whose littleness of mind allowed him not to appreciate, and whose meanness led him to sacrifice, this great man. With these feelings, who can dwell with strict attention upon the blemishes and defects, which, alas! upon closer inspection, are too often found to mar those brilliant characters whom our early enthusiasm has worshipped as heroes-whom we sigh to have personally known-and whose shining deeds have awakened all the ardour and noble emulation of our nature.

The age in which Raleigh lived is one conspicuous for genius and originality, and he is one of the most striking of the great spirits so peculiarly English, who have stamped that bold and remarkable impress upon the insular character, which subsequent times, with all their improvement and increased enlightenment on nearly all subjects, produce in no similar degree.

The Reformation and the discovery of the New World were then recent, and never were events more calculated to rouse the reasoning powers, and excite and heighten the imagination. The invention of printing, too, so miraculously coincident in time, afforded every facility to the progress and diffusion of knowledge; all circumstances the most favourable that can perhaps be conceived for the developement of vigorous and independent character. Men of the most active lives. engaged in the study of philosophy, with a zeal which now belongs only to professed authors, and with an industry which in this luxurious age none but bookworms can comprehend. The result of their investigations may not always have been useful to society; their time may appear to have been devoted to subtleties unworthy of dispute or regard; but the effects upon their own minds were excellent; they produced that firmness of temper, that solidity of character, so peculiarly distinguishable in the Englishman. The

habit of inquiry taught them to adopt their opinions upon reasoning instead of upon prejudice; to cultivate, and consequently to rely upon, their own powers. Men learned to think for themselves, and the prerogative was too newly acquired, and, therefore, too fully and frequently exercised, to allow of that superficial adoption of systems which now often passes for the result and deductions of comprehensiveness of mind, -the fruit and the proof of deep reflection and exalted genius.

From our present knowledge of America, the wonders of its discovery are comparatively little striking, and we are apt to treat with ridicule the notions at first entertained of its riches, and of the magnificence and extent of its cities. But if we pause, and consider what the impression in all its freshness was calculated to make, and reflect upon the great riches that did pour into Spain,—we shall cease to look upon our ancestors as weakly credulous in their hopes and expectations of the fame and emolument which were to arise to their country and themselves from their discoveries and settlements in America.

Hume, with the coldness which belonged both to his character and habits of thought, affirms that Raleigh's account of his first voyage to Guiana proves him to have been extremely deficient either in solid understanding, or morals, or both. This is one of the many misrepresentations which that historian has, through negligence or design, given to his relation of Sir Walter Raleigh's unhappy fate. Hume's partiality for the Stuarts led him to describe all the actions of that family with a softening of their faults, and a heightening of their merits, which throws a false light upon many of the most remarkable transactions of their reigns; and upon none more strongly than

upon James's treatment of Raleigh. He gives the whole story upon the authority of the declaration which the king drew up and published, to try to do away the contempt and hatred excited in the nation by the sacrifice of one of its ablest defenders to the resentment of Spain. But James was bent upon an alliance with that country, then almost more truly and naturally the enemy of England than France has ever since been. He had a strong dislike towards Raleigh-that instinctive sort of hatred which a narrow mind, and a subtle and cowardly disposition always bear to enterprising spirit and greatness of intellect and he hesitated not to propitiate the Spanish court, by granting his life to the demands of Gondomar. James then drew up his declaration with all the ingenuity and colouring which the circumstances unfortunately permitted; but the very necessity of justifying his conduct, and the more glaring fact of taking away Sir Walter's life upon his old sentence, prove that he was aware no jury would have found him guilty of the treason of which he was accused; and he therefore took his life upon the unjust condemnation he had so long kept in reserve, with all the spite and shuffling of mean and timid despotism.

Raleigh, indeed, had his mind deeply impressed with the treasures of Guiana, and the account of his voyage contains much extravagant matter; but Hume still heightens it, by adding what is not found in the relation, that the city of El Dorado was said to be two days' journey in length. The description of this city, of the prophecies in favour of the English, and of the republic of Amazons, are not given by Raleigh upon his own testimony but upon that of other writers, and various oral reporters-the multitude of Spanish relations of their adventures, and their wonderful discoveries of riches and magnificence. The numbers of

English travellers who recounted marvels, which our real acquaintance with the country and its inhabitants, together with our increased knowledge of the laws and productions of nature, now teach us at once to despise, would have induced a less sanguine person to have credited the great wealth which was said to belong to the Incas of Guiana, and to have desired to verify the wonders which all who travelled seemed to vie in relating.

The spirit of adventure was the epidemic of the times; Raleigh but shared in the general thirst for discovery. While we see the first men in the kingdom fitting out ships year after year, and lavishing money in defiance of repeated, disasters, it is not surprising that Raleigh's mind should be captivated by a scheme so well suited to a bold and enterprising temper. The eventual success of the Virginian colony entitles him to applause, for discernment and perseverance, and his interest in the still agitated question of a NorthWest passage, is evinced by his association with the firm who sent out Captain Davis, and by his name given to land discovered by that celebrated navigator.

It is indeed captivating to read the voyages undertaken at this period by the gentlemen of England; and cold and phlegmatic must be the man who does not admire the spirit and valour displayed in these romantic expeditions. The patient endurance of sickness and want of provisions, which frequently attended their small and crowded vessels; the courage, both active and enduring, and the inflexible perseverance which they displayed, excite our keenest interest and highest admiration. Gentlemen of birth and fortune exposed themselves to privations, hardships, and sufferings which now rarely attend the most disastrous voyages, and exhibited a gallantry that almost makes

us long to have partaken in their dangers. There are few shipwrecks, which leave so deep an impression upon our minds as that of Raleigh's half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who, after a voyage attended with great perils and sufferings, succeeded in his object of taking possession of Newfoundland, in queen Elizabeth's name, and was lost on his return home. He is described, in the violence of the storm, as calm and cheerful, encouraging his men with these words,

Courage, my lads, we are as near heaven at sea as on land*." These striking words display a greatness of mind, and an exalted courage, that yield us a gratification which would more than repay those most impatient to the log journals of all voyages, for wading through the whole of Hakluyt.

The author of Waverley has brought Raleigh's early success at court into increased notice, but his talents as a statesman are not in general equally considered. The brilliancy of his courage and the two-fold renown he acquired at sea and on land eclipse, in ordinary history, the merits he possessed in the council. But Elizabeth, who, although she was subject to all the weakness of excessive vanity, was most clear-sighted with regard to the true interests of her kingdom, so frequently sought his advice, and adopted his views of policy, as to excite the jealousy of her other counsellors. His political tracts (some of which had the honour of being published by

* The following is the curious and interesting manner in which the circumstance is related :

"In the afternoone the frigat was neare cast away, oppressed by waves, yet at that time recovered, and giving forth signs of joy. The Generall, sitting abaft with a booke in his hand, cried unto us in the hinde so oft as wee did approach within hearing, ' Wee are as neere to heaven by sea as by land,' reiterating the same speech well beseeming a souldier resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify he was."-Report of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage, by Edward Haies.—Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 143.