company that it would be labour lost, and that they would suffer many miseries if they proceeded.' This was truly spoken, as events proved, but without the least good faith; for Berrio's mind was full of his second attempt, to forward which one of his principal officers, named Domingo de Vera, had been dispatched to levy men, and make other preparations in Spain. The remarkable appearance of that officer, whose person, deportment, and proceedings, are fully described by the Spanish historians, joined with his alluring recitals of the vast wealth that was sure to be realized by the expedition, produced amongst his countrymen effects similar to what were long after that day engendered in France by the Mississippi scheme. The desire to be included in the adventure excited an eager competition, and led multitudes to dispose of their property,-even landed estates,―never doubting to be repaid tenfold from the treasures of El Dorado! Berrio's second attempt was, we believe, the last undertaken by the Spaniards upon an extensive scale. Dr Southey, deviating so far from the beaten path of Raleigh's biographers, has indulged his readers with an account of the singular artifices of Domingo de Vera, abridged from the narrative of Father Simon. Mr Tytler appears to have been wholly ignorant of the existence of any such narratives; or, if acquainted with, has not made the slightest use of, or even allusion to them.

We must not take leave of this part of the subject without adverting to an extraordinary statement by Dr Southey, which, if well founded, would greatly diminish the dramatic interest of the scenes at Trinidad. The reader will probably be startled to be told that the true Berrio was not, after all, in Raleigh's hands; and consequently that he was no party to the conversations which his captor recites! It is very remarkable,' says Dr Southey, that neither Pedro Simon, nor Oviedo y Baños make the slightest mention of Raleigh's expedition. 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 founded 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 pri'soner might be willing enough to encourage.' This seems to us a most fallacious and unwarranted inference. Supposing these historians had actually narrated the expedition, but without mentioning the capture of Berrio, surely their mere silence as to that

fact never could be held sufficient to gainsay the positive testimony of Raleigh, vouched by his officers, whom he mentions as 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 proclaimed to all the world by Raleigh's account of it, we are entitled to hold it as vouched by them. It seems utterly incredible either that they should all alike have been deceived, or that the mistake as to Berrio, if any such there was, should not in some way obtain 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 highly irrational to hold their silence as to an incident of it as proof that the incident itself was supposititious? To believe that Berrio was not Raleigh's prisoner, we must believe, 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 interested; for Dr Southey does not pretend that any thing which passed in these conversations was not perfectly consonant to the actions and character of the lawful governor.' Humboldt, we may observe, more than once alludes to the capture of Berrio, without intimating the slightest doubt as to 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 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 overlooked or forgotten-and consequently, were this writer's inference weil founded, Berrio must have been personated by the same individual in that year also, and this without a hint of the fact transpiring in all that time!-than which, a supposition more ridiculous is hardly conceivable. It may seem wholly unnecessary to make any further observations upon this point; but as it is intimately connected with one of the most singular passages of Raleigh's life, we cannot refrain from adding, that if the capture of Berrio was a matter of too great importance to remain unknown or unmentioned' by the Spanish historians, surely the mention of that capture in a work translated and circulated all over Europe-as was the case with Raleigh's narrative of his voyage-could not, for that very reason, have remained uncontradicted, if untrue; yet we will venture to assert that no contradiction of it any where 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 a mere outline; and indeed any thing of the kind would, at the present day, and in a work like this, be wholly out of place. 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 Raleigh's ships drew too much water to admit of his using them; and that it was consequently 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 magnet that so forcibly attracted him, 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 persons were embarked in the boats by which the main body of the river was to be gained and ascended; and in these they continued to navigate for a month, exposed to the open air, sometimes under a burning sun, sometimes under torrents of rain, with no other resting-places but the hard boards, and no accommodations but what were common to all. Raleigh's account of their progress through the labyrinth formed by the numerous outlets of the great stream-of their alternate hopes and fears, wants and fortuitous supplies the aspects of the country, and its productions -the natives and their chiefs-and of the entrance at last into the grand channel of the majestic Orinocco, is full of interest and variety;-occasionally presenting descriptive passages of much beauty, joined with traits of almost inconceivable credulity, and frequent asseverations of his strong belief in the colonial and commercial resources, and metallic riches of the vast region through which its sealike waters roll. After ascending the river about sixty leagues, according to Humboldt's estimate, the rapid and terrific rise of its waters rendered it necessary to redescend and being thus obliged for the present to turn his back upon El Dorado, and to leave a region for the first time surveyed by any Englishman, but with a firm determination soon to return, he formally bound those Caciques, with whom he had opened a friendly intercourse, to remain faithful to his sovereign, in whose name and behalf he took possession of the country. The continued swelling of the waters, and the unknown navigation, made the regaining of the ships left at anchor an undertaking of danger and anxiety; but they at last reached them in safety, 'than which,' says he, there could be no more joyful occasion.'

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Raleigh's return to England took place about the close of the summer of 1595; and he did not remain long at home without

showing his strong faith and unaltered designs with respect to Guiana; for, before the end of that year, and early in the next, he had sent out two vessels in succession, for the purpose of procuring further information, and confirming the amicable relations established with the native Caciques. The first was commanded by one of his most noted followers, Captain Keymis, who shared the more extensive as well as the more visionary views of his leader; and who, on his return, published an account of his voyage, in which, as Humboldt informs us, he indicates that very locality above mentioned, which his own enquiries had pointed out as the seat of the fable of El Dorado. His reproofs of the incredulity and indifference that prevailed as to the means of employment and fortune afforded by the colonization of Guiana, are lofty and indignant; and sometimes expressed in a way to show that striking conceptions and imaginative language were gifts participated by writers of all classes in that original and poetical age. Previous to the appearance of Keymis's narrative, Raleigh's account of his own voyage had appeared, under a title sufficient of itself to awaken scepticism amongst his cool-headed countrymen. It was entitled The 'Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful empire of Guiana' -an empire of which few or none of those to whom it was addressed had ever heard before. Viewed as a composition, and with reference to the time, it had considerable beauties, overshadowed by great defects. It was written in that clear and mellow style, of which its author was so great a master, but without any approaches to method or coherency. He says himself indeed, that he had studied neither phrase, form, nor fashion in its composition.' Camden, however, in the yet lax language of criticism, characterised it as an 'elegant' piece. But its moral, as distinguished from its literary character, presents a more contentious subject of enquiry. By some, its fabulous statements have been branded as the coinage of deliberate falsehood; whilst others have only doubted as to the good faith of its author, in reciting them as consonant to his own belief. For our own part, though we cannot pretend to determine the extent of Raleigh's probity, or to ascertain by any exact scale the measure of his belief, we never have been able to see why things incredible to us, should be viewed as incredible to those living at a period uninstructed by our science, undisciplined by our researches, unguided by our experience. The human mind is so constituted as to be revolted at one time by that which, at another, meets 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 recites; and though his recitals may have been, and doubtless were, sometimes exaggerated, or coloured by hues reflected from his own

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imagination, 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 ignorance 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 he must be supposed more particularly to refer, 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 amongst 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 existence of such a race was the common belief of the natives at the period of Raleigh's voyage, as it probably is 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 Raleigh brought to England 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 of his belief would expose him to obloquy, boldly states his firm conviction that such a tribe was to be found in Guiana;-grounding it on the universally concurring testimony of the natives-and asking, reasonably enough, what profit could accrue to him from the invention and dissemination of such a tale? As to El Dorado, again, we do not think it possible that Mr Hume could be at all acquainted with the Spanish historians of America; otherwise he must have known that Raleigh only expressed a belief entertained by thousandsnay, millions; for had the recitals of these writers been actually known to him, what possible right could he have to denounce as a gross and palpable liar,' the man who only repeated what so many others stated-who only adopted a belief which was the common belief of the greatest monarchy of Europe? Nor must it be forgotten that Raleigh was not, by any means, the only English 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 thereafter, Sir Robert Harcourt, in the account of his own voyage to Guiana, takes occasion to mention, that he had directed. some of his followers to endeavour to reach the city of Manoa,