letting themselves be befooled by the oft repeated tale of a marvellously rich city lying somewhere in the interior. An attempt at discovery was made towards the north, but nothing came of it. The conquerors of the West India islands and Mexico and Peru, left the Atlantic coast to be peopled by as daring and more sober minded adventurers. But Florida, being so near their other possessions, was retained, and, with a short interval of English occupation during the last century, vegetated as a Spanish colony till 1819, when it was bought by the United States for five millions of dollars.

THE FIRST ENGLISH PLANTERS.

I.

An

WHILE the Spaniards and French were thus em ployed upon the outskirts of these vast and unknown territories, there appeared upon the scene that power which in virtue of courage, perseverance and practical sense was to found an enduring commonwealth across the Atlantic. England, now at rest from civil and religious discord, was awaking to her destiny as the greatest naval and colonising nation of modern times, and began to ask herself why she should not seek her share of these famed riches of the New World. In English ships the Cabots had first reached the mainland of North America. English sailor had first circumnavigated the globe. There was more than one of his comrades who hoped to be the first to hit upon that northwest passage which, as people then believed, led direct to India; and though all attempts in this direction failed, every year was signalised by some new discovery due to English enterprise. Such men as Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher were making the flag of England known and feared all over the maritime world. In the South Seas the Spanish settlements and treasure ships had to be constantly on their guard against her daring sailors; at the fisheries of Newfound

ENGLAND AND SPAIN.

31

land the French were rivalled by her merchants. What then was to hinder her from exploring and settling on land, as she conquered and traded by sea? Had the Pope forsooth assigned the New World to Spain? So did that Antichrist claim to deal with the crown and the liberties of England! The newly discovered soil belonged to none but its natives, who might be won by kindness and fair dealing better than by rapacious conquest, or at least might be enforced for their own good to receive the blessings of Christianity and civilization. The pretensions of the Spaniards were but a challenge to the national spirit and the protestantism of England, now united in recognition of a common

enemy.

The cruelty of gold-hunting filibusters towards the poor Indians, still more the atrocities of the Inquisition's bloody missionaries, made men shudder who had not yet forgotten the fires of Smithfield, and roused in the national mind, where the leaven of puritanism was already working, that righteous indignation which is one of the religious sentiments most easily excited in human nature. It was not difficult to bring our reckless mariners to take it for a religious duty to plunder papists, and to imagine those praises most acceptable to Heaven which were sung

Upon a harp made of dead Spanish bones,

The proudest instrument the world affords.

Sentiment and policy were at one in this hatred of the Spaniard, who in the Netherlands had just taught Englishmen what they had to expect if ever

the Pope and Philip could secure their vaunt rights over the dominions of Elizabeth. It neede little foresight to perceive that a struggle for li and death was imminent between the great Protes ant and the great Catholic power. The wise states men of the one saw that a blow should be struck a that engrossment of colonial enterprise from whic the other drew its riches. Besides, the population of England was expanding beyond its resources and want began to be felt at one end of the socia scale, while at the other increased luxury prompted to new means of gain. The country was full of restless spirits, stirred by the romantic notions characteristic of the age, and unable to find at home fitting scope for their activity. So it is not surprising that in the reign of Elizabeth there arose a general zeal for "plantation," as the phrase then was, inspired by various motives and sanctioned by the highest, which was on the lips of many men if as yet in the hearts of but few. The men who fostered and directed this zeal always declared, like Lord Bacon, that their purpose was as well for the better increase of the trade of merchandise of this kingdom, as by conversation and commerce to draw those savage and idolatrous people to the true knowledge of God." And if our first colonists did not always present an example of the best fruits of Christianity, as understood in these days, they at least did not bring its worst to the work of conversion. Such violence and oppression as they were guilty of seem mildness and humanity when contrasted with the cruelties of the Spaniards; while

WALTER RALEIGH.

335

among English colonists as among Spanish conquerors there were here and there men of true humanity and pure enthusiasm for the salvation of these ignorant souls.

The spirit of the time found its representative in the famous Sir Walter Raleigh. No story is better known than that of how this scion of a private Devonshire family rose rapidly, through his talents and accomplishments, to fortune and influence. No doubt he owed much to the fickle favour of Elizabeth, but such a man was sure, sooner or later, to win his way into notice. As a scholar, a gentleman, and a statesman, he was distinguished even among the many distinguished men of that court. His personal advantages might have made him a mere court favourite; but he was successful as soldier, sailor, trader, and author, and tried his hand at philosophy and chemistry, not without credit from his contemporaries. Yet it is by his attempts at colonisation, the part of his work which altogether failed, that he is perhaps best known to us; for though his efforts brought nothing but disappointment to himself, they paved the way for more successful settlements of the English race in North America. He was at once a poet and a man of business; the clear eye of practical foresight was united in him with an eager love of adventure and a sanguine imagination which, to the hour of his death, never ceased to dream of boundless wealth to be had for the seeking it beyond the seas. He shared, to some degree, the credulity of his age, when men easily

D