Spenser was a man of delicate sensibilities and great refinement of
character, but lacked the masterful spirit, the ambition, the energy,
and the dominating will of Raleigh. The latter, however, had rare
literary taste. He is better known as soldier, adventurer, sailor, and
explorer. Spenser called him the "shepherd of the seas," but some of his
sonnets are immortal. They rank with those of Shakespeare in poetic
fancy, delicacy of expression, and sublimity of thought, and his prose
work, especially his history of the world, which was begun at Myrtle
Lodge and finished while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London,
ranked among the literary triumphs of his day and generation.
Sir John Pope Hennessy, to whom I have already referred as the former
owner of the home of Raleigh at Youghal, spent several years in an
investigation of state papers and other historical material relating to
the administration of Irish affairs during the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
and does not leave a fragment of Raleigh's reputation as a man of honor.
He has written a book entitled "Raleigh in Ireland," which is begun and
finished in an unfriendly spirit, and holds Raleigh responsible for all
the troubles that occurred in Ireland at his time and since.
If one-half that Hennessy tells of Raleigh's work in Ireland is true, he
was a man of treachery, untruth, unbridled passion, and monstrous
cruelty, but this is no place to discuss that question. Raleigh was a
prisoner in the Tower of London with James, Earl of Desmond, successor
of the man whose estates he confiscated and occupied. The death of the
earl prompted Raleigh in a letter from the Tower to say:
"Wee shal be judged as wee judge--and bee dealt withal as wee deal
with others in this life--if wee beleve God Hyme sealf."
[Illustration: MYRTLE LODGE; THE HOME OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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