actions which ended in the defeat and dispersion of the
great Armada, and was thanked and rewarded tor his services. His private marriage with Elizabeth Throck- morton, one of i lie queen's maids of honor, incurred her
Majesty's severe di-ph a-ure. and he was banished from
court. He u"\\ recurred to those schemes ol conquest and adventure in the New World which formed one main dream of his life, and in 1595 headed an expe- dition to Guiana, having for its object the discovery
of the tabled El Dorado, a city of gold and gems, the
existence of which in these regions was then generally
believed in. Of this brilliant but fruitless adventure, on returning, he published an account. Having re-
RALEIGH
891
RAM
gained the royal favor, he was made, in 1596, admiral in the expedition against Cadiz, commanded hy How- ard and the earl of Essex, and was admittedly the main instrument of its success. Also, in the year following, he took part in the attack on the Azores made by the same commanders. In the court intrigues which ended in the downfall of the earl of Essex, he, after this, be- came deeply involved; and certain points of his con- duct—as, notably, the sale of his good offices with the queen in behalf of such of the earl's adherents as would buy them— though easily regarded by the current mo- rality of the time, have fixed somewhat of a stain on a fame otherwise so splendid. With the death of Eliza- beth, in 1603, ends his brilliant and successful career. Her successor, James, from the first regarded him with suspicion and dislike. He had, besides, made powerful enemies; and, when accused of complicity in a plot against the king, though no jot of evidence of bis be- ing any way concerned in it was produced at his trial, a verdict was readily procured finding him guilty of high-treason. The language of the prosecutor, attor- ney-general Coke, was outrageously abusive. He call- ed Raleigh " a damnable atheist," " a spider of hell," a " viperous traitor," etc. Sentence of death was passed, but James did not venture to execute him ; and he was sent to the Tower, where, for thirteen years, he remain- ed a prisoner, his estates being confiscated, and made over to the king's favorite, Carr, subsequently earl of Somerset. During his imprisonment, Raleigh devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits, his chief mon- ument in this kind being his History of the World, a noble fragment, still notable to the student as one of the finest models of quaint and stately old English style. Certain of his poetical pieces, giving hint of a genius at once elegant and sententious, also continue to be esteemed. In 1615 he procured his release, and once more sailed for Guiana. The expedition, from which great results were expected, failed miserably. He him- self, in consequence of severe illness, was unable to ac- company it inland ; and nothing but disaster ensued. To add to his grief and disappointment, his eldest and favorite son was killed in the storming of the Spanish town of St. Thomas. He returned to England, broken in spirit and in fortunes, only to die. On the morning of Oct. 29, 1618, he was infamously executed, nominally on the sentence passed on him sixteen years before, but really, there is reason to suppose, in base com- pliance, on James's part, with the urgencies of the king of Spain, who resented his persistent hostility. Raleigh was a man of noble presence, of versatile and commanding genius, unquestionably one of the most splendid figures in a time unusually prolific of all splen- did developments of humanity. In the art and finesse of the courtier, the politic wisdom of the statesman, and the skilful daring of the warrior, he was almost alike pre-eminent. The moral elevation of the man shone out eminently in the darkness which beset his later fortunes; and the calm and manly dignity with which he fronted adverse fate conciliated even those whom his haughtiness in prosperity had offended. Raleigh's Life has been written by Oldys, Cayley (Lond. 1806, 2 vols.), and P. F. Tytler (Edin. 1833). His poems were collected and published by Sir E. Brvdges (Lond. 1814) ; his Miscellaneous Writings, by Dr. Birch (1751, 2 vols.) ; and his Complete Works, at Oxford (1829,8 vols.).
Rale(i)gh, Walter, D.D., nephew of the forego- ing, was born in 1586, and was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He took holy orders, and finally be- came, in 1620, rector of Chedzoy, Somersetshire. In 1630 he was made chaplain to the king, and won much favor from Charles I. In 163-1 he was made prebend of Wells, in 1611 was promoted to the deanery of Wells, and later became rector of Streat, with the chapel of Walton, Wiltshire. During the rebellion, he fell under suspicion, and was imprisoned in his house. While thus confined, he was stabbed, one day (1616), in an en- counter with the guard, from whose impertinent curi-
osity he was determined to hide a private letter. Eng- land lost in this divine an eloquent preacher and a scholarly man. Chillingworth said of him that he was the best disputant he ever met with. His works are — Reliquice Raleghance ; being discourses and sermons on several subjects, with an account of the author by bish- op Patrick (Lond. 1679, 4to; 1689, 4to) :— Certain Que- ries Proposed by Roman Catholic*, and Answered by Dr. Walter Raleigh (pub. by Howell, 1719, 8vo). See Wood, Athence Oxon. ; Gentleman's Magazine (Lond.), 1857, ii, 643; 1858, i, 82.