IMPERFECT COLONIZATION 37 



from the Queen's head ; and what must be done must be done 

 quickly for the ' wings of Man's life are plumed with the feathers 

 of death '- 1 Seven months later Sir H. Gilbert received so did his 



a patent to discover, inhabit, build on, fortifv, own and rule^^' 



15/0, 



(subject to the Crown and to the Crown's claim to one-fifth 

 of gold and silver) lands not possessed by friendly Christian 

 powers. His settlements were to be made within six years; 

 and in accordance with the petition of 1574 no settlement 

 might be made within two hundred leagues thereof without 

 his licence. He had power to make laws, and acts of self- 

 defence were authorized ; but acts of ' unjust or unlawful 

 hostility ' would be punished by restitution or outlawry, 

 a clear reference to the aggressive proposal of the preceding 

 year. The present journey was referred to as a 'journey for 

 discovery ', and there is a mysterious reference to a future 

 ' journey for conquest '.- 



' The first attempt by our nation to plant', as Haie calls it, 3 and n:-^ 

 was made by Sir H. Gilbert in 1578, and involved a short n voya g e 

 sea-trip, 'the loss of a tall ship,' and an ignominious return J 57^j 

 home, and men were ' sorry that so forward a mind hath so 

 backward a success'. 4 The proposal of 1577 was in binary and the 

 form like a sonata, and implied a northern settlement in or ^ "^' ^ 

 near Newfoundland and a southern settlement in or near the into a 

 West Indies; and Sir H. Gilbert soon assigned the projected ^nd south- 

 northern settlement to partners, reserving the projected em plan. 

 southern settlement to himself. But the partners, who were 

 to start first, did nothing. In 1583 he prepared a scheme 

 under which, if adventurers assisted immigrants, they should 

 be given land by way of bounty, and, if England assisted 

 immigrants, its costs should be repaid by the immigrants or 

 the colony. In the same year he sold some of his rights to 



1 State Papers, Elizabeth, Domestic Series, vol. cxviii, No. 12. 

 - Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, vol. viii, pp. 17, 20. 

 '' E. Haie, Report of the Voyage by Sir II. Gilbert, Hakluyt , 

 Principal Navigations, vol. viii, p. 34. 

 4 Historical MSS, Commission. Hatfield MSS., Uct. 17, 1578. 



