The most tragical and thrilling of the stories of the seekers after El Dorado is that which Mr. Markham introduces in the quotation above, and which Southey has told with full details in _The Expedition of Orsua; and the Crimes of Aguirre._ The most famous of the expeditions were those in which Sir Walter Raleigh engaged, and two of which he personally led--in 1595, and in 1617-18. Released from his long imprisonment in the Tower to undertake the latter, he returned from it, broken and shamed, to be sent to the scaffold as a victim sacrificed to the malignant resentment of Spain. How far Raleigh shared in the delusion of his age respecting El Dorado, and how far he made use of it merely to promote a great scheme for the "expansion of England," are questions that will probably remain forever in dispute. _Sir Walter Raleigh, Discoverie of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guiana (Hakluyt Society 1848)._ ALSO IN: _J. A. Van Heuvel, El Dorado._ _E. Edwards, Life of Raleigh, volume 1, chapters 10 and 25._ _P. F. Tytler, Life of Raleigh, chapters 3 and 6._ _E. Gosse, Raleigh, chapters 4 and 9._ _A. F. Bandelier, The gilded man._ ELECTORAL COLLEGE, The Germanic: Its rise and constitution. Its secularization and extinction. See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152, and 1347-1493; also, 1801-1803, and 1805-1806. ELECTORAL COMMISSION, The. See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1876-1877. ELECTORS, Presidential, of the United States of America. See PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION.