But could youth last, and love still breed, Marlowe will merit a detailed notice among the dramatists, as inferior only in his own day to Shakspeare; but we may here mention his poem of Hero and Leander, founded on the classic story as given by Musæus, and first published in 1598. Marlowe completed the first and second Sestyads of this paraphrase, and they were reprinted with a continuation by Chapman in 1600. A few lines will shew his command of the heroic couplet : It lies not in our power to love or hate, Of two gold ingots, like in each respect. In the brilliant constellation of great men which adorned the reigns of Elizabeth and James, one of the most distinguished of those who added eminence in literature to high talent for active business, was SIR WALTER RALEIGH, a man whose character will always make him occupy a prominent place in the history of his country. He was born in 1552, at Hayes Farm, in Devonshire, of an ancient family; and from his youth was distinguished by great intellectual acuteness, but still more by a restless and adventurous disposition. He became a soldier at the age of seventeen; fought for the Protestant cause in the civil wars of France and the Netherlands; and afterwards, in 1579, accompanied his half-brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert, on a voyage to Newfoundland. This expedition proved unfortunate, but by familiarising him with a maritime life, had probably much influence in leading him to engage in those subsequent expeditions by which he rendered himself famous. In 1580, he proceeded to Ireland with Arthur, Lord Grey of Wilton, the new lorddeputy. Raleigh held a captain's commission, and was employed in concert with Edward Denny, cousin of Lord Grey, to convey two hundred soldiers to Ireland to act against the rebels, for which service they received £200. In December 1581, we find him receiving £20 for carrying despatches from Lord Grey to the queen. This was probably the first occasion of his being introduced to the queen, and with the aid of a handsome person and winning address, he soon became a special favourite with Elizabeth. There is a story told of his gallantry and tact which, though it rests only on tradition, is characteristic. One day, when he was attending the queen on a walk, she came to a miry part of the road, and for a moment hesitated to proceed. Raleigh, perceiving this, instantly pulled off his rich plush cloak, and by spreading it before her feet, enabled her to pass on unsoiled! The energy and ability displayed by Raleigh in suppressing the rebellion of Desmond led to his receiving a grant of part of the forfeited property-12,000 acres, it is said, and he was appointed governor of Cork. In 1582, he was one of the courtiers whom Elizabeth sent to attend the Duke of Anjou back to the Netherlands, after refusing that nobleman her hand. In 1584, he again joined in an adventure for the discovery and settlement of unknown countries. For this purpose he received a patent from the crown, and in the introduction to this patent-dated 26th March 1584-he is styled Walter Raleigh, Knight; so that Elizabeth must previously have invested her favourite with the honour of knighthood. With the help of his friends, two ships were sent out in quest of gold-mines, to that part of North America now called Virginia. Raleigh himself was not with these vessels; the commodities brought home by which produced so good a return, that the owners were induced to fit out, for the next year, another fleet of seven ships, under the command of Raleigh's kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville. The attempt made on this occasion to colonise America proved an utter failure; and after a second trial, the enterprise was given up. This expedition is said to have been the means of introducing tobacco into England, and also of making known the potato, which was first cultivated on Raleigh's land in Ireland. On both points, however, accounts differ. Meanwhile, the prosperity of Raleigh at the English court continued to increase. Elizabeth, by granting monopolies, and an additional Irish estate, conferred on him solid marks of her favour. In return for these benefits, he zealously and actively exerted himself for the defence of her majesty's dominions against the Spaniards. He was one of the council of war appointed to devise means for resisting the threatened invasion, and at Michaelmas 1587, he received £2000, to be employed in raising horse and foot in Devonshire and Cornwall. Having organised his forces in the west, Raleigh sailed in a vessel of his own to assist in repelling the threatened invaders, whose miserable and total discomfiture is well known. Next year, he accompanied a number of his countrymen who went to aid the expelled king of Portugal in an attempt to regain his kingdom from the Spaniards. Spenser, in a sonnet written in 1590, styles Raleigh 'the summer's nightingale;' and in this year, when revelling in court-favour, he obtained a gift of the rich manor of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, which the dean and chapter of Salisbury were forced to relinquish. Next year, however, he fell into disgrace, in consequence of an intrigue with one of the maids of honour, a daughter of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton-whom he afterwards married-and Elizabeth sent both culprits to the Tower, where Raleigh was confined several months. About this time he exerted himself to reduce to practice an idea thrown out by Montaigne, by setting up an 'office of address,' intended to serve the purposes now executed chiefly by literary and philosophical societies. The description of this scheme, given by Sir William Petty, affords a striking picture of the difficulties and obstacles which lay in the way of men of study and inquiry two centuries ago. It seems, says Sir William, 'to have been a plan by which the wants and desires of all learned men might be made known to each other, where they might know what is already done in the business of learning, what is at present in doing, and what is intended to be done; to the end that, by such a general communication of designs and mutual assistance, the wits and endeavours of the world may no longer be as so many scattered coals, which, having no union, are soon quenched, whereas, being but laid together, they would have yielded a comfortable light and heat. For the present condition of men is like a field where, a battle having been lately fought, we see many legs, arms, and organs of sense, lying here and there, which, for want of conjunction, and a soul to quicken and enliven them, are fit for nothing but to feed the ravens and infect the air; so we see many wits and ingenuities dispersed up and down the world, whereof some are now labouring to do what is already done, and puzzling themselves to reinvent what is already invented; others we see quite stuck fast in difficulties for default of a few directions, which some other man, might he be met withal, both could and would most easily give him. Again, one man requires a small sum of money to carry on some design that requires it, and there is perhaps another who has twice as much ready to bestow upon the same design; but these two having no means to hear the one of the other, the good work intended and desired by both parties does utterly perish and come to nothing.' When visiting his Irish estates after his return from Portugal, Raleigh formed or renewed with Spenser an acquaintance which ripened into intimate friendship. He introduced the poet to Elizabeth, and otherwise benefited him by his patronage and encouragement; for which favour Spenser has acknowledged his obligation in his pastoral, entitled Colin Clout's Come Home Again, where Raleigh is celebrated under the title of the Shepherd of the Ocean;' and also in a letter to him, prefixed to the Faery Queen, explanatory of the plan and design of that poem. Released from the Tower, Sir Walter engaged in one of those predatory naval expeditions which, in Elizabeth's reign, were common against the enemies of England; a fleet of thirteen ships, besides two of her majesty's men-of-war, being intrusted to his command. This armament was destined to attack Panama, and intercept the Spanish plate-fleet, but, having been recalled by Elizabeth soon after sailing, came back with a single prize. So early as February 1594, Raleigh had contemplated a voyage to Guiana, and in 1595 he undertook, at his own expense, an expedition to this colony, concerning the riches of which many wonderful tales were then current. He accomplished nothing, however, beyond taking a formal possession of the country in the queen's name. After coming back to England, he published, in 1596, a work entitled Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana: this production Hume has very unjustly characterised as 'full of the grossest and most palpable lies that were ever attempted to be imposed on the credulity of mankind.' It would appear that he now regained the queen's favour, since we find him holding, in the same year, a command in the expedition against Cadiz, under the Earl of Essex and Lord Effingham. In the successful attack on that town, his bravery, as well as prudence, was very conspicuous. In 1597, he was rear-admiral in the expedition which sailed under Essex to intercept the Spanish West-India fleet; and by capturing Fayal, one of the Azores, before the arrival of the commanderin-chief, gave great offence to the earl, who considered himself robbed of the glory of the action. A temporary reconciliation was effected; but Raleigh afterwards heartily joined with Cecil in promoting the downfall of Essex, and was a spectator of his execution from a window in the Armoury. On the accession of James I. in March 1603, the prosperity of Raleigh came to an end, a dislike against him having previously been instilled by Cecil into the royal ear. Through the malignant scheming of the same hypocritical minister, he was accused of conspiring to dethrone the king, and place the crown on the head of Arabella Stuart; and likewise of attempting to excite sedition, and to establish popery by the aid of foreign powers. A trial for high treason ensued, and upon the paltriest evidence, he was condemned by a servile jury. Sir Edward Coke, who was then attorneygeneral, abused Raleigh on this occasion in violent and disgraceful terms, bestowing upon him such epithets as viper, damnable atheist, the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived, monster, and spider of hell! Raleigh defended himself with such temper, eloquence, and strength of reasoning, that some even of his enemies were convinced of his innocence, and all parties were ashamed of the judgment pronounced. He was, however, reprieved; and instead of being executed, was committed to the Tower, in which he was confined for twelve years, during six of which his wife was permitted to bear him company. During his imprisonment, he wrote his History of the World, noticed in a subsequent page. In the year 1615, Raleigh was liberated from the Tower, in consequence of having projected a second expedition to Guiana, from which the king hoped to derive some profit. His purpose was to colonise the country, and work gold-mines; and in 1617 a fleet of twelve armed vessels sailed under his command. The whole details of his intended proceedings, however, were weakly or treacherously communicated by the king to the Spanish government, by whom the scheme was miserably thwarted. Returning to England, he landed at Plymouth, and on his way to London was arrested in the king's name. At this time the projected match between Prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain occupied James's attention, and, to propitiate the Spanish government, he determined that Raleigh should be sacrificed. After many vain attempts to discover valid grounds of accusation against him, it was found necessary to proceed upon the old sentence, and Raleigh was accordingly beheaded on the 29th of October 1618. On the scaffold, his behaviour was firm and calm; after addressing the people in justification of his character and conduct, he took up the axe, and observed to the sheriff: 'This is a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases.' Having tried how the block fitted his head, he told the executioner that he would give the signal by lifting up his hand; and then,' added he, 'fear not, but strike home!' He then laid himself down, but was requested by the executioner to alter the position of his head. the heart be right,' was his reply, 'it is no matter which way the head lies.' On the signal being given, the executioner failed to act with promptitude, which caused Raleigh to exclaim: 'Why dost thou not strike? Strike, man!' By two strokes, received without shrinking, the head of this fearless and noble Englishman was severed from his body. 'So While in prison in expectation of death, either on this or the former occasion, he wrote also a tender and affectionate valedictory letter to his wife, of which the following is a portion : You shall receive, my dear wife, my last words in these my last lines; my love I send you, that you may keep when I am dead, and my counsel, that you may remember it when I am no more. I would not with my will present you sorrows, dear Bess; let them go to the grave with me, and be buried in the dust. And seeing that it is not the will of God that I shall see you any more, bear my destruction patiently, and with a heart like yourself. First, I send you all the thanks which my heart can conceive, or my words express, for your many travails and cares for me, which, though they have not taken effect as you wished, yet my debt to you is not the less; but pay it I never shall in this world. Secondly, I beseech you, for the love you bear me living, that you do not hide yourself many days, but by your travails seek to help my miserable fortunes, and the right of your poor child; your mourning cannot avail me, that am but dust. ... Remember your poor child for his father's sake, who loved you in his happiest estate. I sued for my life, but, God knows, it was for you and yours that I desired it: for know it, my dear wife, your child is the child of a true man, who, in his own respect, despiseth death, and his mis-shapen and ugly forms. I cannot write muchGod knows how hardly I steal this time when all sleep -and it is also time for me to separate my thoughts from the world. Beg my dead body, which living was denied you, and either lay it in Sherborne or Exeter Church, by my father and mother. I can say no more; time and death calleth me away. The everlasting God, powerful, infinite, and inscrutable God Almighty, who is goodness itself, the true light and life, keep you and yours, and have mercy upon me, and forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet in His glorious kingdom. My dear wife, farewell; bless my boy, pray for me, and let my true God hold you both in His arms. Raleigh's short poems are excellent. He was more a man of action, of roving and adventurous spirit, than of poetic contemplation; but he had a daring and brilliant imagination, with a Shakspearian energy of thought and condensed felicity of expression. His long imprisonment had also turned his mind inward on itself, and tamed the wild fire of his erratic hopes and ambition. Spenser's allusions to his friend's poetical genius are well known, and Raleigh repaid the compliment by his beautiful sonnet on the Faery Queen. One lost poem of Raleigh's, Cynthia, is only known through Spenser's mention of it. Passions are likened best to Floods and Streams. There is no doubt that these beautiful verses are by Raleigh; but in the Ashmole Manuscript, where the poem is signed 'Lo: Walden,' instead of Lo. Warden (Raleigh being Lord Warden of the Stannaries), Ritson entered the name of Lord Walden, afterwards Earl of Suffolk, as the author. Raleigh's claim is supported by numerous independent testimonies. Passions are likened best to floods and streams; So, when affections yield discourse, it seems The bottom is but shallow whence they come. They that are rich in words, in words discover, That they are poor in that which makes a lover. Wrong not, sweet empress of my heart, The merit of true passion, With thinking that he feels no smart, Since if my plaints serve not t' approve For knowing that I sue to serve I rather choose to want relief, Than venture the revealingWhere glory recommends the grief, Despair distrusts the healing. Thus those desires that aim too high Yet when discretion doth bereave The plaints that they should utter, Then thy discretion may perceive That silence is a suitor. Silence in love bewrays more woe Than words though ne'er so witty; A beggar that is dumb, you know, May challenge double pity. Then wrong not, dearest to my heart! A Vision upon this Conceit of the Faery Queen. Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay, Lines prefixed to Sir A. Gorges's Translation of Lucan.* Had Lucan hid the truth to please the time, This translation was published in 1614, but probably executed many years before. Sir Arthur Gorges wrote some original poeti cal pieces. He was a friend of Spenser, and the Daphnaida of the latter was written on the death of Gorges's wife, a lady of the Howard family. The above two sonnets by Raleigh are remarkably like the sonnets of Milton. They have the same high feeling, stately march, and cadence. Milton must have studied them. For this thou hast been bruised; but yet those scars Though thou hast bled by both, and bear'st them too. My gown of glory, hope's true gauge, Where spring the nectar fountains: My soul will be a-dry before; I'll take them first to quench their thirst, At those clear wells where sweetness dwells And this is mine eternal plea To Him that made heaven, earth, and sea, That since my flesh must die so soon, And want a head to dine next noon, Just at the stroke when my veins start and spread, Set on my soul an everlasting head! Then am I, like a palmer, fit To tread those blest paths which before I writ. Who oft doth think, must needs die well. Philip Sidney, appended to Spenser's Astrophel, and published without signature. There is proof enough that Raleigh wrote the poem. It consists of sixty lines, but we can only give the first three verses. The elegiac nature of the poem, and the form of the versification, remind us of Mr Tennyson's In Memoriam. On Sir Philip Sidney. To praise thy life, or wail thy worthy death, Nor any one hath worth that draweth breath. Yet rich in zeal, though poor in learning's lore, And I, that in thy time and living state, Did only praise thy virtues in my thought, As one that seeled the rising sun hath sought, With words and tears now wail thy timeless fate. The Lie. This 'bold and spirited poem,' as Campbell has justly termed it, is traced in manuscript to 1593. It first appeared in print in Davison's Poetical Rhapsody, second edition, 1608. It has been assigned to various authors, but on Raleigh's side there is good evidence besides the internal testimony, which appears to us irresistible. Two answers to it, written in Raleigh's lifetime, ascribe it to him; and two manuscript copies of the period of Elizabeth bear the title of Sir Walter Rawleigh his Lie. Go, soul, the body's guest, The truth shall be thy warrant : Go, tell the court it glows, That rule affairs of state, And if they once reply, Tell zeal it lacks devotion, 1 Errand Arrant and errant were then common forms of the One of the finest of Raleigh's poems is one never included in his works, an epitaph on Sir word. JOSHUA SYLVESTER (1563-1618) was author of several poetical works now forgotten (Poems, two parts, 1614-20), but is well known as the translator of the Divine Weeks and Works of the French poet Dubartas, which was highly popular, and earned for the translator among his contemporaries the epithet, silver-tongued Sylvester.' Spenser, Bishop Hall, Izaak Walton, and others, praise it, and Milton has copied some of its choice expressions. One critic (Dunster) has even said that Sylvester's Dubartas contains the prima stamina of Paradise Lost; but this is much too unqualified a statement. We subjoin one short specimen : Satan's Temptation of Eve. As a false lover, that thick snares hath laid 'No, Fair!' quoth he, 'believe not that the care Sith the suspected virtue of this tree Which dims your eyes; and, further, make you seem O world's rare glory! reach thy happy hand; Through self-awed zeal : put on the glistering pall The compound epithets of Sylvester are sometimes happy and picturesque. Campbell cites the following as containing a beautiful expression : Morning. Arise betimes, while the opal-coloured morn, On the other hand, some of his images are in ludicrously bad taste. Dryden says when he was a boy he was rapt into ecstasy with these lines: Now, when the Winter's keener breath began To glaze the lakes, to bridle up the floods, Two favourable specimens may be added: The Sun. All hail, pure lamp, bright, sacred, and excelling; Plurality of Worlds. I not believe that the great Architect |