I V.;,v- K Cornell University Library B1197 .N21 Lord Bacon and Sir Waiter Raleigh. By th olln 3 1924 029 010 135 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402901 01 35 LORD BACON SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ^rinteU 6b iWtttalft atiB ^^almct FOR MACMILLAN AND Co. lonUon: GEOEGE BELL. J3u6Un: hodges and smith. ^£tl{n6utg'&: edmonston & douglas. ffilaagotn: james maclehose. ©XforS: J. H. PARKER. LORD BACON SIR WALTER RALEIGH. BY THE LATE MACVEY NAPIER, Esq. EDTTOH OP THE EDiyBUEGH EEVTEW AND OF THE ENCTCLOP^ffiDIA BBITANNICA. MACMILLAN AND CO. 1853. NOTICE. The following Essays are to be regarded only as sketches of more extensive works projected by tbeir author. That on LoRD Bacon was read, in 1818, to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, from whose Transactions it has been reprinted. It is not so much an exposition of his philosophy, of which it gives only a slight and general outline, as an attempt to trace and determine its influence, both in this country and on the Continent. The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh appeared some years ago in an article in the Edinburgh Review, of which Mr. Napier became the Editor on the retirement of Lord Jeffrey in 1829. A complete biography of Raleigh could not be comprised within its ne- cessarily circumscribed limits; but it will be found to contain a pretty full account of all the more 11 NOTICE. remarkable events of his career, with an estimate of his public and literary character, founded on ori- ginal information derived from unpublished sources, and on a careful examination of all the printed authorities. LORD BACON. The obligations of experimental physics to the labours of Lord Bacon have been largely acknow- ledged by the generality of those who have treated of the history of Modem Science; insomuch, that the title of Father of Experimental PMlosopTiy has been oftener conferred upon him ' than upon any other of its benefactors. There are some, however, who seem to think, that there is no good ground for honouring him with this title, either on account of the merits or the effects of his writings. They do not indeed deny, that his views of the proper objects and method of philosophizing were exten- sive and just; but they contend that he had no peculiar merit in having stated these views; that all that he taught was virtually and more effectually B 2 LORD BACON. taught by some of his contemporaries; and that there are no traces of his agency to be found m the discoveries that followed.* These opinions, though they are to be met with in respectable books, and in the conversation of intelligent men, seem to involve no small portion both of error and misconception. It cannot be denied, indeed, that, at the time when Bacon wrote, there was a growing tendency to abandon the ancient systems, and that some successful essays had been made in that course 9f inquiry which he recommended; but, on the sther hand, it appears to me equally clear, that his labours for the advancement of Science were of such mportance, and productive of such results, as to entitle him to a pre-eminent station among its early * " Atqui Verulamius ille, qui Grermauae Philosophise Eesti- ;utor, quin etiam, si Superis placet, Parens a Briikero aliisque labetur, quid aliud in Anglia prsestitit, nisi, ut, qua ratione jhilosophari deberemus, eo tempore admoneret, quo GalUseus iadem ipsa ratione philosophari jam in Italia coeperat, ac CEeteris, It idem facerent, non modo verbis, varum et rebus ipsis gravis- iimus auctor esset?" — Fabroni, Vitee Italorum doctrina excel- entium qui aceeuUs xVii. et x.Yiti. Jloruerunt, i. 223. " C'est Galilee," says a Frencli philosopher of the pre- lent day, "qui a montre I'art de I'uiterroger par 1' experience. 3n a souvent attribue cette gloife a Bacon; mais ceux qui lui in font honneur, ont ete (k notre avis) un peu prodigues d'un )ien qu'il ne leur appartenait peut-etre pas de dispenser." 3iographie Universelle, Art. Galileo ; written by M. Biot. LORD BACON. 6 reformers and promoters. It is the object of this paper to offer some remarks, and to collect some proofs, In support of these views; but, as much has been already written in illustration of the merits, and but little in illustration of the effects produced by his philosophical writings, I shall content myself, at present, with a slight indication of their general scope, and shall devote the greater part of this paper to the proofs of their influence. In order to clear the way for this inquiry, I shall begin with a few remarks on a late estimate of Bacon's philosophy, which is of so depreciatory a character as to be remarkably at variance with almost all that has been hitherto written on that subject. And this estimate is the more worthy of notice, that it has obtained a place in a Literary Journal of great respectability, which is supposed to speak the sentiments of the English Universities in matters of philosophy. It is pretty weU. known that Bacon's writings have been recently commented upon by two of our most eminent philosophers : by the one, in reference to their connexion with the Philosophy of the Mind ;* * See Mr. Stewart's Dissertation on the Progress of Meta- physical and Ethical Philosophy, prefixed to the Encychpadia Britannica, b2 4 LORD BACON. and by the other, in reference to their connexion with the Material World * Both of them represent Bacon as the first who clearly pointed ont the legitimate rules and ends of philosophical inquiry; and both consider his writings as fixing a new and important era in the history of modern science. The observations made by the former have been examined at considerable length in an able article of the journal referred to ; and the following passage contains the sum of what is there advanced in regard to the scope and character of Bacon's philosophy. ' The topic on which Mr. Stewart chiefly dwells, ' while panegyrizing the Philosophy of Bacon, is ' the respect which it pays to the limits^ the laws^ ' and resources of the human understanding; and this ' is surely the most extraordinary topic of any which ' he has selected. There is scarcely a page in the ' Novum Organum, that does not furnish a contra- ' diction to it. So little, indeed, can Bacon be con- ' sidered as having risen in any great degree above ' the age in which he lived, with respect to his ' views as to the proper aim of philosophy, or the ' proper limits of the human understanding, that he * See Professor Playfair's Dissertation on the Progress of Mathe- matical and Physical Science, prefixed to the same work. LORD BACON. 5 ' even goes so far as to give us formal receipts for ' the making of gold, and performing other prodigies, ' which he tells us he judges very possible. With 'the exception of the disciples of Raymond LuUy ' and Jordano Bruno, the extravagant speculations in ' which Bacon wished to embark philosophy ., had been ' long abandoned by sober inquirers.^* * Quarterly Review, No. xxxiii.— The author of this article seems to have been anxious to find some great names to counte- nance his opinion of Bacon's philosophical writiags. "What his success has been in this attempt, the following extract will show. ' I remember, said Sir Joshua Reynolds, that Mr. Burke, ' speaking of Bacon's Essays, said, he thought them the best ' of his works. Dr. Johnson was of opinion, that their excellence ' and their value consisted in their being observations of a strong ' mind operating upon life ; and in consequence you find there * what you seldom find in other works.' — Account of Sir Joshua Reynolds, prefixed to Malone's edition of his Discourses. ' We are glad,' the Reviewer adds, ' to be able to defend our ' opinions concerning the inferior merits of Bacon's philosophical ' writings, compared with his other works, from the charge of ' singularity or presumption, by sheltering ourselves under the ' authority of such names as Burke and Johnson.' It is observable, that, so far as Dr. Johnson's authority is con- cerned, he does not appear, in the conversation referred to, to have made any comparison whatever between Bacon's Essays and his other works : he only made a remark descriptive of the Essays, in which every one who has perused them will reafUly concur. Besides, the Reviewer ought to have known that Johnson has, in one of his papers in the Adventurer, represented Bacon as the only modem worthy of being compared in -a philosophical point of view with Newton ; thereby showing that he must have held the philosophical works of the former in the highest possible degree of estimation. Great as the excellence of the Essays LOUD BACON. It is to be wished that this writer had explained us, to what delusion it has been owing, that so ny enlightened persons have, for more than a itury and a half, concurred in extolling Bacon his endeavours to withdraw philosophy from :travagant speculation,' and to give it a di- tion and a method, calculated to improve the idition, as well as the knowledge, of mankind. ,ve they all been in error, and must Bacon be ,nded with ignorance of the business of philoso- i^, and the limits of the understanding, merely sause he has speculated upon the possibility of king gold? Is this circumstance enough to es- lish any affinity between the general aims of his losophy and the extravagant pursuits of the Al- rmists? A very few words will suffice upon this nt. There can be no doubt that Bacon did believe in possibility of discovering the means of converting er substances into gold; a belief which — so far m being abandoned by all ' sober inquirers,' as loubtedly is, it is difficult to believe that such a man as Burke Id deliberately rate them as of higher merit them the De rmentis Scientiarum and Novum Organum. Surely some better Jence of this is required than the scrap of conversation so ch relied on by the Reviewer. LORD BACON. 7 this writer imagines — was entertained by Boyle, and some other experimentalists, and not greatly discouraged even by Newton, at a period when experimental philosophy was much farther ad- vanced.* There was no man of his day more thoroughly apprised than Bacon of the follies of the Alchymists, or who has mentioned them in terms of stronger ridicule and reprobation, f He nowhere holds out the making of gold as a prime object of philosophical inquiry; on the contrary, he pointedly censures the Alchymists, with whom he has been so absurdly classed, for directing their main views to such an object. | The belief which he enter- tained of the possibility of making gold, had a very different foundation from that upon which it rested among this fantastical fraternity. With him, it formed part of his general belief, that the essences of all material substances were capable of being discovered by the inductive process. It was • There is a curious letter upon this subject 6om Newton to Mr. Oldenburg, Secretary of the Royal Society, printed in the account of Boyle, in the Historical Dictionary, His remarks apply wholly to a particular process of transmutation, and not to the impossibility of the thing itself. See General Historical and Critical Dictionary jm.. 558. ■(■ See Novum Organum, Lib. i. Aph. 85, 87. j Ibid. Lib. i. Aph. 70. 8 LORD BACON. a belief which flowed from his exalted notions of the yet untried resources of experimental science. There was then no sufficient stock of experience to authorize any one to lay it down as an established principle, that the knowledge of these essences is placed beyond the reach of scientific discovery. It is not very surprising, therefore, that Bacon should believe that a series of skilfully conducted expe- riments might ultimately lead to the detection of the nature or essence of gold; and that having thus discovered its constituent nature, it would then be possible to superiaduce it upon other substances. There is nothing in all this to impeach bis respect for the laws and limits of the human understand- ing. He recommended no inquiry upon any other principles than those of induction; and he proposed no object to philosophy, which anything but experi- ence could shew to be unattainable. But we are farther told that there is scarcely a page in the Novum Organum which does not aiford proofs of Bacon's ignorance of the laws and limits of the understanding; and that his miscel- laneous philosophical pieces seem to have been written in express contempt of them.* Had this • Quarterly Review, No. xxxiii. LORD BACON. 9 writer contented himself with stating, that there are many things in Bacon's miscellaneous pieces, which show that he was not exempt from credulity ; that his understanding, resplendent as it was, bore some staias of the scurf and scum of an ignorant age ; or had he only stated that Bacon's meta- physical notions are sometimes vague and unsound, and his use of language fanciful and uncertain, his observations might have been allowed to pass un- noticed as neither new nor objectionable. But when he goes so far as to charge the Novum Or- ganum with everywhere manifesting ignorance of the fundamental conditions of philosophical rea- soning, the only conclusion that can be adopted in regard to such an assertion is, that it has pro- ceeded from a very slender acquaintance with the work Lq question. For my own part, I confess myself wholly unable to conceive, how any man of ordinary judgment can read the Novum Organum with ordinary attention, without carrying away an impression directly the reverse of that of Bacon's ignorance and disregard of the laws and limits of the human understanding. The first sentence of the work contains an emphatic declaration of homage to these very laws: Homo Naturae minister et inter- 10 LORD BACON. pres, tantum facit et intelUgtt, quantum^ de NaturcB ordine., re vel mente observaverit ; nee anvplws SGit^ aut potest. The grand lesson which it everywhere inculcates is, that all false philosophy had sprung from the too high notions hitherto entertained of the powers of the mind, which led to the disregard of the only means by which true knowledge can be obtained. Causa vero, et radix.^ fere omnium malorum, in scientia ea una est, quod dum mentis humancB vires falso miramur et extoUimus, vera ejus auxilia non quoeramus. Bacon saw more clearly than any preceding inquirer, the folly of supposing the mind capable of explaining the constitution of Nature by means of principles of its own invention, and reasonings a priori ; and his great aim in the Novum Organum was, to withdraw philosophy from such airy speculations, and to employ it in a way more suitable to its purposes, and the limited nature of our faculties. Employed in this way, that, namely, of inductive inquiry, he showed that phi- losophy would greatly extend the compass of our knowledge, and multiply the instruments of our power. The truth is that this writer is, after all, con- strained to make an admission, which of itself suf- LOBB BACON. 11 ficiently proves the groundlessness of his general censure of Bacon's philosophy. 'That the rules ' of investigation which it lays down, are wise and ''salutary with reference to physics^ we are happy,' says he, 'to admit.'* Now, the Novum Organum is almost whoUy occupied with the exposition and illustration of these very rules; and yet it is said to manifest disrespect ' in every page' to the laws and limits of the understanding, and a total igno- rance of the purposes of science. It would prove a rather perplexing task, I should imagine, to show how any one could methodize a set of ' wise ' and salutary rules of investigation with reference ' to physics,' who had no sound views of the nature and objects of philosophical inquiry. There must either, in short, be something in the nature oi physics to take that branch of knowledge out of the general category of philosophy, or it must be absurd to say, that Bacon could unfold the true principles of physical investigation, he being at the same time ignorant of the nature and aim of genuine science. His rules with respect to phy- sical inquiry were 'wise and sahitary,' precisely because they were conformable to the laws and * Quarterly Review, No. xxxiii. 12 LORD BACON. limits of the human understanding; because 'he ' saw well,' to use his own words, ' that the sup- ' position of the too great sufficiency of man's mmd 'had lost the means thereof.'* It is besides to be observed, that there is no ground whatever for limiting the wisdom and utility of Bacon's logical precepts to the physical sciences alone. He who admits that they are wise and salutary with reference to physics, must go a step farther, and admit that they are also wise and salu- tary with reference to inquiries regarding the mind. The object of philosophy, and the principles of philosophizing are the same, whether the investi- gation relates to the laws of matter or the laws of mind; and thus the logic of the Novum Organum cannot be useful with reference to the one, without having the same character with reference to the other. It is upon this ground that Bacon himself represents his logic as equally applicable to the advancement of the moral and metaphysical as of the physical sciences. 'Atque quemadmodum vul- ' garis Logica, quae regit res per Sylhgismum^ non 'tantum ad naturales, sed ad omnes scientias per- • Filum Labyrinthi, Works, i. 400, 4to. edit. LORD BACON. ^% 'tinet; Ita et nostra, quse procedlt per Inductionem, ' omnia complectitur.'* With respect to the influence of Bacon's writings upon the progress of physical science, the same writer obseiTres, that it presents a ' point as to ' which it is very difficult to form an explicit opinion. 'But this is sufficiently clear, that if Bacon is to 'he allowed any considerable share ia the honours ' which modem experlmentaUsts have acquired, he 'may, in many respects, be compared to the hus- ' bandman in ^sop's fable ; who, when he died, ' told his sons that he had left them gold buried 'under ground in his vineyard; and they digged ' all over the ground, and yet they found none ; 'but by reason of their stirring and digging the ' mould about .the roots of their vines, they had ' a great vintage the following year.' It would, if I do not mistake the matter, be as difficult to explain, how this simile could assist any one to form a correct opinion upon the point in question, as to explain how Bacon could deliver a wise system of rules for the advancement of physics, without having any just notions of the true nature of phi- losophical inquiry. The object to which Bacon • Novum Organum, Lib. i. Aph. 127. 14 LOBD BACON. directed the attention of his followers^ was the very object he was desirous they should accomplish, the regeneration of philosophy by means of a well- regulated use of observation and experiment. The benefits which accrued to mankind from his direc- tions, were obtained precisely in the way, and were precisely of the kind, which he pointed out and promised. Thus the case of ^sop's husbandman is so far from furnishing an illustration of Bacon's connexion with the advancement of physics, that there is evidently no ground whatever for such a parallel ; and the writer who institutes it only proves that he has altogether mistaken the true bearings of the question. But, before proceeding to state the proofs of this connexion, it will be proper to show somewhat more fully, that Bacon's philo- sophical merit was of the highest kind, and that it was unshared by any other person. Bacon's grand distinction, then, considered as an improver of physics, lies in this, that he was the first who clearly and fully pointed out the rules and safeguards of right reasoning in physical in- quiries. Many other philosophers, both ancient and modem, had referred to observation and experiment in a cursory way, as furnishing the materials of LORD BACON. 15 physical knowledge; but no one, before him, had attempted to systematize the true method of dis- covery; or to prove that i the inductive, is the only method by which the genuine office of philosophy can be exercised, and its genuine ends accomplished. It has sometimes been stated, that Gahleo was, at least in an equal degree with Bacon, the father of the Inductive Logic ; but it would be more correct to say, that his discoveries furnished some fortunate illustrations of Its principles. ■ To explain these principles was no object of his; nor does he manifest any great anxiety to recommend their adoption, with a view to the general improvement of science. The Aristotelian disputant, in his cele- brated Dialogues, is made frequently to appeal to observation and experiment ; but the interlocutor through whom Galileo speaks, now here takes occa- sion to distinguish between the flimsy inductions of the Stagyrite, in regard to the subjects in dis- pute, and those which he himself had instituted; or to hint at the very different complexion which philosophy must assume, according as the one or the other is resorted to. Thus, though Galileo was a great discoverer, it cannot be said that he was distinguished by having taught the principles of 16 LORD BACON. the art by which discoveries are made. That dis- tinction belongs wholly to Bacon. ' No man,' says one of the most eminent of our earlier philosophers, ' except the incomparable Vemlam, has had any ' thoughts of an art for directing the mind in phy- ' sical inquiries.'* Some late writers have, however, contended that this distinction does not belong exclusively to any of the modems.f 'It is an error,' we are told, 'to represent Bacon as professing Ms principle of ' induction to he a discovery. The method of in- ' duction.^ which is the art of discovery^ was so far ^ from heing unknown to Aristotle.^ that it was often ^faithfully pursued hy that great observer. What ' Bacon aimed at, he accomplished ; which was, not ' to discover new principles, but to excite a new ' spirit, and to render observation and experiment ' the predominant character of philosophy. 'j: It is with considerable diffidence that I dissent from the author of the splendid and instructive essay here referred to. But I must be permitted to express * Hooke." Posthumous Works, p. 6. t See some admirable remarks on tMs subject, in the 2nd volume of Stewart's Philosophy of the Mind, chap. iv. sect. 2 On the induction of Aristotle compared with that af Bacon, j Edinburgh Review, No, hii. zonn bacon: 17 some surprise, that he should represent Bacon's aims as having been professedly limited to the revival of a method of discovery which had been well known to, and successfully practised by Aristotle. Nothing can be more certain, than that Bacon rests the whole hopes of his philosophy upon the novelty of his logical precepts;* and that he uniformly repre- sents the ancient philosophers, particularly Aristotle, as having been whoUy regardless of the inductive method in their physical inquiries. He does not, indeed, say that the ancient philosophers never employed themselves in observing Nature; but he maintains that there is a wide difference between observation as it was employed by them, and the art of observing for the purposes of philosophical discovery. ' Alia enim est ratio naturalis historiae, ' quae propter se confecta est ; alia ejus, quae coUecta ' est, ad informandum iateUectum in ordlne ad con- ' dendam philosophiam.'f Bacon does not accuse Aristotle of having always reasoned without re- ference to facts ; but he contends that Aristotle has nowhere laid down rules for aiding and regu- lating the understanding in the process of discovery * Novum Organum, Lib. i. Aph. 82. 96, 97, 125. t Ibid. Lib. i. Aph. 98. 18 LORD BACON. by means of facts ; and that the use which he has made of them in his philosophy, is very different from the use which is made of them in the philoso- phy of induction. ' lUe enim prius deer ever at ^ neque ' experientiam ad constituenda decreta et axiomata 'rite consuluit; sed postquam pro arbitrio suo de- ' crevisset, experientiam ad sua placita tortam cir- ' cumducit, et captivam.' * It should always be recollected, that Bacon's call was not merely for observation and experiment, but for observation and experiment conducted according to certain forms and rules, which were first delineated by him, and constitute the body of the inductive logic. There may be nothing in this logic that can be called a discovery in the strict sense of the word; but the statement of its precepts was certainly a great step ia the advancement of science. It would require a complete analysis of the Novum Organum to furnish an adequate idea of the value of Bacon's services in this important de- partment of philosophy ; but the fundamental rules of his method may be comprehended ia a few sentences. They seem all to be founded upon the following principles: first, that it is the business * Novum, Organum. Lib. i, Aph. 63. LORD BACON. 19 of philosopliy to discover tlie laws or causes that operate in Nature, in order thereby to explain ap- pearances, and produce new effects:* next, that we are incapable of discovering these laws or causes in any other way than by attending to the circum- stances in which they operate : and, lastly, that the mind is naturally disposed to run into general conclusions, and to form systems, before having made all the inquiries necessary to truth. In con- formity with these principles, he shows that all sound philosophy must proceed from facts ; that the facts in every case must be carefully collected and compared ; and that in aU our reasonings about them, the natural tendency of the mind to gene- ralize must be carefaUy repressed. The spurious method of induction is that which proceeds suddenly from particulars scantily collected or ill examined * Novum Organ. Lib. i. Aph. 117. Thiougliout the whole of the first book, the object of science is represented to be the discovery of Axioms, by which term Bacon evidently means those general laws or truths which form the basis of our physical reasonings. Newton, as Mr. Stewart observes, has, after Bacon's example, applied the term Axiom to the laws of motion, and to the statement of certain general truths in Catoptrics and Diop- trics. See Philosophy of the Mind, U. chap. 4. Those who are engaged in the study of the Novum Organum, will derive valuable information and assistance from this part of Mr. Stewart's work. C2 20 LORD BACON. to the most general conclusions. The trim method is that which lays a wide basis in observations and experiments, and generalizes slowly; advanc- ing gradually from particulars to generals, from what is less general to what is more general, till the inquiry ends in truths that appear to bo uni- versal.* Nothing could be more encouraging or ani- mating than Bacon's recommendations of this plan of inquiry. Though he held that the noblest end of philosophy is the discovery of truth,t he taught that there is a correspondence between this and another end, also of great dignity, — the improve- ment of the outward accommodations of human lifi^ lie showed that, when the principles of science should really be derived from the knowledge of Nature, their discovery would prove bciMtfiiijil to ninii, as well in respect to the iiicrciise of lils potm'.r as of his kwnnh'iliie ; hvxr.uwv, tlic, principles so discovered would lead to new iiivc^ntidiiH in the useful arts, and to new rules for the iin])r()vc)iuMit • Novum Organ. Lib. i. Aph. 100, 101, 102, 103, lOd 106 t Ibid. Aph. 124, 129. He talu'S Homo pains liore and eleo- whero to guard against the supposition that he valued Kcioticf only as it was calculated to augment the outward accommoda- tions of life. LORD BACON. 21 of all tlie operative paiis of knowledge. He en- deavoured to stimulate the spirit of inquiry, by representing the field of scientific discovery as almost whoUy uncultivated, and by assurances that it only required to be cultivated with attention to his rules, to yield an endless increase of knowledge and of inventions. ' Let it be believed,' says he, ' and appeal thereof made to time, tcith renuncia- ' tion, nevertheless, to all the vain and abusing pro- ' mises of the Alchy mists, and such like credulous ' and fantastical sects, that the new found world of ' land was not greater addition to the old, than ' thei'e remalneth at this day a world of Inventions ' and Sciences imknown, having respect to those ' that are known, with this difference, that the ' ancient regions of knowledge will seem as bar- ' barons compared to the new, as the new regions ' of people seem barbarous compared to many of 'the old.'* It Is in these confident anticipations of the future triumphs of science, so often repeated as encom-agements to its faithful prosecution, that we perceive the grandeur and reach of his views. His predictions of improvement were not the vague or casual sm-njlses of a happy enthusiasm ; they • O/the Interpretation of Nature, cha^.i. "Works, i. 376. 22-^ LORD BACON. were evidently grounded upon an enlightened con- viction that the business of philosophy had hitherto been mistaken, and that her labours would prosper when they should be employed with constancy and skill upon their legitimate objects. Is it not unreasonable to doubt the utility of a system of logical instructions, in which the true art of discovery was, for the first time, explained? These instructions were offered at a period in every respect opportune. There was a growing dis- position to revolt against the Schools, and a wise leader was wanted to raise the standard of reform, and to give a salutary direction to the pursuits of those who should emancipate themselves from their authority. The improvement of some branches of physics was already in part begun; but there was no general agreement as to the rules of inquiry. The truths which Bacon taught are now, It is true, known, and their authority acknowledged by all; but this was far from being the case in the early part of the seventeenth century. One of the most intelligent of his friends, Sh- Thomas Bodley, to whom he submitted an early sketch of his plan, appears to have been wholly unable to distmguish between the loose procedure of the empirics and LOBD BACON. 23 that Regulated procedure which it recommends. 'As * for that,' says he, ' which you inculcate of a know- ' ledge more excellent than now is among us, which ' experience might produce, if we would but essay ' to extract it out of Nature by particular proba- ' tions ; it cannot, m reason, be otherwise thought, * but that there are infinite numbers which embrace ' the course that you propose, with all the diligence ' and care that ability can perform. I stand well ' assured,' he concludes, ' that for the tenor and ' subject of your main discourse, you will not be ' able to impannel a substantial jury in any uni- ' versity, that wiU give up a verdict to acquit you ' of error.'* But that which places the importance of Bacon's logical instructions in the strongest light, is the fact, that one of the most celebrated of his contemporaries, who also professed himself a re- former of philosophy, employed the better part of his life m. teaching doctrines as diametrically op- posite in principle as in tendency. This was Des- cartes. ' Never,' says an eloquent philosopher, ' did ' two men, gifted with such genius, recommend paths ' of inquiry so widely different. Descartes aspired * Sir Thomas Bodley's Letter to Sir Francis Bacon about his coQiTATA ET VISA. Bacon's Works, iii. 242 — 244. 24 LORD BACON. ' to deduce an explanation of the whole system of ' things by reasoning a priori upop assumed prm- ' ciples : Bacon, on the contrary, held that it was ' necessary to observe Nature thoroughly before at- ' temptiag to explain her ways ; that we must ' ascend to principles through the medium of facts ; ' and that our conclusions must be warranted by ' what we observe. Descartes reasoned about the ' World, as if the laws which govern it had not ' yet been established, as if every thing were stiU ' to create. Bacon considered it as a vast edifice, ' which it was necessary to view in aU directions, * to explore through all its recesses and windings, ' before any conjecture even could be safely formed ' as to the principles of its construction, or the ' foundations on which it rests. Thus, the philo- ' sophy of Bacon, by recommending the careftd ob- ' servation of Nature, still continues to be followed, ' whilst that of Descartes, whose essence lay in 'hypothesis, has wholly disappeared,"* Nor was Descartes ignorant of what Bacon had taught as to the principles of philosophizing. It appears, on the contrary, from his correspondence, that he was well acquainted with Bacon's writings; and, in one of * Bailly, Histoire de V Astronomie Modeme, ii. Uv. 4 6 2. LORD BACON. 25 his letters, he 'seems to admit, that provided the Experimental were the true Method, there was no- thing that could be added to increase the utility of Bacon's precepts.* Having made these remarks with a view to point out, in a general way, the nature and importance of those aids and encouragements which Bacon's writings furnished to physical inquiry, I shall now endeavour to show, that the subsequent progress of physical knowledge was greatly accelerated by the effects which they produced. And here I beg to observe, that I have no argument with those who hold that the reformation of philosophy would have taken place, though Bacon had never written ; any more than with those who argue, that physical science owes nothing to him, on the ground of any discovery of importance made by himself, or deduced by others from his suggestions. I have before stated that this reformation was in progress, and that the inductive method had been exemplified in the discoveries of some of his contemporaries. But I contend, that Bacon did more to forward its general adoption than any other person ; because his * Lettres de M. Descartes, iv. 201, Paris edit. 1724. 26 LORD SACON. writings led to the abandonment of the scholastic methods and systems, generated a relish for experi- mental inquiries, and imbued the minds of the in- genious with the views and principles requisite to conduct these inquiries with success. The great reputation which Bacon had acquired from his Essays, a work early translated into various foreign languages; his splendid talents as an orator, and his prominent position in pubhc life, were circumstances strongly calculated to at- tract the curiosity of the learned world to his phi- losophical writings. They accordingly appear to have been early read by the learned at home, and early transmitted to the learned abroad; and it farther appears, that the important truths which they disclosed did not remain long uiiperceived, or barren of consequences. 'Dr. Collins, Provost of 'King's College, Cambridge, a man of no vulgar 'wit, affirmed unto me,' says Bacon's Chaplain, Dr Eawley, 'that after reading the Advancement ' of Learning, he found himself in a case to begin ' his studies anew, and that he had lost all the time 'of his studying before.'* Of his more recondite * Life of Bacon, prefixed to Rawley's Mesmcitatio, or bringing to light several pieces of the Works of Lord Bacon. LORB BACON. 27 work, Ms distinguished contemporary Ben Jonson speaks as follows : ' The Novum Organum is not ' penetrated or understood by superficial men, who ' cannot get beyond Nommals^ but it really openeth ' all defects of knowledge whatsoever ; and is a book ' Qui longum noto Scriptori proroget sevum.'* Sir Henry Wotton, another of the most eminent men of that day, thus warmly expresses his opinion of its merits : ' I have received,' says he, in a letter to Bacon written from Germany, ' three copies of that work, wherewith your Lordship hath done a great and everlasting ienefit to all the children of Nature^ and to Nature herself in her utmost ex- tent and latitude, who never before had so true an Interpreter, or so inward a Secretary of her Cabinet. 't In this letter, Sir Henry gives an in- teresting account of his having accidentally met with the celebrated Kepler, in Upper Austria, to whom, he adds, he was about to send one of his copies of the Novum Organum^ for the honour of England. It is not surprising, that a writer who entertained such sentiments in regard to the importance of * Ben Jonson's DiscOTmes. Works, vii. 100. WhaUey's edition, t Ueliquice Wottoniarun, p. 299, 3rd edition. 28 LORD BACON. Bacon's philosophy, should have been led to predict the speedy downfal of that of the Schools. 'Sir Henry Wotton,' says Dr. Beale, in a letter to Boyle, written about forty years after this period, 'would often please himself in lashing the School- ' men ; and would often declare it as a serious pre- ' diction, that in this age their reputation would ' yield to more solid philosophy.' Dr. Beale adds, that he had himself been weaned from the errors of the Schools, by the early perusal of Bacon's philosophical writings.* In a letter to King James, written about the period of the publication of the Novum Organum^ Bacon states that the Advancement of Learning had been very favourably received in the Universities; and he thence draws the conclusion, that the Novum Organum would also be acceptable to them, because, says he, ' it is only the same argument sunk deeper. 'f In an address presented to him by the University of Oxford, in the year 1623, he is represented as a 'mighty Hercules, who had by his own hand ' greatly advanced those pillars in the learned world, ' which, by the rest of the world, were supposed • Boyle's Works, -n. 355. f Bacon's Works, iii. 584. LORD BACON. 29 'immoveable;'* and this piece of homage, it Is to be observed, was offered at a time when all motives to Interested adulation had been done away by his lamentable fall. These facts seem to show that Bacon's writings had early made a strong impression even in quarters where it was least to be expected. Accordingly we are informed by Bishop Sprat, that when some of those ingenious men who afterwards assisted in forming the Royal Society, began, about the end of the Civil War, to establish a weekly meeting at Oxford for philosophical discussion, they foimd that the new spirit of 'free inquiry' had already made considerable progress among the mem- bers of the University .t When one of Bacon's friends asked him, whether he thought the churchmen likely to oppose his in- tended reformation of philosophy, his answer was — * Tennison's Bacaniana, or certain Genuine Remains of Sir Francis Bacon, p. 206. t Sprat's History of the Royal Society, pp. 53, 328.— This spirit appears to have made still greater progress at Cambridge. GlanviU, who became a student of Exeter College, Oxford, in 1652, ' lamented,' says Anthony Wood, ' that his friends did not send ' him to Cambridge ; because he used to say, that the new phi- ' hsophy, and the art of philosophizing, were more cultivated there 'than here at Oxford.' — Athen. Oxon. ii. 662. — 'After the way ' of free- thinking,' says Baker, ' had been laid open by Lord ' Bacon, it was soon after greedily followed,' See his Reflections 30 LORD BACON. ' I have no occasion to meet them in my way, ex- ' cept it be as they will needs confederate with ' Aristotle, who, you know, is intemperately mag- ' nified by the school-divines.'* We are told by Osbom, a contemporary observer, that the 'school- diviaes' did endeavour to cry down his philosophical writings, by representiag them as favouring atheism.'\ This was their usual mode of warfare when the established tenets of the Schools were attacked by any formidable opponent. The Aristotelians of aU descriptions appear to have early manifested a de- cided hostility to his philosophy ; and their criticisms are sometimes expressed in a way which proves that it had made considerable progress. The examination of his Sylva Sylvarum, by Alexander Ross, now much better known by Butler's sarcastic allusion in Hudibras, than by any of his own multi- farious productions, furnishes a curious example. It was published in the year 1652, that is, about twenty-five years after Bacon's death. ' I have,' on Learning. This work was first published in 1699. The author, who was a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, was deeply read in the history of that TJniversity. His extensive collections ■upon that subject are deposited in the British Museum. * Bacon's Letters to Sir Toby Matthew, Works, Hi. 247, 257. t Miscellany of Essays, Paradoxes, and Discourses — Preface. LORD BACON. says he, ' cursorily run over my Lord Bacon's N ' Philosophy ^1 and find that philosophy is like wi] f the older the better. For, whereas Aristotle hi ' with infinite pains and industry, and not withe ' singular dexterity, reduced all entities into certi ' heads, and placed them in ten classes or predii ' ments to avoid confusion, and that we might, w ' the more facility, find out the true genus and c ' ference of things ; which Aristotelian way hi ' been received and approved by all Universiti ' and the wise men since his time in all ages, ' being the most consonant to reason : yet these A ' Philosophers^ as if they were wiser than all i ' world besides, have, like fantastic travellers, left ' old beaten path, to find out ways unhnown, and hi ' reduced his comely order into chaos ; jimibling ■ ' predicaments so together, that their scholars < ' never find out the true genus of things.'* The ( amples which he adduces in illustration of this c order, are in fact proofs of the growing taste experimental inquiry; and it is clear from the ci text of the whole passage, that Bacon was considei * Arcana Microcoami, or the hid secrets of Man's body • covered; with a refutation of Lord Bacon's Natural Hist p. 263-4. 32 LORD BACON. by the Aristotelians as having been its chief pro- moter. That New PMlosophy which had already pro- duced so much embarrassment among the followers of Aristotle, had also led to the formation of a Philosophical Society, destined, at no distant day, to realize, in some measure, one of Bacon's favourite projects. In his letter to King James, written on the publication of the Novum Organum^ he states that his chief object in publishing the work, before completing it according to his original plan, was, to procure help towards compiling an ' experi- mental history of Nature.'* He more than once alludes, in the work itself, to the great things that might be accomplished in philosophical inquiries, by a conjunction of labours; and in a romance called the New Atlantis, he gives an account of a sup- posed College or Society, magnificently endowed, whose business was the improvement of all de- partments of physical knowledge. To this College he gives the name of Solomon's House. The inten- tion of this piece evidently was, to exhibit a grand and alluring representation of the advantages that might be derived from the cooperation of nimibers * Bacon's Works, iii. 584. LOBB BACON. 33 in scientific pursuits, and of the renown that a Prince might acquire by founding an institution for such purposes. These views and schemes were not for- gotten by his followers. In the year 1645, a society was formed in London, for the discussion of subjects connected with Natural Philosophy, at stated weekly meetings; and the name first given to this society appears to have been that of the Philosophical College* Some of its members being soon after appointed to professorships ui the University of Oxford, a similar society was estab- lished by them iu that place. In the year 1659, the principal members of the Oxford branch havLag returned to London, the two societies were united ; and having, on the Restoration, endeavoured to ob- tain a public establishment, they, in 1662, succeeded in accomplishing that object, and were erected iato a corporate body under the title of the Royal Society. There can be no doubt whatever of the influence of Bacon's suggestions upon the minds of those who planned the establishment of this celebrated Society. Its earliest panegyrists and historians bear testimony * See Boyle's Life, prefixed to his Works, p. 34. This Society was sometimes called the Invisible College. Ibid. pp. 40, 42. D 34 LORD BACON, to this fact. ' Solomon's House, in the New Atlantis, ' was a prophetic scheme of the Eoyal Society.' These are the words of Glanvill, in his address to that body, prefixed to his Scepsis Scientifica, published in 1665.* Bishop Sprat, whose History of the Royal Society, pubHshed in 1667, received its pubhc sanction, ex- presses himself as follows : ' The Royal Society was * The Scepsis Scientifica is a republication, with some additions, of Glan-vill's first work, The Vanity erf Dogmatizing, published in 1661. The 20th chapter of this work contains a very distinct statement of the important doctrine so often ascribed to Mr. Hume, — that we never perceive causation in the succession of physical events; a doctrine which proves the object of physical science to be, not the investigation of the efficient causes of phenomena, but of the general laws by which they are regulated ; and for which statement of its legitimate objects, it is always to be remembered, that physics is indebted to metaphysics. The Aristotelians were provoked by the free spirit of inquiry, and disregard of the authority of their master, which this work displayed; and an answer to it appeared in 1663, in a book entitled Sciri, sive Sceptices et Scepticorum. a Jure dispu- tationis exclusio. The author was Thomas Albius (White), a secular priest of the Romish Church, and a noted Aristotelian. ' Hobbes,' says A. Wood, ' had a great respect for White, and ' when he lived in Westminster, he would often visit him, and ' he Hobbes ; but they seldom parted in cool blood : for they ' would wrangle, squabble, and scold about philosophical matters ' like young sophisters, though either of them was eighty years ' of age. Hobbes being obstinate, and not able to bear contra- ' diction, those who were sometimes present at their wrangling • disputes, held that the laurel was carried away by White.' — Atherue Oxon. ii. 665. The Scepsis Scientifica has, appended to it, a reply to the animadversions contained in White's Sciri upon The Vanity of Dogmatizing . LORD BACON. 35 ' a work well becoming the largeness of Bacon's wit ' to devise, and the greatness of Clarendon's prudence ' to establish.'* Sprat also informs us, that the tract published in 1661 by Cowley, entitled, A Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy^ ' very much hastened the contrivance of the' platform of the Royal Society ; ' and this tract bears internal evidence that its author's views were derived from the New Atlantis. But it is of more importance to show, that the philosophical spirit which actuated the founders of this institution, was chiefly owing to the effects pro- duced by Bacon's writings. And here again I must appeal, in the first place, to the testimony of those to whom we are indebted for all that we know of its early history. The fiillest account of its origin is given by the celebrated mathematician Dr. John Wallis, who was one of those who instituted the weekly meetings held in London in 1645 ; and his narrative distinctly points to Bacon, as having given a beginning to the taste for experimental science in England. 'Our business,' says he, 'was • Copies of Sprat's work were sent, by the Society, to foreign princes, and other eminent persons abroad, in order to furnish them with an authentic account of its history. See Dr. Birch's History of the Royal Society, ii. 207. d2 36 LORD BACON. 'to discourse and consider of things appertaining 'to what hath been called the New Ph-ilosophy ^ ' which, from the times of Galileo and Lord Ve- 'rulam, hath been much cultivated abroad, as well ' as with us in England.'* Sprat always speaks of Lord Bacon as the founder of that experimental school which came to be embodied in the institu- tion whose history he wrote; and the testimony of Mr. Oldenburg, its first Secretary, though a foreigner, is equally explicit. ' The enrichment of ' the storehouse of Natural Philosophy^ was a work,' says he, ' begun by the single care and conduct of the ' excellent Lord Verulam, and is now prosecuted by ' the joint undertakings of the Royal Society.' f Glanvill, whose zeal in defending this Society against the attacks of its enemies, well entitles him * See his Account of his own Life, in a Letter published in the Appendix to Hearne's Preface to Langtoft's Chronicle, No. ix. f Philosophical Transactions, No. xxii., p. 391. Oldenburg frequently alludes to Bacon as the chief promoter of experimental philosophy. ' When our renowned Lord Bacon had demon- ' strated the methods for a perfect restoration of all parts of real ' knowledge, the success became on a sudden stupendous, and eflfec- ' tive philosophy began to sparkle, and even to flow into beams ' of bright shining light all over the world.' — Pref. to Philoso- phical Transactions ior 1672. — 'Many of the chief Universities in ' Christendom have formed themselves into philosophical societies, ' and have largely contributed their aids to advance Lord Bacon's ' design for the instauration of arts and sciences.' — Pref. to Philo- sophical Transactions for 1677. LORD BACON. 37 to respectful notice in the history of philosophy, makes frequent acknowledgments to the same pur- port. The following passage in a work which he wrote in its defence, and published in 1668,, under the title of Plus Ultra^ or^ the Advancement of Knowledge since the days of Aristotle, is too re- markable to be omitted on the present occasion. The philosophy that must signify either for light or use, must not be the work of the mind turned in upon itself, and only conversing with its own ideas; but must be raised from the observations and applications of sense, and take its accounts from things as they are in the sensible world. The illustrious Lord Bacon hath noted it as the chief cause of the unfruitfalness of the former methods of knowledge, that they were but the exercises of the mind making conclusions, and spinning out notions from its own native store ; from which way of proceeding nothing but dispute could be expected. He therefore proposed another method, which was, to reform and enlarge knowledge by observation and experiment ; to examine and record particulars ; and to rise by degrees of induction to general pro- positions; and from them to take observation for new inquiries ; so that nature being known, may 38 LORD BACON. ' be mastered, and used in the seryice of human life. ' This was a mighty design, groundedly laid, and ' happily recommended by the glorious author ; but ' to the carrying it on, it was necessary there should ' be many heads and many hands, and those formed ' into an assembly that might intercommunicate their ' trials and observations. This the great man de- ' sired, and formed a Society of experimenters in ' a romantic model ; but he could do no more ; his ' time was not ripe for such performances. These ' things^ therefore, were considered hy the later virtuosi, ' who several of them combined together, and set them- ' selves to worh upon his grand design.^* * Plus Ultra, pp. 52, 87, 88. There are some wlio would persuade us, that the taste for experimental philosophy was introduced into England from the Continent, and that the first idea of the Royeil Society was copied from similar associations abroad. This, certainly, was not the language of the founders and early historians of that Society. It is curious to remark, that while some of our own writers ascribe its origin, and the philosophical spirit which gave it birth, to foreign influences, there are, on the other hand, foreign writers who trace the Academies of the Continent to the effects produced by the writings of Bacon. The following passage is extracted from a very learned History of one of the earliest of these Academies. ' Sed, quae superest dicenda, supremam, et, ut nobis videtui ' proximam condendae Academiae enarrabimus occasionem. Sci- ' licet postquam, inetmte circiter priori seculo, non inter Bri- ' tannos solum, sed universi quoque orbis incolas, immortalitati ' commendatissimus, Franciscus Baco de Verulamio, supremus * regni Britannici Cancellarius, variis iisque ad sapientie normam LORD BACON. 39 Similar testimqiiies occur in many other publica- tions of that day; in the more obscure as well as the more noted. Indeed there is no room whatever for doubt, that Bacon was generally considered as the chief promoter of genuine physics, at a period when the erection of the Royal Society would natm'aUy bring forward the name of any indi- vidual, whose labours had contributed, in. any re- markable degree, to foster their growth. Cowley, sm-ely, will not be rejected as an evidence of the general sentiment, merely because he has recorded his testimony in verse. He was, as already men- tioned, a zealous advocate for a public institution for the promotion of experimental philosophy; and, on the establishment of the Royal Society, he ad- dressed to it that celebrated Ode in which he * elucubratissimis scriptis, utUissima emendandse atque instau- * randae historiae naturalis dedisset consilia, et absolutissimis * ratlonibus fimxasset : non Angli modo Jumd incassum se moneri * atque excitari passi sunt, sed extera quoque gentes, imprimis Galli ' Italique, sanioris consilii patientes, tanta contentione cum qua- ' libuscunque scientiis generatim, tum prsecipue rerum natu- ' ralium studio animum intenderunt, adeo, ut ex illo tempore ' visi sint homines nihil, vel remotissimis naturae visceribus ' abstrusum, quod non captis ex Baeonis mente experimentis ' curiosius rimarentur, relicturi. Atque hie ardor, hcec atudia ' magnam quoque partem condiderunt Academiarum Societatumque ' hactenus memorata/rum' —;'&vcws2's.i, Academ. Natiirce Cwiosor. Hist, cap. I. § 7. 40 LORD BACON. represents Bacon as its legislator. Dr. Henry Power calls Bacon 'the Patriarch of experimental philosophy,' in a work published in 1664, in which he details the discoveries of Galileo, Torricelli, and Pascal.* ' It is certain', says Mr. Havers, in the preface to a work also published in that year, ' that Lord Bacon's way of experiment, as now pro- ' secuted by sundry English gentlemen, affords more ' probabilities of glorious and profitable fruits, than ' the attempts of any other age or nation what- ' soever. 't Dr. Joshua Childrey, in the introduction to his Natural Rarities of England, a book of the same period, and which gave rise to a new cl^ss of publications in Natural History, states, that he gave it the title of Britannia Baconica, in order to indicate its connexion with those studies which Bacon had originated.! Anthony Wood has preserved a letter from Dr. Childrey to Mr. Oldenburg, Secre- tary of the Royal Society, in which he says, that he had long been engaged in the philosophical in- quiries ' which form the business of that body, in * Experimental Philosophy, p. 82. f Philosophical Conferences, translated from the Prench, by G. Havers, in two volumes folio. X Britannia Baconica, or the Natural Rarities of England, 1661, 8vo. 'Prom this work,' says A.Wood, 'Dr. Plot took the hint of his Natural History of Oxfordshire.' LORD BACON. 41 ' consequence of having fallen In love with Lord ' Bacon's Philosophy as early as the year 1646.'* Evelyn, one of the most active and best known of the early members of the Society, has, in several of his works, alluded to the beneficial influence of Bacon's writings. In the introduction to his Sylva, published in 1664, he takes occasion to state the philosophical principles by which the Society professed to be guided, in terms which clearly point to the quarter from which they were derived. ' They are not hasty,' says he, ' in pro- nouncing from a single or incompetent number of experiments; but after the most dUigent scrutiny, and by degrees, and by wary inductions faithfully made, they record the truth and event of trials, and transmit them to posterity. They resort not immediately to general propositions upon every specious appearance ; but seek hght and infor- mation from particulars, that they may gradually advance to general rules and maxims.' In his Numismata, he speaks of Bacon's services in the foUowLng expressive terms : ' By standing up against ' the Dogmatists, he emancipated and set free phi- ' losophy, which had long been a miserable captive, * Athence Oxoniensea, ii. 468. 42 LORD BACON. ' and which hath ever since made conquests in the ' territories of Nature.'' , It was about this period that Boyle was honoixred with the appellation of the second Bacon,* in com- phment to his exertions* to advance experimental physics; and there can be no doubt that his dis- coveries contributed essentially to establish the credit of the English School. Neither can there be any doubt as to the influence of Bacon's writ- ings in determining the nature and objects of his philosophical pursuits. This is admitted, or implied, in many parts of his works.f It is clear, indeed, that he was considered by his contemporaries as a marked disciple of Bacon. 'You have,' says Dr. Beale, in a letter to Boyle, upon the sub- ject of big discoveries, '■particularized^ explicated^ ' and exemplified those fair encouragements and ' affectionate directions.^ which Lord Bacon in a ' wide generality proposed.' \ In another letter to Mr. Hartlib, who hke himself was an early and zealous promoter of the Koyal Society, Dr. Beale thus emphatically expresses his feeling of the pleasure which Boyle's experimental labours were calculated * See GlanTill's Plus Ultra, p. 57. t Boyle's Works, i. 303, 6 ; ii. 472 ; iii, 422 ; iv. 69, 246 ; v. 667. t Ibid. vi. 406. LORD BACON, 43 to aiford to the followers of Bacon. ' To those that ' have been tired and wearied, as I have been, in ' the several ways of former philosophers ; to those ' who have condescended to take deep notice of the ' insufficiency of conjectures and xmgrounded ratioci- ' nations, and who have submitted their patience to the severity of Lord Bacon's inquisitions ^ here are ' oiFered such pleasing refreshments, as give us the ' relish of that Yirgilian simplicity, which was so ' highly admired by Scaliger in these verses : ' Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per aestum Dulcis aquse saliente sitim restinguere rivo.'* They who have overlooked or disregarded the proofs of the connexion between what Bacon en- joined and Boyle performed, are not likely to have recognized any traces of the lights held out by the former, in the philosophy of Newton. Yet it ap- pears undeniable that the latter was guided by principles which Bacon alone had taught; and that • This letter is printed in the Life of Boyle, prefixed to his "Works, p. 63. 'Dr. Beale was elected a Fellow of the Eoyal ' Society in 1662. Several of his papers are printed in the Trans- ' actions. He was a man of excellent parts, and great public ' spirit ; and the character which his friend Mr. Hartlib gave of ' him was, that there was no man in the island who could be ' made more universally useful.' — Birch's Hist, of the Royal Society, iv. 235. 44 LOBB BACON. his philosophy derives an imperishable character from its rigid adherence to them. To begin with the examination and comparison of phenomena, by pro- ceeding gradually from tnith to truth, till we reach the most general that can be discovered, — these are the principles of philosophizing which Bacon un- folded, and which Newton has, in the most emphatic terms, embodied with his discoveries. ' Quel temoig- ' nage^ exclaims an eminent French philosopher, ' rendu par le gSnie inventeur au ginie des methodesf"^ Such, indeed, was the connexion between the logic of the Novum Organum, and the philosophy of the Principia^ that it was only where the one was follow- ed, that the other prevailed. The sublime Geometry of the Principia^ says Maclaurin, was admired by all, but it was only among minds trained by Bacon's precepts that its philosophy found a ready reception."!" To these proofs of the influence of Bacon's pre- * Degerando— ffisioiVe comparee des Systemes de Phihsophie, i. 396. The introduction to Dr. Pemberton's Account of Newton's Discoveries, a. work, 'tlie greater part of whicli was read and ' approved,' as we are told in the preface, by Newton himself, contains a summary of the doctrines of the Novum Organum ; and its author is represented as the first who taught those rules of philosophizing which. Newton followed, and which his discoveries so nobly confirmed. t Account of Newton's Discoveries, pp. 59, 60. ZOSD BACON. 45 cepts and exhortations, reflected in the acknow- ledgments, the views, and the discoveries of the early founders of the English School of experi- mental philosophy, I have yet to add those which are furnished by the writings of its opponents and detractors. The public countenance given to that school by the erection of the Royal Society, early excited great jealousy on the part of the Univer- sities, and a keen spirit of opposition among the remaining supporters of the Aristotelian philosophy. Sprat accordingly found it necessary, in his History of the Society, to employ a long argument to prove, that its establishment would be attended with no bad consequences either to religion, or to the existing seminaries of knowledge. Glanvill was obliged to enter into a serious refutation of an assertion, that 'Aristotle had more advantages for ' knowledge than the Royal Society had or could ' have.'* The panegyrics which these writers be- stowed upon the institution, and upon Bacon as * ' I desire the reader to know, that after Mr. Joseph. Glan-vill ' had written certain things against Aristotle, it was the desire ■ of some scholars, that Robert Crosse, a noted philosopher after ' the ancient way, should be brought acquainted with him. In ' 1667, GlanTiU was therefore conducted to his house, where ' Crosse did in a sufficient manner vindicate Aristotle, and did ' plentifully declaim against the proceedings of the Eoyal Society. 46 LOBD BACON. Its master, appear to have filled the followers of Aristotle with a stronger dislike to both. The most redoubtable of their champions was Dr. Henry Stubbe, who, after studying at Oxford, served for some time in Scotland with the army of the Par- liament; but having on the Restoration made his peace with the Grovemment, he was appointed King's Physician for the Island of Jamaica, whence he had lately returned to practise ia his own country. He was, according to Anthony Wood, 'the most noted ' Latinist and Grecian of his age, and a singular ' Mathematician ;' but he seems to have been as deficient in judgment as he was violent in temper; which last defect, his biographer in great simplicity ascribes to his ' carrot-coloured hair.'f His pub- lications against the E,oyal Society, and the whole body of experimentalists, were numerous, and all of them replete with misapphed learning and vehe- ment abuse. The course of his reasoning is not ' Glanvill being surprised, he did not then much oppose him ; ' but afterwards he did, to the purpose ; especially against this ' hypothesis of Crosse, that Aristotle had more advantages for know- ' ledge than the Royal Society, or all the present age had or could ' have, because he did totam peragrare Asiam.' — AtheruB Oxon. ii. 763. See the account which Glanvill himself gives of this con- ference. Plus Ultra, pp. 4, 5. t Athen. Oxon. ii. 562, 563. LORD BACON. 47 a little curious. 'I have so small a regard for ' deep and subtle inquiries into natural philosophy, ' that could physic be unconcerned, could religion ' remain unshaken, could education be carried on ' happily, I should not intermeddle : but if we look ' de facto upon those experimental philosophers, and 'judge how little they are fitted for trusts and ' managements of busiaess, by their so famed ??ie- ' chanical education, we must rise as high iu our ' resentments as the concerns of the present age ' and of posterity can animate us.' The grounds which he more particularly assigns for entertauiing these 'high resentments' against the experimenta- lists, are, first, their neglect and contempt of the Aristotelian logic; 'that art,' says he, 'by which ' the prudent are discriminated from foolsj which ' informs us of the validity of consequences, and ' the probabiUty of arguments, and which forms ' statesmen, divines, physicians, and lawyers.' In the next place, he contends, that the innovating spirit of their philosophy would lead to dangerous revolutions. 'In such times as I thought it our ' interest to subvert the monarchy of England and ' the repute of the clergy, I was passionately ad- ' dieted to this new philosophy ; for I did not 48 LORD BACON. question but the authority of all antiquity in spiritual affairs would vanish, when it appeared how much churchmen were mistaken in the com- mon occurrences and histories of nature. How rational this opinion of mine was, and how it is verified in these days, let the Hierarchy and Uni- versities judge.'* With such views of the new philosophy, this vehement Aristotelian could not but wish to decry the authority of Bacon. That he looked upon the experimentalists of that day as the disciples of Bacon, is sufficiently evident from his common mode of designating them in derision as 'a Bacon- '• faced generation.'' '\ To abuse Lord Bacon, and to depreciate his philosophical character, are accord- ingly his favom'ite topics. Nor does he leave us in any doubt as to the cause of his enmity. It was, as he expressly tells us, '•'because the refute ' of Lord Bacon was great in that age / and be- cause ' the Royal Society pretended to tread in his '■footsteps.'' He allows that Bacon was a wise and eloquent man; but maintains that his censures of • Legends no Histories ; or, a specimen of some animadversions upon the History of the Royal Society — ^Pref. Lond, 1670, t Epistolary Discourse concerning Phlebotomy, passim. Lond 1671. LORB BACON. 49 the ancients were unfounded. ' Who knows not,' he asks, ' how Herlary had been Improved by Theo- ' phrastus, Dioscorides, the Arabians, and other ' Peripatetics ? who can deny that Physic^ in every ' part of it, was improved by Gralen and others, ' before the Lord Bacon ever sucked ? and what ' accessionals had not Chemistry received by the ' cultivation of the Aristotelians, before his House ' of Solomon was dreamed of? Let us, therefore, ' not be concluded by the aphorisms of this Lord. ' Let his insulse adherents buy some salt, and make ' use of more than one grain when they read him ; ' and let us believe better of the ancients, than ' that their methods of science were so imfruitfiol.'* It was the confident belief of Stubbe that Bacon's fame was wholly founded on the false notions of philosophy then entertained, and that it would fade with the recurrence of sounder views. ' The 'Lord Bacon,' says he, 'is like great piles; when ' the sun is not high, they cast an extraordinary ' shadow over the earth, which lesseneth as the sim ' grows vertical.' How vain the prophecy involved In this uncouth simile ! The fame of Bacon has * Lord Bacon's Relation of the Sweating Sickness examined, Pref. p. 5, Lond. 1671. E 50 LORD BACON. brightened as Science has advanced, every new- discovery furnishing a fresh proof of that trans- cendant sagacity which enabled him so unerringly to plan and predict the indefinite enlargement of her empire. The preceding illustrations show the influence which Bacon's writings produced in England. It remains to be inquired, whether they were pro- ductive of any similar effects in the other countries of Europe? It is the opinion of some, who are far from being otherwise sceptical as to their in- fluence, that they were, for a long period, but little known upon the Continent, and that their direct effects were limited to England. This opinion has been avowed by one of the most ardent of Bacon's admirers, whose extensive knowledge of the history of learning, I shall not be suspected of any inten- tion to question, by dissenting from him on this subject. ' That the works of Bacon,' says Mr. Stewart, 'were but little read in France till after "the pub- ' lication of D'Alembert's Preliminary Discourse^ is, ' I beheve, an unquestionable fact : not that it ne- ' cessarily follows from this, that, even in France, LOMB BACON. 51 ' no previous effects had been produced by the ' labours of Boyle, of Newton, and of the other ' English experimentalists trained in Bacon's school.' Mr. Stewart farther observes, ' that the merits of ' Bacon failed, for a century and a half, to com- ' mand the general admiration of Europe. Nor 'was Bacon himself unapprised of the slow growth ' of his posthumous fame. No writer seems ever ' to have felt more deeply, that he properly be- ' longed to a later and more enlightened age ; a '■ sentiment which he has pathetically expressed in ' that clause of his testament, where he " bequeaths ' " his name to posterity after some generations "'shall be past."'* In making these statements, Mr. Stewart seems to have overlooked a crowd of testimonies which prove in the most satisfactory manner, that Bacon's philosophical fame was early established, not only in France, but in all the countries of Europe, where letters were cultivated. It may also be doubted * Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysical and Ethical Phi- losophy. These statements have been already questioned, in part, in the article of the Edinburgh Review before referred to. The author of that article contends that Bacon's fame was eaxlj and generally established throughout the Continent, but that it was late before any beneficial effects were produced by his philosophy. E2 52 LORD BACON. whether Mr. Stewart has rightly Interpreted that affecting clause of Bacon's testament to which he so eloquently alludes. There are no contemporary publications which give any countenance to the supposition, that Bacon himself thought his writbgs had not met with due attention. We have, in- deed, his own evidence to the contrary in regard to the most important, and, as he himself says, the most abstruse of them, — the Novum Organum. ' I have received,' says he, '■from, many parts be- ' yond the seas, testimonies touching that work, much 'beyond what I could have expected at the first ' in so abstruse an argument.'* It seems probable, therefore, that the bequest of his name to future generations, referred rather to his public than to his phihsophical character. In his act of sub- mission to the House of Peers after his disgrace, he implored them to recollect, that there are '■vitia ' tevvporis as well as vitia hominis /' and he may have soothed his wounded spirit with the hope, that posterity would find an excuse for his frailties in the lax notions and practices of the age; and * Epistle to Bbhop Andrews, prefixed to An Advertisement •.ouching an Holy War, -written in 1622, and published by Dr. Elawley in 1629, in a collection entitled, Certain Miscellany Works of Lord Bacon, LORD BACON. 53 would look upon his fall, to use a comparison of his own, 'but as a little picture of night-work, ' among the fair and excellent tables of his acts ' and works.'* The exact terms of the clause, besides, seem to countenance the interpretation, that his hopes pointed to the greater candour, rather than to the greater intelligence of after-times. 'My name and memory,' says he, 'I leave to men's ' charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and ' the next ages.'f But, whatever opinion may be entertained upon this point, it will appear evident in the sequel, that Bacon's works were well known, and their beneficial effects largely acknowledged, in foreign countries, long before the period specified by Mr. Stewart. In the first place, then, I must observe, that the testimony of such of Bacon's contemporaries as allude to his writings, as well as of his earher biographers and editors, is decidedly opposed to the supposition, that his fame was of slow growth upon the Continent. The information which they give upon this point, rather, indeed, supports a contrary conclusion, — that the early celebrity of his * Bristle to Bishop Andrews, prefixed to his Holy War, t Works, iii. 677. 54 LORD BACON. writings abroad, contributed to enhance their credit at home. Thus, Osbom tells us that it was the voice of foreign fame which silenced the cry of atheism, raised against them by some of the School- Divines of his own country.* Mr. Stewart dates the fall acknowledgment of his philosophical merits in England from the period of the establishment of the Koyal Society. Now, in the account of Bacon's Life, published in 1657 by Dr. Eawley, who had been for many years his domestic chaplain, it is distinctly stated, 'that his fame was greater, and ' sounded louder in foreign parts than at home ;' and it is added, ' that divers of his works had been ' translated more than once into other tongues, both ' learned and modern, by foreign pens.'f E,awley had, some years before, received a strong proof of the early celebrity of his Patron's writings abroad, in a letter from Isaac Gruter, which con- tains the following passage : ' Lewis Elzevir wrote '■ me lately from Amsterdam, that he was designed ' to begin shortly an edition in quarto^ of all the ' works of Lord Bacon ; and he desired my advice ' and any assistance I could give him ; to the end * Miscellany of Essays, Paradoxes, and Discourses,''Pieiace. t Life, prefixed to Kawley's Resusdtatio. LORD BACON. 55 ' that, as far as possible, these works might come ' abroad with advantage, which have ieen long re- ' ceived with the kindest euhgies^ and with the most ' attested applatise of the learned vSorld.^'^ This letter was written in 1652, only twenty-six years after Bacon's death; and the important statement which it contains, in regard to the early impression made by his writings in foreign countries, will be found fully corroborated by a more particular ex- amination of their literary records. With respect to France, the only direct authority to which Mr. Stewart refers, when he states It as ' an unquestionable fact,' that Bacon's writings were little known in that coimtry till after the publica- tion of the Encyclopedie^ is that of Montucla. After quoting a short passage to that effect from the preface to his History of Mathematics^ Mr. Stewart farther remarks that ' Bayle has devoted to Bacon ' only twelve lines of his Dictionary.' But, surely, no weight whatever can be attached to this cir- * Tennison's Baconiana, p. 229. — Dr. "Watts, in the Dedication prefixed to his translation of the De Angmentia Sdentiarum, pub- lished in 1674, speaks of Bacon ' as an author well known in the ' European world.' — Dr. Shaw, in the Preface to his edition of Bacon's Wcrks, published in 1733, says, that 'foreigners appear ' to have extolled him in a superlative manner,' 56 LOBB BACON. cumstance, when it is recollected that Bayle has not devoted a single line of that work, in the shape of a separate article, either to Galileo or Descartes. I must, besides, observe, that his notice of Bacon, scanty as it is, yet contains enough to show, that Montucla's statement is not well founded. It men- tions, generally, that Bacon's writings 'had been favourably received by the world;' that the Be Aug- mentis Scientiarum had been reprinted at Paris in 1624, being the year after it was published in Lon- don; and refers to some high eulogiums which had been pronounced by French writers upon that work. It farther states, that several editions of a French translation of his moral and political pieces had been called for, within a short period after its pub- lication ; a circumstance which Bayle casually notices in another of his works, the Beponse aux Questions (fun Provincial.* That Bacon's philosophical views were well known in France before his death, is a fact, for * Chap. 9. Troisiirm partie. — Bacon's Essays, and his Ad- vancement of Learning, were translated into French a consider- able time before his death. His Natural History, and New Atlantis, ■were translated into that language by Pierre D'Amboise in 1631. Bacon's works, says this writer, 'deserve a place in all • libraries, and to be ranked with the noblest literary jnoniunents ' of antiquity.' LORD BACON. 57 which we have an authority the more satisfactory, from its being that of the biographer and disciple of his great French rival. ' While Descartes,' says Adrian Baillet, in his copious and instructive life of that philosopher, ' was in Paris in 1626, he heard ' the news of the death of the Lord Chancellor ' Bacon, which happened in April of that year. ' The intelligence very sensibly affected those who ' aspired to the re-establishment of true philosophy ; ' and who hnew that Bacon had been labouring in ' that great undertaking for several years before his ' death. The accomplishment of this heroical de- ' sign,' continues this devoted Cartesian, ' was re- ' served for a still more extraordinary genius ; but ' the praises which Bacon received were justly due, ' even from those who did not approve of his plan ' for the reformation of philosophy.'* Baillet admits that Bacon's example may have been of some use to Descartes, inasmuch as it was calculated to en- courage him to abjure the authority of the ancients, and to re-establish the sciences upon a new foun- dation. He also observes, that Descartes thought Bacon's method very well suited to the views of those who were willing to incur the expence and * Vie de M. Descartes, i. 147, 148. 58 LORD BACON. trouble of Instituting experiments.* In making this observation, he refers to some remarkable passages n Descartes's letters to Father Mersenne, one of which is as follows : ' You formerly wrote' me, that you knew persons who were willing to labour for the advancement of the sciences, at the cost of all sorts of observations and experiments : now, if any one who is inclined this way, could be pre- vailed upon to undertake a history of the appear- ances of the heavenly bodies, to be drawn up according to the Verulamian method^ without the admixture of hypothesis; such a work as this would prove of great utility, and would save me a great deal of trouble in the prosecution of my inquiries.' t Thus it is clear, that more than a hundred years before the appearance of the Encyclopedie, Bacon's * Vie de M. Descartes, i. 148, 149. — Descartes was about thirty- Shears of age at the period of Bacon's death, and did not publish any of his principal works tQl several years after that period. t Lettres de M. Descartes, iv. 210, Paris edit. 1724. — It appears from the following passage in one of Sir Kenelm Digby's letters to Fermat, the rival of Descartes in mathematical science, that this eminent geometer was a great admirer of Bacon : ' Je ne ' scjauiois m'empecher de vous envoyer quelques vers que le ' plus grand genie de notre Isle pour les Muses ecrivit an Chan- ' celier Bacon, qui etoit son grand ami, et que vous temoignez etre 'fort le votre en le citant souvent.' 13. Fev. 165S.— Lettres de M. PermaJi, p. 198, annexed to his Opera Mathematica. LORB BACON. 59 writings had attracted so much notice in France, as to force them upon the attention of those who were but little disposed to relish their philosophy. It father appears, that the first doubts that were entertained as to the sufficiency of the method of Descartes, originated among those of his country- men who had imbibed the spirit of Bacon's logic. The doctrines of the Novum Organum are pro- fessedly taken as the basis of the al»gument, in a letter addressed to Descartes in 1648, by a corre- spondent who wishes to convince him, that in phy- sical science, no principles ought to be admitted but such as have been previously derived from facts.* In a treatise by a different author, written some years later, entitled Remarques sur la Methode de Descartes^ Bacon's method is characterized as follows : ' One sees so much judgment in the rules ' laid down in the Novum Organum, for guiding ' the imderstanding in the search of truth, that one ' might almost believe its author had been inspired. ' This work, indeed, has some defects, particularly ' in its language, which is often scholastic and ' fanciful : but far from wishing to dwell upon them, * Lettre premUre h M. Descartes, prefixed to his Treatise on the Passions, Paris edit. 1726. 60 LORD BACON. 'we ought to proclaim, that it is only since the ' time of Bacon, that the human mind has followed ' a proper plan in matters of philosophy.'* It is worthy of notice, that the author of this eulogium speaks of the Eoyal Society of London, then re- cently estabhshed, in terms of great approbation, and as being likely to realize Bacon's views for the advancement of science. Gassendi was one of the earliest disciples of Bacon in France, and also one of the earliest and most strenuous opponents of Descartes. He has characterized the principles of philosophizing which these two reformers respectively professed, in a very clear and able manner, in the tenth and eleventh chapters of his treatise De Logicce origine et varie- tate.* The reformation attempted by Bacon, is there pronounced a truly great and heroical under- taking. In another work, his valuable account of his celebrated friend Peiresc, there is a passage in which Bacon is mentioned in a way particularly deserving of notice in the present discussion. 'No ' man,' says Gassendi, speaking of his friend, ' made ' more observations, or caused more to be made, * Eemarques sur la Methods de Descartes, pp. 128, 129 ; annexed to his Discmirs de la Methods, Paris, 1724. t Gassendi, Opera, torn. i. LORD BACON. 61 ' to the end, that at last some notions of natural ' things, more sound aud pure than those commonly ' received, might be collected ; for which reason ' he admired the genius, and approved the design ' of that great Chancellor of England, Sir Francis ' Bacon.'* Now, Peiresc died in 1637, only eleven years after Bacon. But this is not all. He was the first man in France, according to Bailly, who deserved the name of an astronomer jf and he, as weU as Gassendi (who was also distinguished as an astronomer), was a correspondent, friend, and admirer of Galileo : yet we see that Bacon was considered by both as the great leader of reform in Natural Philosophy. There are many similar testimonies in the writ- ings of those who were conversant with the French experimentahsts. That furnished by Sorbifere, in his Relation d'un Voyage en Angleterre, published in 1664, is entitled to greater consideration from his having for some time acted as Secretary of one of those associations of Parisian philosophers in which the Academy of Sciences had its origin.J * Life of Peiresc, Book vi. p. 207 of the EngKsh translation. + Hisioire de V Astronomie Modeme, liv. iii. § 20. X Birch's History of the Royal Society, i. 27. 62 LORD BACON. ' Ce grand homme,' , says he, speaking of Bacon, 'est sans doute celuy qui a le plus puissamment ' solicits les interests de la physique, et excite le 'monde h faire des experiences.' A similar obser- vation is made, and in words equally strong, by the Abb^ Gallois, in one of the numbers of the Journal des Savans, published in 1666 ; a year signalized by the establishment of the Academy of Sciences.'^ Bacon is also represented as the father of the inductive or experunental method, by John Baptiste du Hamel, who first held the oifice of Secretary to that Academy. His treatise De Mente Humana^ published in 1672, contains several chapters of commentary upon Bacon's philosophy.f We are told by Fontenelle, that Du Hamel was censured by his contemporaries as not being sufficiently re- gardful of the merits of Descartes.:]: But with the views which he seems to have imbibed from the writings of Bacon, he could have been but little disposed to look up to Descartes as the oracle of philosophy. * ' On pent dire que ce grand Chanoelier est un de ceux qui ont les plus eontribue a ravauoement des sciences.' — Journal des Savans, du 2. Mars, 1666. t Lib. i. cap. 3. § 7 ; Lib. iii. cap. 6 — 9. j Fontenelle, Bloge de Du Hamel. LOBD BACON. 63 It would be superfluous to proceed any farther in accumulating French authorities. The preceding deduction is sufficient to establish, that there is no foundation for the supposition, that Bacon's writings were little known in France previous to the pub- lication of the Encydopedie ; and that they had, at a much earlier period, made a great impression in that country. I shall, therefore, go on to inquire, whether there are any proofs of equally early atten- tion having been paid to them by the other nations of the Continent. That the philosophy of Bacon had attracted considerable notice ia Italy during his hfetime, is evident from his correspondence with Father Ful- gentio, from which it appears that the Venetian philosophers were extremely inquisitive about his writings.* And his correspondence with Father Baranzan proves that the Novum Organum was known, and had found eager readers, iu the north of Italy, at a surprisiagly early period. Baranzan was a Piedmontese monk of the order of Bamabites, and officiated as a Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics in the Colleges of his order. He had early distinguished himself as a writer on philoso- * Tennisou's Baconiana, pp. 196, 197. 64 LORD BACON. phlcal subjects, and as an opponent of Aristotle, After perusing the Novum Organum, he appears to have begun a correspondence with Bacon, one of whose letters to him is fortunately preserved in the account of Baranzan in Niceron's Memoirs* This letter is dated in 1622, only two years after the publication of the Novum Organum; and was evidently written in answer to some queries of Ba- ranzan touching its fundamental doctrines. The whole letter is on this account extremely interesting ; but the following passage is peculiarly calculated to show how much philosophy then stood La need of such a guide as Bacon. ' De multitudine instantiarum, quse ' homines deterrere possit, hsec respondeo : quid opus ' est dissimulatlone? Aut copia instantiarum compa- ' randa, aut negotlum deserendum. Alias omnes vias, ' utcunque blaudiantur, impervise.' It is worthy of notice that Bacon concludes this letter with an earnest request, that Baranzan would employ himself in framing a description of the heavenly bodies, exactly of the kind which Descartes afterwards • ' EUe est trop interessante,' says Niceron, wlio possessed the original letter, ' et fait trop bien connoitre la mamiere de philosopher, qu'ils vouloient tous deux introduire, pour ne la point communiquer au puhUque.' — Memoires pour servir a I'His- toire des Hommes lUustres, iii. 43. ^ LORD BACON. 65 wished some competent person to undertake; as mentioned in Ms letter, before quoted, to Father Mersenne. But this ingenious Italian was not per- mitted to profit by the exhortations of his illustrious correspondent, for he died soon after the date of this letter, at the early age of thirty-three. There is a letter from Sir Toby Matthew to Bacon, which contains a curious piece of informa- tion, not hitherto, I believe, particularly noticed. It was written from Brussels in 1619, when Sir Toby was on his return to Florence, where, during a former residence, he had published an Italian trans- lation of Bacon's Essays. * There was with me to- day,' says he, ' one Mr. Richard White, who had spent some time at Florence, and is now going to England. He tells me that Galileo had answered your discourse concerning the flux and re-flux of the sea, and was sending it unto me ; but that he hindered Galileo, because his answer was founded upon a false supposition; namely, that there was in the ocean a full sea but once in the twenty-four hours. But now,' adds Sir Toby, ' I will call upon Galileo again.'* As the discourse on the Tides, here alluded to, was not published till several years * Bacon's Works, iii. 662. 66 LOBB BACON. after Bacon's death,* it must have been sent to Galileo in manuscript. What farther communica- tion took place upon the subject, does not appear. Galileo, so far as I know, makes no allusion to any of Bacon's writings; though the circumstance just mentioned, and their unquestionable notoriety in Italy during his time, render it difficult to be- lieve that he had not perused them. The following passage, in a letter written from Italy to the Earl of Devonshire, near, but before the time of Bacon's death, furnishes an additional proof of that noto- riety. 'Lord Bacon,' says the writer, 'is here more ' and more hnown^ and his works mare and more ' delighted wi.'j" There was an Italian philosopher of that period, whose ardent genius the cruel torture of the rack and twenty-seven years' imprisonment had not been able to repress; who fortunately found a friend, to publish in Germany the works which he penned in the prisons of Naples; and who has had the * It was first published, I believe, by Isaac Gruter in 1653, in the collection entitled Fran. Baconi de Verulamio Scripta in Naturali et Universali Philosophia, 12mo. Amst. The tracts con- tained in this collection were given to Gruter by Sir William Boswell, the English Resident in Holland, to whom Bacon had conunitted them by his will. t See Bacon's Life, prefixed to Eawley's Resuscitatio. LORD BACON. 67 honour to be ranked witli Bacon, by no less a judge of philosopHcal merit than Leibnitz. This was Campanella. 'If,' says Leibnitz, 'we compare Des- ' cartes and Hobbes with Bacon and Campanella, the ' former writers seem to grovel upon the earth, — the ' latter to soar to the heavens, by the vastness of ' their conceptions, their plans, and their enterprises.' ' After looking,' says Mr. Stewart, (from whose stores of varied erudition I have borrowed this quo- tation,) 'into several of CampaneUa's works with ' some attention, I must confess, I am at a loss to ' conceive upon what groimds the eulogy of Leibnitz ' proceeds.' But, however just Mr. Stewart's sur- prise, Leibnitz was not the first who conjoined the names of Bacon and Campanella. Tobias Adams, who edited those works which Campanella wrote in prison, tells us, in his introduction to the Realis Philosophia of the latter, published at Frankfort in 1623, that Campanella, like the great Verulam, took experience for his guide, and drew his philosophy from the book of nature.* The comparison here is as unsound as the eulogy of Leibnitz is excessive; but it is remarkable as showing that Bacon's phi- * Realis Philosophy Epilogiaticte partes guatxwr ; hoc est, de rerum natura, hominum moribus, poUtica, et oeconomica ; cum adnot. Ttob. A.dami. f2 68 LORD BACON. losophy was known and appreciated, at this early period, in Germany. We have another illustration of the early diffusion of his views in that country, in Commenius's Synopsis Fhysicm ad lumen divinum reformatm^ pubUshed in 1643, in which the author speaks of the Novum Organum in the highest terms of praise ; and warns his readers that it was not his wish to interfere with the great plan of discovery which it proposes ; but to make trial whether the lights of Scripture might not assist in the interpre- tation of nature.* Among the German writers of the latter half of the seventeenth century, who either professedly or incidentally treat of the history of philosophy, there are various references to the writings of Bacon, coupled with the strongest acknowledgments of their beneficial influence. Some of them even ascribe to * ' Ego quia in lumine Dei lumen videre visus sum, temperare ' mihi non potui, quia, advocate ia auxilium Deo, novas natu- ' ralium hypotheses in novam methodum redigere, disoipulisque ' Scholse hujus dictare, tentarim. Non quod magui Yerulamii ' consilio (qui ah axiomatibus, antequam de omnibus et singulis ' plense per universam Naturam inductiones exstent, abstinen- ■ dum esse censet) adversus ire vellem ; sed ad capiendum interea • experimentum, nunmam ratione hac plus luminis, ad Naturae ' arcana facQius observandum, inferri possit mentibus.' — Prsef. In this work, also, Campanella is mentioned in conjunction with Bacon, for reasons which render the passage deserving of iiotice here. ' Videat autem |qui volet Campanellam et Verula- LORD BACON. 69 him merits which have been disclaimed by the more discriminating of his English admirers. Thus Morhof, besides the other praises which he lavishes upon Bacon, aflfirms that his works contain the germs of many important discoveries in physics, the glory of which, though wholly reaped by others, was partly due to him.* His services to physics ■ are more correctly indicated by another well-known German writer of that period, namely, Baron Puffendorf. ' It was the late Chancellor Bacon,' says he, ' who ' raised the standard, and urged on the march of ' discovery ; so that if any considerable improve- ' ments have been made in philosophy in this age, miiiTn (hos enim Hercules, qui debellandis monstris expurgan- disque Augiae stabulis, feliciter admoverunt manus commonstrasse ; et Olis, quos Aristotelicae vanfe turgidse Philosophiae dementatos tenet authoritas, opposuisse, sufficiat) ; et quam ssepfe i. vero aberreut Aristotelicae assertiones, palpare poterit.' — Praef. * PoZyAistor. torn. ii. lib. 2, cap. 1. Morbof gives the following account of a work published in Hungary ia 1663, in which an attempt was made to explain the principles of Bacon's philo- sophy. ' Ex mente Verulamii quaedam ia sua universal! methodo ' instituere voluit Johannes Bayerus, libro cui titulus : Filum ' Labyrinthi, sive Dux mentium wniveraalia, cognoscendis, expendendia ' et communicandis univeraia rebtia accensa, Verum obscuxat potius ' Verulamii sensus omnemque philosophiam, quam ut lumen ' aliquod accendat.' — tom. i. lib. 2, cap 7. The title of Bayer's work is, partly, that of one of Bacon's philosophical fragments, {Filum Labyrinthi); and it shows that his writings had early engaged attention, even in the more obscure parts of the Con- tinent. 70 LORD BACON. ' there has been not a little owing to that great 'man.'* Descending somewhat lower in point of time, though keeping still within the period of the sup- posed abeyance of Bacon's fame on the Continent, we find Buddseus, a writer of unquestionable know- ledge, representing him as having completed the overthrow of Aristotle, andjas having not only de- scribed the true method, but powerfully accelerated the progress of scientific discovery ."f" I shall only add one authority more, that of a celebrated Dutch writer of the same day, himself an eminent improver of science in several of its branches; and who was placed in a situation, which, in a particular manner, enabled him to collect the general sentiment of Europe upon any point connected with the history of philosophy. I here allude to Boerhaave; who, in his Discourse de comparando certo in PJiysicis^ delivered before the University of Leyden, when he laid down the office of Eector in 1715, pronounced an eulogium upon the merits and services of Bacon, which I am happy to extract as a conclusion and * Specimen. Controvers. cap. i. sect. 6, apud Pope Blount— Censura Celeb. Auctor. p. 635. t Compendium Historic Philosophic^, pp. 409, 410, Edit. 1731. LORB BACON. 71 sanction to the foregoing observations. ' Atque hujus quidem Physices fortunas laudare licet ex quo magnum Verulamium summo suo bono accepit! Vimm certfe ad omnia, quas scientiS, bumani com- prebendi possunt, indaganda facile principem, et de quo dubites utrum consilio, an exemplo, major fuerit in instauranda deformatS. PbysicS,. Absque invidiS, dixero, quidquid incrementi cepit naturalis historia ab ineunte decimo sexto seculo in banc usque boram, omne id acceptum debemus monitis et pre- ceptis illius viri ; cujus indellbilem memoriam grata colet orbis perpetuitas. Grratari quoque oportet sevo nostro, quo exire servitio sectarum licuit, sicque ardere puram, castamque, veritatem, ut, postbabitS, figmentonmi atque commentorum auctoritate, Na- turam solam suas dotes revelantem audiamus.' SIR WALTER RALEIGH. The name of Sir Walter Ealeigh is unques- tionably one of the most renowned and attractive, and in some respects the most remarkable in Enghsh story. He acted a part in all the various functions of public life, military, naval, and civil; and was illustrious in aU. He was a projector on the grand- est scale, an improver of naval architecture, a founder of colonies, a promoter of distant commerce. As the Introducer or disseminator of two important articles of subsistence and luxury,* he in a vast degree contributed to augment the food, and to modify the habits of aU the nations of Europe. His fortunes were alike remarkable for enviable success and pitiable reverses. Raised to eminent • Potatoes and Tobacco. 74 SIS WALTER RALEIGS. station tlirougli the favour of the greatest female sovereign of England, he perished on the scaffold through the dislike and cowardly policy of the meanest of her kings. To crown all, his fame In letters as the author of that memorable work with which 'his prison hours enriched the world,' placed his name In glorious association with those of Bacon and Hooker, as It otherwise was with those of Essex and Vere, of Hawkins and Drake. The appearance of a ijniform edition of his ex- tensive works,* and of three different histories of his life, seems to show that the public interest In regard to him has not abated. But we do not hesitate to say, that a life of Baleigh, written upon sound principles, and possessing all the at- tainable Information, Is still a desideratum; as is an edition of his works, in which the authenticity of every piece has been thoroughly sifted, the objects and character of each adequately explained, and the whole arranged with the requisite care. We are not without the hope of being able to furnish some Information, calculated to aid the ' The Works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Kt. Now Ji/rst Collected.. To which are prefixed the Lives of the AtUhor by Oldys and Birch. 8 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1829. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 75 labours of any one who, either as biographer or editor, may be induced to make another attempt to supply desiderata so much to be regretted. If we should be successful in this, we may hope to be excused for the length of our observations; especially when it is considered, that there are manuscript materials of very considerable value un- known to, or imtouched by his biographers; that all the more important and interesting transactions and occurrences of his life are involved in obscurity, or perplexed with doubt; that his views, in his greatest undertakings, are liable to question; and that the usual tendency of biographers to easy faith and indiscriminate praise has in his case been carried to the greatest extreme. The early biographical publications of Naimton, Prince, Fuller, Wood, and Aubrey, contain some^ interesting particulars of Kaleigh: but the first account of his life upon an extended and elaborate plan, was that by Mr. Oldys; originally prefixed to the eleventh edition of the 'History of the World,' which appeared in 1733. Prior to this performance, there appeared successively lives by two obscure writers, named Shirley and Theobalds, Oldys's work has nothing in biographical writing 76 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. of superior merit, so far as careful and extensive research are concerned. It is rich in curious infor- mation; and refers to a greater number of rare tracts, than any other piece of biography in our language. But these are its only reconmaendations. The style is feeble and uncouth as well as affected; and the author's judgment is never once exercised in any rational or independent estimate of the actions and conduct he narrates, however question- able or censurable. Gibbon has truly characterized it, with reference to these defects, as ' a servile panegyric, or a flat apology.' A new biography of Kaleigh was one of the early literary projects of that great historian; but which, after a good deal of inquiry and hesitation, he ultimately abandoned, from finding great want of information, regarding some of the most im- portant parts of his public, as well as the whole of his private life. Details concerning the latter are still nearly as scanty as ever; but some new and valuable materials for the illustration of the former have, from time to time, been brought to light, both from national and private repositories.^ Dr. Birch availed himself of such additions as had thers appeared, particularly of the anecdotes con- SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 77 talned in the Sidney and Bacon Papers, in the brief acconnt of Raleigh with which he prefaced a collection of his miscellaneous writings, published in 1751. In other respects, it was a mere abridg- ment of Oldys, without any marked superiority of judgment or style. These two lives, either from ignorance of their defects, or a singular destitution of biographical resources, have been prefixed, with- out alteration or emendation, to the edition of E-aleigh's works published by the Directors of the Clarendon Press. After the lapse of more than half a century from Dr. Birch's publication, Mr. Cayley produced a life of Raleigh, which, judging from its compass (two volumes octavo), might well be expected to furnish some important additions to his history ; but its bulk arises from its being interlarded with repub- lications of aU those pieces in which either Raleigh himself, or others employed by him, were narrators ; on the ridiculous pretext that they form parts of his history, for which the reader ought not to be sent to any other quarter. The work is not, how- ever, without value ; for it contains some original papers of considerable importance as materials for history. His own use of them, and of the other 78 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. publications connected vith his subject that had appeared in the preceding half century, was by- no means skilful ; and his narrative, in other respects, is in no degree superior to those which preceded it. It is not therefore surprising, that in a period of so much literary activity, a subject so inviting as the life of Kaleigh should be resumed : but were it not that it also is a period in which books are produced, not so much in consequence of any whisperings of independent ambition, as for the purpose of aiding those literary projects to which the ingenuity of publishers so largely gives rise, we certainly should have been surprised to see three new lives so executed as to leave the subject as open as before to farther competition. The first in the order of time is that of Mrs. Thomson,* a lady honourably distinguished for her love of historical pursuits. All we can say of her present attempt is, that it is written in a good spirit, and that her industry in collecting materials is favourably evinced in an appendix, which con- • Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh; with some Account of the period in which he lived. By Mrs. A, T. Thomson. Lond. 1830. SIR WALTER RALEIOE. 79 tains several letters of importance never before published. Mr. Tytler's work* was undertaken mainly, as he says, to defend Raleigh against the imputations cast upon him by Hume and others, particularly with respect to Guiana, the conspiracy in which he was implicated, and his general character : and If extreme unwillingness to see or to allow any blemishes In the conduct of his hero, and an unvarying strain of eulogy, make a consummate biographer, his claim to that distinction cannot be disputed. In point of composition, his narrative is clear and pleasing ; but though illustrated with some new information gleaned from the public archives, its merits in this respect are by no means so high as its pretensions had led us to expect. Dr. Southey's accoxmt of Ealeigh forms only one of a collection of ' Lives of the British Admirals,' contributed to the Cabinet Cyclxypcedia ; but it Is compiled upon a scale of sufficient extent for separate publication. That it would have been a far more perfect production, had it been prompted by his • The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh; founded on authentic and original Documents, some of them never before published. With a vindication of his Character from the attacks of Eume and other vniters. By Patrick Yraaei Tytler. Edinburgh, 1833. . 80 sm WALTER RALEIGH. own selection of the subject, we cannot for a moment doubt: but as it stands, it is a piece of mere task- work, executed by a practised and skilful artist no doubt, but with that economy of labour and thought which may be expected to characterize such under- takings. His extensive acquaintance with Spanish literature has, however, enabled him to diversify his narrative with a few illustrations derived from the Spanish historians of America; and it is only in that respect that his work has any pretensions to novelty ; for he has evidently contented himself with the materials nearest at hand, and made no attempt whatever either to correct or to amplify the existing stock of information by any researches among un- published documents. In one respect Dr. Southey differs materially from all the other biographers of Ealeigh — ^namely, in the freedom of his strictures upon his hero; but these, though in general sub- stantially just, are expressed in a tone which savours more of the acrid temperament of the censor, than of the judicial dignity of the historian. Ealeigh was bom in the year 1552, at Hayes, in the parish of Budley, in Devonshire. " His father,, a gentleman of ancient lineage but small SIR WALTER RALEIGS. 81 fortune, had been thrice married, and Walter was the second son of the last of these marriages. Of his early life and education, aU that we know is, that he was entered a commoner of Oriel College, Oxford, where he remained two or three years, and greatly distinguished himself; being, according to Wood, ' esteemed a worthy proficient in oratory and phi- ' losophy'. He quitted the imiversity, however, on the very first opening that presented itself to an active Ufe. Queen Elizabeth had authorized the formation of a company of a hundred gentlemen volunteers, to aid the Huguenots in their memorable struggle for religious liberty; and of this distin- guished body of British youths Ealelgh was enrolled a member, and proceeded with it to France, under its commander, Henry Ohampemon, who was his near relation. There he served for five years, and was engaged in some of the greatest battles of that period ; upon which he made and treasured up simdry observations, showing his genius for the science of war, which were afterwards recorded in his ' History of the World', where he recurs, wherever he has an opportunity, to his own military experience. He appears, after a short interval, to have also served for some time in the Netherlands, under Sir G 82 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. John Norrls; but his biographers have not been able to recover any account of his services in that quarter, nor has he himself made any allusions to them, as in the case of his French campaigns. Ealeigh had as yet done nothing to connect his name with the public service of his country, when the outbreak of a rebellion in Ireland induced him to resume his sword in that 'lost land — that ' commonwealth of common woe,' as he, in one of his letters, described it. We accordingly find him, in 1580, commanding a company of the royal troops; and he speedily became distinguished, both for valour and skill, in those sudden and rapid movements and surprises which the service required. His exploits were so conspicuous, as to be particularly recited by the historians of the period. He continued in this employment for several years, solely for the purpose of recommending himself to notice; for in a letter to the Earl of Leicester, then EUzabeth's favourite, by whom he appears to have been patron- ised, he says plainly, that were it not for his hopes that way, he would disdain such a service as much as he would to 'keep sheep.' Its poverty was not its worst characteristic. It was marked throughout by ruthless cruelty; but the massacre of some SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 83 hundreds of Spaniards, who had fought in aid of the rebels, and surrendered at discretion to the Lord-Deputy Gray, was a fouler and more revolting act than ever stained the name of England. It is mortifying to think that Kaleigh was one of the officers to whom the execution of this atrocious deed was committed; and yet more so, that another of the great Hterary ornaments of that age — the author of the ' Faerie Queene', who was then secretary to the Lord-Deputy, and who had not the apology of being under military command — has attempted to justify it, in his otherwise beautiful and statesman-like piece on the ' State of Ireland,' in which he unscrupulously avers, that 'that short ' way was the only way to dispose of them.' There is no authority, Ln as far as we know, for allowing Kaleigh the honourable distinction of having differed in opinion with his commander, in regard to this transaction. Mr. Tytler would fain believe that he did. That the Queen strongly dis- approved of it is certain; as it also is, that some difference had arisen between »Ealeigh and the Lord-Deputy, which, after their return to England, was discussed at the Council-Board, in her Majesty's presen3e; and that the former there maintained his G2 84 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. cause with such consummate ability as well as grace, that, to use the words of Sir Eobert Naunton, ' he got the Queen's ear in a trice.' But this writer, whose authority, had he so expressed him- self, would have been perfectly conclusive, does not in the slightest degree intimate either that the point in discussion before the Council related to the mas- sacre, or that the highly favourable impression which Ealeigh then made upon the Queen, was owing to his having upheld his disapproval of it. This was one of the most important and decisive moments of Raleigh's life. His future fortunes were owing chiefly to the feelings which then arose in the breast of his sovereign. Personal recommendations went far with that great princess; and the brave soldier, whose intellectual accomplishments thus ' gained her ear,' was no less remarkable for his imposing exterior. The romantic incident detailed by Fuller as the immediate cause of Raleigh's introduction to and favour with the Queen, is known to all readers of history; and it presents to the imagination a pictare so pleasing, and so much in harmony with the characters of both, as to beget a strong reluctance to doubt its reality. But though there seems no reason either to question the fact, SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 85 or its having produced sentiments favourable to Raleigli, his rapid progress in Elizabeth's esteem was much more probably ascribable to the oppor- tunity afforded for the display, both of his personal qualities and his commanding talents, in the dis- cussion referred to by Naunton. To whatever cause, or combination of causes, his good fortune was owing, the effects were alike speedy and marked ; for withia some two or three years from the period when he was first noticed at court, he was Knighted, made Captain of the Guard, Seneschal of the county of Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the Stanneries : and these honours were accompanied with the sub- stantial grant of twelve thousand acres of the for- feited principality of the Earls of Desmond, whose rebellious attempts he had assisted to quell; besides a lucrative Patent for Hcensing the vendors of wine throughout the kingdom. Maritime expeditions and colonization were the favourite projects of the enterprising and active spirits of that stirring period. The ocean and the new world engrossed all their thoughts. The more daring and adventurous fitted out cruisers to intercept the Spanish ships, on their return with rich cargoes from the colonies; while those who 86 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. aimed at plantations, and the extension of com- merce, looked to the northern parts of America as the appropriate field of their nobler exertions. Ealeigh participated strongly of both characters ; for though abundantly disposed to the courses of the maritime spoiler, his mind was deeply impressed with the more elevated views of the colonial pro- jector. Some of the richest prizes brought into England were captured by ships fitted out by him, or in which he was a sharer. His colonial schemes constitute a marked portion of his singular history. Some years before that period of his life at which we have arrived — namely, in the short in- terval which elapsed between his military services abroad and in Ireland — he appears to have en- gaged to accompany his celebrated half-brother. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in a voyage to North America, in prosecution of the patent or commis- sion of plantation — the first granted to any British subject — which the latter had obtained from the Queen. The voyage proved abortive; for the ships were forced to return to port, after encountering various disasters. Soon after the commencement of E.aleigh's favour at court. Sir Humphrey had resolved to make another attempt to avail himself SIR WALTER RALEIOH. 87 of Ms patent ; and his rising half-brother, who was now in a situation to furnish useful aid, was not slow to prove how strongly he participated in the noble views entertained by the other. Thus, in a letter written from Court in May 1583, it is stated that ' Mr. Raleigh, the new favourite, had made an ' adventure of two thousand pounds, in a ship and ' furniture thereof,'* to form part of the fleet col- lected by Gilbert for his new expedition. Raleigh's presence at Court was too necessary to allow him to accompany his adventurous brother, who received from the Queen, through ' the new favourite's' hands, a golden anchor to be worn at his breast; her only contribution to an expedition intended to transplant the arts of England to the waste regions of the new world. The ship built and manned by Raleigh, at so much cost, and which bore his name, joined Sir Humphrey before his departure from Plymouth in June 1583 ; but within a few days after sailiag, she left him and returned to port; the sickness of her crew obliging her, according to the common ac- counts, to put back. Captain Hayes, the historian of the voyage, expresses himself in somewhat scep- tical terms as to the necessity for this separation; * Birch's Memoirs of Q. Elizabeth, i. 34. 88 SIR WALTER RAZEIGS. and, if sickness was the cause, it would appear, from a brief note written by Gilbert to Sir George Peckbam, tbat the disappointed admiral was as ignorant of it, as be was indignant at tbe pro- ceeding. Tbis note, wbicb bas been overlooked by Raleigh's biographers, was written in August, after Sir Humphrey's arrival at Newfoundland, and is thus expressed : ' I departed from Plymouth on the ' 11th of June with five sail, and on the 13th the ' bark Ealeigh ran from me in fair and clear wea- ' ther, having a large wind. I pray you solicit my ' brother Raleigh to make them an example to all ' knaves.""^ This expedition also proved abortive, and its brave leader perished in a storm by which he was ovei-taken on his return. He was one of those vigorous and versatile characters peculiar to an age which produced numbers who imited in equal degrees the faculties which fit men alike for specu- lation and for action. Though the name of his uterine brother, who was considerably his junior, has obtained, and justly, a wider and higher fame, there were strong points of resemblance between them ; and the example and instructions of the elder had. In all probability, considerable influence * Purclias, iii. 808. SIR WALTER RALEIGS. 89 upon the mind and pursuits of the younger. His treatise on the ' North-West Passage' displays, as Dr. Robertson has observed, ' much of that en- ' thusiasm and credulity which excite men to ' new and hazardous undertakings : ' but he might have added, that it points out, on just and en- lightened principles, the advantages of foreign settlements in proper situations; representing them as means of extending and enriching commerce, and of furnishing employment to ' those needy people ' who trouble the commonwealth through want at ' home.' The fate of his kinsman had no eflfect in divert- ing Raleigh's thoughts from those colonial under- takings to which the former fell a victim. Availing himself of his favour with the Queen, he solicited and obtained a patent, investing him with ample powers to appropriate, plant, and govern any terri- torial possessions he might acquire, In the unoccupied parts of North America. According to information procured by Oldys, this patent was preceded by a Memorial addressed to the Queen and Council, set- ting forth the utility and policy of the imdertaking. Gibbon specifies the want of details respecting his Virginian schemes — which he justly viewed as a 90 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. characteristic portion of Ms history — as one of Ms reasons for abandoning the idea of a Life of Kaleigh ; but there is, in regard to some other important portions of his life, far greater reason to regret that want; for in as far at least as respects the different attempts to plant colonies, made at his expense and under his direction, the narratives reprinted in the invaluable collections of Hakluyt and Purchas furnish full details. It is matter of regret, no doubt, that the Memorial to which Oldys alludes has not been preserved; but Raleigh's general ideas with respect to colonization are otherwise sufficiently known. They were the same with those entertained by some other enlightened projectors of that pe- riod, whose peculiar views and merits have been entirely overlooked by those writers who have treated of the origin of our American colonies. In Dr. Robertson's sketch of their early Mstory, the views of their founders are unnoticed ; and Dr. Smith has characterized them as being in no respect different from those of the military adven- turers who established the colonies of Spain. The 'thirst of gold' was, as he truly observes, the only principle of action among the latter; but when he says that all the other nations of Europe, the SIS WALTER RALEIGH. 91 English not less than the rest, were solely actuated by the same desire, he does great injustice to some who, in the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, endeavoured to rouse their countrymen to a sense of the advantages to be derived from colonization. It is due to those men, to commemorate with de- served praise the enhghtened views disclosed in their writings. The acquisition of gold and silver miaes was not, by any means, the recommendation to colonial enterprise which they held out. New fields of labour in new and propitious climes — new means of employing a superfluous population — new articles of exchange, new markets, and great aug- mentations of shipping — were the beneficial results which they predicted from the plantation of colonies in the new world. We do not mean to say, that these views were constantly and systematically en- forced; but that they constituted with many the grand recommendations to colonial enterprise. That some of our early colonial adventurers were wholly actuated by the hope of discovering mines, is not to be denied; but that there was a more enlightened class who advocated the utility of foreign settlements upon the grounds we have stated, is equally unquestionable. Of this, the treatises written 92 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. by Gilbert, Peckham, Carlisle, Harriot, and others, and to be found in the collections above named, famish decisive proofs. When miaes are mentioned, they are not by any means represented as para- mount objects ; they make less figure, by much, than the ordinary objects of Industry and conunerce ; and those who represent them as the chief sources of national wealth, are treated with derision and reprobation. These facts have not, in as far as we know, been noticed by those who have been curious In tracing the faint and scattered lights which show the first beginnings of Political Economy — a science to the history of which they undoubtedly appertain. Sir George Peckham's treatise was written in recommendation of Gilbert's project of colonizing in Newfoundland; and both it and that of Carlisle are remarkable productions for their day. Harriot's name is well known as one of the most distinguished of the early mathematicians of Eng- land; but he appears to have also possessed large views in regard to the extension of industry and commerce ; and Ealelgh's appointment of such a man to sui'vey his new settlement in Virginia, was a choice which clearly showed the perspicacity of its founder's views and understanding. The SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 93 wisdom of that choice was exempHfied in the methodical and instructive Report which Harriot published in 1587, after his retvurn from the colony. It is one of the earliest, if not the first specimen in the language, of a statistical survey — for such it was, in as far as there were materials in the country described for such a production; and it furnished an example which was beneficially followed in some other pubHcations respecting the same region. As coming within the scope of the foregoing observa- tions, we may mention an anonymous piece written somewhat later than the period alluded to, but not later than the early part of next reign.* It has been preserved by Purchas, a compiler known to aU the world, but of whose special information connected with their own subject, the biographers of Kaleigh seem to have been whoUy ignorant. Though the extravagance of its conclusions respect- ing the importance of Virginia, and the poetical dress of its statements, may now provoke a smile, it Is impossible not to be struck with the reach and soundness of its general views, and its indignant repudiation of the notion, that the precious metals alone constitute wealth, and give their sole value to * It is entitled Virginias Verger. See Purchas, iv. 1809. 94 SIB WALTEH baleigh. 3olonial possessions. ' The very name of a colony, says the author, 'imports a reasonable and season- able culture and planting, before a harvest and vintage can be expected.' — ' Though gold and silver have enriched the Spanish Exchequer, yet their storehouses hold other and greater wealth, whereof Virginia is no less capable, namely, the country's commodities. — What mines have they in Brazil and in the Islands, where yet so many wealthy Spaniards and Portuguese inhabit? Their ginger, sugar, hides, tobacco, and other merchandise, it may be boldly affirmed, yield far more profit to the generality of the Spanish subjects than the mines do, or have done, this last age.' — ' Who gave gold and silver the monopoly of wealth, or made them the Almighty's favourites ? — That is the richest land which feeds most men. What re- markable mines hath France, Belgia, Lombardy? What this, our fertile mother England? — Do we not see that the silks, calicoes, drugs, and spices of the East, swallow up all the mines of the West?' These strike us as remarkable observa- tions ; and as sufficient, when viewed in conjunction with the other pieces to which .we have referred, to show that justice has not been done to the primary SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 95 founders of our colonial empire ; and that Dr. Smith has greatly erred in charging them with the same blind passion for gold that inflamed the Spanish adventurers. From such inquiries Raleigh's biographers have kept aloof, although they have — particularly Mr. Tytler — diverged upon topics much less intimately connected with their subject, and in regard to which there was nothing to be told that had not often been told before. In other respects, their treatment of this portion of Raleigh's history is lame and faulty. They have left some poiats unnoticed in which his conduct and character are materially concerned; and as both are, unfortunately, very questionable in some after-parts of his career, it was the more necessary to do him full justice where blame cannot, with any fairness, be imputed to him. Raleigh's Patent was granted in 1584, and by him transferred to other hands ia 1589. His ab- sence could not but augment the diflSculties and chances of failure that must have been experienced in any case, where a body of cultivators and artizans was to be planted, for the first time, in a distant and unknown region. And many of 96 SIJR WALTER RALEIGH. his disappointments were occasioned as well by the unskilful management of those to whom the execution of his plans was entrusted, as by the perverse conduct of the colonists ; for his position as a favoured courtier, and his pubUc employments stood in the way of his leaving England, and exercising that personal superintendence which was so much required. But all such means as he could furnish were largely afforded. His first material step was to fit out an expedition of obser- vation and inquiry to ascertain the particular spot where it would be most advantageous to plant; and the accounts brought home by the commanders of the vessels employed in that service, were such as to encourage him to a vigorous prosecution of his design. It was these accounts, too, which in- duced Elizabeth to bestow the name of 'Virginia' upon the country destined to receive the adventurous colonists. In 1585, the first body that sailed from England was safely planted In that region, under the immediate government of Mr. Ralph Lane. He was accompanied by Harriot, who was com- missioned to make the survey and Report to which we have already referred. That sm-vey, and the importation for the first time of the tobacco plant, SIB WALTER RALEIQS. 97 were the only fruits of this expensive undertaking ; for the misconduct of the colonists, and the hostility of the natives, rendered it necessary to re-embark the whole body within a year from the time of its leaving England. Raleigh, nowise daunted by the unfortunate issue of this attempt, took active measures to collect and send out a second body, which sailed and took possession in 1587, under the superintendence of Mr. John White. But his praiseworthy designs were again defeated, chiefly through the miscpnduct of the colonists themselves. The Governor was obliged to return to England for additional suppUes, and new instructions suited to the circumstances that had arisen; and though, on his arrival, he found Raleigh, like all the other leading men of the kingdom, busied with prepara- tions to meet the Spanish Armada, the pressing wants of the colonists were not overlooked. Two small vessels were speedily equipped, and dispatched to their aid; but they were unfortunately rifled at sea, and obliged to put back. Soon after, Raleigh made an assignment of his Patent to a company of merchants; and thus ended a great and favourite scheme, after much loss to the projector, and the destruction of the unfortunate adventurers who re- H 98 SIR WALTER RALEIQH. mained in the country, in expectation of the supplies for which their Governor had proceeded to England. The project of colonizing Virginia was suffered to languish in the hands of the new patentees during the remainder of Elizabeth's reign ; and twenty- years elapsed before any permanent settlement could be said to have been effected. RalSgh's abandonment of a design, in which he had embarked with so much ardour, and in fur- therance of which so many of his countrymen had been induced to quit their native land, has not passed without censure ; though, judging from their silence, his recent biographers do not seem to have been aware that any question on this head had ever been raised. Some have ascribed his conduct to a natural levity of disposition; others to the inter- vention of more alluring objects. To us it appears that he gave up his Virginian project simply be- cause he found from experience that his own means were too limited, and the times not sufficiently favourable, to allow him any longer to flatter him- self with the hope of being able to prosecute it to a successful issue. The proceeding does not appear to have been blamed by his contemporaries. It was acknowledged by even the enthusiastic Hakluyt, SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 99 'that it would have required a prince's purse to 'have it thoroughly followed out.' The absence of the alluring prospect of mines, was a damping consideration with the more vulgar class of adven- turers. To such, the predatory war then in activity against the shipping and commerce of Spain, held out far more tempting baits; and the direct course of navigation to North America, by which the voyage came aJftelwards to be so much shortened, had not yet been discovered. In a word, we are strongly inclined ^to think, that Raleigh's assignment of his Patent was fully justified by the necessity of the case; and that it ought not to deprive him of the glory of being viewed as a worthy leader in 'the ancient and heroical work of plan- ' tations,'* and of having opened the path to that colonial empire which England established in the New World. But there is another point connected with this subject, both more interesting in itself, and more important as affecting his character, yet as to which Mr. Tytler is altogether silent, while Dr. Southey expresses himself in terms which are as unjust to Raleigh as they are inconsistent with • Bacon. H2 100 SIS. WALTER RALEIGH. historical truth. We here refer to the very natural question, whether he made any attempts, after the assignment of his Patent, to ascertain the fate of, or to withdraw the ill-starred adventurers, in number about a hundred, who remained in the colony in expectation of supplies from the mother country? The duty of making an effort to with- draw, or provide for them, devolved more immedi- ately upon those to whom his obligations with his rights were transferred; and it is in the last degree discreditable to them, that, in as far as is known, they made only one attempt of the kind, which having proved ineffectual, they left the colonists to their fate. That the Government of Elizabeth made no effort to rescue these persons from the certain destruction that awaited them, is a fact that affixes a deep stigma upon her reign. But, fortimately for Raleigh, he merits none of the cen- sure which would justly have attached to his name, notwithstanding the transfer of his colonial rights, had he done nothing towards the relief of those who quitted their country under that banner of ad- venture which he imfurled. His exertions, whether contrasted with the conduct of the patentees, or viewed with reference to their long continuance, SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 101 amidst all the distractions of his busy career, deserve especial notice and honour. But what does his latest biographer say on this subject? After mentioniog the abortive effort of the patentees, Dr. Southey states, that ' tio further attempt was made to relieve ' the colonists^ nor to ascertain their fate ; and of these ' persons nothing was ever afterwards Jcnown.^ He re- curs to the subject to add, ' that the abandonment of these ^ poor colonists must ever be a reproach to Raleigh.^ There are here two gross misstatements. Of the unfortunate persons, of whom he so confidently says that ' nothing was ever afterwards known,' we learn on undoubted authority that Powhatten, a Virginian sovereign, whose name is well known in the history of that country, ' confessed to Captain ' Smith that he had ieen at the murder of the colony .^ ' and showed him certain articles which had been 'theirs.'* Will Dr. Southey, after reading this confession, say that 'nothing was ever known' of these ill-fated colonists? But what is to be said of his far more reprehensible misstatement, that no further 'attempt was made to relieve them, nor ' to ascertain their fate,' when there is historical proof that five different attempts to succour them * Purchas, iv. 1728. 102 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. were made by the man whose utter neglect of them he represents as a lastmg reproach to his memory? The proof is contained in a remarkable notice pre- served by Purchas, of the date of 1602, beariag, that ' Samuel Mace of Weymouth, a very sufficient ' mariner, who had been at Yirgiriia twice hefore, ' was (in this year) employed thither by Sir Walter ' Ealeigh to find those people which were left there ' ia 1587, to whose succour he hath sent five several '■times at his own charges I ''^ Had Dr. Southey consulted Purchas, he would have avoided these discreditable inaccuracies. For some time after the abandonment of his Virgiaian schemes, Raleigh's chief occupations seem to have been those of a favoured courtier, an active member of Parliament, and a large sharer in those naval enterprises and privateering expeditions against Spain, which, as Hume observes, 'were scarce ever ' intermitted by the Queen or her subjects during ' one season.' As was to be expected, he expe- rienced considerable vicissitudes in these uncertain adventures. From some curious papers of account- ing preserved in the British Museum, it appears that he complained bitterly of the shares assigned * Purclias, iv. 1663. SIB WALTER RALEIQH. 103 to him, even in cases where the Queen herself had been a joint adventurer.* Neither the wealth nor the morals of the country were much benefited by these expeditions. They were strongly con- demned even by some men of the sword who lived near the time. 'They indeed occasioned,' says Sir WilUam Monson, ' great loss and damage to the ' Spaniards, but no profit or advantage to the ' Enghsh. There are not three men in this king- ' dom who can boast they have succeeded their ' fathers in any quantity of goods so gotten. 'f The attempt to take vengeance on Philip by placing Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal, was an adventure of a nobler and more romantic descrip- tion; and Raleigh, with some other distinguished men, was honoured by the Queen with a gold chain in token of her approval of his services in this memorable but imsuccessful expedition. One of the most pleasing incidents of this period of his life was his meeting with Spenser, during a sort of compulsory visit to Ireland, occasioned by some temporary eclipse of his favour at cotirt. They • Burghley Papers, Bibl. Lansdown., vol. Ixx. No. 94. Ibid, vol. Ixxiii. Nos. 10 and 11. t Naval Tracts, in Churchill's Coll., iii. 211-12, 104 sm WALTER RALEIGH. are supposed to have become previously acquainted during the rebellion of the Desmonds; but their subsequent intercourse led to a friendship which proved as beneficial to the poet, as the exercise of his patronage was honourable to Ealeigh. This meeting is beautifully described by Spenser himself in the pastoral of ' Colin Clout,' which he represents ia his dedication to Kaleigh — who is figured as ' the Shepherd of. the Ocean' — as ' agreeing with 'the truth in circumstance and fact.' Spenser was then residing at Kilcolman, an ancient castle of the Desmonds, situated on the banks of the Mulla; and the scene which he delineates in the opening of the poem is ia the highest degree interesting and pleasing : but it is still more agreeable to find him recording the fact of his introduction and re- commendation to the Queen by Kaleigh, after his restoration to favour. ' The Shepherd of the Ocean Unto that Goddess' grace me first enchanoed, And to mine oaten pipe inclined her ear, That she therein thenceforth 'gan take delight, And it desired at timely hours to hear.' The mind dwells with satisfaction on such bright spots in Raleigh's ambitious and troubled career, where his native generosity, unobstructed by any SIB WALTER RALEIGS. 105 adverse feeling, exerts itself in acts entitling him to our approbation and esteem. He liad another opportunity of showing the friendliness of his dispo- sition, and his congenial admiration of superior merit, as well in arms as in letters, by the account which he published in 1591, of the sea-fight at the Azores, maintained for fifteen hours in a single ship, com- manded by Admiral Sir Richard GrenviUe, against a Spanish fleet of fifty-three sail, manned with ten thousand men ! His description of the action, in which the enemy's niunerbus fleet formed a circle around the ship of the heroic Admiral, who, pierced with mortal wounds, continued to fight her tin her ammunition was exhausted, when he com- manded the master-gunner, a kindred spirit, to sink her, ' that nothing might remain of glory or victory ' to the Spaniard' — and which command would have been obeyed but for the interference of the remainder of the mutilated crew — presents a view of perhaps the most astonishing naval conflict ever delineated. It is written with great clearness and vigour, and breathes a fervid spirit of loyalty and patriotism in its indignant reprobation of the conduct of Spain ' for her bloody and injurious designs, purposed and 'practised against Christian princes, over all of 106 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ' whom she seeks unlawful and ungodly rule and ' empery.' The man who could sound such thrilling and patriotic notes, was sure to advance himself more and more iu the good graces of Elizabeth : but the course of royal favour was turned aside by an act which, for some time, put an end to aU personal intercoxu'se with his hitherto partial sovereign; and led him to enter upon a new and romantic scene of adventure, from which his subsequent history derives much of its peculiar interest and colouring. This reverse was occasioned by an amour and pri- vate marriage with one of the maids of honour — Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicolas Throgmorton. All who are acquainted with the history of this reign know, that the intercourse between the Queen and her favourites generally wore the appearance of a commerce of love ; and that she was addressed by them, down to the last day of her life, in terms of gallantry and ardent personal devotion. Thus her foibles, or ' softnesses,' as Bacon chooses to de- signate them, concurring with her arbitrary maxims of government, led her to view Ealeigh's conduct as both personally and politically offensive — per- sonally, as interfering with that exclusive devotion Sm WALTER RALEIOH. 107 to herself which she exacted from her favourite knights; politically, as interfering with her prero- gative, which required that her consent to the mar- riage should have been asked and obtained. The offending couple were accordingly committed to the Tower, and Ealeigh was deprived of the offices which gave him the privilege of free access to his sovereign. No man knew better the weaknesses of his royal mistress, and no one could be less scrupu- lous in the use of any expedients, however ignoble, by which her wrath might be appeased. Without adverting to his theatrical struggles to obtain a view of his peerless princess, we may notice, as curiously descriptive of the parties, a letter ad- dressed to Cecil, but evidently designed for the eye of the Queen, in which he represents himself as cast into the depth of misery ' from being deprived ' of the delight of seeing her' — ' her that he had ' been wont to behold riding like Alexander, hunt- ' Lag like Diana, walking like Venus — the gentle ' wind blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks ' like a nymph ; sometimes sitting in the shade Hke ' a goddess — sometimes siaging like an angel, some- ' times playing like Orpheus!' Notwithstanding every allowance that can be made for the occasional 108 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. follies of the wise, and the influence of times and circumstances, it would be difficult to regard this tawdry and fulsome rhapsody without feelings ap- proaching to contempt. Yet let us in extenuation recollect, that Henry the Fourth, in order to con- ciliate Elizabeth, condescended to demean himself in a similar strain, when, on being shown a minia- ture of her Majesty by her Ambassador, he protested, in presence of the fair Gabrielle, that to possess the good graces of the original, 'he would forsake all ' the world, and hold himself most happy ! ' * After an imprisonment of some weeks, the Queen relented so far that she gave him Hberty, without, however, allowing him to approach the Court, and bless himself with the view of ' the gentle wind ' blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks.' But his exertions in Parliament on behalf of the Crown, upon occasions when subsidies were in question, could not but prove acceptable to Elizabeth j and it would appear, that in no long time he had so far re-established himself in her favour, as to con- trive, through her interference, to obtain a grant of the manor of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire; a pos- session which belonged to the Chvu-ch, and the ahen- * Murdin's State Papers, p. 718. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 109 atlon of which seems to have been attended with great obloquy. It would appear, too, that there were strong apprehensions among his enemies of a complete restoration to favour; for, in a letter of the period, expressed with extreme rancour and bitterness, the writer says, — ' It is now feared of all ' honest men, that Sir Walter Raleigh shall pre- ' sently come to the court ; and yet it is well with- ' stood. God grant him some farther resistance, ' and that place he better deserveth, if he had his ' right.'* Such, we fear, are the feelings which, in all ages, fill the bosoms of rival courtiers and statesmen ! The wishes of his enemies, in as far as regarded his banishment from court, were gratified for a season; during which he seems to have employed him- self in making improvements at Sherborne, which, according to the traditions of the times, ' he beau- ' tified with gardens, and orchards, and groves of ' much variety and dehght.' But his mind was not of a cast to remain satisfied with such occupations. They ministered in no degree to his stirring and grasping ambition; and being now expelled from every royal avenue to distinction, and impatient alike of obscurity and inaction, he resolved to cut out for • Biich's Mem, of Eliz. i. 151. 110 SIR WALTER RALBIOH. himself a new path of adventure, which, as he fondly imagined, would conduct him both to glory and to wealth. It was during this interval of obscuration, in a word, that he devised that famous voyage in quest of El Dorado, from which undoubtedly he reaped a certain fame, but which has done more to throw doubt on his judgment and veracity, than all the other questionable acts of his varied life put together. As the inquiries connected with this voyage are extremely curious, and have been almost wholly overlooked, or at any rate inade- quately treated, by his biographers, we propose to notice them at some length. Kaleigh was more deeply read, perhaps, than any of his countrymen in the histories of the Spanish discoveries and conquests in the new world. They presented scenes, occmrences, and objects of the greatest interest to a congenial spirit like his. It was in this course of reading that he found accounts of the existence of an undiscovered sovereignty, teeming with the precious metals, which had long been sought for in vam by the most enterprising and resolute of the Spanish adventurers. Their ex- peditions in quest of it had, latterly, been directed to the interior of the vast region lying between the SIB WALTER RAZEIGS. Ill Orlnocco and the Amazons, or Guiana. The rocki? were represented as Impregnated with gold, the veins of which lay so near the surface as to make it shine with a dazzling resplendency. The capital, Manoa, was said to consist of houses covered with plates of gold, and to be built upon a vast lake, named Parima, the sands of which were auriferous. This sovereignty, called El Dorado, became the seat of an aggregation of fables, which all concurred to magnify its importance, and to throw a sort of en- chantment around it. Its magnificence was partly ascribed to the flight, at the time of the Spanish Conquest, of a younger brother of the last Inca of Peru, who, accompanied by multitudes from that and the adjacent countries, and laden with treasures, was believed to have there established himself. The retreat of Manco-Inca, brother of Atahualpa, to the regions east of the Cordilleras, probably gave rise to this tradition.* Fiction placed another imaginary kingdom to the south of New Mexico, called the Great Quivira, supposed in like manner to have been founded by those who escaped from the ruins of the empire of Montezuma.f Such fables found * Gumilla, ii. 146-7, French Transl. Humboldt's Per. Nar. V. 854-5, English Transl. + Fejjoo, Theatro Critico, iv. 262. 112 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. a ready assent among minds fashioned to credulity by the wonders of the new world, and the obscurity in which much of it long remained involved. They who could believe in the existence of a fountain whose waters had the virtue of restoring to youth and beauty the old and decrepid who bathed in them, could have no difficulty in believing in the golden wonders of El Dorado; a region only dif- fering from others as being infinitely more pro- lific of that metal than any hitherto discovered. Poets* have celebrated, and historiansf detailed the numerous expeditions in quest of it; and its locality has engaged the attention and enquiries of some of the most eminent geographers and travellers of modern times. | It is impossible not to entertain some curiosity as to the origin of a fable which led to such results. With respect to this, it may first of all be mentioned, that the term El Dorado was not originally used to designate any particular place; it signified gen- erally the 'gilded' or 'golden,' and was variously • Castellanos, Primera Parte de las Elegias de Varones iUmtres de Indias. t Herrera — Piedrahita — Pedro Simon. J Gumilla — Caulin — Condamine — Humlboldt. SIR WALTEB RALEI6E. 113 applied. According to some, it was first used to denote a religious observance among the natives. The chief priest, after performing his oblations at the altar, and anointing his body, covered it with gold dust so as to make it shine; and was hence called the gilded man. Others say that it was ap- plied to a sovereign prince, who every morning had his body ornamented in the game way, and was on that account called the gilded king.* The fable appears clearly to have referred to some particular place, the situation of which was transferred from one quarter to another, according to the state of opinion or belief. The whole of Guiana was, in consequence of the above usages, sometimes designated by the term El Dorado ; but the lo- cality of the fable which came to appropriate that name, was successively assigned to different quarters of that vast region, and the expeditions in search of it varied accordingly. - As the picture which that fable presents to us is that of a district whose gold-covered capital was built upon an ex- tensive lake, and whose rocks indicated a marvellous abundance of the precious metals — the question to be solved is, whence arose the belief that such • Piedrahita — Simon — Oviedo, in Ramusio. I 114 SIS WALTER RALEIGH. a district existed in the interior of Guiana? Con- damine, in descending the Amazon on returning from his scientific mission to Peru, instituted some inquiries which led him to beUeve that he had possessed himself of materials for solving this problem ; but that solution appears to have been reserved to the later researches of Humboldt. This eminent traveller, whilst engaged in exploring the countries upon the Upper Orinocco, was naturally led to direct his attention to the origin of a fable of such celebrity, of which he stiU met with the remains of the ancient belief. ' When near the ' sources of the Orinocco,' says he, ' we heard of ' nothing but the proximity of El Dorado, the lake ' Parima, and the ruins of its capital.'* The in- fonnation which he collected respecting that portion of eastern Guiana which lies between the sources of the Eio Essequibo and the Eio Branco, seems to furnish the groundwork of the fiction. This tract or isthmus is, according to him, 'the classical ' soil of the -Dorado of Parima.' Here was the locality pointed at in the vague aspirations of many sanguine adventurei-s. And here, in a river called Parima, and in a small lake connected with it, » Per. Mar. v. 506. sin WALTER RALEIGH. 115 named Amucu, which is occasionally swollen by in- undations, we have basis enough on which to account for the belief in the great lake bearing the name of the former ; and in the islets and rocks of mica slate and talc, which rise up within and around the latter, reflecting from their shining surfaces the rays of an ardent sim, we have materials out of which to form that gorgeous capital, whose temples and houses were overlaid with plates of beaten gold. With such elements to work upon, heated fancies, aided by the imperfect vision of distant and dubious objects, might easily create that fabulous superstructure. We may judge of the brilliancy of these deceptive appearances, from learning that the natives ascribed the lustre of the Magellanic clouds, or nebulas of the southern hemisphere, to the bright reflections produced by them I* There could not well be a more poetical exaggeration of the lustrous efi'ects produced by the metallic hues of rocks of talc. These details, in which De Pons,t a somewhat later traveller, who long resided in an official ca- pacity in the neighbouring countries, fully concurs, * Humboldt, Per. Nar. v. 773-860. t Voyage d la Terre-Ferme, dans V Amer. Merid. I2 116 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. in all probability point to the true origin of this remarkable fable. It is in such suppositions alone that any explanation can be foiuid of some his- torical recitals seemingly unquestionable. Such are those regarding the noted expedition of the German adventurer, PhiUp Yon Huten, undertaken in 1541, and fully detailed by Piedrahita, one of the Spanish historians of America. From his nar- rative it appears, that Von Huten and his com- panions averred that they were prevented by a body of ferocious Indians, with whom they had a long and bloody conflict, from reaching a place containing structures whose roofs appeared to them to shine with all the brilliancy of gold. Unless we suppose this story to be a fabrication, which does not appear warrantable, occurring as It does In the work of a respectable historian, there is no way of accounting for it but by referring to illu- sions of the kind above described. The perusal of the account of Yon Huten's expedition, in Piedrahita, made Gumilla a firm believer in El Dorado. No geographical fiction ever occasioned so vast a waste of human life. Yet, so differently has it been viewed by difibrent minds, that whilst one set SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 117 of Spanish religionists reprobate it as the device of the Evil Spirit to lure mankind to their destruction, another hail it as a benevolent expedient of the Deity to diffuse the light of the Gospel amongst the heathens of America. A history of the ex- peditions in search of El Dorado would form a singularly curious and interesting volume. But we cannot afford room for the briefest mention of them. There Is nothing in romance to surpass the dangers, privations, and sufferings to which they gave rise. Tet neither the disasters, nor even the almost total destruction of many, prevented others from being imdertaken. It mattered not that aU returned dis- comfited and disappointed. Adventiu-ers followed in quick succession; the last always deluding them- selves with the hope that the discovery of El Dorado would ultimately be achieved. Thus did this ignis fatuus continue for ages to allure its credulous followers to perish in their phantom pur- suit. Raleigh has, in a striking passage of his 'History of the World,' characterized these expe- ditions in terms which show his great admiration of the energies displayed In them. His belief in the reality of the seductive magnet by which they were attracted, was the principal, but not the only 118 SIS WALTER BALEIOH. motive of his voyage to Guiana, The multiplied failures of the Spaniards produced in him a strong conviction, not that they had wasted their means and eflforts in pursuit of a phantom, hut that they had missed the right vsray. This was precisely the conclusion that such a mind as his was likely to form. Some time before he seriously thought of the undertaking, he appears to have received ac- counts of Guiana of a very flattering description; but his prospects at home were then too bright to tempt him to embark in a project which would necessarily remove him to a great distance, and expose his interests at court to the intrigues likely to be occasioned by long absence. But the cessa- tion of those interests, and his restless ambition, re- vived the project, and inspired him with the most gigantic designs. Still clinging to schemes of co- lonization, and burning with the desire to humble the Spaniards, he flattered himself that he should be able, by the acquisition of Guiana, to extend the sphere of English industry and commerce; to render London the mart of the choicest productions of the new world ; and to annex to the Crown a region which, besides its great colonial recommendations, would enable It to command the chief possessions of SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 119 Its greatest enemy, and from which his principal re- sources were derived. These were patriotic, though, it may be, not very wise or practicable designs. And in classing Raleigh with the knights-errant of El Dorado, we must, in justice to his memory, assert his aims to have been of a far higher order than the great majority of those who engaged in the same pursuit; none of whom had any other object than to gratify that thirst of gold which all the mines of Spanish America had not been able to slake. A year before he set out upon his voyage, and while his preparations were in progress, Raleigh had taken the precaution to dispatch a vessel to Trinidad, under the direction of a skilful sailor. Captain Whiddon, to make inquiries as to the entrances to the Orinocco ; but, as afterwards ap- peared, without obtaining any usetul information. His preparations were conducted upon an exten- sive scale, and attracted considerable notice. Un- favourable rumours seem to have been rife on the occasion. Some said that he had nothing In view but a privateering expedition; others that he would himself remain concealed in some corner of Cornwall till his ships returned; and a third class 120 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. of detractors scrupled not to aflirm that tls inten- tion was to seek employment in Spain, and for ever to abandon England. These reports, it must be allowed, show either that he had many enemies, or that his character did not stand high with his countrymen. That his haughty and arrogant demean- our had produced much unkindly feeling towards him is certain; and it must also be admitted that his career had not been such as to manifest a steady adherence to any high principles of moraUty. But that the rumours alluded to did him wrong, seems unquestionable ; for there can be no doubt, if human purposes can at all be scanned, that his whole soul was filled with the confident expectation of making an acquisition, which if profitable to himself, would also prove beneficial to his country. On the 9th of February 1595, he set sail from Plymouth with five vessels, having on board, be- sides mariners, about a hundred soldiers, with their officers, and a few gentlemen volunteers; and, strangely as it may now sound, to the expense of this expedition for the discovery of El Dorado, the Lord High Admiral, and Sir Eobert Cecil, who was soon after made Secretary of State, were con- tributors! The occurrences at Trinidad, where, SIS. WALTER RALEIGH. 121 towards the end of March, the expedition arrived, present some incidents of a highly romantic and dra- matic cast ; for there, in the person of the governor, Don Antonio de Berrlo, Kaleigh made prisoner of one who had abeady attempted the discovery of El Dorado, and was now preparing a fresh expedition for another trial. Berrio had hroken faith with Captain Whiddon when the latter was at Trinidad in the preceding year, hy seizing some of his men, after pledging his word for their safety ; and Raleigh, as well to he revenged for this offence, as to prevent a surprise which he was informed was meditated agaiast himself, contrived, by a prompt movement, to take possession of the small town of St. Joseph, and of the person of the governor. Thus were brought face to face, from two hostile countries, two distinguished competitors for a golden kingdom, of which neither had obtained the most distant glimpse — which was to both a mere crea- ture of fancy — and which neither could hope to reach without encountering the most frightful perils that try the strength or menace the life of man. History has few scenes more singular — scenes where the actors were real and in earnest, but where the objects of action were altogether imaginary. 122 SIR WALTER RALEIGn. Ealeigh tells us, that finding his prisoner to he ' a gentleman of great assuredness and of a great ' heart,' he treated him ' according to his rank and ' deserts.' Their intercourse furnished fresh aliment to the flame which already glowed with sufficient intensity in Raleigh's imagination; for Berrio, little suspecting that his captor was a rival in the same pursuit with himself, freely communicated all the knowledge he had acquired during his previous ex- pedition, and his plans for the further prosecution of his design. Among other communications, he showed Raleigh the copy of a declaration said to have heen made by a person of the name of Mar- tinez, who represented himself as having served under Diego de Ordaz in his first attempt to ascend the Orinocco, and who stated that, having been made prisoner by the Guianians, he was by them carried to Manoa, the golden capital of El Dorado, where he remained several years, and was then carried blindfolded to the borders, that he might not be able to disclose the approaches to that envied principality. Arriving, after many perils, at St. Juan de Puerto Rico, he there made a declaration to this effect, which was deposited in the Chancery of that place, and copied by Berrio. This was SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 123 not the only fabrication of the sort of which the Spanish authors make mention. Gumllla, at a long subsequent period, gravely recounts his havmg himself met -with an Indian who stated that he had resided fifteen years In this fabulous capital, and whose account of It was so distinct and minute as to render It Impossible, according to the learned Jesuit, to question Its existence ! Having procured from Berrio all the information he could furnish, Raleigh at length threw off the mask he had hitherto worn, and told his captive, who all the while supposed his destination to be Virginia, that he also was in quest of El Dorado, and thus far advanced towards its discovery. Their colloquies then assumed another aspect. ' Berrio,' says Raleigh, ' was stricken with a great melancholy ' and sadness, and used all the arguments he could ' to dissuade me ; and also assured the gentlemen ' of my company that it would be labour lost, and ' that they would suffer many miseries if they pro- ' ceeded.' This was truly spoken, as events proved, but without the least good faith; for Berrlo's mind was full of his second attempt, to forward which one of his principal oflScers, named Domingo de Vera, had been dispatched to levy men, and make 124 SIR WALTER RALEIGS. other preparations in Spain. The remarkable appear- ance of that otficer, whose person, deportment, and proceedings are fully described by the Spanish his- torians, joined with his highly-coloured representa- tions of the vast wealth that was sure to be realized by the expedition, produced amongst his country- men effects similar to those which were engendered in France by the Mississippi scheme. The desire to be included in the adventure excited the most eager competition, and led multitudes to dispose of their property, never doubting to be repaid tenfold from the treasures of El Dorado. Berrio's second attempt was, we believe, the last undertaken by the Spa- niards upon any extensive scale. Dr. Southey, devi- ating judiciously from the beaten path of Raleigh's biographers, has given an account of the singular artifices of Domingo de Vera, abridged from the narrative of Father Simon. Mr. Tytler appears to have been ignorant of the existence of this nar- rative ; at any rate he has not made the slightest allusion to it. We must not take leave of this subject with- out adverting to an extraordinary statement by Dr. Southey, which, if well founded, would greatly diminish the interest of the scenes at Trinidad. It SIS WALTER BALEIOH. 125 amounts to this, that Berrio himself never fell into Ealeigh's hands, and consequently that he was no party to the conversations which his captor recites I ' It is very remarkable,' says Dr. Southey, that neither Pedro Simon, nor Oviedo y Baiios make the slightest mention of Ealeigh's expedi- tion. His entering the Orinocco might easily be unknown to them ; but the capture of Berrio should seem a matter of too much importance either to remain unknown or unmentioned. From a careful perusal of Pedro Simon, I am led to infer that the Governor Don Antonio Berrio was not, and could not have been in the island of Trinidad when Raleigh set forth to the newly- foimded city of St. Joseph; that the island was at that time in possession of a party opposed to Berrio ; and that Raleigh, having captured the person who was in command there, supposed that he had got the lawful governor in his hands; — a mistake which the prisoner might be willing enough to encourage.' This seems to us a most fallacious and unwarranted inference. Supposing these historians had given an account of the expe- dition, but without mentioning the capture of Berrio, surely their sUence respecting it would not be 126 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. lield sui35cieiit to gainsay the positive testimony of Raleigh, vouched by his officers, whom he mentions a,8 having conversed with Berrio ; for, as neither they nor any of the gentlemen volunteers in the Expedition ever breathed a doubt as to a fact pro- claimed to all the world by Raleigh's account of it, we are entitled to hold it as vouched by them. It seems incredible that they should all have been deceived, or that the mistake as to Berrio's iden- tity, if any such there was, should not in some way have obtained publicity. But when we find that the historians referred to omitted all mention of the expedition itself, though it speedily became famous throughout Europe, is it not absurd to con- sider their silence as to one of its incidents as any proof that the incident was suppositious? To believe that Berrio was not Raleigh's prisoner, we must suppose, what seems utterly improbable, that his personator was able to hoodwink one of the keenest-sighted men in the world, throughout a prolonged series of conversations, upon topics in which Berrio was personally and deeply bterestedj for Dr. Southey does not pretend that anythmg which passed in these conversations was not per- fectly consonant to the actions and character of SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 127 ' the lawful governor.' Humboldt more than once alludes to the capture of Berrio, without inti- mating the slightest doubt of the fact; and it hardly will be said that his knowledge of the Spanish historians of America is surpassed by that of Dr. Southey. But independently of all this, Raleigh's own narrative furnishes decisive proof that he could not have been deceived; for amongst his officers there was Captain Whiddon, who had seen and conversed with Berrio in the preceding year — a fact which Dr. Southey must have over- looked or forgotten — and consequently, were his inference well founded, Berrio must have been per- sonated by the same individual in that year also, and this without a hint of the fact transpiring in all that time! — a supposition which is palpably ridicu- lous. It may seem unnecessary to make any further observations upon this point; but as it is connected with one of the most singular passages of Raleigh's life, we cannot refrain from adding, that if the cap- ture of Berrio ' was a matter of too much importance ' to remain unknown or unmentioned' by the Spanish historians, the mention of that circumstance in a work translated and circulated aU over Europe- — as was the case with Raleigh's narrative of his 128 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. voyage — could not, for that very reason, have remained uncontradicted, supposing it to have been untrue ; yet we will venture to assert that no con- tradiction of it anywhere exists. Would not the Spanish historians have gloried, had they been able to give the lie to this hated enemy of their nation, for having presumed falsely to assert that a grandee of Spain, and governor of one of its dependencies, had been his prisoner? Of this celebrated voyage we cannot afford room even for an outline. The attempt to enter the Orinocco, which empties itself into the ocean, at a great distance from its main stream, by several rivers, the navigation of which was then wholly unknown, was one of extraordinary boldness and peril; especially when it is considered that Ra- leigh's ships drew too much water to admit of his using them, and that it was necessary to leave them at anchor, and to have recourse to boats. But as it was only by ascending this river that he could hope to reach the grand object of his wishes, he had no alternative but that of abandoning the design, or of committing himself and his adventurous companions to those fragile and hazardous conveyances. About a hundred SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 129 persons were embarked in the boats by which the main body of the river was to be ascended; and in these they continued to navigate for a month, sometimes under a burning sun, sometimes under torrents of rain, with no other resting-places bvit the hard boards, and no accommodations but what were coromon to all. Raleigh's account of their progress through the labyrinth formed by the numerous outlets of the great stream — of their alter- nate hopes and fears, wants and fortuitous supplies — of the aspects of the country and its productions — and of their entrance at last into the grand channel of the majestic Orinocco, is full of interest and variety; occasionally containing descriptive pas- sages of much beauty, joined with traits of almost inconceivable credulity, and frequent asseverations of his belief in the commercial resources and me- tallic riches of the vast region through which its sealike waters roll. After ascending the river about sixty leagues, according to Humboldt's estimate, its rapid and terrific rise rendered it necessary to re- descend. Being thus obliged to turn his back upon El Dorado, and to leave a region for the first time beheld by any of his countrymen, but with a firm determination soon to return, he formally bound K 130 SIR WALTEB RALEIGH. those Caciques, witli whom he had opened a friendly intercourse, to remain faithfal to his sovereign, in whose name and behalf he took possession of the country. The continued rising of the waters, and their ignorance of the navigation, made the regain- ing of the ships left at anchor an undertaking of no small danger and anxiety; but at last they reached them in safety, 'than which,' says he, ' there could be no more joyful occasion.' Raleigh returned to England about the close of the summer of 1595, and did not remain long at home without showing his strong faith and un- altered designs with respect to Guiana; for, before the end of that year, and early in the next, he despatched two vessels for the purpose of procuring further information, and confirming the amicable re- lations established with the native Caciques. The first was commanded by one of his most noted fol- lowers. Captain Keymis, who shared the more en- lightened as well as the more chimerical views of his leader; and who, on his return, published an ac- count of his voyage, in which, as Humboldt informs us, he Indicates that very locality above mentioned, which his own inquiries had pointed out as the seat of El Dorado. His reproofs of the incredulity SIR WALTER RALEIOII. 131 and indifference that prevailed respecting the great advantages to be derived from the colonization of Guiana, are lofty and Indignant; and sometimes expressed in a way to show that striking concep- tions and imaginative language were common to writers of all classes in that age. Previous to the publication of Keymls's narrative, Raleigh's account of his own voyage had appeared, under a title suf- ficient of itself to awaken scepticism among his countrymen. It was entitled ' The Discovery of ' the large, rich, and beautiful empire of Guiana' n — an empire of which few or none of those to whom it was addressed had ever heard. It was written In that clear and mellow style, of which its author was so great a master, but without any approach to me- thod or coherency. He says himself indeed, 'that ' he had studied neither phrase, form, nor fashion in ' its composition.' But Its moral, as distinguished from its literary character, presents a more con- tentious subject of Inquiry. By some, its fabulous statements have been branded as the coinage of deliberate falsehood ; while others have only doubted his good faith. In reciting them as conformable to his own belief. For our part, though we cannot pretend to determine the extent of Raleigh's pro- K2 132 SIM WALTER RALEIGH. bity, or to ascertain by any exact scale the mea- sure of bis belief, we never have been able to see why things incredible to us, should have ap- peared in that light to those living at a period ' uninstracted by our science, undisciplined by our re- searches, unguided by our experience. The human mind is so constituted as to be revolted at one time by that which, at another, meets with its ready assent and belief. All sound reasoning, in a word, seems to authorize the conclusion, that Raleigh might have honestly believed all the marvels he relates ; and though his recitals may have been, and doubtless were, sometimes exaggerated, or coloured by hues reflected from his own imagina- tion, we are inclined to think that his belief was, in the main, sincere. When Hume says that his narrative ' is full of the grossest and most palpable ' lies that were ever attempted to be imposed on the ' credulity of mankind,' he not only speaks in igno- rance of the facts of the case, but forgets that the man whom he thus coarsely censures, did not, like him, view the fables connected with Guiana from the vantage-ground of an enlightened and scientific age. The statements respecting this region to which Hume may be supposed more particularly to refer SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 133 are those concerning its female warriors — its tribe ' with eyes in their shoulders, and mouths in their ' breasts' — its El Dorado — and its auriferous rocks. With regard to the American amazons, there were believers in their existence as late as the middle of last century; and among them was no less a philosopher than Condamine. As to the headless tribe, that fable has had sundry prototypes both in the ancient and modern world; and the exist- ence of such a race was the common behef of the natives at the period of Raleigh's voyage, as it may be at this day. We are told by Humboldt, that he ' met an old Indian who asserted that he ' had seen them with his own eyes.' The son of the Guianian chief, whom Kaleigh brought to Eng- land for education, again and again asserted the existence of this tribe — averring that they had of ' late years slain many hundreds of his father's people.' Raleigh, though aware that the avowal would expose him to obloquy, boldly states his belief that such a tribe was to be found in Guiana ; grounding it on the concurring testimony of the natives ; and asking, reasonably enough, what profit coidd accrue to him from the invention and dis- semination of such a fiction? As to El Dorado, 134 SIB WALTER RALEIGS. we do not think that Hume could have been acquainted with the Spanish historians of America; otherwise he must have known that Ealeigh only expressed a conviction entertained by thousands. Had he been conversant with these writers, it is scarcely possible that he could have taxed Raleigh with gross falsehood for only repeating what so many others stated, and for adopting a belief which was the common belief of the greatest monarchy of Europe. Nor must it be forgotten that Raleigh was by no means the only Eng- lish believer in El Dorado. Sir Robert Dudley, who, in 1595, made a voyage to Trinidad, and there heard of that golden region, appears to have as firmly believed in its existence, and to have been as desirous to discover it, as Raleigh himself. Fourteen years after. Sir Robert Harcourt, in his account of his voyage to Guiana, takes oc- casion to mention, that he had directed some of his followers to endeavour 'to go up into the high ' country, and to find out the city of Manoa, men- ' tioned by Sir Walter Raleigh in his Discourse ;' thus manifesting his belief, by directing a search for its gorgeous capital.* Of things palpably fa- * Harcourt, in Purchas, iv. 1270-80. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 135 bulous In our eyes, it is not, we must repeat, enough to say, that they could not be believed by such a man as Raleigh. To what absurd con- clusions would not this principle lead? As well might it be contended, that no instructed man ever believed in witchcraft, in judicial astrology, or the philosophers' stone ! If the great discoverer of Ame- rica could be seduced by the belief that he had there found the site of the terrestrial paradise ; and if Raleigh himself could seriously discuss the ques- tion, as he does in his ' History of the World,' whether that site ought not rather to be sought near the orb of the moon, he might well be al- lowed to believe in El Dorado, without prejudice either to his sincerity or his sanity. Was it half as extraordinary that Raleigh should believe in the fables in question, as it was that Dr. Johnson should believe in the second sight? It has been justly observed by this vigorous thinker, ' that it ' is the great failing of a strong imagination to ' catch greedily at wonders ;' and it ought to be recollected, that though at the time when Raleigh lived, the human mind had been stimulated by various concurring causes to extraordinary displays of strength and energy, it was still in a state 136 SIR WALTER RALEIOH. strongly disposing it to credulity. Above all, the discoveries in the new world had revealed so much that was unlike anything known in the old, as to engender a disposition, especially amongst 'men ' of strong imaginations,' to believe in any wonders that might be related concerning it. As regards the mines of Guiana, it must be ac- knowledged that Ealeigh was charged with bad faith in this particular, even before the publication of his voyage. This imputation must have had reference to verbal statements made by himself immediately upon his return; and it appears that he endeavoured to meet it by having trials made at the Royal Mint of some ores which he had imported, and which were found to yield a certain proportion of gold. Later accounts having shown that his general and confident averments regarding the riches of that country are far from being true ; it has in consequence been supposed that the im- putation of bad faith, with which he was ■ early assailed, was well founded. But though by no means disposed either unduly to eulogize or defend him, our investigations have led us to the conclu- sion that this accusation is unfair and unwarranted. The answer which he himself made to it is well SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ' 137 worthy of notice. ' Weak policy it would be in me either to betray myself or my country with imaginations; neither am I so far in love with that watching, care, peril, disease, bad fare, and other mischiefs that accompany such voyages, as to woo myself again into any of them, were I not assured that the sun covereth not so much riches in any other part of the earth.'' That this really was his beHef, there can, we think, be as little doubt as of his having, like many others, been misled by those fallacious appearances which, from the very earliest accounts of this region, gave it, as Humboldt tells us, an extraordinary reputation for metallic wealth. It has been often said, that these confident assurances were merely Im-es to induce his country- men to embark in his colonial schemes ; and that this was the case to a certain extent, we have no doubt: but that he was himself a believer in the substantial reahty of his own representations, is the only rational conclusion that a fair examination of his conduct can warrant, whether considered with reference to this or to subsequent periods of his life. Viewing the whole of his statements and pro- ceedings respecting Guiana, from first to last, it seems impossible to reconcile them to any principles 138 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. applicable to the explanation of human conduct, upon any other supposition. Those who have judged otherwise appear to have forgotten, or not to have known, that the appearances which so fatally deceived him, and drew from his warm fancy such glowing representations, were, to an equal extent, relied upon by others whose good faith never has been doubted. Thus we find Francis Sparrey, who resided for some time in Guiana, representing a particular part of the country as abounding in ' mines of white stone, in which are miich natural ' and fine gold^i which runneth between the stones like ' veins.'' ^ These were the very minerals which led Kaleigh to describe the rocks of Guiana as teem- ing with gold ; and Sir Eobert Harcourt was in no degree behind him in the same faith. ' The high country,' says the latter, ' is full of white ' sparre ; and if the white sparres of this kind be ' in a main rock, they are certainly mines of gold ' or silver^ or both. I made trial of a piece of ' sparre, and I found that it held both gold and ' silver, which gave me satisfaction that there le rich ' mines in the country.'' \ But this is not all. So * Sparrey, in Purchas, iv. 1249. t Harcourt, in Purchas, iv. 1277. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 139 far were Raleigh and his contemporaries from being the only dupes of these appearances, that even so late as the middle of the last century, works were erected at great expense by some Spanish pro- jectors, for the purpose of subjecting these supposed auriferous rocks to the chemical processes necessary to smelting ; and it was only after a series of ex- pensive attempts, that their hopes and labours were found to be fallacious and unavailing.* Great in- justice has, therefore, been done to Raleigh, in supposing that he was either the gratuitous in- ventor of these golden legends, or the only victim of their allurements. We have dwelt largely upon this subject, because it is not only intrinsically curious, but of considerable interest, as deeply affecting the character of an ex- traordinary man, who stands in need of all the jus- tice that can be honestly done to him, where his probity cannot be fairly questioned. Paradoxical as the observation may appear, the only good grounds for impeaching his veracity in regard to Guiana, are to be found in the artifices prompted by his belief in its unparalleled recommendations as a national acquisition ; for it was that very * Humboldt, Per. Nar. v. 772, 859. 140 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. belief that induced him to call in the aid of fiction to further his object. Hence it was, that in the highly coloiu^ed statement of these recom- mendations which closes his narrative, he has the effrontery to recount a supposed prophecy fore- telling its acquisition by England. Hence, too, his gross flattery addressed to the well-known weak- ness of the Queen, in his extravagant recital of the rapturous admiration of the Indian Caciques on the exhibition of her portrait. A picture of a red monkey, or of a horned owl, would have proved an object of greater interest to the worthy Caciques than that of her virgin Majesty in her ruff and farthingale. We must not allow these controversial discussions to supersede all farther mention of some other pro- jects which Raleigh appears to have entertained, and of which we have only spoken generally. One of these was to carry a force to Guiana, sufficient to induce the Inca or sovereign of El Dorado to become a tributary and ally of England! Another was, to establish colonies and commercial companies in the most inviting quarters of Guiana, by which means he confidently hoped 'to see In London a ' contraction-house of more receipt for that country SIR WALTER RALEIQH. 141 ' than there was in Seville for the West Indies.' It was to promote this scheme that he cultivated so assiduously the friendship of the natives, and that he took with him to England the son of one of the principal chiefs, to be there educated. Dr. Southey has spoken somewhat sceptically as to the extent of the intercourse which he represents himself as having held with the natives; but, as he was con- stantly attended by an Indian interpreter, whose qualifications appear to have been well known to the other English explorers of Guiana,* we cannot see any reasonable grounds for doubt upon the subject; and it is allowed by Humboldt, a most competent judge, that Ealeigh in this very way collected information that lent 'important helps to ' the history of geography.' Nothing, indeed, has struck us as more strongly indicating his extensive views, and his address in pursuing them, than the vast respect with which he contrived to impress the Guianian chiefs, and which was manifested in the length of time they remembered him, and their eager wishes for his return. Thus in the account of Leigh's voyage, written in 1606, we are told that ' one of the chiefs came far out of the main to in- * Purchas, iv. 1255. 142 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. ' quire about Sir Walter Ealeigh ;'* and In that of Harcourt, written In 1608, It Is mentioned that another chief came above a hundred miles to make similar inquiries, t His sagacity with respect to the measures necessary to ensure the stability of his undertakings, was further shown by a proposal to erect two forts upon the Orlnocco, thereby to command its navigation; a proposal which. In the opinion of Humboldt, Indicated great judgment and military skill. By such expedients, and by thus securing the means not merely of defence, but of invading the possessions of Spain where they were _ most vulnerable, he hoped to put an effectual curb upon her power, and to constrain her to attend to her own domestic concerns. Instead of Intriguing to disturb the peace of the Protestant world. Had Ealelgh's views been limited to such objects, he would have been extolled as a statesman and a patriot ; but the fable of El Dorado, and the dream of an alliance with its imaginary potentate, threw an air of doubt and ridicule over his better designs, and diminished the respect that would other- wise have been due to the far-seeing pohcy which they Indicated. * Purchas, iv. 1264. f Ibid. iv. 1271. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 143 The great and surprising effects of that fable, joined with its long-continued dominion over the minds of the credulous, form one of the most curious and remarkable portions of the history of the New World. It was not till the first half of the seventeenth century was well advanced, that geographers began to doubt the existence of El Dorado. ' Hodie dubiimi sit,' says De Laet, whose work was published in 1633, ' an Dorado extet in ' rerum natura, nee non.' Acuna writing in 1640, expresses a hope that God may one day enable mankind to arrive at the truth concerning it. Nearly a century afterwards, Gumilla unhesitatingly de- clared his adoption of the ancient belief. When Condamine arrived at Para, he met a Dutch surgeon named Hortsman, who in 1740 had made a joiimey in search of El Dorado ; in which, not- withstanding incredible fatigues and privations, he proceeded as far as the Rio Negro, where his bootless expedition terminated. His account of the journey, which he showed to Condamine, was long after- wards seen by Humboldt when in that quarter. It may indeed be safely stated, that El Dorado was treated respectfully, and its existence viewed as at least doubtful, in most of the general repositories 144 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. of information, up to the middle of the eighteenth century. Adam Smith, in alluding to Raleigh's belief as a proof that the greatest minds sometimes give way to strange delusions, expresses his astonish- ment that so learned a man as Gumilla should entertain such a fancy, at so late a period of the world as that in which he lived. This shows how little he was aware that, at the very time he was writing, and till near the close of the century, the ancient delusion still had its votaries. Humboldt informs us, that between 1766 and 1777, Don Manuel Centurion, then governor of Spanish Guiana, dis- played a zeal for the discovery of El Dorado worthy of the brightest era of the fable. It was then that the false reports of a native Indian induced a small body of colonists once more to set out upon this luckless enterprise; and only one of their number, Don Antonio Santos, returned to recount the dis- asters which had left him the sole survivor of an expedition which crowned more than two centuries of pernicious delusion. An alluring phantom, ope- rating upon the love of the marvellous and the love of gain, thus long beguiled and mocked the world ; and transmitted to posterity a tragic tale so sin- gular, that all sympathy for the miseries which it SIR WALTER RALEIQH. 145 cites, is extinguished in the ridicule with whicii they are now regarded. Though Raleigh's purposes regarding Guiana remained unchanged ; though, as we have seen, he took measures, soon after his retiun, to maintain his footing in and to augment his knowledge of the country; the public employments to which he was speedily called, rendered it impossible for him to devote himself personally to the prosecution of his designs ; and when his restoration to favour took place, his services at court, his endeavours to obtaLu preferment, and his rivalry with other aspirants to royal regard, so much engrossed his time, that Guiana, though not expelled from his thoughts, ceased during the rest of that reign to share his active pursuits. The public services in which he was now engaged, afforded him an opportunity of distinguishing himself in two very brilliant actions ; the destruction, in 1596, of the Spanish fleet and shipping in the harbour of Cadiz, and the capture, in the following year, of the capital and island of Fayal, one of the Azores. On both occasions, Ealeigh held the rank of Rear-Admiral. Cadiz, to borrow the expressive words of Lord Bacon, ' was one of those glorious acquests obtained L 146 SIS. WALTER RALEIGH. ' sometimes in the bravery of wars, which camiot ' be kept without excessive charge and trouble ;' but its capture, and that of the fleet there stationed, inflicted, notwithstanding the necessity of aban- doning the place, the most humiliating blow the Spanish monarchy ever sustained. It is not saying too much in Kaleigh's behalf to state, that this signal success was in no small degree owing to his valour and skill.* He wrote a clear and animated accoimt of the action, which is to be found in his works. That action, in which he received a severe wound in one of his legs, was remarkable for the chivalrous emulation of the several commanders, who seemed as if engaged in a race for glory, in which each strove to be foremost, without any re- gard to the orders of a superior, or the rules of naval warfare. The spirit of chivalry had not yet yielded to authority, nor had discipline been ad- justed to a settled course of command and obedience. Essex, who held the chief command, had long been in bitter opposition to Raleigh ; but the latter, though sometimes represented as of a less generous nature, showed on this occasion that he could bestow high praise on his rival, and in a way * Birch's Mem. of Queen Eliz. ii. 54 — 96,7. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 147 certain to meet the eye of their royal mistress. In a letter which he wrote to Cecil immediately after the action — of which no part, in as far as we know, has ever before been published — Essex is thus eulogized : ' The Earl hath behaved himself, I pro- ' test imto you by the living God, both valiantly ' and advisedly in the highest degree, without pride, ' and without cruelty, and hath gotten great honour ' and much love of all.'* The differences between these ambitious leaders were widened, not originated, as Hume has stated, by Raleigh's capture of Fayal, before the arrival of the Earl, his superior in com- mand : but in this proceeding he appears to have been fully warranted by the exigencies of the case ; and his conduct, at any rate, was such as greatly to increase his renown. He alludes to this enter- prise, in some observations upon naval invasions, in his ' History of the World' ; and Sir Arthur (jorges, who was next in command under him, has devoted to it a treatise fraught with much collateral learning upon the art of war.f In the interval between the expedition to Cadiz and that to the Azores, Raleigh was restored to the • Brit. Mus. MSS. Vespas. xiii. 290. t Gorges's Relation of the Island Voyage: Purchas, iv. 1938-69. L2 148 SIR WALTER RALEIOK. office of Captain of the Guard ; and we are told by one of the court intelligencers of the time, that he rode abroad with the Queen the same day, and forthwith frequented the privy chamber 'as boldly ' as he was wont to do before.'* An after result of his renewed favour, was his appointment to the Governorship of Jersey, the last act of his sovereign's munificence towards him. The court intrigues in which he was so deeply engaged towards the close of her reign, present some scenes of considerable interest; particularly those where he Is seen acting the part of mediator between Essex and Cecil, and where the three meet to dine In private, to ratify that treaty of amity which he negotiated, so much to the surprise of their fellow-courtiers.f These amicable relations were not, however, of long continuance ; for we find Essex, in 1599, shortly after goiag to Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant, writing to the Queen In terms of bitter hostility to Raleigh;! and Cecil, Immediately after the fall of the former, endeavouring, by means of a secret cor- respondence with her successor, to prejudice that Prince against his former associate. History has • Sydney Papers, ii. 64-5. t Ibid. ii. 24, 37, 42, 44. J Birch, ii. 418. SIM WALTER RALEIGH. 149 left us in the dark as to the particiilar causes of these alienations; but they no doubt originated in the mutual jealousies and apprehensions of these ambitious and intriguing statesmen. When Essex approached the crisis of his mad career, he accused Raleigh and some of his friends of a design against his life, and of an intention to secure the succession to the Infanta of Spain; but his adherent, Sir Christopher Blount, who confessed that he had In- tended to assassinate Raleigh, further declared, that these charges were ' only cast out to colour other matters.'* Raleigh has been thought by Hxune and others to have ttrged the execution of Essex — an opinion founded upon a very remarkable letter of his to Cecil ;t but which, as It is not dated, leaves it uncertain whether it was written before or after the Earl's condemnation. In point of sagacious but cold-blooded advice as to the expediency of sub- jugating a dangerous adversary, it is a masterpiece ; but if viewed as an exhortation to deprive Essex, not merely of liberty and power, but of life. It is calculated to revolt every generous feeling, and to fill the mind with deep dislike of its author. We are, however, strongly Inclined to think that it does * Birch, ii. 478.— Blount's Trial. f Murdin, p. 811. 150 sm WALTER RALEIGH. not refer to the Earl's execution; but merely to the propriety of reducing him to a condition in which he should neither be able to disturb the state, nor to injure those whom he considered his enemies. Such advice may not have been very high-miaded; it may have been dictated by keen resentment: but, considerLag the enmity and reck- lessness of Essex, and the designs of his adherents, it can hardly be considered as either unnatural or surprising. The belief that he took pleasure in the untimely fate of his rival, seems undoubtedly ;to have been general; and it was manifested at the place of execution, where he received a hint to withdraw. With reference to this, however, it ought to be remembered that he attended officially as Captain of the Guard, and that he was also present in that capacity at the execution of Blount — a fact which Hume appears to have overlooked. It was when returning in his boat from Essex's execution in the Tower, that the thought first flashed into his mind, that the power of Cecil, now greatly augmented by the removal of so formidable a competitor, might prove destructive to himself,* — a foreboding too certainly destined to be verified. • Osborn's Deductions from the History of the Earl of Essex. SIS WALTER RALEIOH. 151 We think it not a little surprising that neither Mr. Tytler nor Dr. Southey has alluded to the well- known fact, that Raleigh contrived to turn his in- fluence with the Queen to good account, by pro- curing pardons for such of Essex's condemned ad- herents as could aflford to purchase his interference. The circumstance surely required some notice from these writers. Its truth is beyond question.' Sir Edward Bainham and Mr. Littleton, two of those condemned, obtained through Raleigh's intercession a remission of their sentence, for which they each gave him a very large sum — in other words, a bribe. Littleton, who was a man of ample fortune, much esteemed, according to Bacon, for his 'wit and valour,' and who appears to have had some particular connexion with Raleigh, addressed him in a very moving yet high-minded letter, solicit- ing his good offices;* but this letter, which Bishop Hurd in his Dialogues pronounces one of 'the ' finest that ever was written,' did not produce the desired effect till the applicant paid his intercessor ten thousand pounds. But it would not be fair to Raleigh to mention such a fact, without accompany- ing it with this excuse, — that he only did what * It is printed by Birch, Mem. of Eliz. ii. 496. 152 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. was done by those among whom lie lived, and by whom his conduct was to be judged. It was a period in which every department of public life was tainted with corruption. The favour of the sovereign, in regard to all that depended upon the executive, was purchased by presents. Ambassadors from foreign powers procured the support, or in- sured the neutrality of adverse parties, by liberal donations and pensions. Place and preferment were obtained by those who could afford to give a power- ful courtier a large donation for his secret services. The course of justice was not free from the effects produced by gifts to legal officers. Even the ladies about the person of the Queen were accustomed 'to grange and huck causes.'* In judging of Raleigh's conduct in the case in question, we must therefore give him the benefit of the existing usages; for though the distinctions between right and wrong, abstractedly considered, are immutable, it would be unfair to judge with the same rigour those immoral acts which originate in the customs, or have the countenance of contemporaries, as we do those which have no such sanctions, and can only be referred to individual guilt. We would » Birch, i. 35. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 16'6 judge of Ealeigh as of his illustrious contemporary Sully, who in his Memoirs makes no scruple to con- fess that, at the sacking of Villefranche, he took a thousand pieces of gold from an old man pursued by the soldiery, who eagerly offered that sum to save his life ! Would any one, without the contamination of eyil times, venture to make such a confession? We could wish, before leaving that portion of Raleigh's history which closes with the reign of Elizabeth, to advert to his appearances in a field where he seems to have been eminently quaUfied to shine, and from which he was ever afterwards excluded by his early misfortunes in the next reign — we mean the House of Commons; but the more disputable parts of his story compel us to dismiss this with one or two remarks. Judging from even the scanty reports of his speeches pre- served by D'Ewes, they appear to have displayed large and original views both of foreign and of domestic policy. In an age when the cardinal principle of economical legislation was that of the necessity of regulating individual labour and skill to ensure national prosperity — when, in other words, the principle that industry, in order to be well directed, must be constantly subjected to positive 154 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. regulations — a principle whicli still in some degree continues to influence European policy, Ealeigh anticipated the most comprehensive conclusion that modem political economy has established with reference to this subject; for he on all occasions inculcated the propriety of leaving every man free to employ his labour and capital in the way he might judge most beneficial for himself. Such was the doctrine he maintained In regard to the com- pulsory cultivation of hemp. ' I do not,' said he, 'like this constraining of men to manure or use ' their grounds at our wills ; but rather wish to let ' every man use his ground for that for which it is ' most fit, and therein follow his own discretion.' Simple as this recommendation may now appear, its inculcation as a rule for the guidance of states- men was a vast and beneficial advance in the science of legislation ; for the interference thus condemmed was the favourite policy of all the greatest states- men of that day. Lord Bacon among the rest. Its principle lies at the foundation of those laws of Henry the Seventh, which Bacon so emphatically extols, in his life of that sovereign, for their depth and comprehensiveness. Ealeigh held the same language in one of the debates as to the propriety SIR WALTER RALEIOE. 155 of repealing the famous statute of tillage, in which he earnestly advocated the poUcy of setting free the trade in com; ohserving, 'that the Low Country- ' men and the Hollanders, who never sow com, ' have by their industry such plenty, that they can ' serve other nations ; and that it is the best policy ' to set tillage at liberty, and leave every man free ; ' which is the desire of a true Englishman.' These are noble words for a legislator of that age, and well worthy of remembrance. The death of EHzabeth, and the accession of James, lead us immediately to the darkest portion of Ealeigh's history ; that, namely, which relates to the famous conspiracy in which he was soon after implicated. We do not by any means imagine that we shall be able to clear up its obscurities, or to remove effectually the doubts with which it is overhung; but we think that we shall be able, by an Impartial consideration of the printed authorities, combined with the important information contained in the Count de Beaumont's despatches, which, though they still remain in manuscript, we happen to have perused, to exhibit a tolerably satisfactory view of the probabilities of the case. Beaumont was the resident French Ambassador at the Eng- 156 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. lish Court at the period of the accession; and his despatches to his Sovereign, and his minister Vil- leroy, are replete with details concerning the con- spiracies which so early disturbed that at first rapturous occun-ence. Carte is the only British writer by whom they have been examined. AH others who have referred to them, have taken their information at secondhand from him; and though we do not say that he has left any important facts unrevealed, we are inclined to think that the con- clusions to which these despatches lead, may be better discriminated and elucidated than in his narrative. Popular as Elizabeth was, otu* history has no record of so joyful an accession as that of James. It was hailed with acclamations by all classes of the people. But the national joy was destined to be overcast in the very dawn of its existence. A nearer view of James's person and manners speedily dispelled those illusions which the people, long sub- jected to a female sovereign, had fondly attached to the name of king; and some early examples of his imprudence and misgovernment, produced a strong apprehension that they had been deceived by the accounts spread abroad of his regal wisdom. SI£, WALTER RALEIGH. 157 The rapacity of Ms Scottish followers, and his ill- judged haste to gratify them, excited the disgust and resentment of the whole nation. The Catholic portion of his subjects, who, according to Beau- mont, had been among the foremost to welcome his accession, and in behalf of whom this ambas- sador had ventured to solicit some marks of favour, calculated to save them from becoming the tools of Spanish desperadoes, soon perceived that he was in no respect inclined to relax the rigorous policy of his predecessor. The Puritans, who had also cherished fallacious hopes, were doomed to be equally disappointed. Murmvirs and discontents were the natural consequences ; and some malcontents, as furious in their resentments as they were rash in their purposes, proceeded to form treasonable de- signs against the person and government of the new sovereign. But before entering into any details re- garding them, we must attend to such occurrences subsequent to James's accession, and to such par- ticulars of Raleigh's treatment and conduct, as appear necessary to be kept in mind in judging of the probabUity of his being a participator. Immediately after the death of Elizabeth, a meet- ing took place at Whitehall of the chief pubUc men 158 SIR WALTEn RALEIGH. then in London, for the purpose of proclaiming her successor ; and Raleigh's name occurs among those subscribed to the writing framed on that memorable occasion.* An opinion, however, was entertained by some, of whom Raleigh was one, that James's power of appointing his countrymen to places of trust and emolument in his English dominions, ought to be subjected to some limi- tations. Mr. Tytler seems inclined to question Raleigh's assent; but as his opinion is not sup- ported by any authority, and runs counter to the statements of Osbom, Aubrey, Lloyd, and some others, it may be unhesitatingly discarded. If such a proposition could be entertained by so aged and discreet a counsellor as Sir John Fortescue, it was likely enough, surely, to find favour with Raleigh. Aubrey goes a great deal farther, and ascribes to Raleigh a proposal not a little calculated to awaken curiosity, but to which neither Mr. Tytler nor Dr. Southey adverts; — a proposal to puU, down the monarchy, and substitute a republic! Aubrey avers that this proposal was advanced by Raleigh at the abovementioned meeting at Whitehall. 'Let ' us keep the staff in our own hands, and set up a * Carte, iii. 708. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 159 * commonwealtli, and not remain subject to a needy ' and beggarly nation' — were the words whicli he is represented to have there uttered. Dr. Warton might well consider this as a remarkable anecdote,* if indeed it could be viewed as true. But it rests wholly on the authority of this credulous collector of historical gossip ; and though it partakes of Raleigh's bold, aspiring, and scheming disposition, the supposition of the possibility of establishing a republic at that time, is much too preposterous to allow us to imagine that it could be broached by a man of his understanding, and to such an as- sembly as that to which it was said to have been addressed. But, Independently of these facts, there were other causes of that dislike to Ealeigh which ap- pears to have been early manifested by the King; and which, indeed, existed before he set foot in his English dominions. We allude to the attempts so successfiaUy made by Cecil and his accomplices, in their secret correspondence with James, to Im- press him with the beHef that Ealeigh was closely leagued with a party unfriendly to his title, and * In a note to his edition of Pope, in one of whose 'Epistles' allusion is made to Raleigh's archaisms. 160 SIS WALTER RALEIGB. bent on opposing his succession. All who have perused that very curious correspondence, as pub- lished by Lord Hailes, must remember the malignant representations of Raleigh with which it teems, and the unexampled terms of abuse there applied to him and some of his friends. It is therefore sur- prising that any biographer of Raleigh should cast about for hypothetical explanations of a dislike, so easily accounted for by referring to known causes. Mr. Tytler imagines that it was owing to Raleigh's being unable to conceal his contempt of 'James's displays ;' and because he declined ' to imitate ' the flattery with which others fed his vanity.' Now, there is nothing more certain than that Raleigh never allowed an aversion to flattery to stand in his way; and it is equally certain that he evinced his readiness to feed James's vanity, with reference to those ' displays' to which Mr. Tytler alludes. ' I took It as a great comfort,' says he, in a letter to the royal pedant, ' to behold ' your Majesty ; always learning some good^ and ' bettering my knowledge, hy hearing your Majesty ' discourse.'' Raleigh's disfavour was far enough from being owing to his sparmgness in the admi- nistration of the unction of flattery. SIR WALTER RALEIOH. 161 There can be no doubt, in a word, that the Scottish King entered England with a mind strongly prepossessed against him; and that Cecil found it an easy task to complete the overthrow which his correspondence had prepared. James had arrived at York, in the prosecution of his intoxi- cating 'Progress' to the capital, before Cecil pre- sented himself before him. The Count de Beaumont says that he was blamed for leaving London at that critical juncture ; but he doubtless felt it to be indispensable that he should repair to James, as well to furnish that information of which he and his Scottish courtiers were alike in want, as to take measures to crush those who might be com- petitors for favour or power. Raleigh, in particular, was the man he most feared;* and one of his first cares was to put a stop to that intercourse with the King, which would have resulted from his con- tinuing in the office of Captain of the Guard. That office, which Ealeigh had held with so much dis- tinction during the late reign, was speedily bestowed upon a Scottish favourite ; and CecU is said to have induced the King to take this step, by im- pressing him with the beUef that the removal » Carte, iii. 709. M 162 SIR WALTUR RALEIGH. of one so nracli disliked would be highly accept- able to the people of England.* The extreme tinpopularity of a man of such great and various talents, so distinguished for courtier-like accom- plishments and martial achievments, has always appeared to us a perplexing part of Raleigh's his- tory; and' not to be accounted for either by his haughty demeanour, or his enmity to Essex, the favourite of the people. The belief that he was not over-scrupulous in his regard for truth — that his great and brilliant qualities were tarnished by craft and rapacity — that, as Ben Jonson alleged, 'he esteemed fame more than conscience' — were, we suspect, the principal sources of the hostile feeling exhibited towards him, and which never, without strong cause, takes place of the esteem universally entertained for genius and valour. But be the cause what it may, the fact is unquestionable ; and indeed we find his friend the Earl of Northumber- land not merely acknowledging it, but alleging that he had himself suffered in public opinion from his long and intimate connexion with him.f Still, there * Beaumont, Diplehe, May 2, 1603. t See a remarkable letter, not noticed by either Mr. Tytler or Dr. Southey, though published in so well known a work as Miss Aiken's Memoirs of the Court of James, i. 58. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 163 can be no doubt that Cecil, who had long associated with and courted him, was now actuated solely by his own personal animosities and selfish apprehen- sions. Raleigh, as soon as he was apprised of his machinations, set out in haste to counteract them, by making some disclosures touching the execution of Queen Mary, and other matters, calculated, as he imagined, to make a strong impression upon the feelings of her son; but the crafty Secretary had taken his measures too well and to'o securely; and was, besides, too necessary to James and his Scottish ministers, ignorant as they were of Eng- lish affairs, to give his adversary any chance of success from this attempt. Its only effects were to widen existing differences, and to furnish additio- nal aliment to that discontent, which soon became conspicuous to all. Kaleigh's disappointments were not limited to those arising from loss of office and court favour. His fortune had been impaired by the expenses connected with the various expeditions which he had fitted out for Guiana, where he ever had hoped that, when circumstances were propitious, he should yet reap a golden harvest. This notion — the abiding vision of his changeful life — would naturally revisit m2 164 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. his mind and rekindle his hopes when he was de- prived of place and favour in his own country. But, in the pacific temper of James, and his ardent desire to conclude a peace with Spain, Raleigh saw the destruction of his favourite project. His notions of foreign policy, in which he was more largely skilled than any other statesmen of that day,* and a strong conviction of the expediency of upholding the United Provinces, in that glorious struggle for independence in which they had been so effectually aided by Elizabeth, seem to have led in the same direction with his own particular designs. We learn from one of his letters, that he made an offer to the King to raise, at his own cost, two thousand men, to attack Spain in her most vulnerable quarter — her American possessions. The answer is not mentioned; but no reply to any such proposal could, in James's temper of mind, be otherwise than unfavourable ; and we may even suppose that, personally and politically timid as he was, it might increase his dislike of a man who could harbour such daring purposes. • ' He seemeth. wonderfully fitted, both by art .and nature, ' to serve the state ; especially as lie is Tersed in foreign matters, ' his skill therein being always estimable and praiseworthy.' Sir John Harrington's Letter to the Bishop of Bath and Wells NitgcD Antiqwe, i. 342. SIS. WALTER RALEIGB. 165 Raleigh at this time also wrote a discourse — one of the most remarkable of his smaller pieces, not for its composition, which is desultory and slo- venly, but for the depth of its general views, and the pregnant variety of its illustrations — on the policy of continuing the protection of England to the United Provinces, so as to enable them to es- tablish their independence. This tract he had in- tended to present to the King, to whom it was addressed, but did not find an opportunity. James, as is well known, was ultimately prevailed upon by SuUy, the extraordinary ambassador of Henry the Fourth, to continue to the States that support for which Raleigh so urgently pleaded. But the cer- tainty of that consummation, could he have anticipated it, would have been far from satisfying his desires. Bred in a school which classed Spain with the Pope and the Devil, and looked upon her American possessions as the appropriate field of EngUsh ad- venture and spohation, Raleigh strenuously urged that the war with Spain should be continued; and he endeavoured to show, that she was then so greatly reduced as to be incapable of withstanding the naval power of England; but that, if peace should be conceded, and time allowed her to repair 166 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. her losses, the former would come to regret her forbearance and lost opportunities of glory and con- quest, when all who could effectually serve her would be removed from the scene. This piece is the more deserving of notice, that it was written when its author was on the eve of being accused of a treasonable plot, to be carried into execution through the agency of that power which he there treats so contemptuously, and to which he evinces so rooted a dislike! But, notwithstanding all his mortifications and disappointments, we find Raleigh vehemently pro- testing that he was in no degree soured by them. Thus, ia the discourse just mentioned, he assures the King, that it 'proceeds from an humble and ' faithful heart, which his Majesty cannot beat from ' the love of his royal person and good estate ;' and in a letter, written shortly after he was charged with treason, he makes this solemn asseveration : 'The great God of heaven and earth so relieve 'me as I was the reverse of discontented.' We would fain believe that his fancy here deceived him ; for it is impossible to shut our eyes to the fact of his discontent — a fact in itself both probable and natural, and which all contemporary authority attests. SIS. WALTER RALEIQH. 167 The evidence of Sully, though there were none else, would be decisive ; for it is that of a most com- petent and disinterested observer, pronounced after much private and confidential intercourse. It does not, indeed, warrant the statements which Carte and Hume have founded upon it, and which represent Ealeigh and some of his associates as having so- licited both Beaumont and himself to aid them in certain treasonable designs; but it pourtrays them as restless and speculative malcontents, not greatly indisposed to embark in designs hostile to their sovereign and to the state.* James had been only about three months seated on his new throne, when the discovery of more than one treasonable plot took place.f That which was first brought to light, never has been a subject of doubt either as to its objects or the persons con- cerned in it. It seems to have originated with two priests, named Watson and Clarke. » Their design was to seize the King while engaged in his fa- * See Siilly's despatches, contained in the original edition of his Memoirs, entitled, Memoires des Sages, &c., ii. 125, 148. f In a copy now before ns, of a paper in the handwriting of Sir Edward Coke, preserved in the State-Paper Office, he makes an abstract of evidence with reference to three plots, described by him as the 'Spanish, or Cobham's treason,' the 'Priests' 'treason,' and 'Lord Grey's treason.' 168 SlJt WALTER BALEIOH. vourite occupation of hunting, and then to carry him to the Tower or some" other place of strength, there to be detained till he should new-model his ministry agreeably to their wishes, and grant tole- ration to the Catholic religion. Among their first associates were George Brooke, brother to Lord Cobham, Sir Griffin Markham, and a Catholic gen- tleman of the name of Copeley; and a communi- cation having been opened through Brooke with Lord Grey of Wilton, a zealous Puritan, who appears to have been ready to embark in any trea- sonable project, they began to apportion among themselves the difierent offices of the new adminis- tration which they wished to form, and to delibe- rate as to the time for proceeding to action. But jealousies and misgivings speedily arose to distract their machinations. Grey, a young man of talents and ambition, became apprehensive that if the plot succeeded, the Catholics might obtain some advan- tage over his own sect; and he therefore opposed any movement until he should strengthen himself with an armed force, which he secretly hoped to obtain permission to embody, under the pretext of employing them in the Netherlands. In this way the day of action was postponed; but with an SIR WALTEB MALBIQH. 169 understanding that every possible effort should be made to increase the number of confederates. Coincident with these treasons was another, called * the Spanish or Lord Cobham's treason.'* This weak, but intriguing and opulent nobleman, who had lived much in Raleigh's society, and been an active partisan in the quarrels with Essex, was much at variance with Cecil, who was his brother- in-law; and the King having, in consequence of the Secretary's representations, treated him coldly when he went to join the royal Progress, his re- sentment rose to a high pitch against both sovereign and minister. His notorious disaffection encouraged his abler brother, George Brooke, to disclose to him the plot of the Priests; and the idea seems to have been started by one or other of them — in all probability Brooke — that, could adequate assistance be procured from Spain, James might be dispos- sessed of the throne, and his cousin the Lady Ara- bella Stuart advanced to it in his stead. The same notion, according to Beaumont, occurred, but with- out leading to any concerted plan, to some of those engaged in the other treasons. Cobham agreed to * So designated, in the analysis mentioned in tlie foregoing note, by Sir Edward Coke. 170 SIB WALTER RALEIOS. ?ipply to Spain for money, and accordingly made an application to that effect to Count Aremberg, immediately on his arrival in London, as the tem- porary representative both of the Archduke of Austria and of the King of Spain. He appears to have had some previous intercourse with that minister; and to have been particularly acquainted with a person in his retinue of the name of La Renzi, who was in consequence employed as the agent of their secret correspondence. Brooke under- took to persuade the Lady Arabella to enter into their views, and to prevail upon her to write to the Arch- duke and the King of Spain — ^pledging her lasting friendship, and engaging to be guided by them in the choice of a husband, in the event of her being elevated to the throne through their assistance. But all these treasonable schemes were overset, before they had ripened into any determinate or connected plan, through the fortunate imprudence of Copeley. On going from home, he told his sister that he was engaged in a great and dangerous imdertaking for the good of the coimtry. His words, having made a strong impression, were re- peated to her husband, and by him to the Lord Admiral, who, in consequence, caused Copeley to SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 171 be apprehended; and he having made a full dis- closure of the plot of the Priests, they and their accomplices were seized and imprisoned.* When Cecil heard that Brooke was one of the conspirators, he naturally inferred that his discon- tented brother Cobham might be concerned; and Ealeigh's intimacy with, and ascendancy over the latter, exposed him, in the ready mind of the Secretary, to a similar suspicion. He was accord- ingly, on Cecil's suggestion, examined, in presence of some of the Lords of the Coimcil, as to whether he had any knowledge of the plot divulged by Copeley. He unhesitatingly declared his utter igno- rance of it ; and he stood quite free from any disloyal imputations, tiU Brooke, in his examina- tion, disclosed his brother Cobham's intrigues with Aremberg; adding, that the former had told him their intercourse was known to Kaleigh. Being in consequence again examined, he, equally as before, declared that he was whoUy ignorant of any criminal correspondence between Cobham and the Flemish Minister: but either at that examination, or soon after, he appears to have stated that he knew there was some intercourse between them; and he farther * Beaumont, Dip. May 12— June 13— July 30, 1603. 172 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. suggested, in a private letter to Cecil, that La Renzi might be examined as the person most likely to be informed of its nature. This suggestion — most extraordinary if that of a guilty partici- pator* — was productive of lasting misfortune to its author. Cobham had before been examined without effect; but the letter to Cecil having been unwar- rantably shown to him, he instantly became enraged against Ealeigh ; charged him with having insti- gated all his dealings with Aremberg ; confessed that it had been agreed, with Raleigh's privity, that he should proceed to Spain to negotiate for money, Aremberg being unable to engage for all that was wanted; and that he was to return by Jersey, of which Sir Walter was governor, there to consult as to their farther proceedings. In almost the same breath, however, he admitted his having become apprehensive that, if he did so return, Ealeigh would seize and deliver both the treasure and himself to the King. Nor was this all. As soon as he became cool, according to one account, or after a private remonstrance from Ealeigh, ac- * So thought one who was present at his trial. — See Sir Toby Matthews's Collection of Letters, published by Dr. Donne, p. 281. Sir Thomas Overbury, who' also was present, expresses himself to the same purpose. — Arraignment of Sir Walter Raleigh. SIR WALTER RALmOH. 173 cording to another, he fully and solemnly retracted all that he had laid to his charge.* Kaleigh was nevertheless, towards the end of July, committed to the Tower. But, previously to this, he appears to have acknowledged that Cobham, on the part of Aremberg, had oiFered him a sum of money, or a pension, on condition of his using his endeavours to promote a peace between the two crowns: and as Brooke had confessed that Cobham had also promised money for distribution among the associates of the Priests, it appears to have been thought that the acknowledged offer to Raleigh was for similar treasonable purposes. When in- formed of this injurious construction, he addressed a letter to the Lords of the Council, in which, after repeating the purport of Cobham's offer, he made a solemn renunciation of all claim to mercy, if it should ever be shown that he was aware of its connexion with any treasonable design. But this address, which was powerful and eloquent, does not seem to have made any impression. Tet, as he had not been accused of any participation in the plot of the Priests^ and as Cobham's accusation respecting his treasonable dealings with Aremberg • Beaumont— Carte— Overbury, 174 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. had been retracted, the Council appear to have been somewhat doubtful of the propriety of any farther proceedings against him. Cecil, imwilling that he should escape, caused a strict inquiry to be made among all likely to be acquainted with his secrets; but the investigation ended without eliciting any discovery calculated to gratify the enmity of the minister.* We must not, in the history of these proceed- ings, omit the mention of a remarkable incident, by no means favourable to Raleigh's character, and which, accordingly, Mr. Tytler's partiality in- duces him to question. One afternoon, while Cecil and others of the Coimcil were engaged in the examination of the other prisoners in the Tower, Raleigh made an attempt at suicide, wounding him- self rather severely by a stab in the breast. ' When ' we were advertised of it,' says Cecil, ' we came ' to him and found him in some agony, seeming ' to . be unable to endure his misfortunes, and pro- ' testing innocency, with carelessness of life.'f He had often expressed his firm belief, that the ad- * Beaumont, Bep. August 1 3, t Letter to Sir Thomas Parry, 4tli August 1603, in Cayley's Life of Raleigh, SIJR WALTEB RALEIGH. 175 nunistration of the law of treason was such as to enable his enemies to effect his condemnation though innocent ; and on this occasion, his proud spirit seems to have hurried him on to the rash deter- mination to deprive them of the means of achieving such a triumph. A recent publication respecting the reign of James, furnishes us with a very affecting letter from Ealeigh to his wife, written in contemplation of suicide. We do not refer to it for evidence of the fact; for that was long ago incontrovertibly established, not only by the above communication from Cecil, but by Beaumont's despatches to his court, and by a contemporary letter published by Sir Toby Matthews. We refer to it as being in itself remarkable, and as showing that the deed which he meditated ought not to be viewed as the act of conscious guilt, but rather as that of vmgovemable and despairing pride. *I cannot live,' says he, 'to think how I am derided — to think of the expectation of my enemies — the scorns I shall receive — the cruel words of law- yej-s — the infamous taunts and despites — to be made a wonder and a spectacle.' His allusions to the sad consequences of his misfortunes to his family, and to the revolting nature of the imputa- 176 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. tion of plotting with Spain — the enemy he had ever hated and sometimes scourged — are touching and indignant; indicating a proud consciousness of his own merits and services, now forgotten by his country. 'I am left of all men, that have done ' good to many. All my good turns forgotten, all ' my errors revived and expounded to all extremity ' of ill ; all my services, hazards, and expenses for ' my country — ^plantings, discoveries, fights, councils, ' and whatsoever else, malice hath now covered ' over. I am now made an enemy and traitor by ' the hand of an unworthy man : he hath proclaimed ' me to be a partaker of his vain imaginations, ' notwithstanding the whole com"se of my life hath ' approved the contrary, as my death shall approve ' it.' But there is nothing more worthy of remark in this very striking letter than its display of great warmth of feeling and tenderness of heart, joined with much worldly wisdom and calculating pru- dence — the one exemphfied in his agonizing emo- tions on taking leave of his wife; the other, in his recommendation to her to marry again, but not for love — 'only to avoid poverty;' — and to overlook Cecil's conduct to himself, 'because,' says he, 'he must be master of your child, and mar SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 177 'have compassion on him.' 'I know,' he adds, ' that it is forbidden to destroy ourselves ; but I ' trust it is forbidden in this sort — that we destroy ' not ourselves despairing of God's mercy.''* After much delay and discussion, it was at last resolved that Raleigh should be brought to trial with the rest. The confessions of most of them had left no doubt either of their guilt, or the certainty of their condemnation; but as regarded him, it was the general opinion that there "were no grounds for a conviction.f His own opinion was not so sanguine. He dreaded the iufluence of his enemies, then at the head of affairs ; and he entertained the most discouraging ideas of the state of the law in regard to trials for treason. It was under these impressions that he endeavoured, by a letter to the King, to conciliate his favour; but considering the known sentiments of James, who, as Beaumont says, both feared and hated him, it can scarcely be thought that he could found any strong hopes upon such an appeal. He first of all respectfully alludes to the duty of a good king ' to hear the complaints of his vassals, especially * Goodman's Cmirt of King James, ii. 93, t Beaumont, Dep. 27tli October. N 178 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 'such as are in great misery:' and after entreating his Majesty ' not to believe any of those who, tinder ' pretence of his treason, only sought to work out ' their own revenge,' he proceeds to make this solemn asseveration : ' I protest before the everlasting God, ' that I never invented treason, consented to treason, ' nor performed treason ; and yet,' — he adds with that strong presentiment he ever, since his imprison- ment, expressed, — 'I know I shall fall Into the 'hands of those from whom there is no escape, ' unless by your Majesty's gracious compassion I be ' sustained.' These touching notes fell upon an ear wholly Irresponsive to them. As soon as Aremberg left England, which he did about the end of October, the trials commenced. They were delayed till his departure from an apprehension either that he might himself be so Irritated, or the people so Inflamed by the disclosures likely to ensue, as to cause the defeat of those negotiations which James was so passionately desirous to bring to a favourable close. Ealeigh, meanwhile, contrived to procure from Cob- ham a letter, acquitting him In very earnest terms of the treasonable practices with which he had charged him ; and being thus possessed of a written SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 179 disclaimer under the hand of his only accuser, he awaited the issue, it may be supposed, with more composure. The prevalence of the plague in London having rendered it prudent that the Commission for the trials should hold its sittings at Winchester, the prisoners were, towards the middle of November, carried thither. Raleigh was conveyed in his own coach, under the custody of Sir Robert Mansel; and from what befeU him on the way, he had reason enough to see, that, be his fate what it might, he was not likely to meet with any popular sympathy. 'It is almost incredible,'* says a con- temporary, ' with what bitter speeches and execra- ' tions he was exclaimed upon aU the way ; which ' they say he neglected and scorned, as proceeding ' from base and rascal people.' Upon the fifteenth, the two Priests, and their principal associates, were tried and condemned upon their own clear and ample confessions. ' These,' says Sir Dudley Carleton, who was present, 'were ' set down, under their own hands, with such labour ' and care to make the matter they undertook seem ' very feasible, as if they had feared they should * Letter from Mr. Hicks to the Earl of Shrewsbury. Lodge's Illustrations, iii. 75. N2 180 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.' ' not say enough to hang themselves,' Ealeigh's* trial took place two days after. The Commission consisted of the great officers of state, some of whom were his known enemies, and four of the ordinary judges. The proceedings commenced at eight in the morning, and ended about seven at night. The main charges of the indictment were — that he had joined Lord Cobham in a conspiracy against the life of the King and his issue ; that their purpose was to raise the Lady Arabella Stuart to the throne ; and that they had applied to Count Aremberg for money and a Spanish force, to aid them Ln the execution of their designs. Sir Edward Coke, then Attorney-General, was the chief con- ductor of the trial on the part of the Crown ; and his management of it was such as Hume — no partial naiTator — describes as calculated to leave an in- delible stigma not only upon his own character, but in some sort upon that of his age and country. ' Traitor, monster, viper, and spider of hell, were ' the terms,' says the historian, ' which he employed ' against one of the most illustrious men of the ' kingdom, who was under trial for life and fortune, * Bardwiche State Papers, i. 378. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 181 * and ,who defended himself with surprising temper, ' eloquence, and courage.' It was upon Cobham's accusation that the Crown lawyers chiefly rested their case; and in support of it they adduced the testimony of La Renzi, who deposed that Raleigh had been present, and in private with Cobham, when he received letters from and transmitted others to Aremberg. They further appealed to the fact, that Raleigh, after his own examination, and before Cobham was called in question, wrote to him ' that he had cleared him ;' in order, as they alleged, to caution him against making any disclosures. With respect to the first of these allegations, Raleigh contended that La Renzi's testimony only proved his knowledge of some correspondence between Cobham and the Flemish minister, but not that he knew there was anything treasonable in it: and as to the other, he stated in explanation, that having had occasion, in a matter of business, to inform Cobham that he could not see him as he was under restraint, he Indeed added ' that he had cleared him ;' be- cause, in point of fact, he had observed to Cecil, when conversing with him as to the plot of the Priests, that he did not believe Lord Cobham was 182 Sm WALTUR JRALEIGH. concerned in it. He also pleaded, that it was from Cobham's accusation alone, which had been re- tracted, that these allegations derived any suspicious colouring; that in no view could they ground any- thing against him but presumptions; and that, if presumptions were to be taken into accoimt, those in his favour would far outweigh any that could be urged against him. His reasoning and eloquence were here cogent and persuasive. He appealed to the whole coxu-se of his public life, as bearing tes- timony to his rooted enmity to Spain; and to the fact, that his best hopes lay in the continued pro- secution of his designs against her. Nothing, he said, could exceed the improbability of the sup- position that he — ^who had just written a treatise to expose the weakness of Spain, as an argument for continuing the war till she should be thoroughly humbled — could for a moment believe her capable of accomplishing such an enterprise as that of placing on the throne of England a female, destitute alike of title and support; or that he was likely to embark in a conspiracy for such an object, with no other ally but Lord Cobham — notoriously one of the weakest and least respected men of his rank in England. SIR WALTER RALEIGS. 183 Raleigh's defence was not, however, limited to these topics. He further maintained, that even though Cobham's testimony had not been retracted, or in any way damaged, it was not sufficient to con- vict him ; because it was provided by a well-known statute of Edward the Sixth, that conviction in cases of treason could only take place upon the evidence of two witnesses confronted with the accused. He handled this point with great learning, acuteness, and dexterity; but his argument was met by proofs of a contrary practice, which had long, though im- properly, been judicially recognised — upon the sup- position that the statute in question had been ren- dered inoperative by a subsequent statute of Philip and Mary. Driven from this ground, he then insisted that he should at least be confronted with his accuser; boldly declariag that if Cobham, on being examined by himself, should repeat his charges, he would then yield himself to judgment without another word. Cobham was at the time in an adjoining apartment;* but the Crown lawyers knew too well what he was, to subject him to Ealeigh's searching interrogations; and the judges, on being appealed to, decided, that there was nothing * Sir Toby Matthews's Collection of Letters, p. 283. 184 silt WALTER RALEIGH. in the law making it imperative that the accuser should he examined in court. This point being determined, and the proceed- ings almost exhausted, the Attorney-General, after a burst of savage joy, as if now sm-e of his victim's blood, produced a letter which Cobham had, on the preceding evening, written to the Commis- sioners, in which the infamous changeling again repeated all his retracted accusations. Upon this, Raleigh in his turn presented the letter which he had procured from Cobham, immediately before their removal from the Tower. It was read by Cecil, one of the Commissioners, as being acquainted with his handwriting, and contained these strong asseverations : — ' I protest upon my soul, and bef6re ' God and his angels, I never was moved by you ' to the things I heretofore accused you of; and, ' for anything I know, you are as innocent and as ' clear from any treasons against the King as is 'any subject living!' But this additional retrac- tation does not appear to have effected any change of opinion in his favour; for, immediately after it was read, the jury retired, and returned in a quarter of an hour with a verdict of guilty.* * See State TnoZs— East's Pleas of the Crown— Bh Thomas SIR WALTER RAZEIOS. 185 The Lord Chief-Justice Popham, before pro- Eounclng sentence, addressed Ealeigh in one of those ungenerous and unwarrantable harangues, in which the elevation and impunity of the judgment- seat have often, in bad times and by unworthy natures, been taken advantage of to insult the defenceless. .In particular, he adverted, in the ranting phraseology peculiar to such places and occasions, to an imputation which Raleigh seems, most unjustly, to have incurred of being an atheist. ' Tou have been taxed by the world,' said this dignified dispenser of justice, ' with the defence of ' the most heathenish and blasphemous opinions, ' which I list not to repeat, because Christian ears ' cannot endure to hear them, nor the authors and ' maintainers of them be suffered to live in any ' Christian commonwealth. You shall do well, be- ' fore you go out of this world, to give satisfaction ' herein ; and let not Harriot or any such doctor * Overbuiy's Arraignment of Sir Walter Ealeigh — Jardine's Col- lection of Criminal Trials, i. 389. The last contains the most copious, as well as accurate account of the trial ; and is accom- panied with an instructive commentary. * The words in italics are those given in Mr. Jardine's ex- cellent compilation. In the State Trials the words are, 'Let not any Devil persuade you.' But Raleigh's well-known con- nexion with Harriot, and the circumstance of the latter having 186 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ' persuade you there is no eternity in heaven, lest ' you find an eternity of hell torments.' The man thus maligned is the author of some of the most striking observations in the language on the being and attributes of the Deity, the grandeur and immortality of the soul, and the Christian reli- gion. The other object of this barbarous attack — the more barbarous as being directed against an absent and unconcerned individual — has left a distinguished name in the annals of scientific discovery. Their robed accuser, who was doubtless told by his flatterers that he had acquitted himself nobly in administering such a rebuke, is only re- membered by the anecdote-hunters of his day as having, in his earlier years, been a taker of purses, and in those of his judicial life, a taker of bribes!* We do not vouch for the truth of these anecdotes; but assuredly his cant and rant do not make them less likely to be true. Ealeigh, without deigning to make any remark on what was addressed to incurred a similar imputation, leave no doubt as to the superior correctness of Mr. Jaidine's version, * 'Por several years he addicted himself but little to the • study of the law, but profligate company, and was wont to ' take a purse with them.' ' This Judge had a noble house, 'park, and manor, for a bribe to save his life." (The life of one condemned for child-murder.) Aubrey's Lives, ii. 492-3. SIR WALTER RALEIQS. 187 him, simply entreated that his answers to the principal charges might be reported to the King; and that his execution, in respect of the epploy- ments he had filled, might not be ignominious. He then followed the Sheriff out of court, 'with 'admirable erection,' says Sir Thomas Overbury, * but yet in such a sort as became a man con- ' demned.' No occasion of the kind ever drew forth a finer eulogium than these few words. One triumph Ealeigh achieved by this nefarious trial — that of overcoming the general dislike of which he was tiU then the object. He left the court a condemned man, yet amid feelings warmed to a high pitch of sympathy and admiration. All contemporary accounts bear witness to this great and immediate change. Sir Dudley Carleton, who was present, tells us that he conducted himself 'with ' that temper, wit, learning, courage, and judgment, ' that, save that it went with the hazard of his ' life, it was the happiest day that ever he spent.' — Of two persons who brought the news to the King, ' one affirmed, that never any man spoke so well * in times past, nor would do in the world to come ; ' and the other said, that whereas when he saw him ' first, he was so led with the common hatred, that 188 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ' he would have gone a hundred miles to have seen ' him hanged, he would, ere he parted, have gone 'a thousand to have saved his life.'* 'In half a ' day,' says another observer, ' the mind of all the ' company was changed from the extremest hate to * the greatest pity.' Ealeigh, after his condemnation, once more tried, by letter, to move the royal clemency; and no one, as Dr Southey justly observes, ever sued for life ' with a more dignified submission to his fortune.' We allude to the letter chiefly on account of the remarkable expressions in which he refers to Cob- ham's offers. ' Lost I am for hearing a vain man, ' for hearing only, and never believing or approving ! ' Soon after this touching supplication, the Bishop of Winchester, at the King's desire, waited upon him to prepare him for death. That termination of his misfortunes he for some time hourly expected; but the decision as to his fate was day by day pro- tracted; and in the meanwhile the King occupied himself in getting up for public exhibition the most extraordinary tragi-comedy that ever was performed in the administration of criminal justice. After the execution of the two Priests and Brooke, war- * Hardwiclce State Papers, i. 379. SIS WALTER RALEIGH. 189 rants were signed for carrying into effect the sen- tences against Lords Grey and Cobham, and Sir Griffin Markham; 'the King,' as was said, 'pre- ' tending to forbear Sir Walter Ealeigh until Lord ' Cobham's death should give some light how far ' he would make good his accusation.' At an early hour, upon the, ninth of December, the day ap- poiated for their execution, Markham was, first of all, brought upon the scaffold; and having gone through his devotions, was ruefully preparing to lay his neck upon the block, when the sheriff was called aside by a messenger, who came post from the King, and privately communicated his Majesty's directions to save the prisoners, after each in his turn should have prepared for death. The sheriff accordingly reconducted Markham into the castle, saying that he would give him another hour to pre- pare himself. Grey was then led forth, and after being permitted to make a speech, alike remarkable for boldness and' eloquence, was in like manner re- conducted to his prison. Last of all came Cobham, who now, in the immediate prospect of death, averred that all his charges against Ealeigh were true. He conducted himself with a fortitude so foreign to his nature, as to lead many to suppose that he had 190 SIR WALTER RALEIGE. been promised life provided he should renew his accusations against Ealeigh; he haying, at his own trial, again partially acquitted him. The other two prisoners were again brought back to the scaffold; and the exhibition closed, to the wonder alike of actors and spectators, with a speech from the sheriff, announcing that his Majesty, of his princely clemency, had respited the whole.* Ealeigh witnessed this mock tragedy from a window which overlooked the scaffold, and, as Beaumont says, with a mirthful countenance; from which the Count was inclined to conclude that he had received some encouraging intelligence from his friends at court. Until this period, his hopes, could not be strong; for the King always replied to the numerous intercessors for his life, that he was firmly resolved to let the law take its course. At one time Ealeigh appears to have had cause to believe that his execution was at hand; and in that belief he wrote to his wife to prepare her for the event. The letter is long and impressive ; showing in every line what tender feelings ex- isted in a breast that had ever been filled with * Hardwieke State Papers, i. 391, — Beaumont, Dep. 10th and 18th December. SIR WALTER RALEIGS. 191 the workings of an ambitious and scheming dispo- sition ; and how little he merited those imputations of irreligion with which the Lord Chief-Justice had aspersed him. ' God is my witness,' says he, towards its conclusion, ' that it was for you and ' yours that I desired life ; but it is true that I dis- ' dained myself for begging it ; for know it, dear ' wife, that your son is the son of a true man, and ' one who, iq his own respect, despiseth death, and ' all his mis-shapen and ugly forms. The ever- ' lasting, infinite, and omnipotent God, who is good- ' ness itself, keep thee and thine, have mercy on ' me, and teach me to forgive my persecutors, and ' send us to meet in his glorious kingdom.' A few days after the above exhibition, Ealeigh like the rest was reprieved and reconveyed to the Tower, where he was destined to be confined for the long period of thirteen years. This separation from the world, viewed with reference to the use he made of it, was not to be regretted. But there were other results of his illegal sentence from which his family suffered severely. He had some years before seen cause to convey his estate of Sherborne to his eldest son, reserving his own Hfe-interest which was forfeited by his attaiader. But a sUght 192 SIS WALTER RALEIGH. flaw having been discovered in the conveyance to his son, the estate was bestowed by the King on his rapacious favourite Somerset; his Majesty re- serving only eight thousand pounds for Raleigh's family, as a compensation. Their fair inheritance was thus, as the unfortunate father complained in a letter which he addressed to the worthless minion, ' lost in the law for the want of a word.' — But let us now attend to the questions which his trial and sentence present for consideration. The Count de Beaumont, in a very elaborate despatch written after the trial, and after hearing the reports of various persons who were present, as well as after examining various relative documents, gives it as his deliberate opinion, that Raleigh, though not legally condemned, was nevertheless morally guilty. It is only with reference to this distinction, that there is any room for discussion; for there is, and ever has . been, an entire una- nimity as to the legal view of the case. Much wonder has been expressed how, upon such evi- dence, a verdict of guilty could be obtained; but it ought to be recollected that Raleigh was ex- tremely disliked both by the sovereign and his ministers; and that in those times the Government SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 193 had no surer engine of destruction than a state pro- secution. Juries then formed but a feeble shield against the arm of power; and the fact may serve to show how weak are the securities afforded by the best institutions, when the great body of the people are destitute alike of political consequence and general intelligence. The question as to his actual guilt has been differently viewed by different classes of writers. AU his biographers, with more or less confidence, hold that he was innocent; while aU our general historians of any name, with a pretty near accordance of sentiment, hold that he was guilty. Our own opinion does not in all respects agree with either class. But it would be useless to go ftolher without first disposing of Mr. Tytler's hypothesis, that the plot in question had no existence at all — that it was a mere figment or device, em- ployed to cover the criminal designs of Cecil. Founding upon an obscure and fantastical letter,* supposed to be written by Lord Henry Howard — ' that dangerous inteUigencing man,' as Lady Anne Bacon described himf — Mr. Tytler satisfies himself, * Published in the Oxford Edition of Raleigh's Works, viii. 756. t Birch's Mem. of Eliz. i. 227. 194 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. bj some wire-drawn reasonings which we will con- fess we do not clearly comprehend, that the charges against Ealeigh were the result of a contrivance between Cecil and Lord Henry, to Implicate him in an imaginary plot to set up the Lady Arabella Stuart. ' The whole story,' he asserts, ' is idle and ridiculous. Whether Cobham had ever conceived such an idea, cannot now be discovered. No one can maintain that such a conceit, imparted neither to Sir Walter, to the other conspirators, or to the lady herself, nor to Aremberg, who was to ad- vance the money, hut kept entirely to himself, is for an instant entitled to the name of a conspiracy.' Mr. Tytler has overlooked, as is not unusual with him, some unquestionable facts, in asserting that the proposal as to the Lady Arabella was the un- communicated conceit of a single brain. That there was no fixed or extensive conspiracy to raise that lady to the throne, may be admitted ; but that such a project was entertained by the malcontents of that day, that it was in progress, and that it was propoimded to the Archduke and the King of Spain, does not admit of any doubt. Sir John Harrington, a contemporary and no mean authority, says in express terms, in a letter to the Bishop of Bath SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 195 and Wells, ' that the plot was wellnlgh accom- ' plished to disturb our peace, and favour Arabella ' Stuart, the King's cousin.' But his testimony forms only a small part of the evidence. Mr. Tytler appears to have been altogether uninformed of the long-subsisting intrigues founded upon the supposed claims of that lady. He seems not to have known that the Lady Arabella's title was supported by a considerable section of the English Catholics; that the design of raising her to the throne, on the death of Elizabeth, was favoured by the Pope ; and that it was the apprehensions thence arising, that caused her being put under restraint immediately on that event taking place. The idea of such a plot was not, therefore, so purely fictitious as he has imagined. The knowledge of the facts alluded to, led the most eminent of our late historical inquirers to conclude, that the plot in question, though ' extremely inju- dicious,' was not so improbable as it at first sight appears.* That the notion of setting up the Lady Arabella existed only in Cobham's brain, uncommunicated to any one, is truly preposterous. It was proved at Ealeigh's trial that the design had been discussed • Hallam's Const. Hist. i. 483. 02 196 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. between Cobham and Brooke, and that it was hinted to the lady herself ; and Beaumont's despatches make it perfectly certain that it was communicated to Arem- herg. Beamnont says, Ln the most pointed manner,* that no man of sense who had seen the documents which he had examined, could doubt that the design had been proposed to that minister, and by him to the Archduke ; and that there were letters in the possession of the King, which the latter had shovm to him^ not only proving these communications, but that a large sum of money had been promised to support the design therein developed.f Mr. Tytler appeals to a letter from Cecil to Sir Thomas Parry, then ambassador at Paris, in which he represents Cobham's intercourse with Aremberg as having been limited to the promotion of the peace; and that the money asked and promised was intended to gain friends to that measure. Had Mr. Tytler perused the despatches to which we have so often referred, he would not have rested much, we should think, on this paltry piece of state-craft. He would bave there seen that the English ministry had been * Beaumont, Dep. 20th. August. t Ibid. Dep. 6th December, 1603. -This despatch is highly important. SIR WALTER RALEIOH. 197 obliged to submit to the meanness of recalling their former statements respecting Aremberg, in conse- quence of tbe representations of the Spanish ambas- sador; who, on his arrival, found that the reports of Aremberg's participation In Cobham's schemes, had excited a degree of indignation that threatened materially to obstruct the pending negociations. James himself, puslUanimously yielding to this in- fluence, and impelled by his pacific desires, had stooped so low as to try to exculpate Aremberg to Beaumont ; even after having shown him inter- cepted letters from the former, of a criminal pur- port; and after again and again stating verbally, that he had intermeddled most improperly in Cob- ham's intrigues. The case thus forms an exception to what generally happens in such circumstances. In general, the representations of those in power respecting persons opposed to them, are liable to the suspicion of exaggeration or misstatement; but here, James and his ministers had found it neces- sary to extenuate Aremberg's guilt, from the pecu- liar position in which their wishes and policy had placed them. The obscurity in which the plot is involved is chiefly owing to this very cause — to a reluctance, generated by a timid and crouching sub- 198 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. mission to the desires of Spain, to divulge the whole truth respecting the conduct of her representatives. All this, however, leaves the question as to Ra- leigh's actual participation in the plot undetermined. We have already mentioned that Beaumont had no doubt whatever of his guilt; and, considering that he founds his opinion not only upon verbal com- munications, but upon letters shown to him by the King, and upon corroborative memorials and docu- ments transmitted to his own sovereign, it must be allowed, that he makes a demand upon our assent which it is difficult for any impartial mind to resist. But, notwithstanding the credit which is due to his testimony, we cannot, though greatly shaken, give up our own contrary convictions. The conduct as- cribed to Ealeigh is so improbable, and so utterly inconsistent with every act of his public life, and the prosecution of his favourite designs, that we feel ourselves constrained to resist the belief of his direct participation in any plot depending for success on Spanish agency ; even when we place before our eyes, and in the clearest light, the proofs of his great discontent and suspicious intrigues ; and give aU due weight to the observation of Mr. Hallam, that he ' never showed a discretion bearing the least SIR WALTER RALEIGK. 199 ' proportion to his genius.'* In the melancholy letter to his wife, written in the intention to destroy himself, all the overwhelming emotions of that dark hour could not prevent his mind from reflecting on the amazement it would occasion among some of his followers then abroad, to hear that he ' was ' accused of being Spanish ! ' The ascendancy of such a feeling under such circumstances would have shaken our belief, supposing it had been different from what it ever has been on this part of the case. But we fairly admit that a, great part of history might be set aside, were such evidence as that fur- nished by Beaumont to be rejected. We do not, however, by any means entirely discard his autho- rity. On the contrary, we go a great way along with him; for we are thoroughly convinced that Kaleigh must have been aware of Cobham's treason ; and we think it likely that he may have indulged his own discontent, and encouraged the schemes of the other, by descanting on the means by which the new settlement might be disturbed, and their enemies humbled. It is impossible to peruse Beaumont's despatches, and to consider their con- • Const. Hist, of England, i. 483. 200 SIR WALTER RALBIGH. tents in connexion with the facts disclosed in La Eenzl's examination, and with the admis- sions made by Raleigh himself, without coming to this conclusion. The presumption of his entire ignorance of Cobham's intrigues, arising from his having voluntarily advised Cecil to question La Eenzi — the proceeding which first instigated Cob- ham to accuse him — must be viewed as more than balanced by the contrary and stronger presumption founded on his secret warning to Cobham, in case he should be examined. Nothing urged at his trial made so strong an impression against him as this fact. 'A privy councillor who was present did tell me,' says Bishop Goodman, ' that if he had been one of the jury, he would have found him guilty only for the sending of that one note, for he did not think that such a wise man as Raleigh would have sent, at such a time, and upon such an occasion, a note to Cobham, if there had not been something amiss.'* We must observe further, that his poignant feelings in recalling, in his letter to the King, the circumstance of his having ^listened * Memoirs, i. 65. The same impression was produced upon the writer of a letter in Sir Toby Matthews's Collection, who also was present at the trial, (p. 282.) SIR WALTER MALEIGE. 201 ' only'' to Cobham, can hardly be ascribed to the mere offer of a pension from Spain. The facts dis- closed in Beaumont's despatches, may enable us to form some judgment as to the degree in which the political morality of the day was likely to be shocked by such an offer. ' Four months have ' elapsed,' says this ambassador,* ' since the pensions ' and presents which his Majesty determined to be- ' stow here were resolved upon ; and yet the exe- ' cution has been delayed, to my disgrace and the ' prejudice of his Majesty's service. This is greatly ' to the advantage of the Spanish ambassador, who ' has both authority and means to offer ten to one, 'and knows how to profit by itl'f Raleigh, it is true, refers only to the offer of a pension; but as he knew it could be proved that he was present when letters passed between Cobham and Arem- berg ; and as Beaumont's despatches make it quite certain that these letters contained treasonable mat- ter; we are strongly inclined to ascribe his uneasy * Bep. lOth November 1603. t There is a curious and pointed corroboration in Goodman's Memoirs. ' The Spaniard,' says he, ' was free of his coin, and ' spared no rewards for purchasing the peace. One told me that • he himself had paid three thousand pounds to one man only for ' furthering the peace,' 202 silt WALTER BALEIGH. emotions to his , recollection of these facts. But, whatever there may be in this supposition, it -would be a violation of all probable reasoning appli- cable to human conduct, to suppose that two persons so intimately connected as Raleigh and Cobham, could meet privately, when letters were received from and returned to the Flemish ambassador, with- out any communing taking place as to the object of so remarkable a correspondence. Viewing the facts detailed by Beaumont, it surely would be more rational to conclude that Raleigh was guilty — that is, a direct participator in the designs of Cobham and Brooke — than that he was wholly innocent; that is, wholly uninformed of the nature of the inter- course with Aremberg. To make out this, it must be shown that Cobham carefuUy concealed its nature from Raleigh, though constantly present, and, indeed, the only one whose presence was allowed when it was in progress — a conclusion palpably absurd. Upon the supposition, then, that Raleigh, though not an actual or intended participator, was yet weU aware of the nature of the correspondence — the most favourable conclusion for him that the facts will allow — what, it may be asked, could be his object in making himself privy to it, and thereby SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 203 so far committing himself? All that is knowil of his character leads to the conclusion that he had in view some ulterior design, by which that knowledge might be turned to account. The thought that the golden vision of El Dorado was again uppermost in his mind, and that his inten- tion was to possess himself of the means of revisiting Guiana, has frequently occurred to us; but there was another course, which even Cobham's stolidity appears to have divined, and which more than one of his contemporaries believed to be that which he really intended to follow. Aubrey assures us, that he was informed by an intimate friend of the Lord Treasurer Southampton, that Raleigh's intention was to inveigle Cobham to Jersey, and then, having got both him and his Spanish treasure in his power, to make terms with the King;* and Bishop Good- man expresses himself confidently to the same pur- port — averring that it was ' his fuU intent to discover ' the plot.'t It was said of Raleigh by one who knew him well, ' that he desired to seem to be * Lives, iii. 516. — "We do not place any great reliance upon Aubrey ; but when he refers to respectable names to vouch a not improbable fact, his statements may be viewed as worthy of notice. ■f Memoirs, i. 65. 204 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ' able to sway all men's fancies — all men's courses ;'* and perhaps it was this notion of his power to sway others, that entangled him in a net of his own spreading, and implicated him in treasons from which he flattered himself that his superior dex- terity would keep him free. Passing from these unsatisfactory discussions, we are now to attend to Raleigh's occupations in the Tower; and to see the activity and ardour, which had hitherto been exercised in court intrigues, warlike enterprises, and chimerical projects, trans- ferred to pursuits wholly intellectual; and in which — such was the strength and versatility of his genius — ^he is allowed, by one of the severest judges of his conduct, to have ' surpassed the labours even ' of the most recluse and sedentary lives. 'f The history of his captivity is identical with the history of his literary works; for the whole period of its endurance was employed in their composition ; and they thus form memorials of a singularly interesting nature of this portion of his existence. Indepen- dently of the peculiar circumstances in which they * Earl of Northumberland's Letter, in Aiken's Mem. of James, i. 58. t Hume. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 205 were produced, it was to be expected that his bio- graphers would fully and carefully examine and characterise them ; and -^his the more, that some decidedly spurious pieces have been conjoined with his name, while the authenticity of others requires to be substantiated. But, strange to say, we have nothing of this sort ; nor, if we except a few trivial remarks, anything critical, in the writings of his biographers. The fact, we verily believe, is un- paralleled in the history of letters, that, numerous as are the lives of Ealeigh, it is only in the antiquated one by Oldys, written above a century ago, that we find any methodical survey of his writings. That survey contains everything that industry could ac- cumulate; but being destitute of critical spirit and general intelligence, it is of no value except as a bibliographical account of his different productions. A sketch of his 'History of the World,' with a few observations on his miscellaneous pieces, may, therefore, be acceptable to those who are unac- quainted with his literary achievements. It appears from the very remarkable preface to his 'History,' that, in selecting a subject for his pen, the history of his own country had first pre- sented itself to his thoughts; and, considering the 206 sm WALTER RALEIGH. course of his life, it was natural that it should be so : but the advice of some learned friends, joined with the notion that the alkcient world would prove a safer field of inquiry, turned his labours in that direction. So vast a project as a universal history of antiquity, undertaken in such circumstances, be- tokens a consciousness of intellectual power which cannot but excite admiration. Viewed with refer- ence to our vernacular literature, it constitutes an epoch in its historical department; for though Sir Thomas More — 'the father of English prose'* — composed his fragment on the ' History of Richard 'the Third' a century, and KnoUes his 'History ' of the Turks' a few years before the appearance of Raleigh's work, it was indisputably the first extensive attempt of its kind in the English lan- guage. Beginning with the Creation, it comprises the history of the first periods of the human race, and of the four great monarchies successively established under the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans ; concluding with the second Macedonian war, when the latter were everywhere triumphant. In the distribution of its parts, there is no ob- • Sir James Mackintosh's Life of More, SIR WALTER RALEIQK. 207 servance of any just proportion. Living at a period when the writings of the Fathers and their com- mentators furnished the prime objects of attention, and the chief repositories of information, — when to amass their opinions upon any 'given subject con- stituted the most approved erudition, — he treats at undue length, and invests with undue importance, whatever falls within the sphere of their favourite inquiries. Hence it is that he allows the history of the people of Israel to occupy the foreground throughout an unreasonable space. Hence too it is, that we find him seriously and earnestly inquiring whether Paradise was seated in a separate creation near the orb of the moon — ^whether the Tree of Life was the Ficus Indicus — ^whether the Ark was lighted by a carbuncle — whether the first matter was void of form; and discussing various similar questions, which, ludicrous as they may seem to us, then pos- sessed an engrossing importance. It is only when he reaches the third of the five books into which the work is divided, and which embraces the period between the destruction of Jerusalem and the rise of Philip of Macedon, that he begins to lose sight of Judea, and to disentangle himself from the multi- tude of theological and scholastic digressions with 208 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. which the Jewish or scriptural portion is overlaid. That book in which all the more brilliant por- tions of Grecian story are surveyed, closes with the death of Epaminondas, whose great character is so finely pourtrayed, that we shall extract his delinea- tion of it as a specimen of his style. ' So died Epaminondas, the worthiest man that ever was bred in that nation of Greece, and hardly to be matched in any age or country ; for he equalled all others in the several virtues which in each of them were singular. His justice and sincerity, his tem- perance, wisdom, and high magnanimity, were noway Inferior to his military virtues ; in every part whereof he so excelled, that he could not but properly be called a wary, a valiant, a politic, a bountiful, and a provident captain. Neither was his private conversation unanswerable to those high parts which gave him praise abroad; for he was grave, and yet very affable and courteous ; resolute in public business, but in his own particular, easy and of much mildness; a lover of his people, — bearmg with men's infirmities; witty and pleasant in speech, — far from insolence ; master of his own aflfections, and furnished with all qualities that might win and keep love. To these graces were SIR WALTER RALBIOH. 209 ' added great ability of body, and much eloquence, ' and very deep knowledge In all parts of philo- ' sophy and learning ; wherewith his mind being ' enlightened, rested not in the sweetness of con- ' templation, but broke forth into such effects as ' gave unto Thebes, which had ever been an imder- ' ling, a dreadful reputation among all people ad- ' joining, and the highest command in Greece.' The opening of the next book, in which, after glancing at the intestine divisions of the Greeks, he anticipates their subjection to Philip, is alike re- markable for its philosophical spirit and its poetical colouring. ' The Greeks grew even then more ' violent in devouring each other, when the fast- ' growing greatness of such a neighbour king as ' Philip should, in regard of their own safeties, have ' served them for a strong argument of union and ' concord. But the glory of their Persian victories, ' wherewith they were pampered and made proud, ' taught them to neglect all nations but themselves ; ' and the rather to value at little the power and ' purposes of the Macedonians, because those kings ' and states which sate nearer them than they did, ' had- in the time of Amyntas, the father of Philip, ' so much weakened them, and won upon them, p 210 SIR WALTER RALEIGS. ' that they were not in any one age (as the Gre- ' cians persuaded themselves) likely to recover their ' own ; much less to work any wonders against their ' borderers. And, indeed, it was not in their philo- ' sophy to consider that all great alterations are, ' storm-like, sudden and violent ; and that it is then ' overlate to repair the decayed and broken banks ' when great rivers are once swollen, fast nmning, ' and enraged. No ; the Greeks did rather employ ' themselves in breaking down those defences which ' stood between them and this inimdation, than seek 'to rampire and reinforce their own fields; which, ' by the level of reason, they might have found to ' have lain imder it.' But this passage is far sur- passed by that with which he closes his last book; where, looking back to the fallen monarchies whose history he had traced, and forward to the termina- tion of that of Eome, he thus grandly sketches the outline of the historical picture which that far- stretching view presented to his capacious and poetical mind. ' By this which we have already ' set down, is seen the beginning and end of the ' three first monarchies of the world ; whereof the ' founders and erectors thought that they never ' would have ended. That of Eome, which made SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 211 * the fourth, was also at this time almost at the ' highest. We have left it flourishing in the middle ' of the field, having rooted up or cut down all ' that kept It from the eyes and admiration of the ' world. But, after some continuance, It shall begin ' to lose the beauty It had ; the storms of ambition ' shall beat her great boughs and branches one ' against another ; her leaves shall fall off; her ' limbs wither ; and a rabble of barbarous nations ' enter the field and cut her down.' The foregoing observations and extracts may serve to famish a general conception of the struc- ture of this great work. Descending to a more particular survey, we shall find one of its most conspicuous features In those digressions, to the multiplicity of which we have already alluded. They occur more frequently In Its earlier and more scholastic half; but the classical portion Is not by any means free from them; of which we have one amongst sundry instances, where this distinguished soldier steps aside to discuss the origin and history, and to reprobate the practice of duelling. Viewed with reference to the laws of historical composition, they constitute a blemish; but It is In them that the richness and beauty of the author's imagl- p2 212 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. nation, and the originality of his thoughts, are most conspicuous. His tendency to digression manifests itself not only in distinct sections and formal essays, but in a multitude of episodical ob- servations and deductions. In one or the other, we meet with many fine reflections upon the infe- licities and vanities of life — a topic which always calls forth strains of a singularly pathetic cast — upon death, another favourite topic — upon the at- tributes of the Deity — and upon the human soul, and the great powers and virtues with which it is endowed. In one or the other, too, are scattered some striking proofs of his emancipation from the fetters of the schools, and of a near approach, both in respect of metaphysical and ethical science, to the soundest principles of modem philosophy. One of the greatest and most candid of our philosophers has himself acknowledged, that a curious antici- pation by Raleigh, of his doctrine of the ' fun- ' damental laws of human belief, had been pointed ' out to him ;' observing, ' that the coincidence be- ' tween them in point of expression^ though curious, ' is much less wonderful than the coincidence of the ' thought with the soundest logical conclusions of the ' eighteenth century.'* This is an honourable tes- * Stewart's Philosophy of the Mind, ii. 698. SIR WALTER RALEIGS. 213 tlmony to a remarkable fact ; and the mention of it recalls what appears to be an anticipation of one of the most startling conclusions of Malthus : — * The multitude of people,' says Raleigh, 'is such, that if ' by wars or pestilence they were not sometimes ' taken off by many thousands, the earth, with all ' the industry of man, could not give them food.'"'' But it is to the Greek and Roman story that we would direct the attention of any one wishing to acquaint himself with Raleigh's peculiar merits. The narrative is clear, spirited, and unembarrassed; replete with remarks disclosing the mind of the soldier and the statesman; and largely sprinkled and adorned with original, forcible, and graphic expressions. But this portion of the work has a still more remarkable distinction, when considered as the production of an age not yet formed to any high notions of international moraUty, from its invariable reprehension of wars of ambition, and its entire freedom from those illusions which have biassed both historians and their readers in regard to the perfidies and cruelties exhibited in ancient, particularly Roman history. In this respect, he ap- pears to us to stand honoiu-ably distinguished from * Sist. World, B. I. chap. viii. § i. 214 SIS WALTER RAimGH. all preceding authors; but while lie thus endeavours to moderate oiir admiration of the Romans by awakening us to a strong perception of their na- tional crimes, he never fails to do justice to their manly virtues, their energy of character, and their public affections. This moral and judicial mode of viewing the achievments of the classical nations, and the providential lessons held out by history, joined with a moumM tone of reflection on the instability of fortune, the miseries of humanity, and the ultimate fate of all in death, combine to give the work a character of individuality of the most marked description, and which sepa- rates it from all others of the class to which it belongs. Of Its style, the fine passages above ex- tracted will partly furnish the means of judging; but It would be necessary to peruse some con- siderable portion of the narrative on Grecian and Eoman affairs, to have any just conception of Its easy and equable flow — Its clearness and anima- tion — Its sweetness and melody In the plaintive parts, and its general strength and dignity. In the structure of his periods, there was no writer of his day so free from stiffness and pedantry. Agamst Hume's opinion, that he Is the 'best model SIR WALTER RALEIOH. 215 ' of our ancient style,' there is only, in as far as we know, one dissentient voice. It is stated in Spence's Anecdotes^ that in talking ' over the de- ' sign for a Dictionary, Pope rejected Sir Walter ' Raleigh twice as too affected.'' But there must be some mistake or misconception in this. We cannot imagine that such an opinion proceeded from Pope. His animated call for the revival of such ' words ' as wise Bacon and brave Raleigh spoke,' will be recollected by every one; and Mr. Hallam only echoes the general sentiment of the learned, when he says, that Raleigh ' is less pedantic than most ' of his contemporaries, seldom low, and never af- 'fected:* But what is to be said of the noted dis- covery, that this memorable work was only in part the legitimate produce of Raleigh's mind? Mr. D'lsraeU has, in his ' Curiosities of Literature,' favoured the world with what he calls its secret history; in which he endeavours to show that its materials were contributed by several hands; 'the ' eloquent, the grand, and the pathetic passages in- ' terspersed' being alone his composition ! This piece of 'secret history' — alike incredible and pre- * Hist, of Lit. iii. 658. 216 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. posterous — was well rebutted by Mr, Tytler ; but it has more recently been examined, and with signal chastisement given to the winds, in a small pub- lication, little known we believe, though one of the most learned and acute contributions to literary history that has appeared in our day.* We must observe, however, that Mr. D'Israeli is not the only impugner of Raleigh's claims to his own workmanship ; for, independently of Ben Jonson's assertion, 'that the best wits of England ' assisted in making his History,' we find that an- other eminent writer had previously made a similar allegation. We allude to Algernon Sydney, who, in order to disparage Raleigh's authority as a poli- tical writer, broadly asserts ' that he was so well ' assisted in his History of the World, that an or- ' diaary man, with the same helps, might have ' performed the same thuig.'"!" Passing by the ab- surdity of the opinion combined with this allegation — an opmion so absurd as greatly to discredit the author's testimony — -we may observe, that the ex- istence of such a rumour as seems to be implied in it, is, in all probability, to be ascribed to the * ' Curiosities of Literatwre, by J. D'Israeli, Esq. Illustrated.' By Bolton Corney, Esq, t Sydney on Government, p. 398. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 217 wonder occasioned by the production, in a state of separation from the world, of a work of such ex- tent and erudition; and to the circumstance, that in such a condition of restraint, some literary assist- ance must necessarily be required. That assistance of that description might be rendered by Raleigh's friends, yet without giving them any claims to authorship, or subtracting from the exclusiveness of his own, is too evident to require illustration. But the supposition that Raleigh's share of the work was limited to such interspersions as Mr. D'Israeli figures, is utterly incapable of proof, and in fact inconceivable ; and its absurdity and falsity may be demonstrated h priori^ independently of that de- tailed refutation of his pretended authorities which is contained in the searching pubUcation to which we have referred. In the first place, we hold it to be demonstrable by a critical examination of the work itself, that it is throughout the composition of a single mind; bearing the impress of a unity and identity of lite- rary labour which could only exist in the work- manship of one and the same hand. By no analyses of its structure, ' sequences, and wording, could it possibly be shown that it exhibits any difierences 218 Sm WALTER RALEIGH. of composition, justifying tlie ascription of passages of one sort to Ealeigh, and of the rest to others. If, therefore, he received any of his materials from others, they must have been so amalgamated and harmonized by the intellectual processes to which he subjected them, as to make them his own, just as much as the information he derived from the printed authorities he consulted. Thus, if Jonson gave him, as he boasted to Drummond of Haw- thornden, a piece on the Punic War, he must have made the same use of it that he did of the narra- tives of Livy and Polybius. In the second place, let it be remembered that the ' History of the World' was published, with his name, by a man in adversity — a state prisoner — hated by the Government — disliked by many — and who, three years after it saw the light, perished on the scaffold; and let it then be asked, whether any man so situated was likely to assume to himself the exclusive glory of an authorship to which he was only partially entitled? or whether, supposing him bold and shameless enough to make the ven- ture, the plagiarism would not have soon transpired, and been greedily seized upon to blacken his cha- racter, and to swell the list of his impostures, at a SIR WALTER RALEIGH, 219 time when the sovereign himself found it necessary to try, by such means, to lessen the indignation excited by his unwarrantable execution. Taking the case in either view, we think it impossible for any impartial mind to doubt that the ' History of the World' was wholly the composition of its re- puted author ; and, therefore, when we find Dr. Liu- gard and Dr. Southey limiting his share of it, but without a syllable of argument or proof, to what is capriciously meted out to him by Mr. D'Israeli, we are constrained to think that they have done so upon very slender authority, and without any ade- quate acquaintance with the work itself, or consider- ation of the circumstances in which it appeared. Of Raleigh's other literary productions, none but the account of Sir Richard GrenviUe's immortal action at the Azores, that of his own voyage to Guiana, and some poems, were printed during his life. Most of those attributed to him were pub- lished not merely after, but long after his death. We are, in consequence, left in great uncertainty as to the genuineness of several that bear his name ; and even with respect to those of which he was indubitably the author, we have no information as to whether they were printed just as they 220 SIR WALTER BALEIGH. came from his pen, or were in any respect altered. Four of them were published under the sanction of his grandson; namely, his 'Discourse- on the In- ' vention of Shipping,' his ' Kelation of the Action ' at Cadiz,' his ' Dialogue between a Jesuit and a ' Eecusant,' and the ' Apology for his Last Voy- ' age to Guiana.' Of his political treatises, — ' The ' Cabinet Council,' and ' Maxims of State,' — ^had the honour of being given to the world by Milton. In an advertisement to the former, the illustrious editor states, that ' it was given to him for a true ' copy, by a learned man at his death ;' and he gives it as his opinion, that ' it was answerable in ' style to the works of the eminent author already ' extant, as far as the subject would permit.' We have a similar statement by Dr. Moore, Bishop of Ely, respecting another piece ascribed to him, entitled an ' Introduction to a Breviary of the His- ' tory of England, with the Reign of William the ' First ;' which was published by that learned Prelate. 'Whoever has been conversant,' says he, 'in lie ' works of that accomplished knight, and acquainted ' with his great genius and spirit, and his manly ' and unaffected style, will make no doubt but what 'is now presented to the world was his genuine SIR WALTEB. RALEIGH. 221 ' Issue.' We have here a remarkable instance of the nncertainty of judging of authorship by infer- ences from style merely; for we have ascertained, by a careful comparison, that this tract, instead of being the 'genuine issue' of Raleigh, is almost wholly copied from a 'History of England' by Samuel Daniel, published in 1618. Daniel was an excellent writer, and in some qualities of style, particularly ease and clearness, bore a resem- blance to Raleigh, by which the Bishop seems to have been misled. Besides those published by Milton, there are several other political pieces ascribed to Raleigh, and perhaps with even better claims to the credit of his name. Of these the most noted is the ' Dialogue on the Prerogatives ' of Parliament.' This has been more frequently referred to than any of his political productions; a distinction which it owes to the support it has been supposed to afford to the favourers of monarchical power, and the high prerogatives claimed for the Stuarts. It has thus been appealed to as an authority both by Filmer and Hume. Mr. Hallam observes that its ' dedication to King James con- ' tains terrible things ; but that we must not suppose 'Raleigh meant what he said.'* In this we fully • Constit. Mist, of England, i. 377. 222 SIR WALTER RALEIOS. concur ; for thougli Ealeigh, in his History, doubt- less with a view to propitiate an unrelenting master, sometimes gives a broad, sometime^ a qualified support to the doctrine of the divine authority and irresponsibility of kings, he yet more frequently holds a language respecting the ends of govern- ment, the duties of sovereigns, and the means ne- cessary to rule happily as well as gloriously, that might recommend him to the disciples of F^n^lon rather than to those of Filmer. His real views are clearly enough manifested in the Dialogue re- ferred to ; which strongly inculcates the doctrine, that the happiness of the people is the great end of government ; their good-will its best support ; and that those kings who governed by parliaments reigned more prosperously and successfully than those who wished to rule without, or In despite of them. But however disposed Kalelgh may have been to set limits to the exercise of regal power, he has nowhere shown the least love of repub- licanism; nor has he ever spoken of liberty with enthusiasm. So far was he from cherishiug the doctrine of equality in political rights, that he held there were multitudes 'whose disability to ' govern themselves proved them to be naturally SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 223 ' slaves.' He accordingly viewed -mth an unfavour- able eye the abolition of rural servitude or villanage ; ascribing to k social evils of considerable magni- tude. ' Since our slaves were made free, which ' were of great use and service, there are grown ' up,' he says, ' a rabble of rogues, cut-purses, and ' other the like trades — slaves in nature, though ' not in law.'* He seems always to have evinced a total want of sympathy with, if not a dislike of, the lower orders; and all authority vested ia them was abhorrent alike to his feelings and to his reason. His general sentiments on this head may be col- lected from a remark in his History, when, speak- ing with reference to the people, he says, 'there ' is nothing in any state so terrible as a powerful ' and authorized ignorance.' The versatility of Raleigh's genius and pursuits were strikingly exemplified in his acquaintance with the mechanical arts, and his addiction to experi- mental inquiries. His discourses on shipbuilding, the navy, and naval tactics, are, we believe, the earUest productions of the kind in the English language. We never have been able to account for his great knowledge of seamanship, in which • HUt. of the World, B. V. c. ii. § 4. 224 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. he had but little practical training, nor had he made many considerable voyages. His favour at court, his captures at sea,\and bis brilliant courage, procured bim the rank of admiral, and employ- ment as ^uch on several important occasions; for naval rank was not yet regulated by any fixed rules of promotion; but, in point of fact, he rose to a reputation as a seaman not surpassed by any man of bis day. After Drake and Hawkins dis- appeared from the scene, he seems, indeed, to have enjoyed a preeminence over all bis contemporaries. Strong native predilections, and a wonderfully ver- satile mind, can alone explain his extraordinary proficiency in maritime affairs. His tracts on ship- building have often been referred to as evincing great practical knowledge; but the most extensive, and probably the most instructive, of his treatises on naval subjects, has unfortunately disappeared. We refer to a discourse on 'the Art of War by ' Sea ;' — ' a subject,' he observes, ' never handled ' by any man, ancient or modern.'* This, we believe, was true at the time. It was written for the information of his much-loved patron, Henry Prince of Wales; but, says he, 'God hath spared » History of the World, B. V. c. i. {6. SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 225 ' me the labour of finishing it, by his, loss ; by the ' loss of that brave prince, of which, like an eclipse * of the sun, we shall find the effects hereafter.' That a considerable portion of it was written seems certain ; and we would fain hope may yet be dis- covered. Mr. Tytler has printed an outline of its contents, from a manuscript preserved in the British Museum, from which it appears that it was not limited to the subject of tactics, but included a wide range of topics connected with naval affairs. The vast importance of the navy to a maritime and insular country like Britain, is a favourite subject with Raleigh, who, in his History, seizes every opportunity of digressing upon it; particu- larly with the view of showing, that to her navy- alone can Britain trust for protection from invasion ; and that a powerful navy is consequently indis- pensable, not merely as an instrument of national glory, but of national independence. That strong taste for experimental inquiry, which manifested itself so signally at the close of the six- teenth and beginning of the seventeenth century, and imparted a death-blow to the scholastic phi- losophy, found in Raleigh one of those inquisitive and ardent minds, sure to be roused to active re- 226 sm WALTER RALEIGH. search by the discovery of any new avenue to knowledge. He, like many other ingenious men, had already begun to make some empirical attempts in that field which the exhortations and the pre- cepts of Bacon were soon to lead numerous votaries to cultivate with more rational prospects of success. During his confinement in the Tower, he appears to have devoted a considerable portion of his time to chemical and pharmaceutical investigations ; greatly, no doubt, to the amazement of those about him, who marvelled to behold the splendid courtier and captain of a happier day, earnestly employing him- self with chemical stills and crucibles. He has converted, says Sir William Wade, the Ueutenant of the Tower, in a letter to Cecil, ' a little hen- ' house in the garden into a still-house ; and here ' he doth spend his time all the day in distillations.' This was written in 1605, probably before Raleigh had entered seriously upon the composition of his History, which must have engrossed the better part of his time ; but he appears to have continued his experimental researches — as a recreation it may be — throughout the whole period of his confine- ment. We learn from the ' Diary' of the Eeverend John Ward, that he had met in 1661 with a SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 227 very old chemist, named Mr. Sampson, ' who 'was operator to Sir Walter Raleigh twelve years, 'whilst he was in the Tower, and who told Mm ' many things of Sir Walter.^ What things the old chemist actually recounted, this provoking diarist does not reveal; but as his recitals are generally unworthy of attention, we the less regret his silehce as to Raleigh. Some references to his experimental pursuits are made by other writers of the time, par- ticularly Bishop Hall, who mentions them as among the happy results of his separation from the busy world. But, in point of fact, they were of no prac- tical utility, — a conclusion nowise invalidated by his composition of a ' cordial,' so famous in his own day as to be administered to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, when dangerously ill, and which long continued in great repute. Evelyn states in his 'Diary,' that in 1662, he 'accompanied King ' Charles the Second to Monsieur Febure, his che- ' mist, to see his accurate preparation of Sir Walter ' Raleigh's cordial ;' and an elaborate discourse upon it was, by command of his Majesty, written by this chemist, who extols it as a signal example of the great advantages which modern phannacy had reaped from chemical science.* * Discours sur le Grand Cordial de Sir W, Raleigh. Par. N. Le Febure. 12mo. 1665. 228 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Of the poetry coupled with Ealeigh's name, there is much of the authenticity of which we have no certainty. His fine imagination has left its impress on the pages of his 'History,' no less than on its more appropriate gromid, the productions of his ' sweetly tempered muse ;'* but its exercise in poetical composition was chiefly, though not entirely, limited to the early part of his life. His reputa- tion, according to Puttenham, was then high in ' ditty and amorous odes ;' but, from an allusion in one of Spenser's sonnets, and some verses of his own, he appears to have meditated the invocation of a loftier muse — 'The famous acts of worthy Brute to write' — a design, from the execution of which, if ever seriously entertained, the struggles and turmoils of his ambitious career efiectually withdrew him. With his pharming answer to Marlowe's ' Invitation to Love,' and the magnificent sonnet on the ' Fairy Queen,' all readers of English poetry must be acquainted. 'Milton,' says Sir Egerton Brydges, ' had deeply studied this sonnet, for in his com- ' positions of the same class, he has evidently more * 'Full sweetly tempered is that muse of his.' Spenser's Colin Clout. SIR WALTER RALEIOH. 229 ' than once its very rhythm and construction, as ' well as cast of thought.' To this warm but taste- ful admirer of Raleigh's poems, we are indebted for a collected edition of them;* but he does not appear to have instituted any searching inquiries for the purpose of verifying them; and there are several in the collection, respecting the authenticity of which we are thus left in disagreeable uncer- tainty. We cannot leave the subject of Raleigh's writ- iags without briefly noticing that edition of them — the first aspiring to be complete— which the Di- rectors of the Clarendon Press have given to the world. It was to Oxford that the public was best entitled to look for such an undertaking; and we heartily wish that the moniunent she has erected to the memory of her renowned son tad been more worthy of his name and her resources. Long previous to this edition, namely in 1751, Dr. Birch published a collection of Raleigh's miscel- laneous pieces, with an account of his life. Neither as biographer lior editor, can anything be said in his praise. Of the life we have already spoken ; of * Poems of Sir "Walter Raleigh, now first collected ; with a biographical and critical Introduction. 12nio. 1814. 230 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. his editorial judgment and care the collection fur- nishes no traces. He says nothing of the texts used in his reprint, omits printed pieces of unques- tionable authenticity, inserts others which are spuri- ous, and is silent as to the objects, character, and literary history of the whole. We are sorry to say that his Oxford successors have not, in any very material degree, surpassed him in the miscellaneous portion of their edition. It is indeed augmented with the pieces omitted by him, and with one or two others not before printed, but it is equally wanting in critical inquiry and literary illustration, and liable to the same censure of blending what is spurious with what is genuine. Here, accord- ingly, we find the tract copied from the historical work of Samuel Daniel; and here also appears a discourse on 'Trade and Commerce with the Hol- ' lander and other Nations,' incorrectly ascribed to Ealeigh ; the real author being, in all probability, an alderman of London, of the name of Cockaigne.* Mr. Tytler has expressed some surprise at their omission of Raleigh's ' Journal of his Second Voyage ' to Guiana,' which exists in his handwriting in the British Museum. This omission is not, how- * See Smitli's Memoirs of Wool, i. 144. Sm WALTER RALEIOH. 231 ever, at all censurable; for that journal is so full of chasms, as to be quite unfit for publication. But there does exist another piece on Guiana by Raleigh, with which Mr. Tytler was evidently unacquainted; and which, being entire, and extremely curious, ought unquestionably to have been included in the Oxford edition. It is entitled ' Considerations on ' the Voyage to Guiana,' and is preserved amongst the manuscripts of Sir Hans Sloane.* This singular production — for the authenticity of which we have the strongest internal evidence — appears to have been written soon after the publication of his cele- brated voyage, and to have been intended to remove objections to his plans, and to show that an alliance, highly beneficial to England, might be easily ef- fected with the sovereign of El Dorado. In one respect, Raleigh's Oxford editors deserve commen- dation, — ^namely, in returning to the text of the original edition of the ' History of the World,' in- stead of reprinting the edition of Oldys, commonly, but very erroneously, considered the best. We do not pretend to have perused the work in their edition, and cannot therefore say anything as to its correctness ; but we observe that they have * Bibl. Sloan. 1223. Plut. xxi. D. 232 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. noticed several discrepancies between the first and the subsequent editions; and' it cannot for a mo- ment be questioned that they have exercised a sound discretion in adopting it in their reprint. But notwithstanding this recommendation, we have said enough to show that this edition is far from creditable to the Clarendon Press; and if its Di- rectors cannot achieve more, it is to be wished that they would separate the ' History of the World' from its ill-edited accompaniments, and reproduce it by itself in a more worthy form. Bishop Hall has ascribed to Ealeigh's long imprisonment, which ended in March 1615, some results which the subsequent events of his life do not bear out. ' The Court,' says he, ' had his ' youthful and freer years ; the Tower his latter ' age. The Tower reformed the courtier in him, ' and produced those worthy monuments of art and ' industry which we should have in vain expected ' from his freedom and jollity.' Had his life ended with the production of these 'worthy monuments,' it might indeed have been supposed that seclusion from the world had 'reformed the courtier,' and that those plaintive reflections on the vanities of life with which his History is so richly strewn, were SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 233 really the outpourings of an awakened conscience, and evidences of a great change in the moral habits of the man. But he lived to furnish a humiliating proof of the lamentable inconsistencies of human nature, even ia the strongest minds; to show that the same man may, in the closet, reason like a sage on cupidity and ambition, and in active life pursue with eagerness the commonest objects of desire; may declaim against gold as 'the high and shining idol' with which the great enemy of mankind lures them on to destruction, and yet sacrifice character and life in Its pursuit; may smile upon death in its most revolting form, and yet try to escape from It by the most degrading artifices ! It was neither owing to any feehng of clemency, nor to any merciful sense of the sufficiency of the punishment already Inflicted, that King James was induced to consent to Raleigh's liberation. It may have been owing in part to an expectation of reap- ing some benefit from Raleigh's mining speculation, but more Immediately and certainly to bribery — the grand expedient, in that most venal age, for smoothing the road to royal favour. Applications for his release had been made by the Queen, by her brother the King of Denmark, and by the Prince 234 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. of Wales, but without success, and even without procuring any material relaxation of the strictness of his confinement; for in a letter to the Queen, written in the eighth year of his captivity, we find him complaining that he was as ' closely locked up as at the first day.' But the death of Cecil, and the disgrace of Somerset, who had heen en- riched by the gift of his estate, removed some for- midable obstacles ; and having succeeded in inducing the new Secretary of State, Sir Ralph Winwood, to recommend his project — not of searching for El Dorado, for he seems to have abandoned that design — but of opening a mine in Guiana, ' as a matter not ' in the air, or speculative, but real ; ' and having, moreover, presented the uncles of the new favourite Buckingham with the sum of fifteen hundred pounds, on condition of their procuring his intercession with the King, the long-closed gates of the Tower were at last opened for his exit. It was many years after- wards- stated by his son, that another equal bribe would have insured a full pardon; but that, having consulted Lord Bacon as to whether the commission empowering him to proceed to Gruiana did not imply one, and having received an opinion in the affirma- tive, he dismissed from his thoughts all idea of SIE WALTER RALEIGH. 235 making such a sacrifice. That such an opinion was given by Bacon, seems as improbahle as it is that James would have acceded to the solicitation. He has himself stated that he had resolved to withhold a pardon, in order the more effectually to hold Raleigh in subjection;* and, as the statement is in accordance with his known cunning and timidity, we cannot doubt that it was true. It would have been weU, however, for his character, as the sequel showed, had his king-craft on this occasion per- mitted him to assume the appearance, at least, of clemency, by giving his prisoner a pardon when he consented to set him free. If we are to believe Kaleigh himself, it was mainly to obtain the power of revisiting Guiana that liberty was coveted by him. That envied region had never ceased to engage his thoughts. Even when 'reasoning high' on the all-corrupting influence of gold, his heart was fixed upen its imaginary mines. The composition of his History did not in the least divert his attention from them. He maintained a constant correspondence with that country, and appears to have made frequent appli- cations to the government to accede to proposals for * Declaration, published after Ealeigh's execution. 236 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. verifying his accounts of its wealth. Something like an agreement appears to have, at one time, been nearly brought about, for enabling Captain Keymis to proceeed thither, in order to import as much gold ore as should satisfy the King that they were in the knowledge of a mine in its interior. We have before us a copy of a curious document, of the date of 1611, preserved among the Harleian manuscripts, and which contains the substance of an agreement between Raleigh and the government, to the above eifect.* The following is its principal condition : — ' If Keymis, after being guarded to the ' place, shall fail to bring to England half a ton, or ' as much more as he shall be able to take up, of ' that slate gold ore whereof I have given a sample^ ' then all the charge of the journey shall be laid 'upon me — by me to be satisfied: but should half ' a ton be brought home, I am to have my liberty ; ' and in the meantime, my pardon under the Great ' Seal is to be lodged in his Majesty's hands till the ' end of the journey.' With the publication of this paper, which now appears for the first time, the * Brit. Mus. Harl. MSS. 39, p. 340. This document is in the form of a letter, but is entitled, ' Agreement between Sir ' Walter Raleigh and the Lords for the Journey to Guiana, to 'be performed by Captain Keymis in 1611.' SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 237 disputed question as to Raleigh's belief in the ex- istence of gold mines in Guiana, must be viewed as ended. Here we see him so confident in that belief as to take upon himself a risk which, in the event of failm:e, would occasion the ruin of himself and his family. Why this agreement was not farther proceeded in, does not appear. It was to its aban- donment, in all probability, that Raleigh alluded in the following extract from a letter to the Queen, by whom he had always been befriended, written in the ninth year of his imprisonment. ' I did lately ' presume to send unto your Majesty the copy of ' a letter* to my Lord Treasurer touching Guiana. ' That there is nothing done therein I could not but ' wonder with the world, did not the malice of the ' world exceed the wisdom thereof. 'f It is painful to observe his palpable insincerity when, in the sequel, he disclaims all personal interest in the matter ; calling the * overliving God to witness' that he is actuated solely by the desire to ' approve ' his faith to his Majesty, and to do him a service ' such as hath seldom been performed for any king.' Yet was Guiana so constant an object of his thoughts * The agreement was in tlie form of a letter, t This letter, of which we long ago procured a copy from the State Paper Office, has been printed, with some other 238 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. and purposes, that lie was at a considerable yearly- expense, as he himself tells us,* to preserve a com- munication with that country ; not only by sending out vessels, but even by causing some of the natives to be brought to England to confer with him in the Tower, and to carry back to their countrymen assurances of his return. And we shall immediately see how little the desire to ' approve his faith' in- fluenced his conduct, when he was actually upon the eve of revisiting Guiana. Though it was not a condition of Raleigh's re- lease that he was to proceed thither to open a mine, it was well understood that his liberation took place with reference to that object. The commission which he obtained did not, however, make any mention of that particular region ; it referred generally to such parts of America as were unappropriated by other states; conferring ample powers to search for all such articles and commodities therein as might be useful to commerce. The silence as to Guiana was no doubt thought necessary to exonerate the Govern- ment, in the event of Raleigh's invasion of any part valuable documents, in the Appendix to Mrs. Thomson's Life of Raleigh. * Apology for his Last Voyage to Guiana. SIR WALTER RALEIGR. '^6y of it where the Spaniards might have settled. His intention to open a gold mine in a particular quar- ter, and the route he intended to follow, were fully explained in letters to the King; in which he also bound himself to abstain from all hostile inroads Into any of the settlements of Spain. He after- wards loudly complained of the communication to the King of Spain of his intended route — the Spa- niards being thereby enabled, as he alleged, to obstruct his progress; but, in point of fact, they only augmented their means of defence in their own settlements; and it does not appear to us that James acted dishonourably, or otherwise than in consistency with the usages of civilized nations, in making such a communication. The vehement representations of the Spanish ambassador rendered it necessary to satisfy him in this particular: and certainly, as he offered, on the part of Spain, to guarantee Ealelgh's safety if his only object was to work a mine in the desert parts of Guiana, there was much force in the allegation that there must be some latent design in his setting out, for such a piu-pose, with so great an armament. Indeed, considering Raleigh's unscrupulous character, his wasted fortune, and his being bred in a school which 240 SIS. WALTER RALEIGH. viewed the ' Spanish Indies' as a fair field of booty, it seems astonishing that James's ministers should have allowed him to sail with a fleet of such mag- nitude. His repeated asseveration of pacific inten- tions, and that his being so strongly armed was for defence only, joined perhaps with the recollection of some former breaches of the national faith of Spain to British subjects trading to America, seem to have shut their eyes to the consequences but too likely to ensue. Their easy faith was, however, far more surprising than the credulity of those who became sharers in the adventure. Raleigh's reputation, al- ways great in naval afi'airs, had been raised to a high pitch by the publication of his History.* The belief that he was sincere, and that he could not be deceived either as to the existence of the mine, or the advantages of Guiana as a place of settlement, might not unreasonably be entertained by many; particularly as it was known that he was to embark in the undertaking his whole re- maining fortune, as well as that of his wife. It does not therefore seem sm-prising that it should have attracted many eager associates, all in imagination grasping golden returns, while some might expect * Carte, iv. 49. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 241 to possess themselves of the means of a profitable commerce. With whatever hopes or views brought together, a fleet consisting of no less than thirteen vessels was in a few months collected. Some of them were of considerable size, and all carried a proportionable number of cannon. The assembling of such a fleet, under so renowned a commander, and for purposes so uncommon, could not fail to excite curiosity; and we have one proof of its having done so, in the fact that it was visited by all the ambassadors resident at the British Court. Raleigh's own ship, ' The Destiny,' had been built under his special directions, and in a particular manner engaged the attention of the foreign ministers. But there are some circumstances connected with the visits of the French ambassador, deeply affecting Raleigh's honour, as to which none of his biographers appear to have had any information. After his recom- mitment to the Tower, on his return from this un- happy voyage, he is said to have averred, that though the French ambassador had visited his ship, previous to his sailing, he had done so like the rest, only once, and merely from curiosity; and that nothing of any moment passed between 242 SIR WALTER RALEIGS. them* Unfortunately for Raleigh's veracity, as well as loyalty, the despatches of this ambassador, Comit Desmarests, tell a veiy different tale. We have before us copies, taken from the originals in the French Archives, of foxir despatches written by him to his Government, from which it appears that he had visited the ship, not once merely, but several times. But this is not all. He describes Edeigh as in the highest degree discontented ; as repre- senting himself to have been unjustly imprisoned and stripped of his estate — in a word, most tyran- nically used ; and as having resolved to abandon his country^ and to make the King of France the, first offer of his services and acquisitions^ if his enterprise, from which he confidently expected great results, should succeed.'^ The ambassador does not appear to have anticipated much from it; but he • This averment, to which Mr. Tytler gives full credit, was made to Sir Thomas Wilson, — a sort of spy employed by the Government. A very curious record of their conversations, kept by this person, is preserved in the State-Paper Office, under the title of 'A relation of what hath passed and been • observed by me since my coming to Sir Walter Ealeigh.' Extracts from this paper have been printed both by Mr. Jardine and Mr. Tytler, to which we are indebted for aU that we know of its contents. t These despatches bear the dates of 12th .Tauuary, 17th and 30th March, and 24th AprO, 1617. The words in itaUcs are translated from the last despatch. SIR WALTES. RALEIQB. 243 made a courteous reply — assuring Raleigh of a favourable reception from his master, and encourag- ing him to place himself at his disposal. That Count Desmarests attributed to Ealeigh no senti- ments respecting King James which he did not really express, needs not be doubted; yet we find him afterwards representing this alleged oppressor as an impersonation of goodness, and vowing that it was his dearest wish ' to die for him' — ^nay, ' to ' be torn in pieces in his service ! ' And when we recollect his having, in his letter to the Queen, taken God to witness, that in prosecuting his Guianian project, his main wish was to ' approve ' his faith to his Majesty, and to do him a service ' such as hath seldom been performed for any King,' and find him afterwards proposing to transfer to the King of France all the beneficial results of that very project, it seems impossible to arrive at any conclusion by which to reUeve his character from heavy blame. On the supposition that his only object in making such a tender of his services was to bespeak favour with France, in the event of his being obliged, by failure or otherwise, to seek refuge abroad — which we are inclined to think was the case — even this mitigated view of his con- r2 244 SIR WALTER RALEIGS. duct would expose him to the imputation of prac- tising deceit in a friendly quarter, and of harbouring sinister designs. If, on the other hand, he is to be taken at his word, and to be considered as having intimated to the ambassador what he really in- tended to perform, then must we view him as destitute alike of honesty, loyalty, and patriotism. From these observations, which press severely upon his memory, but which the claims of history ^eem to demand, we pass to those occurrences connected with the voyage, which have furnished matter of doubt or controversy. There is, unfor- tunately, much want of information as to several important particulars; but in as far as regards that catastrophe, which, viewing its consequences, may be said to constitute the principal featm'e of the expedition- — the sacking of St. Thomas — there are tolerably explicit details, to which we shall be able to add somewhat, by a very plain and un- scrupulous letter, not hitherto published, written by one of the officers who was in command on the occasion. Of the Spanish accoimts of that and the connected occurrences, none of Ealeigh's biographers, with the exception of Dr. Southey, have made any use; indeed, they do not appear to have been SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 245 aware of their existence. His accurate acquaintance with the work of Father Simon, has enabled him to impart considerable novelty to this portion of his narrative, by an interesting abstract derived from that historian. After various delays and disasters, Kaleigh's fleet reached the coast of Guiana about the middle of November; but he was then so unwell that he could not himself ascend the Orinocco. He therefore ap- pointed his steady follower Captain Keymis, who had visited the country before, and represented him- self to be well acquainted with the situation of the mine, to conduct the exploring party, which con- sisted of five companies of fifty soldiers each. The navigation into the interior occupied a month. On disembarking near St. Thomas, a small town erected by the Spaniards on a settlement adjacent to the river, a conflict took place, in which the governor fell, as did Kaleigh's eldest son; and the Spaniards having retreated and been pursued into the town, where they defended themselves by firing from the windows, the English set fire to it. Keymis after- wards proceeded, with a small party of gentlemen and soldiers, to search for the mine, which he repre- sented as being situated at no great distance ; and 246 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. in this vain pursuit they spent about twenty days, during which they were frequently fired upon from the woods, and suffered considerable loss. Keymis at last thought proper to desist from the search, and fell back upon St. Thomas; whence the whole body returned to Trinidad, where their disappointed and unhappy commander, still unwell, was lying at anchor. It appears from the narrative of Father Simon, that the English made anxious inquiries amongst their prisoners respecting the gold mines in the neighbourhood ;* but he does not expressly say that it was for the purpose of opening mines that they ascended the Orinocco. The time employed in sounding it at various points, joined with their apparent anxiety to conciliate the natives, and to excite them to resistance against the Spaniards, led to the belief that their main purpose was to colonize in that neighbourhood, f That coloni- zation formed a principal part of Ealeigh's plans, there can be no doubt; and the reception he ex- perienced from the natives satisfied him that they would lend a cordial support to his schemes. He lived so much in their remembrance, that he found, * Simon, pp. 643, 662. ^ Ibid, p. 656. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 247 as he wrote to his wife, he might be a ' king amongst them.' This was the only cheering result of this disastrous voyage ; and it seems clear enough that he indulged the hope of being yet able to return and to avail himself of their good-will; but the de- struction of St. Thomas, and the occurrences that forced him back to England, made the scaffold the termination of his ill-fated career. It is admitted in the Spanish accounts of the attack on that place, that the firing commenced upon their side, but this was because the advance of the English left no doubt of their hostile intentions. There can be no question that its capture was, from the first, re- solved upon. The following unpublished letter proves that they disembarked for that express pur- pose. The ferocious sentiments engendered by dis- appointment, and the unscrupulous determination which it avows to seek compensation in piracy, are not the least remarkable parts of it. Its writer. Captain Parker, commanded one of the five com- panies into which the invading force was divided. ' We were a month,' he says, ' going up the ' Orinocco. At last we landed within a league of ' St. Thomas,^ and about one of the clock at night ' we made an assault, when we lost Captain Kaleigh. 248 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. ' But lie lost himself with his unadvised rashness. ' The Spaniard was not strong, and mistrusting our ' potency fled, and lost their governor, with some ' other captains who bravely died. When we were ' possessed of the town, Captain Keymis took divers ' gentlemen with him to find the mine, and trifled ' up and down some twenty days, keeping us in ' hope still of finding it. But at last we found ' his delays mere illusions ; for he was false to all ' men, and most odious to himself, loathing to live ' since he could do no more villany. I wiU speak ' no more of this hateful fellow to God and man. ' But I will inform you as near as I can what we ' that stay shall trust to. We have divided our- ' selves already : Captains Whitney and WoUaston ' are consorted to look for homeward-bound men. ' The Admiral and Vice- Admiral will for New- ' foundland to revictual, and after, to the Western ' Islands to look for homeward-bound men. For my 'part, by the permission of God, I will make a ' voyage, or bury myself in the sea.'* This letter bears conclusively upon points which directly im- * ' Letter written by Captain Charles Parker, one of Sir W. ' Kaleigh's Company at Guiana to Captain Alley. An. 1617.' Brit. Mus. Granb. MSS. 39, p. 342. "We have, for the sake of brevity, omitted one or two sentences of no importance. SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 249 peach the rectitude of Ealeigh's intentions. No one who peruses it can doubt that he had resolved, before leaving England, to take forcible possession of St. Thomas, and that all his pacific professions were feigned. Nor — supposing there were no other proofs — can it leave any doubt, that the failure as to the mine was followed by a resolution, to which he was a party, to seek indemnification in a piratical onset upon the Spanish colonial shipping. When Gondomar obtained an audience of King James to complain of Raleigh's breach of the peace, he con- tented himself with thrice exclaiming piratos! and then withdrew. Captain Parker's letter shows that this emphatic exclamation was not without warrant ; but of this there are other proofs. The suicide of Keymis, so uncharitably alluded to in this letter, is one of the most striking occur- rences of this unwarrantable enterprise. On re- joining his commander, he endeavoured to justify his abandonment of the search for the mine by stating, that he had not a sufficient force either to enable him to persevere, or to open it to any purpose, though discovered; and, finding that his excuses were not only rejected, but that he was received with continued reproaches as the sole cause 250 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. of the ruin that was certain to ensue, he passed a few days in sullen abstraction, and then destroyed himself. The account of his former voyage to Guiana, shows that he was a firm believer in the mineral riches of that region. He was, in short, like his leader, the dupe of those deceptive appear- ances which had procured for it so fatal a renown; and the curious agreement before recited proves, that Raleigh was ready to stake his fortune and liberty upon Keymis's knowledge of the existence of a gold mine in its interior. The supposition that his suicide was the result of remorse, seems equally absurd and uncharitable. What could a subordinate agent in the adventure gain by feign- ing a belief which he did not entertain? That belief was not the profession of the day, but the creed of his life. That it was counterfeited to advance Raleigh's plans never was insinuated, even in the Royal Declaration. Indeed, it is not upon that supposition conceivable that Keymis would have been so stung by his reproaches as to put himself to death. It may be difficult, if not im- possible, to account for any suicide, the motives of which are not exactly ascertained; but the truth with respect to Kejrmis would seem to be, that. SIB WALTER SALEIOH. 251 believing firmly in the existence of a mine in the neighbourhood of St. Thomas, and being awakened by the reproaches of his old commander to a fuU sense of the ruinous consequences of its non-dis- covery, he was prompted by feelings of shame and grief, arising from the thought that he had too hastily abandoned the search, to destroy himself. His uncertainty, from the state of Raleigh's health when he left him, whether he should, on his return, find him alive — a fact which he is said to have pleaded in defence of his conduct — renders this the only probable supposition that can be formed. Ealeigh, in one of his letters written at this time, says that ' God had given him a strong heart.' But, strong as it was, it sustained some trying blows from the disappointment of the hopes which he had so confidently built upon the mine, the loss of his son, the death by his own hand of one of his most faithful followers, and the angry complaints of those who 'hungered and thirsted for gold'; — the most worthless being, as he said, the most clamorous, and the surest to try to injure him on their return to England. He was not, however, of a temperament to allow these disasters to sink 252 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. him into inaction. The spirit of the Drakes and the Cavendishes was at work within him, impelling him to enterprises similar to those which made their names terrible in the American seas. Though still weak from illness, he speedily set sail for Newfomidland, intending to revictual and refit his ships for the prosecution of his ulterior designs. But before he reached that place, most of them seem to have dispersed to follow other fortunes; and, on his arrival, a mutiny took place among his own crew, some wishing to continue at sea, the majority to return to England. With the latter he was forced, as is said in the Eoyal Declaration, to acquiesce and return— his intention being, as is there asserted, very different ; while he, on the other hand, averred that such was from the first his determination. To us it appears certain that his resolution was, if possible, to keep at sea; and, indeed, the letters which he wrote to several persons in England, before arriving at Newfoundland, leave no room for any doubt as to this. From a careful consideration of some passages in these and other documents, we think it more than probable that it was his Intention to make another attempt upon the mines of Guiana ; and altogether undeni- SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 253 able, that he had resolved, in the mean time, to try his fortune at the expense of the Spanish car- racks. But the dispersion of his fleet, and the insubordination of his own crew, frustrated both purposes. That piracy was in his immediate view, it would be vain to deny. Captain Parker's letter only con- firms what always appeared to us to be clearly implied in his own letters, in one of which to his wife, he expresses his hope ' that God would send ' him something before his return ;' — which could only mean something in the way of capture. But there is further and conclusive evidence of the fact. It appears that at one of the meetings of the Com- mission appointed, after his return, to inquire into his conduct, he was examined upon this point, in presence of two of his captains, and constrained to make a confession which settles the question. There is a minute of the proceedings of this Commission, in the handwriting of Sir Julius Caesar, one of the body, which bears that, ' on being confronted with ' Captains St. Leger and Pennington, he confessed ' that he proposed the talcing of the Mexico fleet, if ' the mine failed.^* Mr. Tytler could not have • Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS. 142, fo. 412. 254 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. been aware of this decisive admission, otherwise he would not have attempted to discredit the follow- ing remarkable anecdote, preserved in Sir Thomas Wilson's report of his conversations with Raleigh : — ' This day,' says the spy, ' he told me what dis- ' course he and my Lord Chancellor had had about ' taking the Plate fleet, which he confessed he would ' have taken had he lighted ufon it. To which my ' Lord Chancellor said — ' " Why, you would have ' been a Pirate." Oh, quoth he, did you ever ' know of any that were Pirates for millions ? they ' only that "work for small things are Pirates.' Looking to the character in which Wilson writes, and unacquainted with Raleigh's admission in pre- sence of the Commissioners, Mr. Tytler represents the report of the former as more than suspicious; adding, however, inconsistently enough, that the observation ascribed to Raleigh ' is characteristic' If characteristic, does not that imply authenticity? The observation bears the stamp of Raleigh's mind and character ; and his intentions respecting the Plate fleet being otherwise certain, we cannot for a moment doubt that it was truly reported. Raleigh returned to Plymouth in July 1618, about a year after he sailed for Guiana. The want SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 255 of any publications devoted to contemporary oc- currences, leaves us but scantily informed of the opinions then current respecting his proceedings. That the expedition itself attracted considerable notice, abroad as well as at home, is certain. Thus we find the celebrated Peiresc expressing, in a letter to Camden, great commiseration for Raleigh's mis- fortunes, and an anxious wish to be furnished with any account of his voyage that might be pub- lished.* The fullest notices, in as far aa we know, of domestic opinions, are those contained in two of Howell's once popular 'Letters;' the one written about the time of Raleigh's return, the other some years later, and more important, as being an answer to a remonstrance from Sir Carew Raleigh, respect- ing certaiu statements imfair, as he thought, to his father, contaLaed in the first. From these letters we learn that Raleigh's return, unpardoned as he was, occasioned great and general surprise ; and that his representations in regard to the mine were viewed as a lure thrown out to draw adventurers to Guiana, for the purpose of estabUshing a colony. That Raleigh, unsuccessful, unpardoned, and a flagrant breaker of the peace, should have returned • Camdeni Epistolce, p. 243, 256 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. voluntarily — thereby, to use words attributed to himself, ' to put his neck under the King's girdle,' — appears to us utterly incredible. It is true that he ever asserted, even upon the scaffold, that it was his purpose to return, whether successful or not; but it is nevertheless unquestionable, as his own letters show, that an immediate return, which certamly did take place, was far enough from his intentions. The recollection, too, of what passed between him and the French ambassador pre- vious to his departure, makes his assertion on this point more and more questionable ; and, indeed, renders the consideration of what is due to his dying declaration exceedingly embarrassing and painful. It may have been his intention to return, but only when he could do so enriched or suc- cessful ; for we have seen what his notions were as to piracy upon the great scale ; and it was a maxim of his, 'that good success admits of no ex- ' amination.'* This would enable us to interpret his assertion with reference to some future time; and is, seemingly, the only charitable construction that can be adopted.f Such are the difficulties • See Ha ' Apology.' t In the before-mentioned letter firom Sir Carew Raleigh, to Mi. Howell, (which, however, was written many years after the SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 257 whicli lie has thrown in the way of any satisfactory reliance upon his veracity and integrity. It is mortifying to think that the history of his life so often produces a painful struggle between feeling and reason — between the natural wish to believe him as exalted in moral as in intellectual perfec- tions, and the unwelcome truths which his actual conduct forces upon our convictions. From the imputation of deceit connected with the mine, we have already, as we think, completely exculpated him.* To this topic we only therefore event in question, lie being tKen a youth,) it is stated that the Earls of Arundel and Penibroke had become personally bound to the King for Kaleigh's return; and that his immediate re- appearance in England was owing to his honourable resolution to release them from that obligation. This explanation is adopted by Mr. Jardine. But that learned writer has repudiated Sir Carew's authority in regard to another statement made by him in the same letter ; namely, that Lord Bacon had given it as his. opinion that the Commission to Raleigh implied a pardon ; but it is inconceivable that Sir Walter himself would not have appealed to such a fact, had it been true, in his ' Apology,' and at his execution. The story evidently originated in what passed on the scaffold, where, the Earl of Arundel being present, Raleigh reminded him, that he had given him his promise to return ; but without once hinting at his having returned to free him and the Earl of Pembroke from any cautionary pledge. * His belief in the great metallic weaUh of Guiana, and that in El Dorado, form dififerent questions. With respect to the latter, it appears not unlikely that his opinions had undergone some change in the three-aud-twenty years that elapsed between his first and his last voyage. Further information may have 258 SIS. WALTER RALEIOH. revert, In order to state what transpired in regard to it, during the investigations which took place in presence of the Commission. The Attorney-General, Yelverton, having there alleged that Raleigh did not carry out any miners or instruments for mining, as he would have done had he really intended to open a mine ; he stated distinctly that he had incurred an expense of two thousand pounds in providing both ;* an averment which, if not sub- stantially true, would assuredly have been rebutted by those engaged in the expedition with whom he appears to have been then confronted. As there was no actual commission of piracy, the only overt act of a criminal description with which Haleigh could be charged, was the invasion and partial destruction of St. Thomas. These un- justifiable aggressions must have originated in the belief that this small town was in the immediate neighbourhood of gold mines, that it had been erected on account of that proximity, and was rich led to this ; and it has struck us as remarkable, that he does not once aUude to El Dorado in any of his later proposals to the Government, or in any document connected with his last voyage. * See Minute of proceedings, in the handwriting of Sir Julius Ca'sar. Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS. 142, fo. 412. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 259 in accumulated ores; and that its possession was, moreover, necessary to the successful prosecution of the intended operations. Inconsiderable in itself, situated at a great distance from the coast, and approachable only by a dangerous navigation, there were no other inducements sufficient to account for Raleigh's hostile proceedings. That these induce- ments furnished no justification for his conduct, is clear enough. His defence of it, however, in his 'Apology,' was dexterous and plausible; and well suited to rouse responsive feelings in the breasts of his coimtrymen. He strongly urged that he was the original dicoverer of Guiana ; that he had taken possession of it, in the usual form, in name of the late Queen; that its chiefs had sworn allegiance to her and to England; that the King had himself recognised the rights thence resulting by granting sundry patents of settlement, and by authorizing him to open a mine in it; and that he was therefore entitled to enter it by force, and to remove any obstacles that prevented the accom- plishment of his authorized design. But to all these argiunents there was this brief, yet decisive answer, — that, in point of fact, the Spaniards had made a settlement in a particular spot which he S2 260 SIR WALTER RALEIOH. invaded and ravaged, though bound by his private assurances, as well as by the laws of nations, not to interfere with the possessions of any friendly power. Had he informed the Government that there was such a settlement in the quarter where the mine was alleged to be situated, he would not have been permitted, as he was well aware, to approach it; but this he concealed, as he himself admitted ;* a fact which impeaches his fairness and sincerity, and obliges us to conclude that his pacific professions were intended merely as blinds. Flushed with the success which he doubtless anticipated, he probably imagined that he should be able — if it really was his Intention to return to England — to procure immunity for any hostile trespass ; and it cannot well be doubted, that his proceedings would have been viewed with a very different eye, had they been attended with success. In judging of his conduct, in the actual circumstances, we ought, blameable as it must to us appear, to give him the benefit of the opinions of that day ; and these, as regarded America, were so peculiar, as to allow nations at peace in Europe to make war upon each * Letter to Lord Carew, appended to his 'Apology.' SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 261 other in that quarter of the globe. Hence we find him contending, 'that to think the peace could be ' broken where there was no peace,' was a pal- pable inconsistency; and hence, too, the plausibility of the pretext with which he hoodwinked the Government, that warlike preparations were neces- sary for his defence. Hume apologizes for Raleigh's execution upon the old sentence, by observing, that owing to the abovementioned notion, no jury would have found a verdict against him. But ought we not in fairness to allow something to the preva- lence of such a feeling, in judging of his conduct? And ought it not also to be remembered, that he only practised the lessons of the school in which he was bred — that school which Elizabeth gloried to cherish, and which laid the foundations of the naval sovereignty of England? Still, it is im- possible to justify his insincerity and predetermined hostilities; for these apologies could only be pleaded in his behalf, in case of his having sailed from England unfettered by any positive obligations. They somewhat alter the complexion of his con- duct, but do not free it from censure. There is, in a word, only one redeeming feature in all Ealelgh's proceedings connected with Guiana — the 262 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. reach and constancy of the views which they dis- close for promoting colonization and commerce. Before arriving at Plymouth, Raleigh learned that a royal proclamation had been issued, strongly condemning his conduct, and calling upon all who could give any information upon the subject to repair to the Privy Council; and soon after land- ing, he was put under arrest by Sir Lewis Stukely, Vice-Admiral of Devonshire, to whom a warrant for that purpose had been entrusted. He had pre- viously gone on board a vessel with the view of escaping to France ; but, owing to some unex- plained and imaccountable emotion, he returned without making the attempt. His subsequent ex- pedients, prior to his recommitment to the Tower, to gain time for another attempt, or to enable his friends to intercede for him, are so degrading, as to make it difficult to believe that we are reading of the hero of Cadiz and Fayal. In these humili- ating proceedings, Stukely, who was his relation, and a French medical practitioner of the name of Manourie, affected to assist, but secretly betrayed him. Their misdeeds are unworthy of remark; but the artifices of Raleigh, for which, strange to say, Mr. Tytler puts in the claim of dexterity^ de- SIS WALTER RALEIOH. 263 mand notice, as well on account of the painful contrast they exhibit to his great qualities, as of his having himself vindicated them by a perverted appeal to the authority of Scripture. Society, it would seem, was yet in a state when such a man could seriously plead that the madness he feigned was justified by the example of David King of Israel! — to which, it will be recollected, his bril- liant rival Ess^x also appealed in excuse for some of his immoralities. It was durmg this pitiable interval that he composed his 'Apology for his ' last voyage to Guiana' — a pleading both forcible In iCrgument and eloquent in style, and which, con- sidering the depressing circumstances in which it was written, fumisnes a striking proof of his ready command of those intellectual resources with which he was gifted. Soon after his recommitment to the Tower, the Commission of Inquiry was appointed; and sundry * examinations, re-examinations, and confrontments'* took place at its meetings. He was at the same time placed under the immediate inspection of Sir Thomas Wilson, for the purpose chiefly of drawing from him some disclosures regarding his supposed * Royal Declaration. 264 sm WALTER JRALEIGH. intcrcoui'se with France. Le Clerc, the French agent, had proffered his assistance towards Raleigh's escape ; in consequence, wo have no doubt, of what passed with the ambassador previous to his sailing to Guiana; and the offer having been discovered, James became exceedingly jealous of the supposed interference of his brother of France, and propor- tionably ajucious to ascertain its objects. A record of the inquisitorial proceedings to_ which his ap- in-ohensions gave rise, has been preserved in the minutes kept by Wilson. From these it appears, that the Sovereign and his agents — the Secretary of State, and the immediate spy — were thoroughly baffled in their expectations; but their objects were pursued at the cost of a most hdrassing interference with the privacy and occupations of the unhappy prisoner. It is impossible to view tlieir ignoble proceedings — descending even to the violation of the letters that passed between him and his wife — without strong indignation; and history will, with difficulty, maintain the necessary decorum of her language in recounting these additional proofs of James's baseness, and of his malignant treatment of the illustrious though erring man subjected to his power. The extracts that have been published SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 265 from these minutes* contain some remarkable par- ticulars. Suicide appears to have more than once been the subject of discussion between the spy and Ealeigh. We recollect that, in his ' History of the ' World,' he approves of the conduct of Demos- thenes in taking poison to disappoint his enemies; and Sir Thomas Wilson states, that he commended 'the magnanimity of the Eomans, ^ho woUld ' rather have their deaths by their own hands than * endure any that was base or reproachful. To ' which I answered,' says the pious Knight, ' that ' they were such as knew not God, nor the danger ' of their souls to be damned to perpetual tonnent ' for destroying their bodies. To which he said, ' it was a disputable point ; for divers did hold ' opinion that a man may do it, and yet not ' desperately despair of God's mercy, but die in * God's favour.' This, it will be remembered, was the opinion expressed in the letter to his wife, written when he was meditating suicide. The loud complaints of the Spanish ambassador, and James's eager desire to conclude the pending negotiation for a match between Prince Charles and the Infanta, made the demand of Spain for Raleigh's • See Jardiue's Crim. Trials, and Tytler's Life. 266 Sm WALTER RALEIGH. life but too certain to be complied with. But the novelty, and the extraordinary circumstances of the case, occasioned much difficulty amongst the sages of the law, as to the proper cotirse of proceeding. Being under an impardoned sentence for treason, it was held that he must be viewed as civilly ,dead, and consequently not triable for any new offence. It is unfortunate for the law when its refinements place it in conflict with the common sense and common feelings of mankind ; and such was the case in a remarkable degree, when, in consequence of this legal subtlety, it was resolved to carry into execution a sentence sixteen years old — iniquitous from the first, and followed by the protracted punish- ment of thirteen years' imprisonment. Such was the precious result of James's cunning and king- craft; for had Raleigh been pardoned when he was liberated, he might have been brought to trial in some competent form, and the law would have vin- dicated itself by maintaining both the reality and the appearance of justice. His execution upon the antiquated sentence, is unquestionably one of the most revolting acts that stains the annals of British criminal procedure. It is so far consolatory to know, that the indignation which it roused reduced even SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 267 James, the great advocate of irresponsible kingship, to the necessity of appealing to his people in vin- dication of his conduct; and that his vindicatory ' Declaration', though aided by the pen of Lord Bacon, produced no favourable effects. A sentence of condemnation, founded upon the inborn and im- mutable feelings of the human heart, had gone forth against him ; and it was rendered irreversible by the general belief that Kaleigh was sacrificed to gratify the resentment, and to appease the fears of the ancient enemy of his country. The justness of that belief is placed beyond all question by a despatch written upon the occasion to the British ambassador in Spain ; and, surely, if aught done against his own and his people's honour can con- sign the memory of a ruler to lasting reprobation, the following admission ought so to dispose of that of James : — ■'■ Let them know,' says this despatch, * how able a man Sir Walter Raleigh was to ' have done his Majesty service, if he should have ' been pleased to employ him ; yet to give them con- ' tentj he hath not spared him, when hy preserving ' him he might have given great satisfaction to his ' subjects, and had at his command as useful a man ' as served any prince in Christendom.'* » Rush-worth's Hist. Coll. vol. i. 268 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Upon the details of Ealeigh's execution, which took place in October 1618, we cannot enter, tempt- ing as the occasion is. Few, if any, ever on a scaffold kindled such emotions of pity, wonder, and admiration. His deportment evinced a degree of mental strength, self-possession, calmness, and supe- riority to the fear of death, that might be de- scribed as godlike. His devotion appeared sincere and elevated, and tempered a courage which nothing could shake. ' He was,' says the Bishop of Salis- bury, who attended him officially, ' the most fearless ' of death that ever was known, and the most re- ' solute and confident, yet with reverence and con- ' science.^ That which is so necessary to a satisfactory de- lineation of a great man — the details of his daily and familiar life — we have no means of supplying; but the curiosity which is universally felt in regard to the personal appearance of such men, has not been left ungratified. We have notices of Raleigh's person by Sir Robert Naunton and Sir John Har- rington, both of whom knew him well; and by Aubrey, whose information was derived from others, to whom also he was well known. The first tells OS that 'he had in the outward man a good pre- SIR WALTER RALEIOH. 269 sence, in a handsome and well-compacted person';* the second, in mentioning what he describes as an ominous fall from his horse, by which his face was hurt, says, that it was 'thought a very good face';t and the last particularizes his lineaments rather cu- riously, by stating, that besides being 'tall and ' handsome, he had a most remarkable aspect, an ' exceeding high forehead, long face, and sour eye- ' lids. 'J In an age of great magnificence in dress, Raleigh was conspicuous, and particularly for the silver armour in which, as Captain of the Guard, he rode abroad with the Queen. One of his portraits mentioned by Aubrey represents him ' in a white ' satin doublet, all embroidered with rich pearls, ' and a mighty inch chain of great pearls about ' his neck.' The various qualities which fit men for action and for speculation were conjoined in Raleigh, and by turns displayed, in so eminent a degree, that ' he seemed, ' as Fuller observed, ' to be like Cato ' Uticencis, born to that only which he was about.' His mind displays a surprising union of strength and versatility; of intellectual and practical power; • Frag. Regalia — Alt. Raleioh. t Nugce Antiqua, ii. 125. X Aubrey's Lives, ii. oil. 27'} SZS: fTlirKF. JHZEIOR. and of a irfectire and rVl>>>j>hkaL ^1± s — :?^r imar^idve or poedcal tenpcaanieaat. In tiiar rireft, rer^iw. ef inteftectoal g^ib — nii: ^ridet enaHes T-ir individnal to rl5,''6e oi" times -s-et ro oome. he has. and by no incoiiipftejit jimL:^? 35?crie-il^. beai thouirtir worthy '•:• be «itisei witk Bacon. • ^ r^ltKstaniiai: the iiverjir;^ of their pr :ess£:rii r-,:r?ri?j, and tiie ^rong o:z--r.;~" ot their eharacrers, tiiese two men." says Mr. StewTtrt. peaking :' Bacon ani Balei^. " eshi'r'* in zasir capacity of anflirs >:r:ie strlkini: features of re- semldaiHje. Both rf them owed to tiie fcaree of treir o'^m minis their emancipatioii fr:zi the fetters of the soLx^is : and both weie eomiaitly liistrsiniishe'I aboTe their contempcararies by the ortsKnality and e~Lvr^reiiieiit of their ^liloec^pluGal views."* An inadental ranaik bv Cecil, oimtained in a pr.T^ite letter, his ipprise^i ns of his po^essicn of a power sccsrceiy le-^s amaUe tiin ori^iaal ireniiis Itself: and to which the extent of Lis aciq^nisirioiLS, S-' snrpriang in a man of such active pui^riits. was no doubt ascnbahle. " He can toil terrib'v.' were K He m^. :/ Xa. md ESi. ; U-CSCiT/t 3 . SIR WALTER RALEIGS. 271 the words of the Secretary;* and the Intimation, though brief, furnishes a valuable addition to our knowledge of his character. Naimton describes him as gifted with ' a bold and ' plausible tongue.' The same author, who was far from partial, adds, that Queen Elizabeth was much ' taken with his elocution, loved to hear his reasons, ' and took him for a kind of oracle.' But the strongest proof of his attraction in this way was, that even Essex preferred his conversation to that of most of his own friends. ' I have often observed,' said Sir Arthur Gorges, speaking of Essex, 'that both in ' his greatest actions of service, and in his times ' of chiefest recreations, he would ever accept of ' his (Raleigh's) counsel and company, before many ' others that thought themselves more in his favour.' f Yet, notwithstanding those powers of elocution that so captivated Elizabeth and Essex, his pronuncia- tion — if we are to rely on Aubrey — ever continued to betray the accent of his native province. ' I ' have,' says this writer, ' heard old Sir Thomas * See Appendix to Mrs. Thomson's Life of Kaleigh, in which this letter — otherwise valuable, as showii% that he was beloved by his immediate dependents — was first printed. t Purchas, iv. 1950. 272 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. ' Mallet, who knew Sir Walter, say, that he spoke ' broad Devonshire to his dying day.' From the imputation of impiety with which Ealeigh was so unjustly aspersed, he was relieved by the publication of his 'History of the World.' Originating, apparently, in his freely expressed opinions respecting some doctrines of the schools,* it owed its dissemination to a libellous attack on the chief courtiers of Queen Elizabeth, written by Father Parsons, the noted Jesuit. He does not appear to have made any direct reply to the charge; but those of his friends with whom he was in the habit of conversing upon such subjects, knew that it was vmfounded; and the publication of his great work made his opinions advantageously known to all the world. But with respect to his moral character, we can find little that is favourable in the sentiments of his contemporaries. Though unquestionably possessed of friendly dispositions, kindly affections, and much tenderness of heart ; and though all his opinions and feelings, as ex- pressed In his writings, were strongly on ' virtue's side,' he never was considered as a man whose conduct was steamly regulated by either truth or * Osborn's Miscellany of Essays and Paradoxes. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 273 probity. Even where his aims appeared great and worthy, they were believed to be contaminated by the admixture of an impure and grasping ambition. 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"A really good, by which we mean » literal and elegant translation.^' — Spectatoe. "Beads Wee an original composition." — Cmtic. "Eejmed scholarship, A very able critical Introduction and a careful Analysis.'*^— 'EsQUSB. Review. ^' A sound and scholarly t>ersion. It is more, it is,— a rare virtue in classical translations,— * done into choice English.' Besides this, it has a sermble introduction and a clese analysis." — Chsistias Remembhancer. ■** A valuable contribution to the study of Plato," — Literary Gazette. " There is a good Introductio7t prefkced, to explain to the unlearned reader some of the points in the Platonic philosophy which are sometimes mis^ represented, or at least misunderstood, such as the nature of dialecttcSf ideas, ^c. We recommend this volume to the attention of those who would gladly learn something of tJie great founder of the academy. "-^Tme Journal op Edttcation. ■*' This translation far surpasses any other. We beUeve that scholars uni- versalhf will warmly acknowledge its truth to the thought and spirit of the original. And we are sure that it is what other versions knoum to us are not, namely English, — free, nervous, idiomatic English, such as will fascinate the reader The Introduction is able and interesting. The i^^nalysis is u performance of exceeding merit, a clear and satisfying pre- sentation of the essence of the dialogue beautifully written." — Nohcon- PORUiST, August 4, 1852. ** We trust that the existence of so eloquent and correct a version may induce many to become Students of the Republic. An Analysis is prefixed which will be found a very material help to the comprehension of the Treatise. The whole book is scholarlike and able." — Guardian. "iVb one competent to offer an opinion on this subject, will refuse to Messrs. Davies and Vaughan the highest praise for the fidelity and eloquence with which they have translated this Dialogue. The Introduction is excellent in itself, and admirably prepares the reader for the work it introduces.'^ — The Leader. Cambridge. 10 Greek and Latin Classics. in. Juvenal : chiefly from the Text of Jahn. With English Notes for tho use of Schools. By J. B. MAYOR, M.A., rellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo. cloth. J^i worfy. IV. Mr. Merivale's (Author of the " History of Rome") SallUBt for Schools. Crown 8vo. cloth, price 69. "A very good Edliwn ; to widch ihn ErUtor has not only brouffhi soJiolarHtdp hut mdepmdmt jitdgment and IdJiiorioat eriUoism, SritOTATon, Bcjit. 18. "An excellent ediUon. T/is EnyUnh Notesr wJdoh are abundcmt, are clear mtd very helpful,"— Ov\uDiiii, Oct. 8, 1862. " TldH School JUMtion of Sallmi in prcditeVy what the School- etUtion of u Latin Authr/r ought to he, J^o ueelene words are spent in if, mid no vntrds thai could be of use are spared, Tlie text has hem oa/refnUy noUaled' iMth the hent JSdttions, 31 is printed in a large hold type, whteh manifeHts a Just regard for the young eyes that are to work upon it : under the text tiiere Jlims tiirough every page a full current of exiromety well seleoted amiotattons." — Una Examinku. *' Our youthful classical scholars ore Mghlp favoured .in heing prmHded with an Edition ofSalhistfrom so accomplished an MdAtor as mr, Mericale The armotations of im KdUor possessing swih rare quniijleations fitr l.he successful discharge of Ms duties could not hut he -uh we find fJiem ^ery valuahle, wJicther v;e consider the grammafieal and Mstoricat informaflrm wMeh tlbffg eorvcey. or tiie ilktstrame quotatir/ns and refrrenees uMh widch they abovml. Oiiher primal excellencies i/n them tire, Umir transparent smpUcity and their comparative hreeity An exneUeni aoomint of Batmst and his works will he found in the Inl.rodurJion.** AiiiBHjtuM, March 12, 1858. SophocUs Electra. The Text By tho : Cambridg . ___.__,_ School, Louth. BImrlly, VI. Aristophanes. A Kevised Text: with a Commentary. By W. G. CLARK, M.A., PeUow and Assistapt Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge. Preparing. Macmillan and Co. Greek and Latin Classics. n VII. Aristotle. The Rhetoric of Aristotle ; the Greek Text : with English Notes, Critical and Explanatory, /« Preparation. VUI. Theocritus. The Grcei Text, with English Notes, Critical and Explanatorv, for the Use of Colleges and Schools. By the Rev. E. fl. PERO^VNE, M.A., Fellow of Corpus Christi College. CroAvn 8vo. • Nearly ready. IX. Demosthenes De Corona. The Greek Text, -with English Notes. By B. W. F. DRAKE, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, Editor and Translator of the " Eumenides of -Eschylus". Crown 8vo. cloth, 6a. " ff'iU enabtg a student to read the original with comparative ease." — Lit. Gazette. " Useful notes." — Guardian. "jtueat and useful Edition." — AxaBNiBUM. X. Translation of Demosthenes on the Crown. By the Rev. J. P. NORRIS, Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- bridge, and one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of bchools. Sewed, 3s. *' The best translation that tec remember to have Mm." Lit. Gazette. " Very accurate." — Guardian. " Admirably r^resenting both the sense and style of the originaL" Atuen^dm. XI. Hellenica; or a History of Greece in Greek, beginning with the Invasion of Xerxes, Part, I. ; as related by Biodorus and Thuoydides. With EsplanatoryNotes, Critical and Historical, for the nse of Schools. By J. WRIGHT, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Head-Master of Sutton Coldiield Grammar School. 12mo. clot\ St. 6rf. This book is already in Hse in Ihigby and other Schools. Cambridge'. 12 Mathematics, MATHEMATICAL. A Treatise on Elementary Mechanics: With numerous Examples. By STEPHEN PARKINSON, M.A,, PcUow and Assistant Tutor of St. John's College, Cam- hridgc, Prepwring. II. A Treatise on the Differential Calculus; and the Elements of the Integral Calculus. With numerous Examples, By I. TODHUNTER, M.A., Fellow of St. John'f* College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo. cloth, lOs. 6d, " To THE DIPf-KRENT CHAtTiillB WILL »R POtlND APPENDED EXAMP^KJ «VV- KICIKNIXY NUMMlOUa TO RP.NDEU AN071IEU BOOK UNNKCEBflART. Tlw f'xam.fiU:H hm>e hrvn selected almost excl^usioely from the College and Umoersity Jixanmiat'ifm VnpcrH." — Puepaoe. "A TbEATISE "WHICH WILL TAKE ITB PLACE AMONOHT OUTl STANDAIID EDUCA- TIONAL WonKH. TUE EXPLANATIONS IN TifB KAIU.V PAIITB OP THE VOLUMK ARE CLEAR AND CONVINOIMO AND CANNOT FAIL TO INTEREST TUK BTVDKfiT.^—Hfiffluh Jov/rnal 0/ JEdueaUon. '* For TilV. GREAT UVLK OP MATflKMATICAL HTlfDENTH — RHPECIALLY AT THR EKGINNINO OF TIIP.IR AfiftUATNTANCE WITH THE CALCULUS — WK IIAVK NOT SEEN A TIlEATIHE HO WELL ADAPTED A8 TlfH PRESENT. TllB OUthOT CtDilCH before the world hacked bp vnvusualVff strong recommendations: having enjfrycd the hoTumrable d/istmetion of bemg a fo/voiirite pi^il of Air. De Morgn/n, at University College; and having obtained the /lig/mst honon/rs from the University of London before /irorj-fiiirig to Ca/mbriflgCy ifhpvf! he r.arru-d all before him in his College^ and came out Senior- Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman. Both beforr; and ninee taking his degree he has had the additional ad/vam.tape of great expericfwe in the oH of ttdtion. With such antecedents, it ts not surprising that Mr. Todhunter should home succeeded in prod/ucing a treatise of remarlcdble merit In establishing theorems, Mr. Todhmiter has consulted the ad/Dwntage of his reader by often gimng more than one method of inves- tigation JTc has emdently hestimed great poms upon the execution of his task : which dons rto less credit to his careful accuracy than his superior mathematical attainments and skill."— Atiik^ukvh, Mar. 19, 1853. III. Shortly will he Published {by the same Author') ^ A Treatise on Analytical Statics. With numerous Examples. IV. Solutions of Senate-House Problems for Four Years (1848 to 1851). By N. M. FERRERS, and Rev. J. S. JACK- SON, Fellows of Caius College, Cambridge. 8vo. cloth, 168. 6d. Macmillan and Co. Mathematics. 13 V. Solutions of the Senate-House Riders for Four Years ri8*8 to 1851^. By the Rct. F. J. JAilESOX, M A.. FeUow of Cains College, Cambridge. 8vo. cloth, 75. 6d. The 3^ve two IjootsTriH be found TenmsefQl to Teachers preparmg Sn:cei::= icr ilie TTnixersity of Cambridge, as ther sfaev practicali-t the nature of the changes introduced by the " Ifatbem^ical Boaid," in 1S4S. VI. Arithmetic and Algebra in their Principles and Application : with nnmerous systematically arranged Fxamples ta&eu from the Cambridge Examination Papers. With especial reference to the ordinarv Examination for B.A. Decree. By the Rev. BABNABD SMTTH, M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge. Crown 8to. cloth, 10«. 6d. "H is a pood solid roJumu of vpvards of 500 pages, meittdiny a^lUv pages oftaJuahU Appatdices, m the form of Sematt-SotiM Exnmutatiom Papers, amd AMsmen to the SiximpUs It is oxe of the rejoxt good B0C£5 WHICH THE «'02IJ> HECErvTS OXI-T TTHEN A TEACHER OF THB FISST CTASS SITS IWITS TO DKCIC'SZ THE ESTEN~T OF HIS EXOWXEDGE ASB THE sscBET OP HIS sTcCEss Sferg anticipation raised 4y tJie Tttle-poffe is },'-:rifura}jly fislfiUtd Jy the text." — ^Edccational Tdcbs, March l&SS. TH. In Prepartition (by the same jiut?ior). Mechanics and Hydrostatics. On a grmilflr plan. vni. Elementary Mechanics. Accompanied by numerous Examples solved Geometrically. By J. B. PHEAB, M.A-, FeUow and Mathematical Lectuxex of Clare Hall, Cambiidge. Sto. bds. iOs. 6d- ** The task it ic«Q executed .... Sis arfxmgoH^nt i* luad^ hi* proofg simple and heauti/ul," — Tek Edccatok. IX. By the same Atctkor. Elementary Hydrostatics. Accom.panied by num^erons Examples. Crown 8vo. cloth., os. 6d, *' An exe^Unt introductory Book. Tfte definitioru are very eUar : the descriptions and explanations are saffidaitJj/ Juil and tnielli^te : the im>estiffations are simple and sdentifie. Hie examples greatiy enhance its value.'" — ^Esgush Jouxkai, of Edccatio!;, March 1853, Cambridge. j4 Mathematics. X. An Elementary Treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus. For the use of Colleges and Schools. By G. W. HEMMING, M.A., Fellow of St. Johns College, Cambridge. Second Edition, with Corrections and Additions. 8vo. cloth, 9s. mis Edition has been earefuUy reviBed by the Author, and important altera- tions and additions have been introduced for the sake of rendering the ■work more available for School use. " There is no book in common use from which so clear cmd exact a know- ledge of the principles of the Calculus can be so reaMVy obtained." LiTEitAEY Gazette. "Merits ow highest commendation."— BsoziBs Jocenal or Education, March 1853. XI. A New and Cheaper {Ihe Eighth) Edition of The Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. Greatly improved and enlarged. By J. C. SNOWBALL, M.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Crown 8to. cloth, 7s. 6d. This edition has been carefully revised by the author^ and some im^ortcmt alterations and additions have been introduced. A large addition has been made to the collection o/ Examples fob paACTiCB. " Excellent." — Gtjabdian. *^ Abounds with choice examples for practice, and much valuable information is interspersed throughout the vomme. The investigations are remarkdbly neat, and the mam principles of Trigonometry are presented in a very clear and intelligible form." — English Journal of Education, March 1853. ** A new Edition of an old fa/vovrite texUbook, and an improvement on the seven that have preceded it in several respects. It has been carefulk/ revised throughout ; the methods for estahUshing the most important pro- positions are superior; mare than 200 new examples — taken from recent Examination Papers — hoDe been added ; and to crown all, the price has been reduced. What more need be said to secure for it a welcome from those who wish to make themselves masters of theJ,mportant su^'ect of which it treats ^" — ArHEHiBUM, March 12, 1853. XII. Sy the same Author, The Elements of Mechanics. Second Edition. 8vo. bds. 8s. 6d. xni. A Treatise on Dynamics. By W. P. WILSON, M.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Proiessor of Mathematics in Queen's College, ^eMast. gyo. b^s. 9s. 6d. Macmillan and Co. Plane Astronomy, jyiainemancs. 15 XIV. Including Explanations of Celestial Phenomena, and Descrip- tions of Astronomical Instruments. By the ReT. A. R. GRANT, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 8vo. bds. 6s. XV. Geometrical Problems in the Properties of Conic Sections. By the Rev. H. LATHAM, M.A., FeUow and Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. 8to. 3s. 6d. XVI. A New and improved Edition of A Short and Easy Course of Algebra. Chiefly designed for the nse of the Junior Classes in Schools, ■with a niunerous collection of Original Easy Exercises. By the Rev. T. LUND, B.D., late Fellow of St. John's College, Cam- bridge. 12mo. bound in cloth, 3s. 6d. **Sis definitions are admirable for their simplicity and clearness" Athenxum. "TFe have much reason to admire the happy art of the author tn making crooked things straight and rough places smooth." — EDUCAroH. xvn. A Geometrical Treatise on the Conic Sections. With an Appendix, containing the first Nine and the Eleventh of Newton's Lemmas : intended chiefly as an Introduction to the Geometrical Doctrine of Limits. By the Rev. J. E, COOPER, M.A., Fellow of St. John's CoUege, Cambridge. Nearly ready. xvm. The Mathematical Principles of Mechanical Phi- losophy, and their Applications to Elementary Mechanics and Architecture, but chiefly to the Theory of Universal Gravi- tation. By the Rev. J. H. PRATT, M.A., Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge. Second Edition, revised and improved. 8vo. bds. £1. Is. XIX. The Theory of Double Refraction, By the] Tutor oi Cambridge, By the Rev. W. N. GRIFFIN, M.A., late Fellow and Assistant Tutor of St. John's 'College, Cambridge. 8vo. sewed, 2s. le Mathematics. XX. Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal. Edited by W. THOMSON, M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and Professor of Natural Pliilosopliy in the University of Glasgow. Vols. I. to VII. 8vo. cloth, £5. 12s. A FE"W COMPXETE SETS MAT STILL BE HAD. Three Nos., price 6s. each, are published yearly. The Subscription, payable in advance, is 15s., or 16s. 6d. free by Post. Also recently published, a second Edition of the Cambridge Mathematical Jouknal, Vol. I. ; being the First Series of the above Work. 8vo. cloth, 18s. *' Another instance of the efficiency of the course of study in this- University, in producing not merely expert algebraists, but sound and original mathematical thinkers, {and, perhaps, a more striking one, from the generality of its contributors being men of compara- tively junior standing), is to be found in this Journal, which is full of very original communications," — Sir John Herschel's Address at the British Association. " A work of great merit and service to science. Its various con- tributors have exhibited extensive mathematical learning and vigorous originality of thought." — Sir William Hamilton. " A publication which is justly distinguished for the originality and elegance of its contributions to every department of analysis," K-LV. Prof. Peacock. XXI. Solutions of the Problems proposed in the Senate- House Examination, January 8, 1852. 8vo. sewed, is. 6d. ©amirJDge : MACMILLAN & Co. lonUon : George Bell. JBubUtt : Hodges & Smith. lEBlnlittrB^ : Edmonston & Douglas. ffilasaoto : Jas. Maclehose. ©xforti : J. H. Parker. METCALFE AND PALMEH, PRINTERS, CAMBRIDGK. ??a