SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 15 



daring explorer of the Orinoco ; the hero 

 of the siege of Cadiz and the capture of 

 Fayal ; and then Elizabeth died, and 

 James the First, with his big head, slob- 

 bering mouth, codfish eyes, spindle 

 shanks, his want of dignity, his drunk- 

 enness, his affectation of learning, and his 

 rank cowardice, came to the throne. 

 He had hardly filled the chair left vacant 

 by Elizabeth before Raleigh's star began 

 to sputter like a midnight candle, and 

 Cecil, his former chum, began to poison 

 the king's mind against him. Cecil did 

 his backcapping work so thoroughly, in 

 1603, when Raleigh was fifty-one years 

 of age, that James had the former 

 favorite stripped of nearly all his honors 

 and rewards. 



The world is always full of Cecils, 

 Jameses, and (comparative) Raieighs. 



Every man who reads this, knows 

 that. 



But worse followed, thanks to the 

 reptile Cecil : Raleigh was charged with 





