1887. Dr. Rainsford, besides contributions to current literature, has published a volume of parochial "Sermons" (New York, 1887).
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RALEGH, Sir Walter, English navigator, b. in Hayes, in the parish of Budleigh, Devonshire, England, in 1552; d. in Westminster, England, 29 Oct., 1618. His patronymic was written in thirteen different ways, but Sir Walter himself spelled it Ralegh. Little is known of his father, Walter, except that he was a gentleman commoner, and that an earnest wayside remonstrance from him with the Romanist rioters of the west in 1544 caused his imprisonment for three days, and threats of hanging when he was liberated. His mother was the daughter of Sir Philip Champernown, of Modbury, and the widow of Otto Gilbert, by whom she was the mother of Sir John, Sir Humphrey, and Sir Adrian Gilbert. Walter became a commoner at Oriel, Oxford, in 1568, and probably attended the University of France in 1569, but left the same year to join a troop that was raised under the Prince de Condé and Admiral Coligny in aid of the French Huguenots. Subsequently, according to most authorities, he served in the Netherlands under William of Orange, and became an accomplished soldier and a determined foe to Roman Catholicism and the Spanish nation. On his return to England he found that his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had just obtained a patent for establishing a plantation in America, and he entered into the scheme. They went to sea in 1579, but one of their ships was lost, and the remainder, it is said, were crippled in an engagement with the Spanish fleet, and they returned without making land. Ralegh then served as captain against the Desmond rebellion in Ireland, and won the commendation of his superiors by his bravery and executive ability. On his return, according to the popular legend, he met Queen Elizabeth one day as she was walking in the forest, and, on her approach to a miry place in her path, took off his mantle and laid it down for her to tread upon. The queen, who was susceptible to gallant attention, at once admitted him to court, loaded him with favors, and employed him to attend the French ambassador, Simier, on his return to France, and afterward to escort the Duke of Anjou to Antwerp. A contemporary writer says: “He possessed a good presence in a handsome, well-compacted body, strong natural wit and better judgment, a bold and plausible tongue, the fancy of a poet and the chivalry of a soldier, and was unrivalled in splendor of dress and equipage.” He soon used his influence to promote a second expedition to America, but was prevented by an accident from going in person, and left the command of the fleet to Sir Humphrey Gilbert (q. v.), who was lost on the homeward voyage. Ralegh then obtained a new charter in 1584, with power to land colonies “in any remote, heathen, and barbarous lands not actually possessed by any Christian prince or people,” and secured the provision that such colonists were “to have all the privileges of free denizens and natives of England, and were to be governed according to such statutes as should by them be established, so that the said statutes or laws conform as conveniently as may be with those of England, and do not impugn the Christian faith, or any way withdraw the people of those lands from our allegiance.” These guarantees of political rights were renewed in the subsequent charter of 1606, under which the English colonies were planted in America, and constituted one of the impregnable grounds upon which they afterward maintained the struggle that ended in separation from Great Britain. The expedition consisted of two vessels, which sailed, 27 April, 1584, under the command of Capt. Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They reached the West Indies on 10 June, and the American coast on 4 July. They then explored Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and Roanoke island, returning to England about the middle of September, and giving such glowing accounts of their discoveries that Elizabeth called the new-found land Virginia, in memory of her state of life, and conferred knighthood on Ralegh, with a monopoly of mines, from which he enjoyed a large revenue. She also granted a new seal to his coat-of-arms, on which was graven “Propria insignia, Walteri Ralegh Militis, Domini et Gobernatoris Virginiæ.” Ralegh, who was now a member of parliament, obtained a bill confirming his patent, collected a company of colonists, and on 9 April, 1585, sent a fleet of seven ships in command of his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, and in immediate charge of Sir Ralph Lane (q. v.), who soon quarrelled with Grenville. The latter, after landing the colony at Roanoke island in July, sailed for England on 25 Aug., promising to return the next Easter. But misfortunes befell the colonists; they became disheartened, and in July, 1586, despairing of Grenville's return, went to England in one of Sir Francis Drake's vessels, that commander having passed the settlement on his way from his expedition against Santo Domingo, Carthagena, and St. Augustine. The fruit of this settlement was little more than a carefully prepared description of the country by Thomas Harlot; illustrations in watercolors by the artist, John White, of its inhabitants, productions, animals, and birds; and the introduction into Great Britain of tobacco and potatoes, the latter being first planted in Ireland on Ralegh's estate. Soon after the departure of the colonists with Lane, a ship arrived with supplies from Ralegh, and a few days afterward Grenville returned to Roanoke island with three ships, well provisioned, but, finding that the colonists had all left, went back to England, leaving fifteen men and supplies sufficient to last them two years. Meanwhile Ralegh had been appointed seneschal of Devon and Cornwall, and lord warden of the stannaries, and had obtained a grant of 12,000 acres of forfeited land in Ireland. His favor in court continued to increase, but he was hated by a large faction. He now determined to found an agricultural state, and in April, 1587, despatched a body of emigrants to make a settlement on Chesapeake bay. He granted them a charter of incorporation and appointed a municipal government for the city of Ralegh, intrusting the administration to John White, with twelve assistants. They founded their city, not on the bay, but on the site of the former settlement on Roanoke island, and when their ships returned, Gov. White went home to hasten re-enforcements. But the fleet that Ralegh fitted out
