RALEGH. 



Ricliai'il Greenville, Ralet;h's relarion. During this voyage 

 they took poflenion of tlidt tradl of country which has bivii 

 fo famous, by the name bellowed upon it by queen Eli/.a- 

 beth, and not given, as it has been generally fuppofed, by 

 Ralegh, of Virginia. After expending a large fum in re- 

 peated attempts to repair the misfortunes that had happened 

 to tlie newly ellablifhcd colony, he affigned over his patent 

 to a company, referving to liimlelf only a portion of the 

 expefted gold and filvcr ore. This enterprife probably 

 made England liril acquainted with tobacco, and alfo con- 

 ferred upon it the much greater benefit of introducing the 

 culture of the potatoc, lirlt praftifed on Ralegh's eftate in 

 Ireland. 



About this time he was chofen knight of the fliire for 

 the county of Devon, and very foon after the queen con- 

 ferred upon him the honour of knighthood, an honour which 

 fhe did not render cheap by prollituting it. In the year 

 1585 lie fitted out another fleet for Virginia, in which he 

 had good fuccefs, his ihips, in their return, taking a prize 

 worth 50,000/. He was likewife concerned in captain 

 Davis's undertaking for the difcovery of the north-well 

 paflage, on which account a promontory in Davis's ftreights 

 was called Mount Ralegh. For thefe public-fpirited and 

 expenfive projetfs, the queen was pleafed to make him fonie 

 profitable grants ; particularly two, the firll giving him 

 authority to liccnfe the retailers of wine throughout the 

 kingdom, and the other of a feigniory in Ireland, confiiling 

 of twelve thoufand acres, which he planted at his own ex- 

 pence, ,'.nd many years after fold to Richard Boyle, the 

 firfl; earl of Cork. In 1586 he was appointed fenefchal of 

 the duchies of Cornwall and Exeter, and lord-warden of 

 the ftannaries ; and fo high did he feem rifing in the queen's 

 favour, that the favourite minifler, the earl of Leicefter, 

 took the alarm, and brought forward the earl of Eflex as 

 his competitor. But her majcity's partiality was fully jufti- 

 fied ; it was, in this inllance, extended to a man, -who at all 

 times purfued whatever appeared to him conducive to the 

 public good, how little foever it turned to his private ad- 

 vantage. " With juilicc, therefore," faj'S Campbell, " was 

 the wife queen EUzabcth liberal to fuch a man, who, what- 

 ever he received from her bounty with one hand, bellowed 

 it immediately in afts glorious to the nation with the other." 

 In the year preceding the attempt of the famous Spanilh 

 armada, fir Walter was captain in the queen's guard, and 

 her lieutenant-general for Cornwall. In the latter capacity 

 he was aftive in difciphning the militia of the county ; and 

 he was one of the council of war to whom the conlideration 

 of the beft means of oppofing the dangers of that mo- 

 mentous period was committed. When the armada appeared 

 in the Channel, he was one of the gallant volunteers who 

 nobly joined the Englilh fleet with fliips of their own, and 

 had a (hare in the defeat of the enemy. In 1589 he was 

 among thofe who accompanied the expelled king of Por- 

 tugal in his attempt to reinllate himfelf. The queen fliewed ■ 

 her continued approbation of his fervices, by making him 

 gentleman of her privy-chamber, and augmenting the profits 

 of his other places. This laft was no fmall favour in 

 Ralegh's eftimation, for though in many refpetts of an ele- 

 vated mind, foud of glory, fplendid and liberal, he was 

 'likewife intent upon gain, and neglefted no fource of emo- 

 lument which his court interell placed within his reach. 

 He did not fcruple, we are told by fome of his biographers, 

 though the fail is not noticed by Campbell and others, to 

 take direft bribes for the exertion of his influence ; and he 

 is faid to have received no lefs than ten thoufand pounds for 

 procuring a pardon for Mr. Littleton. See Biog. Brit, 

 article Littleton.' 



On his return from his Portugal voyage he vifilcd his 

 Irifh cftales, and there either formed or renewed his ac- 

 quaintance with the poet Spencer, who celebrates him under 

 the title of the " Shepherd of tlie Ocean," and acknow- 

 ledges the obligation of having firft made him known to the 

 queen. To his Fairy Queen he likewife prefixed a letter to 

 R'jlegh, explanatory of its plan and dcfign. The patronage 

 of literature was one of the beft traits in the public charac- 

 ters of an age, in which meannefs was fingularly mixed with 

 heroifm. The naval enterprizes of the reign of Elizabeth 

 were for the moft part predatory expeditions, fet on foot by 

 individuals for their private benefit, and encouraged, though 

 but feebly aided, by the crow^n. In 1592 fir Walter Ralegh 

 engaged in a conlidcrable undertaking of this kind, with a 

 view of attacking Panama, and intercepting the Spanifh 

 Plate fleet. He fitted out thirteen fliips, by himfelf and 

 his aflbciates, which were joined by two of the queen's men 

 of war, and he was appointed general of the whole fleet. 

 Scarcely had he fet fail when he was recalled by his fove- 

 reigii ; proceeding, however, to Cape Finillerrt, he divided 

 his fleet into two iquadrons, with cruizing ordero, and then 

 returned. One of the fquadrons fell in with a ricli carrack, 

 the capture of which was the only inllance of fuccefs which 

 attended the expedition. His ardour for war was (hewn by 

 his fupport in parliament of a motion, that certain fubfidie's 

 granted to the crown fhould be for the exprefs purpofe of 

 carrying on a war ofFenfive and defenfive againfl; Spain. To 

 undermine h\<- credit with the queen. Paribus, a Jefuit, pub- 

 liflied a libel againil him, charging him with Atheifm ; the 

 queen is faid to have imbibed fome prejudice againil him on 

 tliis account, but he incurred her heavy difplcafure by an in- 

 trigue with one of her maids of honour, tiic daughter of. fir 

 Nicholas Throgiiiorton. The confequences of tiiis amour 

 brought a fcandal upon the court of the virgin queen ; and 

 though he made the beft reparation in his power, by marry- 

 ing the lady, his offence was punillied by an imprifonment 

 in the Tower of fome months, and a fubl'equent banifliment 

 from the queen's prefence. 



During his imprifonment he projected an expedition for 

 the difcovery of the empire of Guiana, which had already 

 been vifited by the Spaniards, and the extent and opulence 

 of which had been the fubjeft of many marvellous tales. 

 Having obtained fome preliminary information, from an old 

 navigator whom he difpatched for the purpofe, he embarked 

 in perfon, in the month of February IJ95, with a fquadron 

 of (hips fitted out at a great cxpencc, and failed to the ifland 

 of Trinidad, where he made himfelf mafter of the town of 

 St. Jofepli ; he then proceeded up the great river Oroonoko, 

 but was obliged by the heat of the weather, and tlie diffi- 

 culties of the navigation, to return, with doing nothing 

 more than merely taking poffellion of the country in her 

 majefty's name. Unwilling to return without appearing to 

 have done fomething, he publilhed a work, entitled " Difco- 

 very of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana :" 

 which was evidently the refult of a fertile imagination rather 

 than of real obfervation, and which Hume ftigmatizes as a 

 produilion " full of the groffeft and moft palpable lies that 

 were attempted to be impofed on the credulity of mankind." 



Sir Walter had fo far regained the good opinion of the 

 queen, that he had a naval command in the expedition 

 againft Cadiz, in 1596, under the earl of Elfex and lord 

 Effingham. In the attack he was one of the leaders of the 

 van, and by his valour and prudence contributed a full fhare 

 to the fuccefs of the glorious aftion. In the following year 

 he failed as rear-admiral in the expedition of which Eflex 

 was commander-in-chief, and the purpofe of which was to 

 intercept the Spaniffi Weft India fleet. Arriving firft with 



1 1 his 



