for the colony's relief was impressed by the government for the war with Spain. White, with Ralegh's aid, subsequently succeeded in sailing with two vessels that fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and he was able to send no relief till 1590, when he arrived, on 15 Aug., to find that all the colonists had disappeared. It was discovered years afterward that four men, two boys, and a girl had been adopted into the Hatteras tribe of Indians. The rest had been starved or massacred. Ralegh had now spent £40,000 in his efforts to colonize Virginia. Unable to do more, he therefore leased his patent to a company of merchants, with the hope of achieving his object; but he was disappointed. He made a fifth attempt to afford his lost colony aid in 1602 by sending Capt. Samuel Mace to search for them; but Mace returned without executing his orders. Ralegh wrote to Sir Robert Cecil on 21 Aug., 1602, that he would send Mace back, and expressed his faith in the colonization of Virginia in the words, “I shall yet live to see it an Englishe nation.” Although the colonists perished, Ralegh secured North America to the English through his enterprise, made known the advantages of its soil and climate, fixed Chesapeake bay as the proper place for a colony, and created a spirit that led finally to its successful settlement. He was a member of the council of war and lieutenant-general and commander of the forces of Cornwall in 1587, and the next year, when the armada appeared, hung upon its rear in a vessel of his own, and annoyed it by quick and unexpected movements. He was with Sir Francis Drake in his expedition to restore Don Antonio to the throne of Portugal in 1589, and captured several Spanish vessels. On his return, he visited Ireland, and contracted a friendship with Edmund Spenser, whom he brought to England and introduced to Elizabeth, with the gift of the first three books of the “Faerie Queen.” In the hope of shattering the Spanish power in the West Indies, he then collected a fleet of thirteen vessels, for the most part at his own expense, and captured the largest Spanish prize that had been brought to England. In 1591 he offended Elizabeth by his marriage with her maid of honor, Elizabeth Throgmorton, and was imprisoned for several months, and banished from court. But he spent his time in the Tower in planning another expedition to Guiana, and the next year sent out one Jacob Whiddon to examine the coast near Orinoco river. After receiving Whiddon's report, Ralegh, with a squadron of five ships, sailed on 9 Feb., 1595. When he arrived at the end of March he captured the Spanish town of St. Joseph, and subsequently made a perilous voyage up the Orinoco. When he returned the same year he published an account of his voyage in his “Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana” (London, 1596), in which he related all the wonderful things he had heard from the Spaniards and natives, including El Dorado, the Amazons, and the Ewaipanoma, a tribe that had eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their breasts. His book was read eagerly, and, besides these childish stories, is full of valuable information. After his co-operation in the capture of Cadiz he was restored to Elizabeth's favor, and in 1597 went on an expedition under the Earl of Essex against the Azores, but quarrelled with his commander, and returned. He was made governor of Jersey in 1600, but, having been accused of an agency in the death of Essex, which event was soon followed by the death of Elizabeth, he fell into disfavor, and, on the accession of James I., was stripped of his preferments, forbidden the royal presence, and charged with a plot to place Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne. His estates were confiscated, and he was sentenced to be beheaded, but was reprieved, and passed the thirteen subsequent years in the Tower. During his imprisonment he composed his “History of the World” (London, 1614), which was superior in style and manner to any of the English historical compositions that had preceded it. Ralegh was liberated in 1615, but not pardoned. He then obtained from James a commission as admiral of the fleet, with ample privileges and fourteen ships, and in November, 1617, reached Guiana. His force consisted of 431 men, and he was accompanied by his son Walter and Capt. Lawrence Keymis. Ralegh was too ill with a fever to join the expedition, but sent Keymis and young Walter with 250 men in boats up the Orinoco. They landed at the Spanish settlement of St. Thomas, and, in defiance of the peaceable instructions of James, killed the governor and set fire to the town. Young Walter was killed in the action. Unable either to advance or maintain their position, the British retreated to the ships. Keymis, reproached with his ill success, committed suicide, many of the sailors mutinied, the ships scattered, and Ralegh landed in Plymouth, 16 June, 1618, broken in fortune and reputation. He was arrested and committed to the Tower, on the charge of having, without authority, attacked the Spanish settlement of St. Thomas. He failed in an attempt to escape to France by feigning madness, and it was subsequently decided to execute him on his former sentence. He was beheaded in the old palace-yard at Westminster. Ralegh was of imposing presence, dauntless courage, and varied accomplishments. His knowledge of the principles of political economy were far in advance of his age. Among his other literary ventures he founded the Mermaid club. The city of Raleigh, N. C., is named in his honor. The illustration represents his birthplace, Hayes farm. Besides the works already mentioned, he wrote many poems of merit, the most noted of those attributed to him being “The Soul's Errand.” His “Remains” were published by his grandson, Sir Philip Ralegh (London, 1661); his “Miscellanies,” with a new account of his life, by Thomas Burch (1748); his collected poems by Sir Edward Bridges (1814); and his complete works, with his life, by William Oldys (8 vols., Oxford, 1829). Numerous biographies have been written of him, of which the most reliable are those by Arthur Cayley (2 vols., London, 1805-'6); Mrs. A. T. Thompson (1830); Patrick Fraser Tytler (1833); Robert Southey (1837); Sir Robert Schomburgk, added to his “Voyages to Guiana” (1847); Edward Edwards, with a full collection of Ralegh's letters (2 vols., 1866); John A. St. John (1868); Increase N. Tarbox (1884); and Edmund W. Gosse, in the “English Worthies Series” (1886).
