occurred in the generous and elaborate defence of the memory of Sir Richard Grenville, his old friend and servitor, from certain aspersions upon his fame, connected with the fight off the Azores in 1591. These are valuable illustrations of Ralegh's kindness of heart and liberality of sentiment, and strengthen the opinion, that had his friends been as careful to record those seemingly unimportant acts, which did him honor, as his enemies were assiduous in perpetuating those which tended to his discredit, we should have found him as distinguished for generous and disinterested action in private life, as he was illustrious for talent and service in his public career.

In 1592, he planned and carried out, with the most brilliant success, an expedition against Panama and the Plate fleet; and at the close of the year, we find him in Parliament, where his course in reference to many important measures, gave abundant evidence of the soundness of his judgment as well as the fervor of his patriotism.

About this time, as Oldys quaintly expresses it, "Sir Walter Ralegh had not lived so long at court, and so much about the dazzling beauties in it, without having the wings of his glory, at last, somewhat singed in the flames thereof;" and the matter of his amour with Elizabeth Throckmorton, becoming known to the Queen, she sent him to the Tower. The severity of his punishment for an offence of frequent occurrence at court, and usually overlooked altogether, indicates either the growing power of his rival Essex, or the strong personal affection of Elizabeth herself. His imprisonment, however, was of short duration, and we allude to the means by

which he effected his enlargement, not because we consider them derogatory to the character of Ralegh, but as affording an amusing illustration of his proficiency in the highflown language of the court, and of the fact that Elizabeth was no Homoeopathist in her fondness for flattery. It is narrated by Birch, that while Ralegh was one day sitting at his window in the Tower, the Queen passed on a visit to Sir George Carew the master of the ordonance. Ralegh knew the weakness, as well as the greatness, of his royal mistress. He resolved to disguise himself and get into a boat to see her majesty, vowing that if he were prevented, it would break his heart. Sir George Carew, however, was too flinty to be moved even by this touching outbreak of affection, and a regular fight ensued between the prisoner and his keeper. The occurrence was of course reported to the Queen, and together with the letter addressed by Ralegh to Burleigh, aided very materially in effecting his release. This letter is not the least curious part/+E KEES of the transaction, and we quote a portion of it. It sincere ant avows that he suffers the torments of Tantalus in being debarred the favor of the Queen-and proceeds: "I, that was wont to behold her riding like Alexander-hunting like Diana-walking like Venus— the gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her cheeks like a nymph-sometimes sitting in the shade like a goddess-sometimes singing like an angelsometimes playing like an Orpheus!" Addressed to the most beautiful of the sex, this language might well seem a little exaggerated, as few, even of the Divinities whom we are prone to adore, combine so many rare characters and qualities; but when we

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learn that the object of this superlative eulogy had passed her sixtieth year-was wrinkled, fretful, and ugly, we must admire the gallantry, as highly as we estimate the ingenuity, of the sighing prisoner; and admit that if any of the courtiers of the time could combine in a single sentence, a larger number of choice and classic appeals to the vanity of woman, he must have stood high indeed in the estimation of the Virgin Queen!

Released from the Tower, but still banished from Court, Ralegh passed a short season of retirement at Sherborne, devoting his leisure to useful occupations and study. The course of his reading may be inferred from the nature of the great enterprise in which he next appears an actor. We have already stated that he was thoroughly familiar with the achievements of the Spaniards in the New World, and have alluded to their influence upon his ardent temperament. The wealth which had flowed into the coffers of Spain and Portugal, from Mexico and Peru, had inclined the general mind to receive with the utmost favor, the accounts which, from time to time, had been given of the more surprising wealth and magnificence of the marvellous Empire of Guiana. Of the sincerity of Ralegh's belief in the existence and riches of El Dorado, we shall have occasion hereafter to offer conclusive evidence, and we pass, now, to the motives which urged him to attempt its exploration and settlement. High in the esteem of his sovereign-filling many honorable and responsible offices-distinguished as a soldier-ranking high as a scholar, and poet-a statesman of admitted merit, and, in every respect, eminent among

the greatest personages of the time-he had nearly run the career, and achieved the rewards of service at home; and although, only in his forty-second year, some great and untried field was essential to the further development of his energies. Guiana offered that field. The enterprise peculiarly suited him. It was grand in conception, it would be arduous in execution; others had failed, he would succeed; all was new-a virgin soil—an untrodden Empire-a strange people! His ambition was roused-he would link his name with the golden land-he would carry out his schemes of colonization-he would gratify to the utmost his love of magnificence—he would restore himself to the favor of his Queen, and set, in her regal crown, a richer jewel than Columbus had given unto Spain !

It may be interesting to preface our rapid summary of the efforts of Ralegh, with a brief reference to the geographical position of Guiana and the stories which were current at that period in regard to its wonderful riches. From an excellent work, styled "El Dorado," laboriously prepared by Van Heuvel, we learn, that "Guiana is that portion of South America, extending along the Atlantic coast, from the Oronoko to the Amazon, and is embraced between these Rivers, which are united by the junction of the Cassiqueara with the Amazon." According to Juan Martinez whose narrative Van Heuvel quotes, the name, "El Dorado," which was applied to the City of Manoa, was derived from a certain custom of the inhabitants "who, when their Emperor caroused with them, all those who pledged him have their bodies covered with a kind of white balsam,

and, certain servants of his, blow gold dust through hollow canes upon them until they are all shining from head to foot, and thus adorned, they do sit drinking by twenties and hundreds, and continue so sometimes six or seven days together. And from witnessing this, and from the abundance of gold which he saw in the City, the images of gold in the Temples, the plates, armors and shields of gold, which they used in the wars, he called it 'El Dorado."" Lopez, in his general History of the Indies, in his description of the Court and magnificence of Guynacapa, ancestor of the Emperor of Guiana, uses the following language:-"All the vessels of his house, table and kitchen were of gold, and silver, and, the meanest, of silver and copper. He had in his wardrobe hollow figures of gold, which seemed giants, and the figures in proportion and bigness of all the beasts, birds, trees and herbs, that the earth bringeth forth, and of all the fishes that the sea or waters of his kingdom breedeth. He had also ropes, budgets, chests and troughs of gold and silver. Finally there was nothing in his dominions, whereof, he had not the counterfeit in gold."

In 1594 Ralegh despatched Captain Whiddon, an old and experienced officer, to explore the coast of Guiana, and ascertain the chances of success. The account which he gave upon his return, of the beauty and richness of the land, determined Ralegh in the prosecution of the enterprise, and, the succeeding year, he prepared an expedition and sailed, himself. His memorial of the voyage and its results, published soon after his return, was coldly received, and he was still denied access to Court. Not deterred how