450 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 110. 



" Then departed with another ship, also for our 

 Rear-admirall, called the Roe, whereof W. Hawes was 

 Captaine ; and a fine pinnesse also, called the Dorothie, 

 which was Sir Walter Raleigh's." 



It therefore follows, that the pinnace might have 

 joined them immediately before the 17th of 

 August, a date too late for our purpose. Nay 

 more, the only authority for Mr. Lodge's state- 

 ment, that the vessel was commanded by Sir 

 Walter, rests upon the words which I have put in 

 Italics ; his name is not mentioned in the subse- 

 quent account of the expedition, although, on the 

 7th of February, 1587, it was found necessary to 

 hold a council of war, at which no less than eighteen 

 officers assisted, all of whom, beginning with the 

 admiral, are named. Raleigh's name does not 

 occur ; and is it conceivable that he, if present in 

 the fleet, would have been absent on such an 

 occasion? This therefore affords one additional 

 instance in which Raleigh was presumed to be 

 present merely because he fitted out a vessel. 

 Being inconclusive as a positive piece of evidence 

 on the main question, my chief reason for refer- 

 ring to it was to show how hastily some writers 

 make assertions, and how probable it is that 

 " Theobald and others" went upon similar grounds 

 in their statement as to Raleigh's having visited 

 Virginia. In justice to Mr. Lodge, I must men- 

 tion that the error into which he fell with respect 

 to Raleigh, in his sketch of the life of the Earl of 

 Cumberliind, is not repeated in his biography of 

 Raleigh, in which it may be supposed he was 

 more careful. Raleigh's having concerned himself 

 sometime in July or August in fitting out a vessel 

 for Cumberland's expedition, imdoubtedly forms 

 part of that chain of evidence alluded to by 

 Schomburgk, tending to prove his continued resi- 

 dence in England in 1586. I feel inclined, how- 

 ever, to search for positive evidence on the point. 

 In the very valuable collection of letters entitled 

 tlie Leicester Correspondence, published for the 

 Camden Society in 1844, 1 find his name occurring 

 several times. On the 29th of March, 1586, 

 Raleigh writes "from the court" to the Earl of 

 Leicester, at that time in the Low Countries : he 

 states that he had moved the Queen to send 

 Leicester some pioneers, and found her very 

 willing ; but that since, the matter had been 

 stayed, he knew not for what cause. He then 

 goes on to protest against certain rumours which 

 had been afloat as to his having been acting a 

 treacherous part with the Queen against the Enrl. 

 Leicester had been in some disgrace with her 

 Majesty, and Raleigh in a postscript says : 



'' The Queen is in very good tearms with yow, and, 

 thanks be to God, well pacified, and yow are agayne 

 her 'sweet Robyn.' " 



On the 1st of April the Queen herself writes 

 to Leicester a letter, which will repay perusal. 



And on the same day, Walsingham, at the express 

 instance of the Queen, signifies to Leicester that 

 Rawley, "upon her honor," had done Leicester 

 good offices ; and that, during the time of her dis- 

 pleasure, he dealt as earnestly for him as any 

 other of his friends. All this shows Raleigh in 

 high favour and standing at the court ; and it is 

 most improbable that he could, at such a moment, 

 absent himself no less than three months from it. 

 These letters appear to have been unusually long 

 in reaching Leicester ; in the early part of April 

 he complains of not getting letters from the 

 Queen, and on the 27th a great many reached 

 him all at once. On the 31st of May, Leicester 

 writes to Walsingham, and speaks of Rawley's 

 pioneers ; saying that he had written to him say- 

 ing that they were ready to come. This could 

 not refer to Raleigh's letter of 29th of March, 

 because in it he states that the matter had been 

 stayed ; it must refer to one of a later date, which 

 does not appear, but which was written, in all 

 probability, some time on in May ; it could not 

 have been in Leicester's possession on the 29th of 

 May, because on that day he writes to Walsing- 

 ham, and mentions the same subject ; namely, 

 his wish for a reinforcement of 1000 men, which 

 led him to speak of Rawley's pioneers on the 31st. 

 With regard to the time it took to communicate 

 with Leicester, he was at the Hague on the 30th 

 of July, and on that day he knew of Drake's 

 arrival at Portsmouth, stated in Hakluyt's ac- 

 count of Drake's voyage to have taken place on 

 the 28th ; although it is true, Governor Lane, 

 who came home in the fleet, says the 27th of the 

 same month. This was very speedy communica- 

 tion ; but the arrival of Drake, and the results of 

 his enterprise, were looked for with the utmost 

 anxiety by the English ministry ; and, no doubt, 

 their satisfaction on the subject was communicated 

 to Leicester by a rapid express. On the 9th of 

 July we find AValsingham writing to Leicester : 



" And lastly, that yt shall in no sorte be fyt for her 

 Majestye to take any resolutyon in the cause until 

 Sir Francis Drake's returne, at lest untyll the successe 

 of his vyage be seene ; wheruppon, in verry trothe, 

 dependethe the lyfe and death of the cause according to 

 man's judgment." 



In a letter from Burleigh to Leicester, dated 

 20th of June, 1586, occurs the following : 



" In Irland all thynges are quiet, and a nombre of 

 gentilmen of Somersett, Devon, Dorcet, Cheshyre, and 

 Lancashyre, are making themselves to go to Monster, 

 to plant two or three thousand people, mere English, 

 there this year." 



In a note to this, Mr. Bruce, the editor, states, 

 that Stow records the names of the honourable 

 and worshipful gentlemen who made the attempt 

 to colonise Munster, and names, amongst others, 

 Sir Walter Raleigh. It was on this occasion that 



