Dec. 6. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



451 



the poet Spenser got bis grant of 3,028 acres in 

 the county of Cork, which " is said to be dated 

 June 27, 1586." So the Rev. Mr. Mitford, in his 

 life of Spenser, prefixed to the Aldine edition of 

 his poems (1839) ; and although he seems uncer- 

 tain as to the date, there can be no doubt but that 

 it is correct. Now I think that most people will 

 agree with me in thinkino; that the whole of this, 

 Raleigh's movements so far as they can be traced, 

 his position at court, and the busy and stirring 

 nature of the time, make it altogether improbable 

 that Raleigh was absent in the month of June, 

 1586, on a voyage to Virginia. Hakluyt's not 

 mentioning that he was in the vessel, would of 

 itself be convincing to my mind, knowing the 

 extent of his information on all subjects connected 

 with Raleigh, and his minute and painstaking 

 accuracy. Knowing, however, that this was the 

 voyage in which Raleigh was stated to have 

 visited Virginia, I have thought it worth while to 

 search for more positive evidence. How far I 

 have succeeded may be seen, but it is open to 

 others to fix the fact of Raleigh's having been in 

 England within the time I have limited. As a 

 hint to go upon, I may mention that Babington's 

 conspiracy was known to the English ministry on 

 the 9th of July, although the conspirators were 

 not apprehended until a month after ; if Raleigh 

 could be shown to have had any share in the dis- 

 covery of the plot, his presence in England in the 

 beginning of July, 1586, would be established 

 beyond all doubt. 



I have already been more than sufficiently te- 

 dious on the subject of the voyage of this little 

 bark ; what I have brought forward however bears 

 more or less upon the question as to Raleigh having 

 visited Virginia: I am clearly of opinion that on 

 this occasion he did not. I cannot refrain, how- 

 ever, from adding a word or two of purely specu- 

 lative conjecture. There is something rather sus- 

 picious in Drake visiting Virginia with the whole 

 of his armament, and losing time in doing so, when 

 the whole nation, from the queen downwards, was 

 on the very tenter-hooks of anxiety for intel- 

 ligence of him and of his success. The question 

 arises, was it a rendezvous ? and did the " bark of 

 aviso" bear other and more important despatches 

 than those addressed to Master Ralph Lane ? 

 Might not its arrival a day or two earlier have 

 directed Drake to strike a blow at some defence- 

 less but important part of the Spanish empire, 

 deadly in pro[)ortion to its being unexpected ? 

 These are questions wliicli I can in no wise answer, 

 but they have arisen in my mind ; and if it were 

 80, we might lie fain tobelievc, in spite of everything 

 that I liave been able to bring forward, tliat Ra- 

 leigh was indeed on board his gallant little bark, 

 but that, the mark not having been hit, the attempt 

 was kept secret. It must not be forgotten that at 

 that time, with the exception of this little colony, 



England had not a rood of land in the New World. 

 However, I must remember that history ought not 

 to deal in conjecture. 



About fourteen or fifteen days after the de- 

 parture of the bark, Grenvill made his appearance 

 with the other three vessels. After making every 

 search he returned home, leaving fifteen men on 

 the Island of Roanoke. Subsequent expeditions 

 found no traces of these men excepting the bones 

 of one of them. No one has ever asserted that 

 Raleigh was on board of this fleet. 



Nothing daunted by these failures — 

 " In the yeere of our Lord 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh, 

 intending to persevere in the planting of his countrey 

 of Virginia, prepared a newe colonie of one hundred 

 and fiftie men to be sent thither, under the charge of 

 John White, whom hee appointed Governour, and also 

 appointed unto him twelve assistants, unto whom he 

 gave a charter, and incorporated them by the name of 

 the Governour and Assistants of the Citie of Raleigh 

 in Virginia." — Hak. vol. iii. p. 280. 



This colony, owing to contentions with the na- 

 tives and other causes, did not thrive ; and in 

 August of the same year White was, much against 

 his wish, induced to return to England for assist- 

 ance. He failed in his first attempt to go back 

 with aid. In 1593 he gives, at Hakluyt's request, 

 an account of a voyage he made thither in 1590, 

 but which quite failed in its object. The men 

 with whom he embarked showed a greater dispo- 

 sition towards buccaneering, than to assist him in 

 his search fijr the unfortunate colonists. He found 

 traces of their having gone to the Island of Croatan ; 

 but his associates would not prosecute the search, 

 and poor White, with a sad heart, was obliged to 

 leave them, if they even then survived, to their 

 fate. From that day to this no intelligence has 

 ever been got as to what became of them. 

 This voyage was made, if not uuder Raleigh's 

 auspices, at all events with his assistance. It has 

 been supposed by some that this voyage of White 

 in 1590 was the last attempt made by Raleigh to 

 succour his colonists — he has even been reproached 

 with it. This, however, was not the case. At 

 p. 1653. vol. iv. of Purchas, a very brief account 

 is given of a ship having been purchased by Ra- 

 leigh and sent out under the command of — 

 " Samuel! Mace (a sufficient marriner who had been 

 twice before at Virginia), to fynd out those people 

 which he had sent last thither by Captain White in 

 1587." 



The ill success of the previous attempts to com- 

 municate with the colony seems to have been 

 ascribed to the practice which prevailed in that 

 day of engaging seamen for the voyage with a 

 share in the profits ; this Raleigh attempted to 

 remedy by hiring "all the cumpanye for wages by 

 the month." I quote from Strachey's Virginia 

 printed by the Ilakluyt Society from an original 

 MS., whose statement bears undoubted marks of 



