of France, against a body of leaguers and Spaniards then in possession of part of Brittany, who had fortified themselves very strongly at Croyzon near Brest. Here, in an assault upon that fort, November 7th he was wounded by a ball in the hip, of which he died soon after he had brought the fleet safely back to Plymouth, and was buried in that town. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Sir Walter Raleigh, a distinguished statesman, scholar, and warrior, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., was born in 1552, at Budleigh in Devonshire, and educated at Oriel College, Oxford. At the age of seventeen he made one of a troop of an hundred gentlemen volunteers whom Queen Elizabeth permitted to go to France, under the command of Henry Champernon, for the service of the Protestant princes. He next served in the Netherlands; and, on his return from the Continent, his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, having obtained a grant of lands in North America, he engaged with a considerable number of gentlemen to go out to Newfoundland: but the expedition proving unsuccessful, Sir Walter returned to England, after being exposed to several dangers, and proceeded thence to Ireland, where he made his bravery so conspicuous in quelling the insurgents, that he was received at court with considerable favor, and obtained permission and supplies to prosecute his discoveries in America, which ended in his settling a colony in that country, called, in honor of his maiden sovereign, Virginia; and he is said to have first introduced tobacco and potatoes into Europe. In the mean time the Queen conferred on him the distinction of knighthood, and rewarded him by several lucrative grants, including a large share of the forfeited Irish estates. When his country’s safety was threatened by the famous Spanish Armada, he raised and disciplined the militia of Cornwall; and afterwards, by joining the fleet with a squadron of ships belonging to gentlemen volunteers, assisted in obtaining the signal victory which it pleased Providence to give to the English over the Spaniards on that occasion. He was now made gentleman of the privy chamber; but shortly after fell into disgrace, and was confined for some months, partly on account of a tract which he had published, entitled “the School for Atheists,” which was unfairly construed by his enemies into a vindication of atheistical principles; and partly for a clandestine attachment to one of the Queen’s maids of honor, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton; which lady, however, he afterwards honorably married. During his seclusion he planned the discovery of the extensive country of Guiana, in South America, in which he took an active part himself, as soon as he was set at liberty: but the season being unfavorable, he returned to England, and was soon after appointed to a command in the important expedition to Cadiz, of which the success was in a great measure owing to Sir Walter’s valor and prudence.