succession. Elizabeth could never be persuaded to name her successor. At first this policy was wise, especially during the lifetime of Mary Queen of Scots. The recognition of a Catholic successor would have given a dangerous head to the intrigues of Spain. The recognition of any successor at all would have created a centre for malcontents and would have weakened the Queen's position. But toward the end of Elizabeth's reign much anxiety might have been spared had the Queen clearly recognised James VI of Scotland as her successor. Still the thought of any successor was distasteful to her. She was afraid lest if she acknowledged the claim of James VI he would try to interfere with English affairs, and so she adhered to the policy which had become a habit to her. But her refusal to consider the question of the succession could not keep her subjects from doing so. It was discussed in secret. Books were written about it, and many intrigues were carried on. Many different claims were put forward. Essex had accused Cecil of favouring the claim of the Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip II. But this claim, though it was a good deal talked about, obtained no countenance except from some of the most violent Catholics. It had been put forward by them because they saw no other chance of getting a Catholic sovereign. To find any grounds for her claim they had to trace her descent from Eleanor, daughter of Henry II, who had married Alfonso IX of Castile. Few even of the Catholics would have been willing to recognise a claim such as this which ignored the rights of the House of Tudor, and would have handed over England to a foreigner. The real question lay between the Houses of Suffolk and of Stewart, which both sprung from Sisters of Henry VIII. The parliamentary title belonged to the House of Suffolk. An act of Parliament had given Henry VIII the right of disposing of the succession by will, and he had declared in his will that after his own children and their issue the crown should pass to the House of Suffolk. This will led to the ill-fated attempt to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne. After her execution the claim of the House of Suffolk passed to her sister Catherine and then to her son Lord Beecham. But this claim had been rendered doubtful by uncertainty as to the validity of his parents' marriage. In reality, after the death of Mary Queen of Scots had removed all fear of the succession of a Roman Catholic, little doubt remained as to the right of the House of Stewart. The House of Stewart derived its claim from Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII's sister, who had married James IV, King of Scotland. James VI of Scotland was the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor. From time to time the claim had been advanced of another descendant of Margaret's by her second marriage with the Earl of Angus. This was Arabella Stewart, the second cousin of James VI. An opinion was held by some on legal grounds that her claim was the better because she had been born in England. But she was without ambition for herself and her claim was never seriously brought forward. It was indeed nothing but a burden to her by making her an object of suspicion first to Elizabeth and then to James. It is not strange that amidst these various claims men had looked forward to the death of Elizabeth as likely to produce serious disturbances. James himself had never dared to hope that he would succeed peaceably. He had tried to prepare the way for his succession by making a party for himself in England and with this view had entered into correspondence with Essex and others and had shown himself ready to take any steps which might ensure his succession. His correspondence, of course, took this opportunity of laying stress upon their own importance and the use they might be to him and of blackening the characters of their rivals at court or in the government. One of the chief of these correspondence was Lord Henry Howard, Raleigh's bitterest enemy and a man who thought no lie too base to be uttered if he could only do harm to an enemy or advance himself. In his letters he indulged in the most venomous slanders against Raleigh and managed to fill James's mind with suspicion and fear of him. Amongst others Robert Cecil entered into correspondence with James. He thought it wise to prevent him from taking any foolish steps with a view to ensuring his succession. He told him that if he would remain quiet and do nothing rash his succession would follow as a matter of course. Others had been prejudiced against Cecil by Essex who had always maintained that Cecil favored the title of the Infanta. He was now delighted to find him among his friends. He listened to his advice and quietly bided his time. Their correspondence was kept secret from Elizabeth but the knowledge of Cecil's support sufficed to keep James from taking any unwise steps. News was at once sent to Edinburgh of Elizabeth's death and of the proclamation of James. All suspense was soon at an end for by the 5th of April letters were received from James confirming all officers in their places till he could reach London. James set out from Edinburgh on the 5th April. On his way south every country house was thrown open to him and all kinds of festivities were prepared for his amusement. The English gentry accustomed to the elaborate manners which Elizabeth liked her courtiers to display must have been a little shocked at the appearance and manners of James. His ungainly figure, his rolling guac, his spluttering way of talking were the reverse of kingly whilst his broad Scottish pronunciation offended English ears. But he was good humor then full of desire to rule his kingdom well. Delighted with the warm reception with which he was met, he did his utmost to make himself agreeable to his new subjects. James was now in his 37th year and up till this time had been kept entirely under the power of the Presbyterians in Scotland. Still smarting under the restraints which he had endured at their hands, he came away from Scotland with a strong dislike to Presbyterianism and a decided leaning to Episcopalianism. He had very considerable intellectual powers and his ambition was to be regarded as the most learned man in the two kingdoms. His knowledge and reading especially in theology were considerable. He was pedantic, but in those days when the revival of learning had opened up again the study of the Greek and Latin languages, knowledge was apt to make, even the greatest student's pedantic. The new learning had not yet been brought into a court with actual life. The possession of it seemed to make a man something apart from his fellows. James was shrewd and possessed of strong common sense. He could read other men's characters, he could trace the causes of disorder and disturbance, and could lay down principles of calm wisdom which he did not always apply to his own conduct. He was constitutionally timorous and had no sympathy for the spirit of enterprise, the love of energy and activity which Elizabeth had encouraged in her subjects. He wished to bind men to him by personal favours and get them to do his will, not to take men as he found them and give them opportunities for using their abilities for the good of their country. He was himself incapable of a strong enthusiasm or of a noble passion, and could not understand it in others. He had not the practical wisdom that enabled Elizabeth to choose out men of merit for state employment, to get every man about her to do his best to distinguish himself in the eyes of his sovereign and his country. He had a high estimation of the royal power. It was in his reign that the idea of the divine right of kings grew up. He wished above all things to advance the monarch in England. He disliked Parliament, for as he once said, five hundred kings were assembled there, and he thought it his duty to resist its power. His influence on the fate of England was very great, for his views gave the tone to the policy of the House of Stuart, a policy which the Englishman whom Elizabeth unconsciously to herself had helped to nurture in the love of freedom could not endure.