Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Katie Hernandez and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEGH] GREAT RALEGH BY HUGH DE SÉLINCOURT WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON: METHUEN & CO. 1908 TO MURIEL LEE MATHEWS _High Cross_ PREFACE This book has been written for the general reader. Caveat scholasticus. My aim has been to make the character of Ralegh live again, and to draw a picture of the times in as lively a manner as I see it. England in Elizabeth's maturity touched greatness; in Elizabeth's old age and during the reign of King James, England declined. Ralegh embodied the greatest qualities of the great days, and survived to carry on the Elizabethan tradition when the great Elizabethans had passed away. The books to which reference has been made are too many to need mention in a book of this kind: dramatists, poets, pamphleteers, memoirists have been freely pillaged. But I should like to acknowledge here my extreme indebtedness to the works of Major Martin Hume, Mr. T. N. Brushfield, and the late Mr. Edward Edwards, and to thank again Miss Janet Wheeler for her kind help, notably in that arduous task--the making of an Index. H. DE S. CONTENTS CHAPTER I BIRTH PAGE The spread of news--Birth--Influence of birthplace--His father--His mother 1 CHAPTER II EARLY DAYS His early going to Oxford--Old Ascham on quick wit and education--Life at a University--The Queen at Oxford--To the wars in France--Henry Champernoun--Stories of the wars 11 CHAPTER III TOWARDS MANHOOD Friendship with George Gascoyne--Its importance--Ralegh in London--The arch-gossip Aubrey--Elizabethan London-- Ralegh and Sir Humfrey Gilbert--The beginning of the great enterprise 21 CHAPTER IV THE ARRIVAL In Ireland--The state of the country--Cruelty of the wars--At Rakele--Illustrative anecdotes--Smerwick-- Ralegh's initiative--Lord Grey de Wilton--Exploit at Bally--In touch with the home authorities 33 CHAPTER V QUEEN'S FAVOURITE Court life--The Queen's position--Her character--She takes notice of Ralegh--Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester--Sir Philip Sidney--Burghley, the Lord High Treasurer, and Walsingham--Robert Cecil--The dress of the courtier--The language of the courtier--The other side, and the other Queen--Mary, Queen of Scots--The great intrigue--Its discovery--Death of Queen Mary 44 CHAPTER VI THE GREAT ENTERPRISE