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 CHOICE PASSAGES.
 
 e 1£Ii?abcif)an "^Eibraro.
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
 
 choice Paffages from the 
 
 Writings and Letters 
 
 of 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh ; 
 
 being a fmall Sheaf of 
 Gleanings from a gol- 
 den Harveft by 
 Alexander B. 
 Grofart 
 
 r 
 
 LONDON 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, Paternoster Row 
 
 1893
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The prefent booklet does not give a tithe 
 of the copy prepared for the prefs after all 
 manner of reluctant reduction and fifting. 
 Sooth to fay^ half a fcore of volumes of 
 identical quality Jhould Jiill leave many 
 
 ' brave translunary things ' 
 to be fought out by the ^gentle reader^ {to 
 return on the old kindly phrafe). Was it 
 Sheridan who jaid of the notorious Dr. 
 Dodd's ' Beauties of Shakefpeare' ' Tes ; 
 very good — but where are the reJlF I 
 fear the fame retort may be made upon mCy 
 and, indeed, in relation to the entire feries 
 of which this forms one. But be it remem- 
 bered extenuatingly, that one * mot if ^ in the 
 preparation of this (2^li^al)tti)an Hibrarj) is 
 to Jiimulate, not to exhauft, intereji in the 
 fupreme literature of those ^fpacious days^ 
 That ^ motif ^ will be defeated unlefs in 
 each fuccejjive cafe our relatively fight 
 readings fend our readers to the complete 
 works. 
 
 Our Choice Passages /r^«f Raleigh {or
 
 vi Introduction. 
 
 as he mainly fpelled his name, Ralegh; 
 albeit I have feen both at Hatfield and 
 Lifmore Cajile, and eljewhere, ' Raleigh ') 
 are meant to Jerve a double end, viz., to 
 prefent him as Writer and as Man. That 
 is to fay, an endeavour has been made to 
 bring together reprefentative quotations 
 zv here by to illuftrate his dijiin^iion of Jlyle, 
 the ftately march of his fentences, his cul- 
 tured allufivenefs, his picked and packed 
 words, and at the fame time to preferve 
 perfonal traits of character, opinion, and 
 fentiment, and the lights and fhadows of 
 his many-ftded and fplendid career — the 
 career of an Englifhman of high heroic 
 mould, whofe ftmple name abides a fpell 
 to all the Englifh-fpeaking race. I confefs 
 that a lump comes to my throat as I read 
 his ^Farewell Letters^ {pp. 30-40) and 
 *■ Defences' (pp. 71-102). That fuch a 
 head fhould have been firuck off is of the 
 infamies of our ifland-fiory. One inevitably 
 pronounces it damnable, that it fhould have 
 been pofftble for four fovereigns of England 
 in fucceffion to perpetrate judicial murders 
 of this type and the nation be dumb — 
 Henry VIII., of More; Elizabeth, of 
 Effex ; fames /., of Raleigh ; and 
 Charles I., of Strafford and Eliot.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 It is remarkable how the leajl and moji 
 private letters^ as the moJi f elf -evidently 
 communicated learning, takes a Jiamp of 
 noticeablenefs, either of thought, or turn of 
 wording, or of gracioufnefs. 
 
 I have refijied the temptation of anno- 
 tating a number of places that invitingly 
 lend themfelves thereto, e.g., the fiinging 
 ''epitaphs'' on Salifhury and Leicejier — the 
 former immortally gibbeted by Spenfer in 
 * Mother Rubber d'' s Tale^ his terrible 
 letter about EJfex, his * Inftru£lions ' to 
 his fon — given happily in completenefs — his 
 ' Defences ' of his Guiana enterprife, his 
 prifon-books \p. 162), and the like. It 
 had been a fuperfluous jhow of cheap learn- 
 ing to have marred the fymmetry of the 
 page by infer tion of minute tracings of trite 
 clajjical quotations and references. 
 
 This is hardly the place or occafion to 
 intermeddle with the elder D"* Israelii 
 literary {or unliterary) ' mare's neft ' of the 
 (fo-called) 'fecret hijiory ' of the Hijiory of 
 the World — feeing that he is conftrained to 
 admit that for ' magnificence of eloquence 
 and majjivenefs of thought we muft fill 
 dwell on his pages^ and that undoubtedly 
 ' all the eloquent, the grand, and the pathetic 
 paffages interfperfed in the venerable
 
 viii Introduction. 
 
 volume^ were his own (' Curiojities of 
 
 Literature* Hi., pp. 1 1 3, 1 32). 
 
 The following are the fuller titles of the 
 feveral books from which thefe Choice 
 
 Passages have been gleaned, with our 
 figns: 
 
 a. The Hijiory of the World {ed. 16 14, 
 
 folio) =^H. W. 
 
 b. Maxims of State = M. 
 
 c. The Cabinet-Council, containing the 
 
 chief arts of Empire and Myjleries 
 of State (originally publijhed by 
 Milton) = Cab. 
 
 d. The Difcoverie of Guiana = * Difcov- 
 
 erie.* 
 
 e. The Prerogative of Parliaments = P, 
 
 of p. 
 
 f. InJiruBions to his Son and Pojferity — 
 
 complete. 
 
 g. Letters {from Edwards' ^ Life and 
 
 Letters ') = Letters, 
 h. Pcems. 
 
 The laji {'Poems') are, alas! limited to 
 two — the fubtle and cunningly - wrought 
 love-poems, the fecond of which drew from 
 Abp. Trench an unufually fervent tribute 
 of praife {' Houfehold Book of Englijh 
 Poetry '), and the great last lines.
 
 Introduction. 
 
 IX 
 
 The only prefently available colle^ive edi- 
 tion of the Works of Raleigh is the utterly 
 unworthy one from ' the Vniverfity Prefs ' 
 of Oxford {% vols. J 1829). For his com- 
 plete Poems fee Archdeacon Hannafs admir- 
 able Aldine edition — a charming book, 
 
 A, B. G. 
 
 St. Georges Vestry, 
 
 Blcukburfti Lancashire,
 
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 
 Adonijah and Barjheba 
 
 I 
 
 
 Ambition and Glory 
 
 2 
 
 
 Biography . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Church . 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Chronology , 
 
 • 7 
 
 
 Confcience . . • 
 
 8 
 
 
 Conf elation , 
 
 9 
 
 
 Controverfy 
 
 12 
 
 
 Duelling and Pfeudo-Honour 
 
 H 
 
 
 Eaftern Pofition 
 
 23 
 
 
 Epitaphs . 
 
 24 
 
 
 Elizabeth . 
 
 • 25 
 
 
 Equivocation , • 
 
 . 26 
 
 
 Earl of EJfex 
 
 . 27 
 
 
 Fame 
 
 . 29 
 
 
 Farewell Letters 
 
 . 30 
 
 
 Fate and Free Will and AJirology 
 
 41 
 
 
 Geography . 
 
 47 
 
 
 Great Men 
 
 , 49 
 
 
 God — Creation and Providence 
 
 . 50 
 
 
 Guiana and its Co Ion if at ion . 
 
 . 71 

 
 
 
 xii 
 
 Contents. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 Honour . . , .102 
 
 
 Injujike . , . .103 
 
 
 InJiinSi . . . .105 
 
 
 Kings and Kingdoms^ including ^ Brave 
 
 
 and Noble Words to James /.' . 107 
 
 
 Rules and Axioms for prefer ving of 
 
 
 A Kingdom hereditary or con- 
 
 
 quered . . .122 
 
 
 Law . . . .130 
 
 
 Life and Death . . .133 
 
 
 Moral Government of the Vniverfe . 147 
 
 
 Treafon — Injuf ice of Arraignment . 158 
 
 
 Prifon- Books . . .163 
 
 
 Pojierity, Injir unions to his Son and 165 
 
 
 My own Times . . .191 
 
 
 Hiftory — its Rights and Dignity . 193 
 
 
 Englijh V. Roman and French Fa lour 195 
 
 
 To his Mijirefs, Queen Elizabeth . 198 
 
 
 A Poefy to prove Affection is not 
 
 
 Love .... 200 
 
 
 V erf es found in his Bible in the Gate- 
 
 
 houfe at Wefminfery 16 18 .202 
 
 
 r
 
 JDONIJJH AND BJRSHEBJ. 
 
 In . . . his weak eftate of body, when 
 David was in a manner bedrid, Adonijah, 
 his eldeft fon (Amnon and Abfalom being 
 now dead) having drawn unto his party 
 that invincible, renowned, and feared 
 Joab, with Abiathar the prieft, began 
 manifeftly to prepare for his eftablifh- 
 ment in the kingdom after his father. 
 For being the eldeft now living of 
 David's fons, and a man of goodly per- 
 fonage— Solomon yet young, and born 
 of a mother formerly attainted with 
 adultery : for which her name was 
 omitted by St. Matthew, (as Bede, 
 Hugo, [St.] Thomas [Aquinas], and 
 others fuppofe) he prefumed to carry 
 the matter without refiftance. (H. W., 
 B. ii., c. xvii.)
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 AMBITION AND GLORT, 
 
 If we feek a reafon of the fucceffion 
 and continuance of this boundlefs am- 
 bition in mortal men, we may add .... 
 that the kings and princes of the world 
 have always laid before them the adlions 
 but not the ends of thofe great ones 
 which preceded them. They are al- 
 ways tranfported with the glory of the 
 one, but they never mind the mifery of 
 the other till they find the experience 
 in themfelves. They negleft the advice 
 of God, while they enjoy life, or hope ; 
 but they follow the counfel of Death 
 upon his firft approach. (H. V/., B, v., 
 c. vi.) 
 
 r 
 
 TRIFLES IN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 I think it not impertinent fometimes 
 to relate fuch accidents as may feem no 
 better than mere trifles ; for even by 
 trifles are the qualities of great perfons 
 as well difclofed as by their great aftions ; 
 becaufe in matters of importance they 
 commonly llrain themfelves to the ob-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 fervance of general commended rules ; 
 in lefTer things they follow the current 
 of their own natures. (H. W., B. iv., 
 c, v.) 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 Laba?i not * out of the Church.^ 
 Although it be the opinion of St. 
 Chryfoftom and fome later writers, as 
 Cajetan, Oleaster, Mufculus, Calvin, 
 Mercer, and others, that Laban was 
 an idolater becaufe he retained certain 
 idols or houfehold gods which Rachel 
 ftole from him ; yet that he believed in 
 the true God, it cannot be denied. For 
 he acknowledgeth the God of Abraham 
 and of Nahor, and he called Abraham's 
 fervant blefTed of Jehovah, as aforefaid. 
 So, as for myfelf, I dare not avow that 
 thefe men were out of the Church, who, 
 fure I am, were not out of the faith. 
 (H. W., B. ii., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 The Tabernacle — reverence for the 
 Church. 
 
 This was the order of the army of 
 Ifrael and of their encamping and 
 
 I
 
 Choice Passages fro 
 
 m 
 
 marching : the Tabernacle of God 
 being always fet in the middle and 
 centre thereof. The reverent care 
 which Mofes, the prophet and chofen 
 fervant of God, had in all that belonged 
 even to the outward and leaft parts of 
 the Tabernacle, Ark, and Sanftuary, 
 witnefTed well the inward and moft 
 humble zeal borne towards God Him- 
 felf. The induftry ufed in the framing 
 thereof, and every and the leaft part 
 thereof; the curious workmanlhip 
 thereon beftowed ; the exceeding charge 
 and expenfe of the provifions ; the 
 dutiful obfervance in the laying up and 
 preferring the holy vefTels ; the folemn 
 renewing thereof; the vigilant attend- 
 ance thereon, and the prudent defence 
 of the fame, which all ages have in fome 
 degree imitated, is now so forgotten and 
 caft away in this fuperfine age, by thofe 
 of THE Family, by the Anabaptift, the 
 Brownift, and other feftaries, as all coft 
 and care beftowed and had of the 
 Church wherein God is to be revered 
 and worfhipped is accounted a kind of 
 Popery, and as proceeding from an ido- 
 latrous difpofition ; infomuch as time 
 would foon bring to pafs (if it were not
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 refifted) that God would be turned out 
 of churches into barns, and from 
 thence again into the fields and moun- 
 tains and under the hedges ; and the 
 offices of the miniftry (robbed of all 
 dignity and refpeft) be as contemptible 
 as thofe places ; all order, difcipline, and 
 church government left to newnefs of 
 opinion and men's fancy ; yea, and foon 
 after as many kinds of religions fpring 
 up as there are parifh churches within 
 England; every contentious and igno- 
 rant perfon clothing his fancy with the 
 " Spirit of God," and his imagination 
 with " the gift of revelation " ; info- 
 much as when the truth which is loft, and 
 Ihall appear to the fimple multitude no 
 lefs variable than contrary to itfelf, the 
 faith of men will foon after die away by 
 degrees, and all religion be held in fcorn 
 and contempt. (H. W., B. ii., c. v.) 
 
 DAG ON AND THE ARK OF GOD. 
 
 The Philiftines returning with the 
 greateft viftory and glory which ever 
 they obtained, carried the Ark of God
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 with them to Azotus, and fet it up in the 
 houfe of Dagon, their idol ; but that 
 night the idol fell out of his place from 
 above to the ground, and lay under the 
 Ark. The morning following they took 
 it up and fet it again in his place, and it 
 fell the fecond time, and the head brake 
 from the body, and the hands from the 
 arms, Ihowing that it had nor power nor 
 underftanding in the prefence of God ; 
 for the head fell off, which is the feat 
 of reafon and knowledge, and the hands 
 (by which we execute ftrength) were fun- 
 dered from the arms. For God and the 
 Devil inhabit not in one houfe, nor in 
 one heart. And if this idol could not 
 endure the reprefentative of the true 
 God, it is not to be marvelled that at 
 fuch time as it pleafed Him to cover 
 His only-begotten with flefli and fent 
 Him into the world, that all the oracles 
 wherein the Devil derided and betrayed 
 mortal men loft power, fpeech and ope- 
 ration at the inftant. For when that 
 true Light which had never beginning 
 of brightnefs, brake through the clouds 
 of a virgin's body, fhining upon the 
 earth which had been long obfcured by 
 idolatry, all thofe foul and ftinking
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 vapours vanifhed. Plutarch rehearfeth 
 a memorable accident in that age con- 
 cerning the death of the great god Pan, 
 as he ftyleth him ; where (as ignorant 
 of the true caufe), he fearcheth his 
 brains for many reafons of fo great an 
 alteration ; yet finds he none out but 
 frivolous. For not only this old devil 
 did then die, as he fuppofed, but all the 
 reft, as Apollo, Jupiter, Diana, and the 
 whole rabble became fpeechlefs. (H. 
 W., B. ii., c. XV.) 
 
 r 
 
 CHRONOLOGY, 
 
 Since I do here enter into that never 
 refolved queftion and labyrinth of times 
 [ = Chronology], it behoveth me to give 
 reafon for my own opinion ; and with 
 fo much the greater care and circum- 
 fpcdlion, becaufe I walk afide and in a 
 way apart from the multitude ; yet not 
 alone and without companions, though 
 the fewer in numbers ; with whom I 
 rather choofe to endure the wounds of 
 thofe darts which Envy caftcth at 
 Novelty, than to go fafely and flcepily
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 in the eafy ways of ancient miftakings ; 
 feeing to be learned in many errors, as 
 to be ignorant in all things, hath little 
 diverfity. (H. W., B. ii., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 A Clear Confcience. 
 
 For myfelf, if I have in anything 
 ferved my Country, and prized it before 
 my private ; the general acceptation 
 can yield me no other profit at this 
 time, than doth a fair funfhine day to a 
 feaman after fhipvvreck ; and the con- 
 trary, no other harm than an outrageous 
 tempeft after the port attained. I know 
 that I loft the love of many for my 
 fidelity towards her [Queen Elizabeth] 
 whom I muft ftill honour in the duft ; 
 though further than the defence of her 
 excellent perfon, I never perfecuted 
 [ = oppofed] any man. Of thofe that 
 did it, and by what device they did it, 
 He that is the fuprcme Judge of all the 
 world hath taken the account. So as 
 for this kind of fuffering, I muft fay with 
 Seneca, Mala opinio, bene parta^ deleSiat,
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 So for other men ; if there be any that 
 have made themfelves fathers of that 
 fame which hath been begotten for 
 them, I can neither envy at fuch their 
 purchafed glory, nor much lament mine 
 own milhap in that kind ; but content 
 myfelf to fay with Virgil, Sic vos non 
 vobis, in many particulars. (Preface, 
 H. W.) 
 
 CONSOLATION.— ON DEATH 
 OF LADY CECIL, 1596-7. 
 
 To Sir Robert Cecil, 
 
 Sir, — Becaufe I know not how you 
 difpofe of yourfelf, I forbear to vifit 
 you ; preferring your pleafmg before 
 mine own defire. I had rather be with 
 you now than at any other time if I 
 could thereby either take off from you 
 the burden of your forrows, or lay the 
 greater part thereof on mine own heart. 
 In the meantime I would but mind you 
 of this, that you fhould not over(hadow 
 your wifdom with paffion, but look 
 aright into things as they are. 
 
 There is no man forry for death itfelf, 
 but only for the time of death ; every-
 
 lo Choice Passages from 
 
 one knowing that it is a bond never for- 
 feited to God. If, then, we know the 
 fame to be certain and inevitable, we 
 ought withal to take the time of his 
 arrival in as good part as the knowledge, 
 and not to lament at the inftant of 
 every feeming adverfity, which, we are 
 affured, have been on their way towards us 
 from the beginning. It appertaineth to 
 every man of a wife and worthy fpirit to 
 draw together into fufFerance the un- 
 known future to the known prefent ; 
 looking no lefs with the eyes of the 
 mind than thofe of the body — the one 
 beholding afar off and the other at hand 
 — that thofe things of this world in which 
 we live be not ftrange unto us when 
 they approach, as to feeblenefs which 
 is moved with novelties. But that like 
 true men, participating immortality and 
 knowing our deftinies to be of God, we 
 do then make our cilates and works, our 
 fortunes and defires, all one. 
 
 It is true that you have loft a good 
 and virtuous wife, and myfelf an honour- 
 able friend and kinfwoman. But there 
 was a time when (he was unknown to 
 you, for whom you then lamented not. 
 She is now no more, no more yours,
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 nor of your acquaintance ; but immor- 
 ! tal, and not needing or knowing your 
 love or forrow. Therefore you fhall 
 but grieve for that which now is as then 
 it was, when not yours ; only bettered 
 by the difference in this, that fhe hath 
 pall the wearifome journey of this dark 
 world, and hath polfefTion of her inherit- 
 ance. She hath left behind her the 
 fruit of her love ; for whofe fakes you 
 ought to care for yourfelf, that you leave 
 them not without a guide, and not by 
 grieving to repine at His will that gave 
 them you, <^r by forrowing to dry up 
 your own times that ought to eftablifh 
 them. 
 
 I believe it that forrows are dangerous 
 companions, converting bad into evil 
 and evil into worfe, and do no other 
 fervice than multiply harm. They are 
 the treafures of weak hearts and of the 
 foolifh. The mind that entertaineth 
 them is as the earth and duft, whereon 
 forrows and adverfities of the world do, 
 as the beafts of the field, tread, trample 
 and defile. The mind of man is that 
 part of God which is in us, which, by 
 how much it is fubjedl to paflion, by fo 
 much it is further from Him that gave
 
 12 Choice Passages from 
 
 it us. Sorrows draw not the dead to 
 life, but the living to death. And if I 
 were myfelf to advife myfelfin the like, 
 I would never forget my patience till I 
 faw all and the worft of evils, and fo 
 grieve for all at once ; left lamenting 
 for fome one another might not remain 
 in the power of Deftiny of greater dif- 
 comfort. 
 
 Yours ever beyond the power of words 
 to utter, W. Ralegh. ('Letters,* pp. 
 1 6 1- 1 63 — endorfed by William Cecil, 
 2nd Earl of Salifbury : * Sir Walter 
 Ralegh's letters to my Father, touching 
 the deathe of my Mother.') 
 
 CONTROVERSr. 
 
 Contentions among Profejfing Chrijiians, 
 
 Certainly there is nothing more to be 
 admired [ = wondered at] and more to 
 be lamented, than the private conten- 
 tions, the paffionatedifputes, the perfonal 
 hatred and the perpetual war, menaces 
 and murders for religion among Chrif- 
 tians ; the difcourfe whereof hath fo 
 occupied the world as it hath well-near 
 driven the praftice thereof out of the
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 world. Who would not foon refolve, 
 that took knowledge but of the religious 
 difputations among men and not of their 
 lives which difpute, that there were no 
 other thing in their defircs than the 
 purchafe of heaven ; and that the world 
 itfelf were but ufed as it ought, and as an 
 inn or place wherein to repofe ourfelves 
 in pafTing on towards our celeftial habi- 
 tation ? When, on the contrary, be- 
 fides the difcourfe and outward pro- 
 feffion, the foul hath nothing but hypo- 
 crify. We are all (in effedl) become 
 comedians in religion, and while we a6l 
 in gefture and voice divine virtues, in all 
 the courfe of our lives we renounce our 
 perfons and the parts we play. For 
 charity, juftice and truth have but their 
 being in terms, like the Philofopher's 
 materia prima. Neither is it that wifdom 
 which Solomon defineth to be \.\\t fchool- 
 majlers of the knowledge of God, that hath 
 valuation in the world ; it is enough 
 that we give our good word ; but the 
 fame which is altogether exercifed in the 
 fervice of the world, as the gathering of 
 riches chiefly, by which we purchafe 
 and obtain honours, with the many 
 refpefts which attend it. (Preface, H. 
 W.)
 
 14 Choice Passages from 
 
 DUELLING AND PSEUDO- 
 HONOUR. 
 
 Origin of the Duel. 
 
 After fuch time as Francis the French 
 king upon fome difpute about breach of 
 faith, had fent the lie unto the emperor 
 Charles the Fifth, thereby to draw him 
 to a pcrfonal combat, every petty com- 
 panion in France, in imitation of their 
 mafter, made the giving of the lie 
 mortality itfelf ; holding it a matter of 
 no fmall glory to have it faid, that the 
 meaneft gentleman in France would 
 not put up what the great emperor 
 Charles the Fifth had patiently en- 
 dured. From this beginning is derived 
 a challenge of combat, grounded upon 
 none of thefe occafions that were known 
 to the ancients. For the honour of 
 nations, the trial of right, the wager 
 upon champions, or the objedion and 
 refutation of capital offences, are none 
 of them nor all of them together, the 
 argument of half fo many duels as are 
 founded upon mere private anger ; yea 
 or upon matter feeming worthy of 
 anger in the opinion of the duellifts. 
 So that in thefe days, wherein every 
 
 i
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 man takes un-o himfelf a kingly liberty 
 to offer, accept, and appoint perfonal 
 combats, the giving of the lie, which 
 ought to be the negation only in accu- 
 fations for life, is become the moft fruit- 
 ful root of deadly quarrels. This is 
 held a word fo terrible and a charge fo 
 unpardonable, as will admit no other 
 recompenfe than the blood of him 
 that gives it. Thus the fafhion, taken 
 up in hafte by the French gentlemen 
 after the pattern of their king, is grown 
 to be a cuftom, whence we have derived 
 a kind of art and philofophy of quarrel, 
 with certain grounds and rules, from 
 whence the points of honour and the 
 dependencies thereof are deduced. Yea 
 there are (among many others no lefs 
 ridiculous) fome fo myftical curiofities 
 herein, as that it is held a far greater 
 diflionour to receive from an enemy a 
 flight touch with a cane than a found 
 blow with a fword ; the one having re- 
 lation to a flave, the other to a foldier. 
 I confefs that the difference is petty ; 
 though for mine own part, if I had had 
 any fuch Italianated enemy in former 
 times, I fhould willingly have made 
 with him fuch an exchange, and have
 
 1 6 I Choice Passages from 
 
 given him the point of honour to 
 boot. 
 
 But let us examine indifferently [ = un- 
 prejudicedly] the offence of this terrible 
 word ' the //>,' with their conditions 
 who are commonly of all others the 
 moft tender in receiving it. I fay, that 
 the moft of thofe who prefent death on 
 the points of their fwords to all that 
 give it them, ufe nothing fo much in 
 their converfation and courfe of life, as 
 to fpeak and fwear falfely. Yea, it is 
 thereby that they fhift and fhuffle in the 
 world and abufe it ; for how few are 
 there among them, which, having 
 affumed and fworn to pay the monies 
 and other things they borrow, do not 
 break their word and promife as often 
 as they engage it ? Nay, how few are 
 there among them that are not liars by 
 record, by being fued in fome court or 
 other of juftice, upon breach of word or 
 bond ? For he which hath promifed 
 that he will pay money by a day, or 
 promifed anything elfe wherein he 
 faileth, hath diredly lied to him to 
 whom the promife hath been made. 
 Nay, what is the profeffion of love that 
 men make nowadays ? What is the
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 vowing of their fervice and of all they 
 have, ufed in their ordinary compli- 
 ments and in effeft to every man whom 
 they bid but good-morrow or falute, 
 other than a courteous and court-like 
 kind of lying ? It is, faith a wife 
 Frenchman (deriding therein the awful 
 cuftom of his country), un marche et 
 compiot fait enfemble fe mocquer, mentir et 
 ■piper les uns les autres, * a kind of mer- 
 chandife and compiot made among 
 them, to revile, belie, and deride each 
 other,' and fo far nowadays in fafhion 
 and in ufe, as he that ufeth it not is 
 accounted either dull or cynical. True 
 it is, notwithftanding (omitting the old 
 diftindions) that there is great differ- 
 ence between thefe mannerly and com- 
 plimental lies, with thofe which are 
 fometimes perfuaded by neceffity upon 
 breach of promife and thofe which men 
 ufe out of cowardice and fear, the latter 
 confeifing themfelves to be in greater 
 awe of man than of God, a vice of all 
 others ftyled the moft villainous. But 
 now for ' the lie ' itfelf, as it is made the 
 fubjeft of all our deadly quarrels in 
 effcft ; to it I fay that whofo gives 
 another man the lie, when it is manifeil
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 that he hath lied, doth him no wrong at 
 all, neither ought it to be more heinoufly 
 taken than to tell him that he hath 
 broken any promife which he hath 
 otherwile made ; for he that promifeth 
 anything tells him to whom he hath 
 promifed that he will perform it, and in 
 not performing it he hath made himfelf 
 a liar. On the other fide, he that gives 
 any man the lie, when himfelf knows 
 that he to whom it is given hath not lied, 
 doth therein give the lie diredly to him- 
 felf. And what caufe have I if I fay 
 that the fun fliines when it doth fhine, 
 and that another fellow tells me I lie for 
 it is midnight, to profecute fuch an one 
 to death for making himfelf a foolifh 
 ruffian and a liar in his own knowledge r 
 For he that gives 'the lie ' in any other 
 difpute than in defence of his loyalty or 
 life, gives it impertinently and ruffian- 
 like. I will not deny but it is an 
 extreme rudenefs to tax [ = accufe] any 
 man in public with an untruth (if it be 
 not pernicious and to his prejudice 
 againft whom the untruth is uttered), 
 but all that is rude ought not to be 
 civilized with death. That were more 
 to admire and imitate a French cuftom
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 19 
 
 and a wicked one, than to admire and to 
 follow the counfel of God. (H.W.,B. v., 
 c. iii.) 
 
 r 
 
 Is it cowardice to refufe the duel? 
 
 But you will fay thefe difcourfes 
 [againft duelling] favour of cowardice. 
 It is true if you call it cowardice to fear 
 God or hell, whereas he that is truly 
 wife and truly valiant knows that there 
 is nothing elfe to be feared. For againfl 
 an enemy's fword we fhall find ten 
 thoufand feven-penny men (waged at 
 that price in the wars), that fear it as 
 little, and perchance lefs, than any 
 profefTed fwordman in the world : dili- 
 gentijfnna in tutelafuifortitudo^ 'fortitude 
 is a diligent preferver of itfelf.' ' It is/ 
 faith Ariftotle, * a mediocrity between 
 doubting and daring.' Sicut non martyrem 
 pcena ; Jic nee fort em pugna^fed caufa : ' as 
 it is not the punifhment that makes 
 the martyr, fo it is not the fighting that 
 declares a valiant man ; but fighting in 
 a good caufe.' In which whofoever 
 Ihall refolvedly end his life, refolvedly 
 in refpeft of the caufe, to wit, in defence
 
 20 Choice Passages from 
 
 of his prince, religion, or country, as he 
 may juftly be numbered among the 
 martyrs of God, fo may thofe that die 
 with malicious hearts, in private combats, 
 be called the martyrs oi the devil. 
 Neither do we, indeed, take our own 
 revenge, or punifh the injuries offered 
 us, by the death of the injurious. For 
 the true conqueft of revenge is to give 
 him of whom we would be revenged 
 caufe- to repent him, and not to lay the 
 repentance of another man's death on 
 our own confciences, ani?nafque in vul- 
 nere ponere, * and to drown our fouls in 
 the wounds and blood of our enemies.' 
 Therefore you will again afk me if I 
 condemn in generous and noble fpirits 
 the defence of their honours, being 
 prelTed with injuries ? I fay that I do not 
 if the injuries be violent ; for the law 
 of nature, which is a branch of the 
 eternal law, and the laws of all Chrifhian 
 kings and ftates, do favour him that is 
 alTailed in the (laughter of his aiTailant. 
 You will fecondly afk me whether a 
 nobleman or a gentleman, being chal- 
 lenged by cartel by one of like quality, be 
 not bound in point of honour to fatisfy the 
 challenge in private combat? I anfwer
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 that he is not ; becaufe (omitting the 
 greateft, which is the point of honour) the 
 point of the law is diredlly contrary and 
 oppofite to that which they call the 
 point of honour ; the law which hath 
 dominion over it, which can judge it, 
 which can deftroy it ; except you will 
 ftyle thofe ads honourable where the 
 hangman gives the garland, after feeing 
 the laws of this land have appointed the 
 hangman to fecond the conqueror and 
 the laws of God appointed the devil to 
 fecond the conquered, dying in malice ; 
 I fay that he is both bafe and a fool that 
 accepts of any cartel fo accompanied. 
 To this, perchance, it will be anfwered, 
 that the kings of England and other 
 Chriftian kings have feldom taken any 
 fuch advantage over men of quality, but 
 upon even terms have flain their private 
 enemies. It is true that, as in times of 
 trouble and combuftion, they have not 
 often done it, fo did our noblemen and 
 gentlemen in former ages, in all im- 
 portant injuries, fue unto the king to 
 approve themfelves by battle and public 
 combat. For as they dared not to brave 
 the law fo did they difdain to fubmit 
 themfelves to the fhameful revenge
 
 22 Choice Passages from 
 
 thereof, the fame revenge (becaufe it 
 detefteth murder) that it hath declared 
 againft a common cutpurfe or other 
 thieves. Na}^, let it be granted that a 
 pardon be procured for fuch offenders, 
 yet is not the manflayer freed by his 
 pardon. For thefe two remedies hath 
 the party grieved notwithftanding, that 
 is to require juftice by Grand Affize or by 
 battle, upon his appeal, which fuit, faith 
 Sir Thomas Smith ('Commonwealth of 
 England ') is not denied ; and he further 
 faith (for I ufe his own words) * that if 
 the defendant (to wit, the manflayer) 
 be convinced [ = convifted], either by 
 Great AfTize or by battle, upon that 
 appeal the manflayer fhall die, notwith- 
 ftanding the prince's pardon.' So favour- 
 able, faith the fame learned gentleman, 
 are ' our prince and the law of our 
 realm to juftice and to the punifhment 
 of blood violently fhed.' It may further 
 be demanded how our noblemen and 
 gentlemen fhall be reputed in honour 
 where an enemy taking the ft:art, either 
 in words or blows, fhall lay on them an 
 infamy infufferable ? I fay that a mar- 
 fhall's court will eafily give fatisfaftion 
 in both. (H. W., B. v., c. iii.)
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 EJSTERN POSITION. 
 
 Now becaufe Paradife was reached by 
 Mofes towards the Eaft, thence came the 
 cuftom of praying towards the Eaft, and 
 not by inftitution of the Chaldeans ; 
 and therefore all our churches are built 
 Eaft and Weft, as to the point where the 
 fun rifeth in March, which is direftly 
 over Paradife, faith Damafcenus, affirm- 
 ing that we always pray towards the 
 Eaft as looking towards Paradife, whence 
 we were eaft out ; and yet the temple 
 of Solomon had their priefts and fcribes 
 which turned themfelves in their fervice 
 and divine ceremonies always towards 
 the Weft, thereby to avoid the fuperfti- 
 tion of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, 
 But becaufe Eaft and Weft are but in 
 refpedl of places (for although Paradife 
 was Eaft from Judea, yet it was Weft 
 from Perfia), and the ferving of God is 
 everywhere in the world, the matter is 
 not great which way we turn our faces, 
 fo our hearts ftand right, other than this 
 that we all dwell Wert from Paradife, and 
 pray, turning ourfclves to the Eaft, may 
 remember thereby to befeech God that as 
 by Adam's fall we have loft the Paradife
 
 24 Choice Passages from 
 
 on earth, fo by Chrift's death and paffion 
 we may be made partakers of the 
 Paradife Celeftial and the Kingdom of 
 Heaven. (H. W., B. i., c. iii.) 
 
 t 
 
 EPITAPHS. 
 
 Epitaph on the Earl of Salijbury, died 
 May 24, 16 1 2. 
 
 Here lies Hobbinol, our paftor whilere, 
 That once in a quarter our fleeces did 
 
 {hear ; 
 To fleece us his cur he kept under clog, 
 And was ever after both fhepherd and 
 
 dog. 
 For oblation to Pan his cuflom was thus : 
 He firrt gave a trifle, then offered up us ; 
 And through his falfe worfliip fuch 
 
 fines he did gain. 
 As kept him o' th' mountain and us on 
 
 the plain ; 
 Where many a hornpipe he tuned to his 
 
 Phyllis, 
 And fweetly fang Walflngham to's 
 
 Amaryllis.* 
 
 * See our Introduction.
 
 Sir fValter Raleigh. 
 
 Epitaph on the Earl of Leicejier, died 
 September 4, 1588. 
 
 Here lies the noble warrior that never 
 
 blunted fword ; 
 Here lies the noble courtier that never 
 
 kept his word ; 
 Here lies his excellency that govern'd 
 
 all the State; 
 Here lies the Lord of Leicefter that all 
 
 the world did hate. 
 
 r 
 
 PORTRAITS OF QUEEN 
 ELIZABETH. 
 
 I could fay much more of the king's 
 majefty [James I.] without flattery, did 
 1 not fear the imputation of prefump- 
 tion, and withal fufpcft, that it might 
 befall thefe papers of mine (though the 
 lofs were little) as it did the piftures of 
 Queen Elizabeth, made by unfkilful and 
 common painters ; which, by her own 
 commandment, were knocked in pieces, 
 and caft into the fire. For ill artifts, in 
 fetting out the beauty of the external, 
 and weak writers, in defcribing the virtues
 
 26 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 of the internal, do often leave to poflerit}% 
 of well-formed faces a deformed memory, 
 and of the moft perfed and princely 
 minds a moft defedlive reprefentation. 
 (Preface, H. W.) 
 
 EQUIFOCATION. 
 
 If it be permitted, by the help of a 
 ridiculous diftinftion, or by a God-mock- 
 ing equivocation, to fwear one thing by 
 the name of the living God and to referve 
 in filence a contrary intent ; the life of 
 men, the eftates of men, the faith of 
 I fubjefts to kings, of fervants to their 
 I mafters, of valTals to their lords, of wives 
 I to their hufbands, and of children to 
 their parents, and of all trials of right, 
 will not only be made uncertain, but all 
 the chains whereby freemen are tied in 
 the world, be torn afunder. It is by 
 oath, when kings and armies cannot 
 pafs, that we enter into the cities of 
 our enemies, and into their armies. It 
 is by oath that wars take end which 
 weapons cannot end. And what is it, 
 or ought it to be, that makes an oath
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 thus powerful but this, that he that 
 fweareth by the name of God doth afTure 
 others that his words are true as the 
 Lord of all the world is true, whom he 
 calleth for a witnefs and in whofe 
 prefence he that taketh the oath hath 
 promifed ? I am not ignorant of thefe 
 poor evafions, which play with the 
 feverity of God's commandments in this 
 land ; but this indeed is the beft anfwer, 
 that he breaks no faith that hath none to 
 break, for whofoever hath faith and the 
 fear of God dare not do it. (H. W.) 
 
 r 
 
 THE EARL OF ESSEX, 1600. 
 
 To Sir Robert Cecil. 
 
 Sir, — I am not wife enough to give you 
 advice, but if you take it for a good 
 counfel to relent towards this tyrant, 
 you will repent it when it fhall be too 
 late. His malice is fixed and will not 
 evaporate by any your mild courfes. 
 For he will afcribe the alteration to her 
 Majefty's pufillanimity and not to your 
 good nature, knowing that you work but 
 upon her humour and not out of any
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 love to him. The lefs you make him, 
 the lefs he fhall be able to harm you and 
 yours. And if her Majefty's favour fail 
 him, he will again decline to a common 
 perfon. 
 
 For after-revenges, fear them not ; for 
 your own father that was efteemed to be 
 the contriver of Norfolk's ruin, yet his 
 fon followeth your father's fon and loveth 
 him. Humours of men fucceed not 
 [ = nct inherited], but grow by occa- 
 fions and accidents of time and power. 
 Somerfet made no revenge on the Duke 
 of Northumberland's heirs. Northum- 
 berland that now is thinks not of 
 Hatton's ilTuc. Kellaway lives that 
 murdered the brother of Horfey, and 
 Horfey let him go bye all his lifetime. 
 
 I could name you a thoufand of 
 thofe ; and therefore after-fears are but 
 prophefies, or rather conjeftures, for 
 caufes remote. Look to the prefent 
 and you do wifely. His fon fhall be 
 the youngeft Earl of England but one, 
 and if his father be now kept down 
 William Cecil fhall be able to keep as 
 many men at his heels as he, and more, 
 too. He may alfo match in a better 
 houfe than his ; and fo their fear is not
 
 Sir fValter Raleigh. 
 
 worth the fearing. But if the father 
 continue, he will be able to break the 
 branches and pull up the tree, root and 
 all. Lofe not your advantage ; if you 
 do I read your deftiny. Yours to the 
 end, W. Ralegh. 
 
 Let the Queen hold Bothwcll while 
 fhe hath him. He will ever be the 
 canker of her eftate and fafety. Princes 
 are loft by fecurity, and preferved by 
 prevention. I have feen the laft of her 
 good days and all ours after his liberty. 
 ('Letters,' pp. 222, 223 ; fee Edwards, 
 vol. i., pp. 258, 259 ; vol. ii., pp. 213- 
 221 ; and our Introdudion.) 
 
 FAME. 
 
 To thefe undertakings the greateft 
 lords of the world have been ftirred up 
 rather by the dcfirc of fame, which 
 plougheth up the air and foweth in the 
 wind, than by the affeftion of bearing 
 rule, which drawcth after it fo much 
 vexation and fo many cares. And that 
 this is true the good advice of Cineas to
 
 30 Choice Passages from 
 
 Pyrrhus proves. And certainly, as fame 
 hath often been dangerous to the living, 
 fo is it to the dead of no ufe at all, be- 
 caufe feparate from knowledge. Which 
 were it obtained, and the extreme ill 
 bargain of buying this lafting difcourfe 
 underftood by them which are diflblved, 
 they themfelves would then rather have 
 wifhed to have ftolen out of the world 
 without noife, than to be put in mind 
 that they have purchafed the report of 
 their adlions in the world by rapine, 
 oppreffion and cruelty ; by giving in 
 fpoil the innocent and labouring foul to 
 the idle and infolent, and by having 
 emptied the cities of the world of their 
 ancient inhabitants and filled them again 
 with fo many and fo variable forrows. 
 (H. W., B. v., c. vi.) 
 
 FAREWELL LETTERS. 
 
 On being Sentenced to Death. To Lady 
 Ralegh, July, 1603. 
 
 Receive from thy unfortunate hufband 
 thefe his laft lines j thefe the lall words 
 that ever thou fhalt receive from him.
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 That I can live never to fee thee and 
 my child more, I cannot. I have defired 
 God and difputed with my reafon, but 
 nature and compaffion hath the vi6lory. 
 That I can live to think how you are 
 both left a fpoil to my enemies, and 
 that my name Ihall be a difhonour to 
 my child, I cannot. I cannot endure 
 the memory thereof. Unfortunate 
 woman ! unfortunate child ! comfort 
 yourfelves ; truft God and be contented 
 with your poor ertate. I would have 
 bettered it if I had enjoyed a few 
 years. j 
 
 Thou art a young woman, and forbear 
 not to marry again. It is now nothing 
 to me. Thou art no more mine, nor I 
 thine. So witncfs that thou didft love 
 me once, take care that thou marry 
 not to pleafe fenfe, but to avoid poverty 
 and to preferve thy child. That thou 
 didft alfo love me living, witncfs it to 
 others to my poor daughter, to whom 
 I have given nothing : for his fake who 
 will be cruel to himfelf to preferve thee. 
 Be charitable to her and teach thy fon 
 to love her for his father's fake. 
 
 For myfelf, I am left of all men that 
 have done good to many. All good
 
 32 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 turns forgotten, all my errors revived and 
 expounded to all extremity of ill. All 
 my fer vices, hazards and expenfes for 
 my country — plantings, difcoveries, 
 fights, counfels, and whatfoever elfe — 
 malice hath covered over. I am now 
 made an enemy and traitor by the word 
 of an unworthy man. He hath pro- 
 claimed me to be a partaker of his vain 
 imaginations, notwithftanding the whole j 
 courfe of my life hath approved the j 
 contrary, as my death shall approve it. I 
 Woe, woe, w^oe be unto him by whofe 
 falfehood we are loft ! He hath feparated 
 us afunder. He hath (lain my honour, 
 my fortune. He hath robbed thee of 
 thy hulband, thy child of his father, 
 and me of you both. O God ! thou 
 doft know my wrongs. Know, then, thou 
 my wife and child ; know, then, thou 
 my lord and king, that I ever thought 
 them too honeft to betray and too good 
 to confpire againft. 
 
 But, my wife, forgive them all, as I 
 do. Live humble, for thou haft but a 
 time alio. God forgive my Lord Harry 
 [Howard], for he was my heavy enemy. 
 And for my Lord Cecil, I thought he 
 would never forfake me in extremity.
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 I would not have done it him, God 
 Icnows. But do not thou know it, for 
 he muft be mafter of thy child [as Mafter 
 of the Court of Wards], and may have 
 compaiTion of him. Be not difmayed 
 that I died in defpair of God's mercies. 
 Strive not to difpute it. But allure thy- 
 felf that God hath not left me nor 
 Satan tempted me. Hope and Defpair 
 live not together. I know it is forbidden 
 to deftroy ourfelves, but I truft it is for- 
 bidden in this fort, that we deilroy not 
 ourfelves defpairing of God's mercy. 
 The mercy of God is immeafurable ; 
 the cogitations of men comprehend it 
 not. 
 
 In the Lord I have ever trufted ; and 
 I know that my Redeemer liveth. Far 
 is it from me to be tempted unto Satan ; 
 I am only tempted unto Sorrow, whofe 
 fharp teeth devour my heart. O God ! 
 Thou art goodnefs itfelf ! Thou canrt 
 not but be good to me ! O God ! Thou 
 art mercy itfelf! Thou canft not but be 
 merciful to me ! 
 
 For my eftate, it is conveyed to 
 feoffees, to your coufin Brett and others. 
 I leave but a bare eftate for a fhort life. 
 My plate is at gage in Lombard Street :
 
 34 Choice Passages from 
 
 my debts are many. To Peter Vanlove 
 I owe £600. To Antrobus as much, 
 but Compton is to pay £^00 of it. To 
 Michael HickeSj^i 00. To George Carew 
 _^ioo. To Nicholas Sanderfon ^^loo. 
 To John Fitzjames j^ioo. To Matter 
 Waddon ;^ioo. To a poor man, one 
 Hawkes, for horfes £jo. To a poor 
 man called Hunt ^^20. Take firft care 
 of thofe, for God's fake. To a brewer 
 at Weymouth, and a baker for Lord 
 Cecil's fhip and mine, I think ;^8o. 
 John Reynolds knoweth it. And let 
 that poor man have his true part of my 
 return from Virginia. And let the poor 
 men's wages be paid with the goods, for 
 the Lord's fake. Oh, what will my poor 
 fervants think at their return, when they 
 hear I am accufed to be Spanifh, who 
 fent them, at my great charge, to plant 
 and difcover upon his territory ! 
 
 Oh, intolerable infamy ! O God ! I 
 cannot refill thefe thoughts. I cannot 
 live to think how I am derided, to think 
 of the expectation of my enemies, the 
 fcorns I shall receive, the cruel words of 
 lawyers, the infamous taunts and defpites, 
 to be made a wonder and a fpeflacle ! 
 O Death ! haften thou unto me, that
 
 Sir JValter Raleigh. 
 
 thou mayeft deftroy the memory of thefe 
 and lay me up in dark forgetfulnefs. O 
 Death ! deftroy my memory, which is 
 my tormentor ; my thoughts and my 
 life cannot dwell in one body. But 
 do thou forget me, poor wife, that 
 thou mayeft live to bring up my poor 
 child. 
 
 I recommend unto you my poor brother 
 Adrian Gilbert. The leafe of Sandridge 
 is his, and none of mine. Let him have 
 it, for God's caufe. He knows what is due 
 to me upon it. And be good to Kemifh, 
 for he is a perfedl: honeft man and hath 
 much wrong for my fake. For the reft, 
 I commend me to them and them to 
 God. And the Lord knows my forrow 
 to part from thee and my poor child. 
 But part I muft, by enemies and injuries ; 
 part with fliame and triumph of my de- 
 tra6tors. And therefore be contented 
 with this work of God, and forget me in 
 all things but thine own honour and the 
 love of mine. 
 
 I blefs my poor child, and let him 
 know his father was no traitor. Be 
 bold of my innocence ; for God, to 
 Whom I offer life and foul, knows it. 
 And whofoever thou choofe again after
 
 36 Choice Passages from 
 
 me, let him be but thy politique hufband. 
 But let my fon be thy beloved ; for he 
 is part of me, and I live in him ; and the 
 difference is but in the number and not 
 in the kind. And the Lord for ever 
 keep thee and them, and give thee com- 
 fort in both worlds. (Without fignature 
 or addrefs. * Letters,' pp. 383-387. See 
 our Introdu6lion.) 
 
 Letter of Farewell and Confolation to Lady 
 
 Ralegh^ on the eve of his expelled 
 
 execution, December, 1603. 
 
 You fhall receive, dear wife, my laft 
 words in thefe my laft lines. My love 
 I fend you that you may keep it when 
 I am dead, and my counfel that you 
 may remember it when I am no more. 
 I would not, with my laft will, prefent 
 you with forrows, dear Befs. Let them 
 go to the grave with me and be buried 
 in the duft. And feeing it is not the 
 will of God that ever I Ihall fee you in 
 this life, bear my deftrudion gently and 
 with a heart like yourfelf. 
 
 Firft, I fend you all the thanks my
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 heart may conceive or my pen exprefs, 
 for your many troubles and cares taken 
 for me, which — though they have not 
 taken effeft as you wifhed — yet my 
 debt is to you never the lefs ; but pay it 
 I never fhall in this v^orld. 
 
 Secondly, I befeech you, for the love 
 you bore me living, that you do not hide 
 yourfelf many days, but by your travel 
 feek to help your miferable fortunes 
 and the right of your poor children. 
 Your mourning cannot avail me that am 
 but duft. 
 
 You ihall underlland that my lands 
 were conveyed to my child bona-fide. 
 The writings were drawn at Midfummer 
 was twelve months, as divers can witnefs. 
 My honeft coufin Brett can teftify fo 
 much, and Dalberie, too, can remember 
 fomewhat therein. And I truil my blood 
 will quench their malice that defire my 
 (laughter ; and that they will not alio 
 feek to kill you and yours with extreme 
 poverty. To what friend to dired; 
 thee I know not, for all mine have left 
 me in the true time of trial ; and I 
 plainly perceive that my death was 
 determined from the firft day. Moft 
 forry I am (as God knoweth) that
 
 38 ' Choice Passages from 
 
 being thus furprifed with death, I can 
 leave you no better eftate. I meant 
 you all mine office of wines or that I 
 could purchafe by felling it ; half my 
 fluff and jewels, but fome few for my 
 boy. But God hath prevented all my 
 determinations : the great God that 
 worketh all in all. If you can live free 
 from want, care for no more ; for the 
 refl is but vanity. Love God and 
 begin betimes to repofe yourfelf on 
 Him ; therein fhall you find true and 
 lafting riches and endlefs comfort. 
 I For the reft, when you have travailed 
 and wearied your thoughts on all forts 
 of worldly cogitations, you fhall fit 
 down by forrow in the end. Teach 
 your fon alfo to ferve and fear God 
 while he is young, that the fear of God 
 may grow up in him. Then will God 
 be a hufband unto you and a father 
 unto him ; a hufband and a father which 
 can never be taken from you. 
 
 Bayley oweth me ;^200 and Adrian 
 £600. In Jerfey alfo I have much 
 owing me. The arrears of the wines 
 will pay my debts. And, howfoever, for 
 my foul's health, I befeech you pay all 
 poor men. When I am gone no doubt
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 you ihall be fought unto by many, for 
 the world thinks that I am very rich ; 
 but take heed of the pretences of men 
 and of their afFcftions, for they laft but 
 in honeft and worthy men. And no 
 greater miiery can befall you in this life 
 than to become a prey, and afterwards 
 to be defpifed. I fpeak it (God knows) 
 not to dilFuade you from marriage — for 
 that will be beft for you — both in 
 refpeft of God and the world. As for 
 me, I am no more yours nor you mine. 
 Death hath cut us afunder, and God 
 hath divided me from the world and you 
 from me. 
 
 Remember your poor child for his 
 father's fake, that comforted you and 
 loved you in his happiell times. 
 
 Get thofe letters (if it be poffible) 
 which I writ to the Lords, wherein 1 
 fued for my life ; but God knoweth 
 that it was for you and yours that I 
 defired it ; but it is true that I difdain 
 myfelf for begging it. And know it 
 (dear wife) that your fon is the child of 
 a true man, and who, in his own refpeft, 
 defpifeth Death and all his miflhapen 
 and ugly forms. 
 
 I cannot write much. God knows
 
 40 Choice Passages from 
 
 how hardly I ftole this time when all 
 Deep ; and it is time to feparate my 
 thoughts from the world. Beg my 
 dead body, which living was denied 
 you ; and either lay it at Sherburne, if 
 the land continue, or in Exeter Church 
 by my father and mother. I can write 
 no more. Time and Death call me 
 away. 
 
 The everlafting, infinite, powerful 
 and infcrutable God, that Almighty 
 God that is goodnefs itfelf, mercy itfelf, 
 the true life and light, keep you and 
 yours, and have mercy on me and teach 
 me to forgive my perfecutors and falfe 
 accufers ; and fend us to meet in His 
 glorious kingdom. My true wife fare- 
 well. Blefs my poor boy ; pray for me. 
 My true God hold you both in His 
 arms. Written with the dying hand of, 
 fometime thy hufband, but now (alas !) 
 overthrown, yours that was but now 
 not my own, W. Ralegh. (* Letters,' 
 pp. 284-287. See our Introdudion.) 
 
 1^
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 FATE AND FREE WILL. 
 
 Infiuence of the Jiars. 
 
 Certainly it cannot be doubted but 
 the Stars are inflruments of far greater 
 ufe than to give an obfcure light, and 
 for man to gaze on after funfet ; it being 
 manifeft that the diverfity of feafons, the 
 Winters and Summers, more hot and 
 cold, are not fo uncertained by the fun 
 and moon alone, who always keep one 
 and the fame courfe, but that the flars 
 have alfo their work therein. And if 
 we cannot deny but that God hath given 
 virtues to fprings and fountains, to cold 
 earth to plants and ftones and minerals, 
 why fhould we rob the beautiful liars of 
 their working powers ? For feeing they 
 are many in number, and of eminent 
 beauty and magnitude, we may not 
 think that in the treafury of His wifdom 
 which is infinite, there can be wanting 
 (even for every ftar) a peculiar virtue 
 and operation ; as every herb, plant, 
 fruit, and flower adorning the face of 
 the earth hath the like. For as thefe 
 were not created to beautify the earth 
 alone, and to cover and fhadow her
 
 42 Choice Passages from 
 
 dufty face, but otherwife for the ufe of 
 man a7id beaft, to feed them and cure 
 them ; fo were not thefe uncountable 
 glorious bodies fet in the firmament, to 
 no other end than to adorn it, but for 
 inflruments and organs of His Divine 
 Providence, fo far as it hath pleafed 
 His juft will to determine. (H. W,, 
 B. i, c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 Fate. 
 
 As of Nature fuch is the difpute and 
 contention concerning Fate or Deftiny ; 
 of which the opinion of thofe learned 
 men that have written thereof may be 
 iafely received, had they not thereunto 
 annexed and faftened an inevitable 
 neceflity and made it more general and 
 univerfally powerful than it is, by giving 
 it dominion over the mind of man and 
 over his will, of which Ovid and 
 Juvenal : 
 
 Ratio fatum vincere nulla valet. 
 
 Servis regjia dabunt, captivis fata triumphos. 
 
 'Gainfl Fate no counfel can prevail : 
 
 Kingdoms to flaves by Deftiny, 
 
 To captives triumphs given be. 
 
 [Ovid's Triftia, iii. vi. i8 ; Juvenal, vii. 201.]
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 43 
 
 . I 
 
 An error of the Chaldeans, and after 
 them of the Stoics, the Pharifees, Pri- 
 cillianifts, the Bardifanifts, and others, 
 as Bafil, Augufline, and Thomas have 
 ihowed, but that Fate is an obedience of 
 fecond caufes to the firft was well con- 
 ceived of Hermes and Apuleius, the | 
 Platonift. . . . But in this queftion of 
 Fate the middle courfe is to be followed; 
 that as with the heathen we do not bind 
 God to His creatures in this fuppofed 
 neceifity of deftiny ; fo, on the contrary, 
 we do not rob thofe beautiful creatures 
 of their powers and offices [/>., the 
 ftars]. For had any of thefe fecond 
 caufes defpoiled God of His prerogative, 
 or had God Himfelf conllrained the mind 
 and will of man to impious a6ls by any 
 celeftial enforcements, then fure the 
 impious excufe of fome were juftifiable 
 of whom St. Auguftine : 'Where we re- 
 prehend them of evil deeds, they again 
 with wicked perverfenefs urge that 
 rather the author and creator of the 
 ftars than the doer of the evil, is to be 
 accufed ' (20 fupr. Gen. ad lit.), (H. W., 
 B. i., c. i.) 
 
 r
 
 44 Choice Passages from 
 
 JJirology. 
 
 But there is nothing (after God's re- 
 ferved power) that fo much fetteth this 
 art of influence out of fquare and rule 
 as education doth, for there are none in 
 the world fo wickedly inclined but that 
 a religious inflruftion and bringing up 
 may fafliion anew and reform them ; 
 nor any fo well-difpofed whom (the 
 reins being let loofe) the continual 
 fellowfliip and familiarity and the ex- 
 amples of dilTolute men, may not corrupt 
 and deform. Vefl'els will ever retain a 
 favour of their firft liquor; it being 
 equally difficult either to cleanfe the 
 mind once corrupted or to extinguifh 
 the fweet favours of virtue iirll: received,, 
 when the mind was yet tender, open 
 and eafily feafoned ; but where a favour- 
 able conftellation (allowing that the ftars 
 incline the will) and a virtuous educa- 
 tion do happily arrive, or the contrary 
 in both, thereby it is that men are 
 found fo exceeding virtuous or vicious, 
 heaven and earth (as it were) running 
 together and agreeing in one; for as the 
 feeds of virtue may, by the art and 
 hufbandry of Chriftian counfel, produce
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 better and more beautiful fruit than the 
 ftrength of felf-nature and kind could 
 have yielded them ; fo the plants, apt 
 to grow wild and to change themfelves 
 into weeds, by being fet in a foil fuitable 
 and like themfelves, are made more un- 
 favoury and filled with poifon. It was, 
 therefore, truly affirmed : * A wife man 
 affifteth the work of the ftars, as the 
 hufbandman helpeth the nature of the 
 foil.' And Ptolemy confeffeth thus 
 much : * A wife man, and the ominous 
 art of a wife phyfician, Ihall prevail 
 againft the ftars.' Laftly, we ought all 
 to know that God created the ftars as 
 He did the reft of the univerfe, whofe 
 influences may be called His referved 
 and unwritten laws. . . . But let us 
 confider how they bind. ... It were 
 then impious to take that power and 
 liberty from God Himfelf which His 
 fubftitutes [kings] enjoy. . . . God 
 (which only knoweth the operation of 
 His own creatures truly) hath aflured 
 us that there is no inclination or tempta- 
 tion so forcible which our humble 
 prayers and defires may not make 
 fruftrate and break afunder ; for were it 
 (as the Stoics conceive) that Fate or
 
 46 Choice Passages from 
 
 Deftiny, though depending upon eternal 
 power, yet being once ordered and dif- 
 pofed, had fuch a connexion and im- 
 mutable dependency, that God Himfelf 
 ihould in a kind have Ihut up Himfelf 
 therein, * How miferable then were the 
 condition of men,' faith St. Auguftine, 
 ' left altogether without hope !' And if 
 this ftrength of the ftars were so tranf- 
 ferred as that God had quitted unto 
 them all dominion over His creatures ; 
 be he Pagan or Chriftian that fo be- 
 ! lieveth, the only true God of the one 
 I and the imaginary God of the other, 
 I would thereby be defpoiled of all wor- 
 fhip, reverence, or refped. And cer- 
 tainly God which hath promifed us the 
 reward of well-doing, which Chrift 
 Himfelf claimed at the hands of the 
 Father ('I have iinifhed the work which 
 Thou gaveil: Me to do') [St. John 
 xviii. 4], and the fame God who hath 
 threatened unto us the forrow and tor- 
 ment of offences, could not, contrary to 
 His merciful nature, be fo unjuft as to 
 bind us inevitably to the deftinies or in- 
 fluences of the ftars, or fubjedl our fouls 
 to any impofed neceflity. But it was 
 well faid of Plotinus, that the ftars were
 
 Sir fValter Raleigh. 
 
 47 
 
 fignificant but not efficient, giving them 
 yet fomething lefs than their due; and 
 therefore as I do not confent with thofe 
 who would make thofe glorious creatures 
 of God virtuelefs, fo I think that we 
 derogate from His eternal and abfolute 
 power and providence, to afcribe to 
 them the fame dominion over our im- 
 mortal fouls, which they have over all 
 bodily fubftances and periihable matters; 
 for the fouls of men loving and fearing 
 God, receive influence from that Divine 
 light itfelf, whereof the fun's clarity and 
 that of the ftars is by Plato called but a 
 fhadow : * Light is the fhadow of God's 
 brightnefs, who is the light of lights ' 
 (Pol. 6, Ficinus in 1. 7, pol.). (H. W., 
 B. i., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 GEOGRJPHK 
 
 Fiaions of Maps— a ' Pretty JeJ}' 
 
 The fiftions, or let them be called 
 conje6lures, painted on maps, do ferve 
 only to miflead fuch difcoverers as ralhly 
 believe them, drawing upon the pub- 
 lilhers either fome angry curfes or well-
 
 48 Choice Passages from 
 
 deferved fcorn ; but to keep their own 
 credit, they cannot ferve always. To 
 which purpofe I remember a pretty jeft 
 of Don Pedro de Sarmiento, a worthy 
 Spanifh gentleman who had been em- 
 ployed by his king in planting a colony 
 upon the Straits of Magellan: for when 
 I afked him, being then my prifoner, 
 fome queflions about an ifland in thofe 
 ftraits, which methought might have 
 done either benefit or difpleafure to his 
 enterprife, he told me merrily, that it was 
 to be called the Painter's Wife's Ifland ; 
 faying that whilft the fellow drew this 
 map, his wife fitting by defired him to 
 put in one country for her, that flie in 
 imagination might have an ifland of her 
 own. But in filling up the blanks of old 
 hiftories, we need not to be fo fcrupu- 
 lous. For it is not to be feared that 
 Time fliould run backward and by 
 reftoring the things themfelves to know- 
 ledge, make our conjedlures appear 
 ridiculous. What if fome good copy 
 of an ancient author could be found, 
 fliowing (if we have it not already) the 
 perfedl truth of thefe uncertainties ? 
 Would it be more fhame to have believed 
 in the meanwhile Annius or Terniellus
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 than to have believed nothing ? (H. W., 
 B. ii., c. xxiii.) 
 
 r 
 
 GREAT MEN. 
 
 A Reverend Rejpe5l for Great Men. 
 
 But you will fay that there are fome 
 things elfe, and of greater regard than 
 gathering of riches ... as the reverend 
 refpeft that is held of great men and 
 the honour done unto them by all fort 
 of people. And it is true indeed, pro- 
 vided that an inward love for their 
 juftice and piety accompany the outward 
 worfhip given to their places and power ; 
 without which what is the applaufe of 
 the multitude, but as the outcry of an 
 herd of animals, who, without the know- 
 ledge of any true caufe, pleafe them- 
 felves with the noife they make ? For 
 feeing it is a thing exceeding rare to 
 diftinguifh virtue and fortune, the moft 
 impious, if profperous, have ever been 
 applauded ; the moft virtuous, if un- 
 profperous, have ever been defpifed. 
 For as Fortune's man rides the horfe, fo 
 Fortune herfelf rides the man; who.
 
 50 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 when he is defcended and on foot, the 
 man taken from his beaft and fortune 
 from the man, a bafe groom beats the 
 one and a bitter contempt fpurns the 
 other with equal liberty. (Preface, 
 H. W.) 
 
 GOD^CREJTION— PROVI- 
 DENCE. 
 
 Creation and Providence. 
 
 The examples of Divine Providence 
 everywhere found (the iirft Divine hif- 
 tories being nothing elfe but a continua- 
 tion of fuch examples) have perfuaded 
 me to fetch my beginning from the 
 beginning of all things, to wit, Creation. 
 For though thefe two glorious aftions 
 of the Almighty be fo near — as it were, 
 linked together — that the one necef- 
 farily completes the other, Creation 
 inferring Providence (for what father 
 forfaketh the child that he hath be- 
 gotten ?), and Providence prefuppofing 
 Creation ; yet many of thofe that have 
 feemed to excel in worldly wifdom 
 have gone about to disjoin the co-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 herence : the Epicure [ = Epicurean] 
 denying both Creation and Providence, 
 but granting that the world had a be- 
 ginning ; the Ariftotelian granting Pro- 
 vidence, but denying both the Creation 
 and the beginning. [Ihid.) 
 
 r 
 
 By Faith Creatmi is Vnderjiood. 
 
 Now, although this dodlrine of Faith 
 touching the Creation in time (for * by 
 faith we underftand that the world was 
 made by the Word of God ' [Hebrews 
 xi. 3]) be too weighty a work for 
 Ariftotle's rotten ground to bear up, 
 upon which he hath notwithftanding 
 founded the defences and fortreffes of 
 all his verbal do6lrine ; yet that the 
 neceffity of infinite power and the 
 world's beginning, and the impoffibility 
 of the contrary even in the judgment 
 of natural reafon wherein he believed, 
 had not better informed him, it is 
 greatly to be marvelled at. And it is 
 no lefs ftrange that thofe men which 
 are defirous of knowledge (feeing Arif- 
 totle hath failed in this main point, and
 
 52 Choice Passages from 
 
 taught little other than terms in the 
 reft) have To retrenched their minds 
 from the following and overtaking of 
 truth, and fo abfolutely fubjefted them- 
 felves to the law of thofe philofophical 
 principles, as all contrary kind of teach- 
 ing in the fearch of caufes they have 
 condemned either for fantaftical or 
 curious. But doth it follow that the 
 pofitions of heathen philofophers are 
 undoubted grounds and principles in- 
 deed becaufe fo called ? or that, ipji 
 dixerunt^ doth make them to be fuch ? 
 Certainly no. But this is true, that 
 where natural reafon hath built any- 
 thing fo ftrong againll itfelf, as the fame 
 reafon can hardly affail it, much lefs 
 batter it down ; the fame in every 
 queftion of Nature and finite power 
 may be approved for a fundamental 
 law of human knowledge. For faith 
 Charron in his Book of Wifdom, Toute 
 propojition hum aim a autant d^ author it e 
 que r autre, fi la raifon n'on fait la differ- 
 ence, * Every human propofition hath 
 equal authority, if reafon make not the 
 difference,' the reft being but the fables 
 of principles. But hereof how fhall 
 the upright and impartial judgment of
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 man give a fentence where oppofition 
 and examination are not admitted to 
 give us evidence ? And to this purpofe 
 it v/as well faid of Laftantius (De Orig. 
 Erroris, 1. 2, c. viii.) : ' They negled 
 their own wifdom who, without any 
 judgment, approve the invention of 
 thofe that forewent them, and fufFer 
 themfeives, after the manner of beafts, 
 to be led by them.' By the advantage 
 of which floth and dulnefs, ignorance 
 is now become fo powerful a tyrant as 
 it hath fet true philofophy, phyfic, and 
 divinity in a pillory, and written over 
 the firft, Contra negantem principia ; over 
 the fecond. Virtus fpecijica ; and over the 
 third, Ecclejta Romana. {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 Arijiotle on Creation condemned. 
 
 But, for myfelf, I fhall never be per- 
 fuaded that God hath fhut up all light 
 of learning within the lantern of Arif- 
 totle's brains, or that it was ever faid 
 unto him as unto Efdras, Accendam in 
 corde tuo lucernam intelle8u5 ; that God 
 hath given invention but to the heathen.
 
 54 Choice Passages from 
 
 and that they only have invaded Nature, 
 and found the ftrength and bottom 
 thereof; the fame Nature having con- 
 fumed all her flore, and left nothing 
 of price to after-ages. That thefe and 
 thofe be the caufes of thefe and thofe 
 effefts, time hath taught us, and not 
 reafon ; and fo hath experience with- 
 out art. The cheefe-wife knoweth it 
 as well as the philofopher, that four 
 rennet doth coagulate her milk into a 
 curd. But if we alk a reafon of this 
 caufe, why the fournefs doth it ? where- 
 by it doth it ? and the manner how ? 
 I think that there is nothing to be 
 found in vulgar philofophy to fatisfy 
 this and many other like vulgar quef- 
 tions. But man, to cover his ignorance 
 in the leaft things, who cannot give a 
 true reafon for the grafs under his feet 
 why it fhould be green rather than red 
 or of any other colour ; that could 
 never yet difcover the way and reafon 
 of Nature's working in thofe which are 
 far lefs noble creatures than himfelf, 
 who is far more noble than the heavens 
 themfelves ; * Man,' faith Solomon, *that 
 can hardly difcern the things that are 
 upon the earth, and with great labour
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 find out the things that are before us* 
 (i. 9) ; that hath fo fhort a time in the 
 world, as he no fooner begins to learn 
 than to die ; that hath in his memory 
 but borrowed knowledge ; in his under- 
 ftanding nothing truly ; that is ignorant 
 of the efTence of his own foul, and 
 which the wifeft of the Naturalifts (if 
 Ariftotle be he) could never fo much 
 as define but by the aftion and elFe6l, 
 telling us what it works (which all men 
 know as well as he), but not what it 
 is, which neither he nor any elfe 
 doth know but God that created it 
 (' For though I were perfeft, yet I 
 know not my foul,' faith Job [ix. 21]) ; 
 man, I fay, that is but an idiot in the 
 next caufe of his own life, and in the 
 caufe of all the adlions of his life, will, 
 notwithftanding, examine the art of 
 God in creating the world ; of God 
 'Who,' faith Job, * is fo excellent as 
 we know Him not' (xxxvii. 23); and 
 examine the beginning of being. {Ibid.) 
 
 r
 
 S6 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 Secondary Caufes. 
 
 Man will difable God's power to 
 make a world without matter to make 
 it of. He will rather give the motes 
 of the air for a caufe ; call the work 
 on neceffity or chance ; bellow the 
 honour thereof on Nature ; make two 
 powers, the one to be the author of 
 the matter, the other of the form ; and 
 laftly, for want of a workman, have it 
 eternal ; which latter opinion Ariftotle, 
 to make himfelf the author of a new 
 doftrine, brought into the world, and 
 his feftators have maintained it. {Ibid.) 
 
 God by Necejfity of Invincible Reafon. 
 
 Parati ac cofijurati quos fequuntur, phi- 
 lofophorum animus inviSlis opiniones tueri. 
 For Hermes, who lived at once with 
 or foon after Mofes, Zoroafter, Mufasus, 
 Orpheus, Linus, Anaximines, Anaxa- 
 goras, Empedocles, Meliflus, Pherecydes, 
 Thales, Cleanthes, Pythagoras, Plato, 
 and many others (whofe opinions are 
 exquifitely gathered by Steuchius Eugu-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 binus), found, in the neceffity of invin- 
 cible reafon, One eternal and infinite 
 Being to be the parent of the univerfal. 
 * All thefe men's opinions/ faith Laflan- 
 tius (5), ' though uncertain, come to this, 
 that they agree upon one Providence ; 
 whether the fame be Nature, or light, 
 or reafon, or underftanding, or deftiny, 
 or Divine ordinance, that it is the 
 fame which we call God.* Certainly, 
 as all the rivers in the world, though 
 they have divers rifmgs and divers 
 runnings ; though they fometimes hide 
 themfelves for a while under ground, 
 and feem to be loft in fea-like lakes, 
 do at laft find and fall into the great 
 ocean, fo, after all the fearches that 
 human capacity hath, and after all phi- 
 lofophical contemplation and curiofity, 
 in the neceflity of this Infinite Power 
 all the reafon of man ends and diifolves 
 itfelf. {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 Out of Nothing Nothing : Sufficient Caufe 
 Sufficient Efea. 
 
 Now for thofe who from that ground 
 * That out of nothing nothing is made,'
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 infer the world's eternity ; and yet not 
 fo favage [ = heathen] therein as thofe 
 are which give an eternal being to dead 
 matter ; it is true, if the word 'nothing' 
 be taken in the affirmative, and the 
 making impofed upon natural agents 
 and finite power, that out of nothing 
 nothing is made. But feeing their great 
 doftor, Ariftotle himfelf, confelTeth 
 * That all the ancients decree ^ kind of 
 beginning, and the fame to be infinite,' 
 and a little after, more largely and 
 plainly (Steuc. Eug., 1. 3, c. 9., and Arift. 
 Phys., iii., 20), it is ftrange that this 
 philofopher, with his followers, fhould 
 rather make choice out of falfehood to 
 conclude falfely, than out of truth to 
 refolve truly. For if we compare the 
 world univerfal and all the immeafurable 
 orbs of heaven and thofe marvellous 
 bodies of the fun, moon and ftars, with j 
 ipfum infinitum^ it may truly be faid of 
 them all, which himfelf affirmeth of his 
 imagining materia prima^ that they are 
 neither quid^ quale, nor quantum; and, 
 therefore, to bring finite (which hath 
 no proportion with infinite) out of infi- 
 nite {qui dejiruit omiiem proportionem) is 
 no work in God's power. And, there-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 fore, Anaximander, Meliffus and Empe- 
 docles call the world univerfal ; but 
 particulam univerfitatis et infinitatisy *a 
 parcel of that which is the univerfality 
 and the infinity itfelf '; and Plato, but ' a 
 (hadow of God.' But the other, to prove 
 the world's eternity, urgeth this maxim, 
 that * a fufficicnt and eifeftual caufe 
 being granted an anfwerable efFeft 
 thereof is alfo granted'; inferring that 
 God being for ever a fufEcient and effec- 
 tual caufe of the world, the effeft of the 
 caufe fhould alfo have been for ever, to 
 wit the world univerfal. But what a 
 flrange mockery is this in fo great a 
 mafter, to confefs a fufHcient and effec- 
 tual caufe of the world (to wit, an 
 Almighty God) in His antecedent and 
 the fame God to be a God reflrained in 
 His conclufion ; to make God free in 
 power and bound in will ; able to effed:, 
 unable to determine ; able to make all 
 things, and yet unable to make choice of 
 the time when ; for this were impioufly 
 to refolve of God as of natural neceffity, 
 which hath neither choice nor will, nor 
 underftanding ; which cannot but work, 
 matter being prefent, as fire, to burn 
 things combuflible. {Ibid.)
 
 6o Choice Passages from 
 
 The Pattern of Creation Eternal. 
 
 To this anfwer (as before) in itfelf 
 fufficient, others add further, that the 
 pattern or image of the world may be 
 faid to be eternal, which the Platonicks 
 call fpiritualem mundum, and do in this 
 fort dilHnguifh the idea and creation in 
 time, * That reprefentative or the inten- 
 tional world,' fay they, ' the fampler of 
 the vifible world, the firft work of God, 
 was equally ancient with the architedl ; 
 for it was for ever with Him, and ever 
 fhall be. This material world, the 
 fecond work or creature of God, doth 
 differ from the worker in this, that it was 
 not from everlafting ; and in this it doth 
 agree, that it fhall be for ever to come.' 
 The firft point. That it was not for 
 ever, all Chrillians confefs : the other 
 they underftand no otherwife than that 
 after the confummation of this world, 
 there fhall be ' a new heaven and a new 
 earth ' without any new creation of 
 matter. But of thefe things we need 
 not here fland to argue, though fuch 
 opinions be not unworthy the propound- 
 ing ; in this confideration of an eternal
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 unchangeable Cause producing a change- 
 able and temporal effect {Ibid.) 
 
 Creation without Ending. 
 
 But to return to them which, denying 
 that ever the world had any beginning, 
 withal deny that ever it fhall have any 
 end ; and to this purpofe affirm that it 
 was never heard, never read, never feen, 
 nor not by any reafon perceived, that 
 the heavens have fufFered corruption ; 
 or that they appear any way the elder 
 by continuance, or in any fort other- 
 wife than they were ; which, had they 
 been fubjeft to final corruption, fome 
 change would have been difcerned in fo 
 long a time ; to this it is anfwered, that 
 the little change as yet perceived doth 
 rather prove their newnefs, and that 
 they have not continued fo long, than 
 that they will continue for ever as they 
 are. And if conjedlural arguments may 
 receive anfwer by conjedures, it then 
 feemeth that fome alteration may be 
 found. For either Ariftotle (Met. 2), 
 Pliny (1. 2, c. 8), Strabo (1. 3), Beda
 
 62 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 (De ratione tern, ii., c. 32), Aquinas 
 (i. p. q. 102, art. 2), and others, were 
 groffly miftaken ; or elfe thofe parts of 
 the world lying within the burnt zone 
 were not in olden times habitable, by 
 reafon of the fun's heat ; neither were 
 the feas under the equinodlial navigable. 
 But we know by experience that thofe 
 regions fo fituate are filled with people 
 and exceeding temperate ; and the fea 
 over v/hich we navigate, paffable enough. 
 We read alfo many hiitories of deluges, 
 and how that in the time of Phaeton 
 divers places in the world were burnt 
 up by the fun's violent heat. {Ibid.) 
 
 Alterations in Creation. 
 
 But in a word, this obfervation is 
 exceeding feeble. For we know it for 
 certain that ftone walls, of matter 
 mouldering and feeble, have Hood two or 
 three thoufand years, and that many 
 things have been dragged up out of the 
 earth, of that depth as fuppofed to have 
 been buried by the General Flood, 
 without any alteration either of fub-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 fiance or figure ; yea it is believed, and 
 it is very probable, that the gold which 
 is daily found in mines and rocks under 
 ground, was created together with the 
 earth. And if bodies elementary and 
 compounded, the eldeft times have not 
 invaded and corrupted, what great 
 alteration fhould we look for in celeftial 
 and quinteilential bodies ? And yet we 
 have reafon to think that the fun, by 
 whofe help all creatures are generate, 
 doth not in thefe latter ages afTift nature 
 as heretofore. We have neither giants 
 fuch as the eldeft world had, nor mighty 
 men fuch as the elder world had, but 
 all things in general are reported of lefs 
 virtue which from the heavens receive 
 virtue. Whence, if the nature of a 
 Preface would permit a larger difcourfe, 
 we might eafily fetch ftore of proof, as 
 that this world shall at length have end 
 as that once it had beginning. {Ibid.) 
 
 Creation not Self-exijiing. 
 
 Who was it that appointed the earth 
 to keep the centre, and gave order that it
 
 64 Choice Passages from 
 
 ihould hang in the air ; that the fun 
 fhould travel between the tropics, and 
 never exceed thofe bounds, nor fail to 
 perform that progrefs once in every 
 year ; the moon to live by borrowed 
 light ; the fixed liars (according to com- 
 mon opinion) to be faftened like nails in 
 a cart wheel, and the planets to wander 
 at their pleafure ? Or^ if none of thefe 
 had power over other, was it out of 
 charity and love that the fun, by his 
 perpetual travel within thofe two arches, 
 hath vifited, given light unto and re- 
 lieved all parts of the earth and the 
 countries therein, by turns and times ? 
 Out of doubt, if the fun have of his 
 own accord kept this courfe in. all 
 eternity, he may juftly be called eternal 
 charity and everlafting love. The fame 
 may be faid of all the ftars, who, being 
 all of them mofl large and clear foun- 
 tains of virtue and operation, may alfo 
 be called eternal virtues ; the earth may 
 be called eternal patience ; the moon 
 an eternal borrower and beggar ; and 
 man, of all other, the mod miferable, 
 eternally mortal. And what were this 
 but to believe again in the old play of 
 the gods ? yea, in more gods by millions
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, \ 65 
 
 than ever Heliod dreamt of. But 
 inftead of this mad folly, we fee it well 
 enough with our feeble and mortal eyes, 
 and the eyes of our reafon difcern it 
 better, that the fun, moon, liars and the 
 earth, are limited, bounded and con- 
 ftrained ; themfelves they have not 
 conftrained, nor could. {Ibid.) 
 
 That the Invifihle God is feen in His 
 Creatures. 
 
 God, Whom the wifeft men acknow- 
 ledge to be a Power ineffable and virtue 
 infinite ; a Light by abundant clarity 
 invifible ; an Underftanding which It- 
 felf can only comprehend ; an EiTence 
 eternal and fpiritual, of abfolute pure- 
 nefs and fimplicity ; was and is pleafed 
 to make Himfelf known by the work of 
 the world : in the wonderful magnitude 
 whereof (all which He embraceth, filleth 
 and fuftaineth) we behold the image of 
 that glory which cannot be meafured, 
 and withal, that One and yet univerfal 
 Nature which cannot be defined. In 
 the glorious lights of heaven we per-
 
 66 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 ceive a fhadow of His Divine counten- 
 ance ; in His merciful provifion for all 
 that live, His manifold goodness ; and 
 laftly, in creating and making exiftent 
 the world univerfal, by the abfolute 
 art of His own word, His power and 
 almightinefs : which power, light, virtue, 
 wifdom and goodnefs, being all but 
 attributes of One fimple effence and 
 One God, we in all admire and in part 
 difcern per fpeculum creaturarum, that is, 
 in the difpoHtion, order and variety of 
 celeftial and terrellrial bodies : terreflrial, 
 in their ftrange and manifold diverfities ; 
 celeftial, in their beauty and magnitude ; 
 which in their continual and contrary 
 motions, are neither repugnant, inter- 
 mixed, nor confounded. By thefe potent 
 effedts we approach to the knowledge of 
 the Omnipotent Caufe, and by thefe 
 motions, their Almighty Mover. (H.W., 
 B. i., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 * Feeling after God* 
 
 There is not anything in this world 
 i of more efficacy and force to allure and 
 I draw to it the hearts of men than God,
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 I which is the fummum bonum. He is care- 
 I fully defired and continually fought for 
 I of all creatures ; for all regard Him as 
 their laft end and refuge. Light things 
 ! apply themfelves upwards, heavy things 
 downwards ; the heavens to revolution, 
 the herbs to flowers, trees to bear fruit, 
 beafts to preferve their kind, and man in 
 i feeking his tranquility and cverlalling 
 glory. But forafmuch as God is of fo 
 high a nature as the {tnio. and under- 
 ftanding of man cannot conceive it, 
 every man diredlly turns himfelf to that 
 place where He leaves fome print of His 
 power, and declares fome fign of His 
 exiftence ; and to fuch perfons to whom 
 He feemeth more efpecially to have re- 
 vealed Himfelf. (' Cities.') 
 
 r 
 
 God Inconceivable. 
 
 * There would be no difference be- 
 tween God and man if man's under- 
 ftanding could conceive the counfels 
 and difpofmg of that eternal Majefty ' 
 (Laftantius in Prasf ) ; and therefore to 
 be over-curious in fearching how the
 
 68 Choice Passages from 
 
 all-powerful Word of God wrought in 
 the creation of the world, or His all- 
 piercing and operative Spirit diftinguifh- 
 ing, gave form to the matter of the 
 univerfal, is a labour and fearch like 
 unto his who, not contented with a 
 known and fafe ford, will prefume to 
 pafs over the greateft river in all parts 
 where he is ignorant of their depths ; 
 for fo doth the one lofe his life and the 
 other his underflanding. We behold 
 the fun, and enjoy his light, as long as 
 we look towards it but tenderly and 
 circumfpeftly ; we warm ourfelves 
 fafely while we fland near the fire ; but 
 if we feek to outface the one or enter 
 into the other, we forthwith become 
 blind or burnt. (H. W.) 
 
 Wifeft Own God, 
 
 This is certain, that if we look into 
 the wifdom of all ages we fhall find 
 that there never was man of folid 
 underftanding or excellent judgment ; 
 never any man whofe mind the art of 
 education hath not bended ; whofe eyes
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh 
 
 a foolifh fuperftition hath not afterwards 
 blinded ; whofe apprehenfions are fober 
 and by a penfive infpedlion advifed, but 
 that he hath found by an unrefiftible 
 necelTity one true God and everlafting 
 Being, all for ever caufing and all for 
 ever fuftaining. {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 All-feeing^ %^11-knowing God. 
 
 But it is neither of examples the 
 moft lively inftruflions, nor the words 
 of the wifeft men, nor the terror of 
 future torments, that hath yet fo wrought 
 in our blind and ftupefied minds as to 
 make us remember that the infinite 
 eye and wifdom of God doth pierce 
 through all our pretences ; as to make 
 us remember that the juftice of God 
 doth require none other accufer than 
 our own confciences ; which neither 
 the falfe beauty of our apparent adlions 
 nor all the formality which (to pacify 
 the opinions of men) we put on, can in 
 any or the leaft kind, cover from His 
 knowledge. And fo much did that 
 heathen wifdom confefs, no way as yet 
 qualified by the knowledge of a true
 
 yo ( Choice Passages from 
 
 God. If any (faith Euripides), * having 
 in his life committed wickednefs, think 
 he can hide it from the everlalling God, 
 he thinks not well.' {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 Heathen Gods Dead. 
 
 All thefe are vanifticd. For the in- 
 ventions of mortal men are no lefs ; 
 mortal than themfelves. The Fire which | 
 the Chaldeans worfhipped for a god | 
 is crept into every man's chimney ; • 
 which the lack of fuel ftarveth, water j 
 quencheth, and want of air fuffocateth. | 
 Jupiter is no more vexed with Juno*s 
 jealoufies. Death hath perfuaded him 
 to chaftity and her to patience. And 
 that Time which hath devoured itfelf 
 hath alfo eaten up both the bodies and 
 images of him and her — yea, their 
 ftately temples of ftone and dureful 
 marble. The houfes and fumptuous 
 buildings ereded to Baal can nowhere 
 be found upon the earth, nor any 
 monument of that glorious temple 
 confecrated to Diana. There are none 
 now in Phenicia that lament the death
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 of Adonis, nor any in Libya, Crete, 
 ThelTalia, or elfewhere that can afk 
 counfel or help from Jupiter. The 
 great god Pan hath broken his pipes. 
 Apollo's priefts are become fpeechlefs ; 
 and the trade of riddles in oracles, with 
 the Devil's telling men's fortunes there- 
 in, is taken up by counterfeit Egyptians 
 [= gipfies] and cozening aftrologers. 
 (H. W., B. i., c. vi.) ['Temple of 
 Diana* redifcovered in our own time. 
 See account of its magnificent ruins in 
 Falkener (1862) and Guhl's 'Ephefiaca' 
 
 (1843).] 
 
 r 
 
 GUIANA AND ITS COLONIZA- 
 TION, 
 
 The Offer of Guiana to Queen Elizabeth 
 Privately Affirmed, 1595. 
 
 To Sir Robert Cecil. 
 
 Sir, — You may perceive by this 
 ' Relation ' that it is no dream which I 
 have reported of Guiana. And if one 
 image [ = idol .''] have been brought from
 
 72 Choice Passages from 
 
 thence weighing 47 kintalls[47 hundred- 
 weight], I know that in Manoa there 
 are ftore of thefe. If the ' Relation ' 
 fent to the Spaniih king had been alfo 
 taken, you fhould therein have found 
 matter of great admiration [ = wonder]. 
 But however this aftion be refpefted, I 
 know that the like fortune was never 
 offered to any Chriflian prince. I know- 
 it will be prefently followed both by the 
 Spanifli and French, and if it be fore- 
 flowed by us I conclude that we are 
 curfed of God. In the meantime that 
 none be fuftered to foil the enterprife, 
 and that thofe kings of the borders 
 which are by my labour, peril and 
 charge won to her Majefty's love and 
 obedience, be not by other pilferers loft 
 again ; I hope I fliall be thought 
 worthy to dire6l thofe adlions that I 
 have at mine own charges laboured in, 
 and to govern that country which I 
 have difcovered and hope to conquer 
 for the Queen without her coft. I am 
 fending away a bark to the country to 
 comfort and affure the people, that they 
 defpair not, nor yield to any compofition 
 with other nations. 
 
 I know the plot [ = map of Guiana]
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 is by this time finifhcd, which if you 
 pleafe command from Harriot, that her 
 Majeily may fee it. If it be thought 
 of lefs importance than it deferveth, 
 her Majefty will Ihortly bewail her 
 negligence therein, and the enemy, by 
 the addition of fo much wealth, wear 
 us out of all. Sir, I pray efteem it as 
 the affair requireth if you love the 
 Queen's honour, profit, and fafety. If 
 I be thought unworthy to be employed, 
 or that becaufe of my difgrace all men 
 fear to adventure with me — if it may 
 not be otherwife — I wilh fome other of 
 better fufficiency and grace might under- 
 take it, that the Queen lofe not that 
 which fhe fhall never find again. 
 
 You find that there are befides gold, 
 both diamonds and pearl . . . ('Letters,* 
 pp. 109, no.) 
 
 r 
 
 Expedition is preparing for * Guiana^ 
 
 1595- 
 
 To Sir Robert Cecil 
 
 For conclufion I will only fay this 
 much : take good heed left you be not
 
 74 I Choice Passages from 
 
 too flow. Expedition in a little is 
 better than much too late. But you 
 minifters of defpatch are not plentiful. 
 Neither is it every man's occupation. 
 (' Letters,' pp. io8, 109.) 
 
 r 
 
 Another Jppeal, 1595. 
 
 I befeech you let me know whether 
 we fhall be travellers or tinkers, con- 
 querors or novices. For if the winter 
 pafs without making provifion, there can 
 be no vidlualling in the fummer ; and 
 if it be now foreflowed, farewell Guiana 
 for ever. Then muft I determine to 
 beg or run away. Honour and gold 
 and all good for ever hopelefs. (* Letters,' 
 p. 117.) 
 
 r 
 
 Th Falls of Caroli in Guiana, 1595. 
 
 Myfelf with Captain GifFord, Captain 
 Caulfield, Edward Hancock, and fome 
 half a dozen Ihot, marched over land to 
 view the ftrange overfalls of the river 
 of Caroli, which roared fo far off, and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 alfo to fee the plains adjoining, and the 
 reft of the province of Canuri. I font 
 alfo Captain Whiddon, W. Connock, 
 and fome eight fhot with them, to fee if 
 they could find any mineral-ftone along 
 the river's fide. When we ran to the 
 tops of the firft hills of the plains adjoin- 
 ing to the river, we beheld that won- 
 derful breach of waters which ran down 
 Caroli, and might from that mountain 
 fee the river how it ran in three parts 
 above twenty miles off ; and there 
 appeared fome ten or twelve overfalls in 
 fight, every one as high over the other 
 as a church tower, which fell with that 
 fury that the rebound of waters made it 
 feem as if it had been all covered over 
 with a great fhower of rain ; and in 
 fome places we took it at the firft for a 
 fmoke that had rifen over fome great 
 town. For mine own part, I was well- 
 perfuaded from thence to have returned, 
 being a very ill footman, but the reft 
 were all fo defirous to go near the faid 
 ftrange thunder of waters, as they drew 
 me on by little and little, till we came 
 into the next valley, where we might 
 better difcern the fame. I never faw a 
 more beautiful country, nor more lovely
 
 76 Choice Passages from 
 
 profpefts ; hills fo raifed here and there 
 over the valleys, the river winding into 
 diverfe branches, the plains adjoining 
 without bufh or ftubble, all fair green 
 grafs, the ground of hard fand, eafy to 
 march on, either for horfe or foot, the 
 deer crofling in every path, the birds 
 towards the evening finging on every 
 tree with a thoufand feveral tunes, 
 cranes and herons of white, crimfon, 
 and carnation perching on the river's 
 fide, the air frefh with a gentle eafterly 
 wind, and every ftone that we Hooped 
 to take up promifed either gold or filver 
 by his complexion. (*Difcoverie.') 
 
 r 
 
 Wonders of Guiana noted by Shakefpearty 
 1595. 
 
 There is alfo another goodly river 
 beyond Caroli, which is called Arui 
 [ = Aro], which alfo runneth through 
 the lake Caffipa, and falleth into Orinoco 
 farther weft, making all the land between 
 Caroli and Arui an ifland, which is like- 
 wife a moft beautiful country. Next 
 unto Arui [ = Aro] there are two rivers,
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Atocca and Caora [ = Caura], and on 
 this branch, which is called Caora, are 
 a nation of people whofe heads appear 
 not above their fhoulders, which, though 
 it may be thought a mere fable, yet for 
 mine own part 1 am refolved it is true, 
 becaufe every child in the provinces of 
 Aromara and Canuri affirms the fame. 
 They are called Ewaipanoma. They 
 are reported to have their eyes in their 
 fhoulders and their mouths in the middle 
 of their breafts, and that a long train of 
 hair groweth backward between their 
 fhoulders. (*Difcoverie.') [Shakefpeare 
 muft have read Raleigh's ' Difcovery of 
 Guiana' [1595]. He makes ufe of this 
 defcription of the Ewaipanoma when 
 Othello gives Defdemona a relation of 
 the wonders he had fcen : 
 
 ' The cannibals, that each other eat ; 
 The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads 
 Do grow beneath their shoulders.' 
 
 Oldys fays this reference was worked in 
 as a compliment to Raleigh.]
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 Golde7i Dreams of Guiana^ l595-9^' 
 
 If Peru had fo many heaps of gold, 
 whereof thofe Ingas [ = Incas] were 
 princes, and that they delighted fo much 
 therein, no doubt but this which now 
 liveth and reigneth in Mama hath the 
 fame humour, and I am afTured hath 
 more abundance of gold within his ter- 
 ritory than all Peru and the Weft Indies. 
 For the reft, which myfelf have feen, I 
 will promife thefe things that follow 
 and know to be true. Thofe that are 
 defirous to difcover and to fee many 
 nations, may be fatisficd within this 
 river, which bringeth forth fo many 
 arms and branches leading to feveral 
 countries and proving above 2,000 miles 
 eaft and weft, and 800 miles iouth and 
 north, and of thefe the moft either rich 
 in gold or in other merchandifes. The 
 common foldicr fhall here fight for gold 
 and pay himfelf, inftead of pence, with 
 plates of half a foot broad, whereas he 
 beareth his bones in other wars for 
 poverty and penury. Thofe com- 
 manders and chieftains that fhoot at 
 honour and abundance, ftiall find there
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 more rich and beautiful cities, more 
 temples adorned with golden images, 
 more fepulchres filled with treafure, 
 than cither Cortez found in Mexico, or 
 Pizzarro in Peru, and the fhining glory 
 of this conqueft will cclipfe all thcfe fo 
 far extended beams of the Spanifh 
 nation. (' Difcoverie.') 
 
 The Pineapple. 
 
 Brought us . . . viftuall, which they 
 did in great plenty . . . with diverfe 
 forts of excellent fruits and roots and 
 great abundance of P'lTias^ the princefs 
 of fruits. (* Difcoverie.') 
 
 Guiana Offered to Queen Elizabeth 
 Publicly Affirmed, 1596. 
 
 The Weft Indies were firft offered 
 her Majefty's grandfather by Columbus, 
 a ftranger, in whom there might be 
 doubt of deceit ; and befides, it was 
 then thought incredible that there were
 
 8o 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 fuch and fo many lands and regions 
 never written of before. This Empire 
 is made known to her Majeft)^ by her 
 own vaffal, and by him that oweth to 
 her more duty than an ordinary fubjedj 
 fo that it fhall ill fort with the many 
 graces and benefits which I have re- 
 ceived to abufe her highnefs either with 
 fables or imaginations. The country is 
 already difcovered, many nations won 
 to her Majefty's love and obedience ; 
 and thofe Spaniards which have lateft 
 and longell laboured about the conquell 
 beaten out, difcouraged, and difgraced, 
 which among thefe nations were thought 
 invincible. Her Majefty may, in this 
 enterprife, employ all thofe foldiers and 
 gentlemen that are younger brethren, 
 and all captains and chieftains that 
 want employment, and the charge will 
 be only the firft fetting out in viclual- 
 ling and arming them ; for after the 
 firft or fecond year I doubt not but to 
 fee in London a Contradlation Houfe 
 of more receipt for Guiana than there 
 is now in Seville for the Weft Indies. 
 
 And I am refolved that if there 
 were but a fmall army afoot in Guiana, 
 marching towards Manoa, the chief
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 city of Inga, he would yield her 
 Majefty by compofition fo many hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds yearly as Ihould 
 both defend all enemies abroad and 
 defray all expenfes at home, and that 
 he would bcfides pay a garrifon of 
 3,000 or 4,000 foldiers very royally 
 to defend him againft other nations ; 
 for he cannot but know how his prede- 
 ceflbrs — yea, how his own great-uncles, 
 Guafcar and Atibalipa, fons to Guana- 
 capa, emperor of Peru — were (while 
 they contended for the empire) beaten 
 out by the Spaniards, and that both of 
 late years, and ever fince the faid Con- 
 queft, the Spaniards have fought the 
 paffages and entry of his country ; and 
 of their cruelties ufed to the borderers 
 he cannot be ignorant. In which re- 
 fpe6l no doubt but he will be brought 
 to tribute with great gladnefs ; if not, 
 he hath neither fhot nor iron weapon 
 in all his empire, and therefore may 
 eafily be conquered. 
 
 And I further remember that Berreo 
 confefled to me and others (which 1 
 proteft before the majefty of God to 
 be true) that there was found among 
 prophecies in Peru (at fuch time as the
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 empire was reduced to the Spanifh 
 obedience), in their chiefeft temples, 
 amongft divers others which forefhowed 
 the lofs of the faid empire, that from 
 Inglatierra thofe Ingas ftiould be again 
 in time to come reftored and delivered 
 from the fervitude of the faid con- 
 querors. And I hope, as we note thefe 
 few hands have difplanted the firft 
 garrifon, and driven them out of the 
 faid country, fo her Majefty will give 
 orders for the reft, and either defend 
 it and hold it as tributary, or conquer 
 and keep it as emprefs of the fame ; 
 for whatfoever prince fhall poffefs it 
 fhall be greateft ; and if the king of 
 Spain enjoy it, he Ihall become irre- 
 fiftible. Her Majefty hereby ftiall con- 
 firm and ftrengthen the opinions of all 
 nations, as touching her great and 
 princely aftions. And where the South 
 border of Guiana reacheth to the do- 
 minion and empire of the Amazones, 
 there women fhall hereby hear the 
 name of a virgin which is not only 
 able to defend her own territories and 
 her neighbours', but alfo to invade and 
 conquer fo great empires and fo far 
 removed.
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 To fpeak more at this time, I fear, 
 would be but troublefome. I trufl: in 
 God, this being true, will fuffice, and 
 that He which is King of all kings and 
 Lord of all lords will put it into her 
 heart which is lady of ladies to polTefs 
 it; if not, I will judge thofe men 
 worthy to be kings thereof that, by her 
 grace and leave, will undertake it of 
 themfelves. ('Difcoverie of Guiana.*) 
 
 r 
 
 Why More Gold was not Brought from 
 Guiana, 1596. 
 
 For any longer ftay to have brough 
 a more quantity (which I hear hath been 
 often objefted), whofoever had feen or 
 proved the fury of that river [Oronoque] 
 after it began to arife, and had been a 
 month and odd days, as we were, from 
 hearing aught from our fhips, leaving 
 them meanly manned above 400 miles 
 off, would perchance have turned fome- 
 what fooner than we did, if all the 
 mountains had been gold or rich flones, 
 and to fay the truth, all the branches 
 and fmall rivers which fell into Oronoko
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 were raifed with fuch fpeed, as if we 
 waded therein over thefhoes in the morn- 
 ing outward, we were covered to the 
 fhoulders homeward the very fame day, 
 and to ftay to dig out gold with our 
 nails had been cpus laboris but not 
 ingenii : fuch a quantity as would have 
 ferved our turns we could not have 
 had but a difcovery of the mines to our 
 infinite difadvantage we had made, and 
 that could have been the beft profit of 
 further fearch or flay ; for thofe mines 
 are not eafily broken nor opened in 
 hafte, and I could have returned a good 
 quantity of gold ready call if I had not 
 Ihot at another mark than prefent profit. 
 (' Difcoverie.') 
 
 Voyage to Guiana further prejed^ 
 1615-16. 
 
 To Secretary Sir Ralph Winwoa, 
 
 Honoured Sir, — I was lately per- 
 fuaded by two gentlemen, my ancient 
 friends, to acquaint your Honour with 
 fome offers of mine made heretofore for 
 a journey to Guiana, who were of
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 opinion that it would be better under- 
 ftood now than when it was firft pro- 
 pounded ; which advice having fur- 
 mounted my defpair, I have prefumed 
 to fend unto your Honour the copies of 
 thofe letters which I then wrote, both 
 to his Majefty and to the Treafurer 
 Cecil, wherein as well the reafons that 
 firll moved me are remembered, as the 
 objedlions by him made are briefly 
 anfwered. 
 
 What I know of the riches of that 
 place, not by hearfay, but what mine 
 eyes have feen, I have faid it often, but 
 it was then to no end : becaufe thofe 
 that had the greateft truft were refolved 
 not to believe it ; not becaufe they 
 doubted the truth, but becaufe they 
 doubted my difpofition towards them- 
 felves, where [ = in cafe that] (if God 
 had blefled me in the enterprife) I had 
 recovered his Majefty's favour and good 
 opinion. Other caufe than this or other 
 fufpicion, they never had any. Our 
 late worthy Prince of Wales was ex- 
 treme curious in fearching out the 
 nature of my offences ; the Queen's 
 Majefty has informed herfelf from the 
 beginning ; the King of Denmark at
 
 86 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 both times of his being here, was 
 thoroughly fatisfied of my innocence ; 
 they would otherwife never have moved 
 his Majefty on my behalf. 
 
 The wife, the brother and the fon of 
 a king do not ufe to fue for men fufpeft; 
 but. Sir, fmce they all have done it out 
 of their charity, and but with reference 
 to me alone, your Honour (whofe 
 rcfpecl hath only relation to his 
 Majefly's fervice), flrengthened by the 
 example of thofe princes, may with the 
 more hardnefs [ = refolution] do the like, 
 being princes to whom his Majefty*s 
 good eftate is no lefs dear, and all men 
 that fhall oppugn it no lefs hateful than 
 to the King himfelf. 
 
 It is true. Sir, that his Majefty hath 
 fometimes anfwered that his Council 
 knew me better than he did ; meaning 
 feme two or three of them ; and it was 
 indeed my infelicity. For had his 
 Majefty known me I had never been 
 here where I now am ; or had I known 
 his Majefty, they had never been fo 
 long there where they now are. His 
 Majefty not knowing of me hath been 
 my ruin ; and his Majefty milknowing of 
 them hath been the ruin of a goodly
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 part of his eftate : but they are all of 
 them now — feme living and fome dying 
 — come to his Majelly's knowledge. 
 But, Sir, how little foever his Majelly 
 knew me, and how much foever he 
 believed them, yet have I been bound 
 to his Majefly both for my life and all 
 that remains, of which but for his 
 Majefly, no life or aught elfe had re- 
 mained. In this refpe£t. Sir, I am 
 bound to yield up the fame life and all 
 that I have for his Majefty's fervice. 
 T'o die for the King and not by the 
 King is all the ambition I have in the 
 world. — Waltfr Ralegh. ('Letters,' 
 
 PP- 339-341') 
 
 r 
 
 Thanks for releafe from Tower, 
 1 615-16, March 17. 
 
 To Sir George l^iiliers, afterwards Duke 
 of Buckingham. 
 
 Sir, — You have by your mediation 
 put me again into the world. I can but 
 acknowledge it ; for to pay any part of 
 your favours by any return of mine as
 
 88 I Choice Passages from 
 
 yet it is not in my power. If it fucceed 
 well, a good part of the honours fhall 
 be yours ; and if I do not alfo make it 
 profitable unto you, I fhall (how myfelf 
 exceeding ungrateful. 
 
 In the meanwhile, and until God 
 difcover the fuccefs, I befeech you to 
 reckon me among the number of your 
 faithful fervants, though the leafl able. 
 — W. Ralegh. ('Letters,' p. 341 : fee 
 alfo Raleigh's pathetic letter to Buck- 
 ingham, pp. 373-37S> o^ 1618.) 
 
 r 
 
 Legality of the Guiana Expedition of 
 1618. 
 
 To George Lord Carezv of Clopton. 
 
 Becaufe I know not whether I fhall 
 live to come before the Lords, I have 
 for his Majefty's fatisfaftion here fet 
 down as much as I can fay, either for 
 mine own defence or againft myfelf, as 
 things are conftrued. 
 
 It is true that though I acquainted 
 his Majefty with my intent to land in 
 Guiana, yet I never made it known to
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 his Majelly that the Spaniards had any 
 footing there, neither had I any authority 
 by my patent to remove the Spaniards 
 from thence; and therefore his Majefty 
 had no intereft in the attempt of St. 
 Thomas by any foreknowledge thereof 
 in his Majefty. 
 
 But knowing his Majefty's title to the 
 country to be the beft and moftChriftian, 
 becaufe the natural lords did moft will- 
 ingly acknowledge Queen Elizabeth to 
 be their fovereign, who by me promifed 
 to defend them from the Spanifh cruelty, 
 I made no doubt but that I might enter 
 the land by force — feeing the Spaniards 
 had no other title but force (the Pope's 
 donation excepted) ; confidcring alfo 
 that they got a polTeflion divers years 
 fmce my polTeflion, taken for the 
 Crown of England. For were not 
 Guiana his Majefty's, then might I as 
 well have been queftioned for a thief 
 for taking of gold out of the King of 
 Spain's mines, as the Spaniards do now 
 call me a peace-breaker : for from any 
 territory confefled to be the King of 
 Spain's it is no more lawful to take gold 
 than lawful for the Spaniards to take 
 tin out of Cornwall.
 
 90 Choice Passages from 
 
 Now, were this pofleffion of theirs a 
 fufficient bar to his Maje%'s right, the 
 Kings of Spain might as well call them- 
 felves Dukes of Brittany becaufe they 
 held Bluette and fortified there ; and 
 Kings of Ireland becaufe they polTefTed 
 Smerwick and fortified there ; and fo in 
 other places. 
 
 That his Majefty was well refolved of 
 his right there, I make no kind of doubt, 
 becaufe the Englifh, both under Mr. 
 Charles Leigh and Mr. Harcourt, had 
 leave to plant and inhabit the country. 
 
 That Oronoque itfelf had [had] long 
 ere this 5,000 Englifh in it, I alTure 
 myfelf — had not my employment at 
 Cales [Cadiz] the next year after my 
 return from Guiana, and after that our 
 journey to the Iflands, hindered me for 
 thefe two years ; after which Tyrone's 
 Rebellion made her Majefty unwilling 
 that any great number of fhips or men 
 fhould be taken out of England till that 
 Rebellion were ended. And, laftly, her 
 Majefty's death and my long imprifon- 
 ment gave time to the Spaniards to fet 
 up a town of flakes covered with leaves 
 of trees, upon the banks of the Oronoque, 
 which they called St. Thomas ; but they
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 have neither reconciled nor conquered 
 any of the Cafiques or natural lords of 
 the country ; which Cafiques are ftill in 
 arms againft them, as by the Governor's 
 letter to the King of Spain may appear. 
 
 That by landing in Guiana there can be 
 any breach of peace, I think yet, under 
 favour, impoffible. To break peace 
 w^here there is no peace, it cannot be. 
 
 That the Spaniards give us no peace 
 there, it doth appear by the King's 
 letter to his Governor, that they fhall 
 put to death all thofe Spaniards and 
 Indians that trade — con los Englejes 
 enemigos — with Englifh enemies. Yea, 
 thofe very Spaniards which we en- 
 countered at St. Thomas did of late 
 years murder 36 of Mr. Hall's men, 
 of London, and mine, who landed, 
 without weapons, upon the Spanifh faith, 
 to trade with them."*^ Mr. Thorne, alfo 
 
 * From 'Apology': 'If we had any peace 
 with the Spaniards in those parts of the world, 
 why did even those Spaniards which were now 
 encountered, tie the six-and-thirty Englishmen 
 out of Master Hall's ship of London and mine, 
 back to back, and cut their throats after they 
 had traded with them a whole month, and 
 came to them ashore having not so much as a 
 sword or any other weapon among them all ?'
 
 92 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 of Tower Street, in London, befides 
 many other Englilh, was in like fort 
 murdered, the year before my delivery 
 out of the Tower. 
 
 Now if this kind of trade be * peace- 
 able,' there is then a peaceable trade in 
 the Indies between us and the Spaniards. 
 But if this be cruel war and hatred and 
 no peace, then there is no peace broken 
 by our attempt. Again, how doth it 
 Hand with the greatnefs of the King of 
 Spain firft to call us * enemies ' when 
 he did hope to cut us in pieces, and 
 then, having failed, to call us peace- 
 breakers ; for to be an enemy and a 
 peacebreaker in one and the fame a6lion 
 is impoffible. But the King of Spain, 
 in his letter to the Governor of Guiana, 
 dated at Madrill [Madrid], the 29th 
 of March — before we left the Thames 
 — calls us Englefes enemigos. 
 
 Had it pleafed the King of Spain to 
 have written to his Majefty in fix months' 
 time (for we were fo long in preparing), 
 and have made his Majefty know that 
 our landing in Guiana would draw after 
 it a breach of peace, I prefume to think 
 his Majefty would have ftayed our enter- 
 prife for the prefent. This he might
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 have done with lefs charges than to levy 
 300 foldiers and tranfport 10 pieces of 
 ordnance from Puerto Rico ; which 
 foldiers, added to the garrifon of St. 
 Thomas (had they arrived before our 
 coming), had overthrown all our faid 
 companies. And there would have 
 followed no complaint. 
 
 For the vain point of landing near 
 St. Thomas, it is true that we were of 
 opinion that we mull have driven the 
 Spaniards out of this town before we 
 could pafs the thick woods upon the 
 mountain of the mine, which, I confefs, 
 I did iirft refolve upon. But better be- 
 thinking myfelf, I referred the taking 
 of the town to the goodnefs of the mine, 
 which if they found to be fo rich as it 
 might perfuade the leaving of a garrifon 
 there, then to drive the Spaniards thence. 
 But to have it burnt was never my 
 intent ; neither could they give me any 
 reafon why they did it. 
 
 Upon the return, I examined the 
 Sergeant-Major and Kemifh why they 
 followed not my laft diredlions for the 
 trial of the mine before the taking of 
 the town. And they anfwered me that, 
 although they durft hardly go to the
 
 mine, leaving a garrifon of Spaniards 
 behind them and their boats, yet they 
 faid they followed thofe later direftions, 
 and did land between the town and the 
 mine ; and that the Spaniards, without 
 any manner of parley, fet upon them 
 unawares and charged them, calling 
 them Peros Englefes^ and by ikirmifhing 
 with them drew them on to the very 
 entrance of the town before they knew 
 where they were ; fo as if any peace had 
 been in thofe parts, the Spaniards firft 
 brake the peace and made the firll: 
 flaughter. For as the Englilh could not 
 but land to feek the mine, being come 
 thither to that end, fo being firft reviled 
 and charged by the Spaniards, they 
 could do no lefs than repel force by 
 force. 
 
 Laftly, it is a matter of no fmall 
 confequence to acknowledge we have 
 offended the King of Spain by landing 
 in Guiana. For, firft, it weakens his 
 Majefty's title to the country, or quits 
 it ; fecondly, there is no king that hath 
 ever given the leaft way to any other 
 king or ftate in the traffic of the lives 
 and goods of his fubjedls — to wit, as in 
 our cafe, that it Ihall be lawful for the
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. I 95 
 
 Spaniards to murder us either by war 
 or terror, and not lawful for us to defend 
 ourfelves and pay them with their own 
 coin. . . . [MS. burned away here] . . . 
 A French gentleman called Florie went 
 thence with purpofe and with com- 
 miffion to burn and to fack all places 
 in the Indies that he could mailer ; and 
 yet hath the French King married a 
 daughter of Spain. 
 
 This is all that I can fay, other than 
 1 have fpent my poor eftate, loft my fon 
 and my health, and endured as many 
 forts of miferies as ever man did, in hope 
 to do his Majefty fervice ; and have not, 
 to my underftanding, committed any 
 hoftile adl other than the entrance upon 
 a territory belonging to the crown of 
 England, where the Englifh were iirft 
 fet upon and flain by the ufurping 
 Spaniards. 
 
 I invaded no other parts of the 
 Indies pretended by the Spaniards. I 
 returned unto England with the manifeft 
 peril of my life, with a purpofe not to 
 hold my life by any other aft than his 
 Majefty's grace, and from which no man 
 nor any peril could diiTuade me. To 
 that grace, and goodnefs, and kinglinefs
 
 g6 Choice Passages from 
 
 I refer myfelf ; which, if it Ihall find 
 that I have not yet fuffered enough, it 
 may, if it pleafe, add more afflidlion to 
 the remainder of a wretched life. [Alfo 
 burned away.] (' Letters,' pp. 375-380. 
 Cf. ' Apology ' for brief account of the 
 fads.) 
 
 r 
 
 On the Death of Walter Raleigh, in 
 Guiana^ March 22, 161 8. 
 
 I To Lady Raleigh. 
 
 I was loath to write, becaufe I knew 
 not how to comfort you ; and God 
 knows I never knew what forrow meant 
 till now. All that I can fay to you is, 
 that you muft obey the will and pro- 
 vidence of God, and remember that 
 the Queen's Majefty bare the lofs of 
 the Prince Henry with a magnanimous 
 heart, and the Lady Harrington of her 
 only fon. Comfort your heart (deareft 
 Befs) ; I fhall forrow for us both. I 
 fhall forrow the lefs becaufe I have not 
 I long to forrow, becaufe not long to 
 I live. I refer you to Mr. Secretary
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Winwood's letter, who will give you a 
 copy of it if you fend for it. Therein 
 you (hall know what hath paiTed. I 
 have written but that letter, for my 
 brains are broken, and it is a torment 
 for me to write, and efpecially of 
 mifery. I have defired Mr. Secretary 
 to give my Lord Carew a copy of his 
 letter. I have cleanfed my fhip of 
 fick men, and fent them home. I hope 
 God will fend us fomewhat ere we re- 
 turn. Commend me to all at Lothbury. 
 You Ihall hear from me, if I live, from 
 the Newfoundland, where I mean to 
 make clean my ihip and reviftual, for 
 I have tobacco enough to pay for it. 
 The Lord blefs and comfort you, that 
 you may bear patiently the death of 
 your valiant fon. Yours, W. Ralegh. 
 
 22nd of March [16 18], from the Ifle 
 of Chriftopher. 
 
 [Poftcript.] — I proteft before the 
 majefty of God that, as Sir Francis 
 Drake and Sir John Hawkins died 
 heart-broken when they failed of their 
 enterprife, I could willingly do the like, 
 did I not contend againft forrow for 
 your fake, in hope to provide fomewhat
 
 98 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 for you and to comfort and relieve you. 
 If I live to return, refolve yourfelf 
 that it is the care for you that hath 
 llrengthened my heart. It is true that 
 Kemifh might have gone direftly to 
 the mine, and meant it. But, after 
 my fon's death, he made them to believe 
 he knew not the way, and excufed him- 
 felf upon the want of water in the 
 river, and, counterfeiting many impedi- 
 ments, left it unfound. When he came 
 back I told him that he had undone me, 
 and that my credit was loft for ever. 
 
 He anfwered that when my fon was 
 loft, and that he left me fo weak that 
 he refolved not to find me alive, he 
 had no reafon to enrich a company of 
 rafcals, who, after my fon's death, made 
 no accompt of him. He further told 
 me that the Englilh fent up into 
 Guiana could hardly defend the Spanifti 
 town of St. Thomas, which they had 
 taken, and therefore for them to pafs 
 through thick woods, it was irapoffible; 
 and more impoffible to have vidluals 
 brought them into the mountain. And 
 it is true that the governor Diego 
 Polemeque and four other captains, 
 being fiain, of which my fon Watte
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 [= Walter] flew one ; Pleffington, Watt's 
 fervant, and John of Moroccoes, one of 
 his men, flew other two. I fay, five of 
 them being flain in the entrance of the 
 town, the reft went off in a whole body 
 and took more care to defend the 
 paffage to their mines (of which they 
 had three within a league of the town, 
 befides a mine that was about 5 miles 
 off) than they did of the town itfelf. 
 Yet Kemifli at the firft was refolved to 
 go to the mine ; but when he came to 
 the banklidc to the land, he had two of 
 his men flain outright from the bank 
 and fix others hurt, and Captain Thornix 
 fliot in the head, of which wound and 
 the accidents thereof he hath pined 
 away thefe twelve weeks. 
 
 Now when Kemifli came back and 
 gave me the four reafons which moved 
 him not to open the mine — the one, 
 the death of my fon ; the fecond, the 
 weaknefs of the Englifli and their im- 
 poffibilities to work and to be viftualled ; 1 
 a third, that it was a folly to difcover 
 it for the Spaniards ; and the laft, both 
 my weaknefs and my being unpardoned 
 — and that I rejefted all thefe argu- 
 ments, and told him that I muft leave it
 
 loo Choice Passages from 
 
 to himfelf to anfwer it to the King and 
 the State, he Ihut up himfelf into his 
 cabin and fhot himfelf with a pocket- 
 piftol, which brake one of his ribs ; 
 and, finding it had not prevailed, he 
 thrufl a long knife under his other ribs 
 up to the handle, and died. Thus 
 much I have writ to Mr. Secretary, to 
 whofe letters I refer you. But, becaufe 
 I think my friends will rather hearken 
 after you than any other to know the 
 truth, I did, after the failing back, open 
 your letter again, to let you know in 
 brief the ftate of that bufinefs ; which 
 I pray you impart to my Lord of 
 Northumberland, and Silvanus Scory 
 and to Sir John Leigh. 
 
 For the reft, there was never poor 
 man fo expofed to the flaughter as I 
 was ; for being commanded upon my 
 allegiance to fet down, not only the 
 country, but the very rivers, by which 
 I was to enter it — to name my fliips, 
 number my men and my artillery ; this 
 was fent by the Spanilh AmbalTador 
 forthwith to the King of Spain. The 
 King wrote his letters to all parts of 
 the Indies, efpecially to the gentlemen 
 of confequence of Guiana, El Dorado
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. loi 
 
 and Trinidado; of which the firft letter 
 bore date the 19th of March, 1617, at 
 Madrill [= Madrid], when I had not 
 yet left the Thames : which letter I 
 have fent Mr. Secretary. I have alfo 
 two other letters of the King's which 
 I referve, and one of the Council. The 
 King alfo fent a commilnon to levy 
 300 foldiers out of his garrifons of 
 Nuevo Reigno de Granadoes and Porto 
 Rico, with ten pieces of brafs ordnance 
 to entertain us. He alfo prepared an 
 armada by fea to let upon us. It were 
 too long to tell you how we were 
 preffed. If I live I fhall make it 
 known. My brains are broken, and I 
 cannot write much. I live yet, and I 
 have told you why. Whitney, for whom i 
 I fold my plate at Plymouth, and to 
 whom I gave more credit and counte- 
 nance than all the captains of my fleet, 
 ran from me at the Granadoes, and 
 Woolafton with him ; fo as I own now 
 but five ihips, and one of thefe I have 
 fent home — my fly-boat — and in her a 
 rabble of idle rafcals, which I know 
 will not fpare to wound me ; but I care 
 not. I am fure there is never a bafe 
 flave in the fleet hath taken the pains
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 and care that I have done ; hath flept 
 To little and travailed fo much. My 
 friends will not believe them ; and for 
 the reft I care not. God in heaven blefs 
 and llrengthen your heart. Yours, W. 
 Ralegh. (* Letters/ pp. 3y^-363. See 
 under 'Guiana.') 
 
 9 
 
 HONOUR. 
 
 If we hold it no difgrace to fubmit 
 ourfelves for the recovery of our debts, 
 goods, and lands, and for all things 
 elfe by which the lives of ourfelves, our 
 wives and children are fuftained, to the 
 judges of the land, becaufe it may be 
 felony to take by violence even that 
 which is our own, why Ihould we not 
 fubmit ourfelves to the judges of honour 
 in cafes of honour, becaufe to recover 
 our reputation by ftrong hand may be 
 murder ? But yet, again, it may be 
 objeded that the lofs of honour ought to 
 be more fearful unto us than either the 
 lofs of our goods, of our lands, or of our 
 lives ; and I fay fo too. But what is 
 this honour — I mean honour indeed —
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 and that which ought to be fo dear unto 
 us, other than a kind of hiftory or fame, 
 following adions of virtue, aftions 
 accompanied with difficulty or danger, 
 and undertaken for the public good ? 
 In thefe, he that is employed and trufled, 
 if he fail in the performance either 
 through cowardice or any other bafe 
 afFeftion, it is true that he lofeth his 
 honour. But the afting of a private 
 combat for a private refpeft, and moll: 
 commonly a frivolous one, is not an 
 aftion of virtue, becaufe it is contrary 
 to the law of God and of all Chriftian 
 kings; neither is it difficult, becaufe 
 even and equal in perfons and arms; 
 neither for a public good, but tending to 
 the contrary, becaufe the lofs or mutila- 
 tion of an able man is alfo a lofs to the 
 commonweal. (H. W., B. v., c. iii.) 
 
 r 
 
 INJUSTICE. 
 
 Certainly, with more patience men 
 are wont to endure the lofs that befell 
 them by mere cafualty than the damage 
 they fuftain by means of injuftice, becaufe
 
 I04 i Choice Passages from 
 
 thefe are accompaniedvvithfenfeof indig- 
 nity, whereof the other are free. When 
 robbers break into men's homes and 
 fpoil them, they tell the owners plainly 
 that money they want, and money they 
 mull have. But when a judge, cor- 
 rupted by reward, hatred, favours, or any 
 other pafTion, takes both home and land 
 from the rightful owner and beftows 
 them upon fome friend of his own or 
 his favourite, he fays that the rule of 
 juftice will have it fo ; that it is the 
 voice of the law and ordinance of God 
 Himfelf : and what elfe harm doth he, 
 than by a kind of circumlocution tell 
 his humble fuppliants that he holds 
 them idiots or bafe wretches, not able 
 to get relief? Muft it not aftonilh and, 
 withal, vex any man of a free fpirit when 
 he fees none other difference between 
 the judge and the thief than in the 
 manner of performing of their exploits : 
 as if the whole being of juftice confifted 
 in point of formality ? In fuch cafe, 
 an honeft fubjeft will either feek remedy 
 by ordinary courfes, or wait his time till 
 God Ihall place better men in office, and 
 call the oppreflbrs to account. But a 
 ftranger will not do fo ; he hath nothing
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 105 
 
 to do with the affairs of Barbary, neither 
 concerns it him what officers be placed 
 or difplaced in Tarradanto, or whether 
 Mulifidian himfelf can contain the 
 kingdom : his fhop and goods are unjuftly 
 taken from him, and, therefore, he will 
 feek leave to right himfelf if he can, and 
 return the injury tenfold upon the whole 
 nation from which he received it. 
 Truth is, that men are fooner weary to 
 dance attendance at the gates of foreign 
 lords than to tarry the good leifure of 
 their own magiftrates ; nor do they bear 
 fo quietly the lofs of fome parcel con- 
 fifcate abroad as the greater detriment 
 which they fuffer by fome prowling 
 vice-admiral, cuftomer, or public min- 
 ifler at their return. (* Difcoverie.') 
 
 r 
 
 INSTINCT, 
 
 The law of nature in general I take 
 to be that difpofition, inftindl, and 
 formal quality which God in His eternal 
 providence hath giv^en and imprinted 
 in the nature of every creature, animate 
 and inanimate. And as it is dk>inu?n
 
 io6 Choice Passages from 
 
 lu7nen in man, enlightening our formal 
 reafon, fo is it more than fenfe in beafl-s 
 and more than vegetation in plants. For 
 it is not fenfe alone in beafts which 
 teacheth them at firfl: fight and without 
 experience or inftruftion to fly from the 
 enemies of their lives ; feeing that bulls 
 and horfes appear unto the fenfe more 
 fearful and terrible than the leaft kind of 
 dogs, and yet the hare and deer feed by 
 the one and fly from the other — yea, 
 though by them never feen before, and 
 that as foon as they fell from their dams. 
 Neither is it fenfe which hath taught 
 other beafts to provide for winter : 
 birds to build their nefts high or low, 
 according to the tempeftuous or quiet 
 feafons ; or the birds of India to make 
 their nefts on the fmalleft twigs which 
 hang over rivers and not on any other 
 part of the tree or elfewhere, to fave 
 their eggs and young ones from the 
 monkeys and other beafts, wliofe weight 
 fuch a twig could not bear, and which 
 would fear to fall into the water. The 
 inftances in this kind are exceeding many 
 which may be given. Neither is it out 
 of the vegetable or growing nature of 
 plants, that fome trees, as the female of
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 the palmetto, will not bear any fruit 
 except the male grow in fight. But 
 this they do by that law which the 
 infinite and unfearchable wifdom of God 
 had in all eternity provided for them 
 and for every nature created. (H. W., 
 B. ii., c. iii.) 
 
 r 
 
 KIl^GS AND KINGDOMS. 
 
 Kings — /;/ zobat Sort exempt from Human 
 Laws. 
 
 Whether the power of the human law 
 be without exception of any perfon, it is 
 doubtfully difputed among thofe that 
 have written of this fubjeil, as well 
 divines as lawyers ; and namely, Whether 
 fovereign princes be compellable, yea 
 or no ? But whereas there are two 
 powers of the law, as aforefaid, the one 
 direftive, the other coadlive, to the 
 power direftive they ought to be fubjeft, 
 but not to that which conftraineth. For 
 as touching violence or punifliments, no 
 man is bound to give a prejudicial 
 judgment againft himfclf; and if equals 
 have not any power over each other, 
 much lefs have inferiors over their
 
 io8 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 fuperiors, from whom they receive their 
 authority and ftrength. And fpeaking 
 of the fupreme power of laws, fimply 
 then is the prince fo much above the 
 laws as the foul and body united is above 
 ! a dead and fenfelefs carcafe. For the 
 king is truly called jus vivum et lex 
 animata^ ' an animate and living law.' 
 But this is true, that by giving authority 
 to laws, princes both add greatnefs to 
 themfelves and conferve it, and therefore 
 was it faid of Brafton, out of Juftinian : 
 * Rightfully ought the king to attribute 
 that to the law which the law firft 
 attributeth to the king, for it is the law 
 that doth make kings.' But whereas 
 Bradlon (p. 2) afcribeth this power to the 
 human law, he is therein miftaken. 
 For kings are made by God, and laws 
 divine, and by human laws only declared 
 to be kings. As for the places remem- 
 bered by the divines and law}'ers which 
 infer a kind of obligation of princes, 
 they teach no other thing therein than 
 the law of confcience and profit arifmg 
 from the examples of virtuous princes, 
 who are to give an account of their 
 aflions to God only. (H. W., B. ii., 
 c. iv.)
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 109 
 
 BRAVE JND NOBLE WORDS 
 TO THE KING OF ENGLAND 
 (JAMES I.J. 
 
 Most Gracious Sovereign, — Thofe 
 that are fupprelTed and helplefs are com- 
 monly filent, wifhing that the common 
 ill in all fort might be with their par- 
 ticular misfortunes ; which difpofition, as 
 it is uncharitable in all men, fo it would 
 be in me more dog-like than man-like 
 to bite the done that ftruck mc — to wit, 
 the borrowed authority of my fovereign 
 mifinformed, feeing that arms and hands 
 that flung it are moft of them already 
 rotten. For I muft confefs it ever that 
 they are debts and not difcontentments 
 that your Majefty hath laid upon me — 
 the debts and obligations of a friendlefs 
 adverfity, far more payable in all kinds 
 than thofe of the profperous : all which, 
 nor the leaft of them, though I cannot 
 difcharge, I may yet endeavour it. And, 
 notwithftanding my reftraint hath re- 
 trenched all ways, as well the ways of 
 labour and work, as of all other employ- 
 ments, yet hath it left with me my
 
 no Choice Passages from 
 
 cogitations, than which I have nothing 
 elie to ofFer on the altar of my love. 
 
 Of thefe (moll gracious Sovereign) I 
 have ufed fome part in the following 
 difpute between a Counfellor of State 
 and a Juflice of the Peace, the one dif- 
 fuading, the other perfuading, the calling 
 of Parliament. In all which, fince the 
 Norman Conqueft (at the leaft, fo 
 many as hiftories have gathered) I have 
 in fome things in the following difpute 
 prefented your Majefty with the contents 
 and fucceiTes. 
 
 Some things there are, and thofe of 
 the greateft, which becaufe they ought 
 to be refolv^ed on, I thought fit to range 
 them in the front of the reft, to the end 
 your Majefty may bepleafed to examine 
 your own great and princely heart of 
 their acceptance or refufal. 
 
 The firft is, that fuppofition that your 
 Majerty's fubjeds give nothing but with 
 adjunftion of their own intereft, inter- 
 lacing in one and the fame aft your 
 Majefty's relief and their own liberties; 
 not that your Majefty's piety was ever fuf- 
 pefted, but becaufe the beft princes are 
 ever the leaftjealous, your Majeftyjudging 
 others by yourfelf who have abufedyour
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 Majefty's truft. The feared continuance 
 of the like abufe may perfuade the pro- 
 vifion. But this caution, however it 
 feemeth at firft fight, your Majefty 
 fhall perceive by many examples follow- 
 ing, but frivolous. The bonds of fub- 
 je6ls to their kings fhould always be 
 wrought out of iron, the bonds of kings 
 unto fubjefts but with cobwebs. 
 
 Thus it is (moft renowned Sovereign) 
 that this traffic of afTurances hath been 
 often urged, of which if the conditions 
 have been eafy, our kings have as eafily 
 kept them ; if hard and prejudicial, 
 either to their honour or ellates, the 
 creditors have been paid their debt with 
 their own prefumption. 
 
 For all binding of a king by l?.w upon 
 the advantage of his neceffity makes the 
 breach itfelf lawful in a king, his charters 
 and all other inftruments being no other 
 than the furviving witnefTes of uncon- 
 ftrained will : Princeps non fuhjicittirnifi^ 
 fua voluntate libera, ?nero riotu et certa 
 Jcientia : neceffary words in all the grants 
 of a king, in ihowing that the fame 
 grants were given freely and knowingly. 
 
 The fecond refolution will reft in 
 your Majefty leaving the new impofi-
 
 112 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 tions, all monopolies, and other griev- 
 ances of the people to the confideration 
 of the Houfe [of Commons], provided 
 that your Majefty's revenue be not 
 abated ; which, if your Majefty ftiall 
 refufe, it is thought that the difputes 
 will laft long and the ifTues will be 
 doubtful ; and, on the contrary, if your 
 Majefty vouchfafe it, it may perchance 
 be ftyled a yielding, which feemeth by 
 the found to brave the regality. But 
 (moft excellent Prince) what other is it 
 to the ears of the wife but as the found 
 a trumpet, having blafted forth a falfe 
 alarm, becomes the common air ? Shall 
 the head yield to the feet ? Certainly 
 it ought, when they are grieved ; for 
 wifdom will rather regard the com- 
 modity than objeft the difgrace ; feeing 
 if the feet be in fetters the head cannot 
 be fed, and where the feet feel but their 
 own pains the head doth not only fufFer 
 by participation, but withal by confider- 
 ation of the evil. 
 
 Certainly the point of honour well 
 weighed, hath nothing in it to even the 
 balance ; for, by your Majefty's favour, 
 your Majefty doth not yield either to any 
 perfon or to any power, but to difpute
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 only, in which the propofition and minor 
 prove nothing without a conclufion ; 
 which no other perfon or power can 
 make but a majefty : yea, this in Henry 
 the Third's time was called a wifdom 
 incomparable. For the king raifed 
 again, recovered his authority : for 
 being in that extremity that he was 
 driven with the queen and his children 
 cum ablatibus et prioribus fatis humilibus 
 hofpitia qucerere et prandia. For the reft, 
 may it pleafe your Majefty to confider, 
 that there can nothing befall your 
 Majefty in matters of affairs more un- 
 fortunately, than meeting the Commons 
 of Parliament with ill fuccefs : a dif- 
 honour fo perfualive and adventurous as 
 it will not only find arguments, but it 
 will take the leading of all enemies 
 that Ihall offer themfelves again ft your 
 Majefty's eftate. 
 
 Le tabourin de la pauvrete ne fait poijit 
 de bruit : of which dangerous difeafe in 
 princes the remedy doth chiefly confift 
 in the love of the people ; which how 
 it may be had and held, no man knows 
 better than your Majefty ; how to lofe 
 it all men know, and know that it is lolt 
 by nothing more than by the defence of
 
 others in wrong doing: the only motives 
 of mifchances that ever came to kings 
 of this land fince the Conqueft. 
 
 It is only love (mo{l renowned Sove- 
 reign) muft prepare the way for your 
 Majeily's following delir',*s. Ii; is love 
 which obeys, which faffers, which gives, 
 which Hicks at nothing ; which love, as 
 well of your Majeily's people as the 
 love of God to your Majefty, that it 
 may always hold, fliall be the continual 
 prayers of your Majeily's moll humble 
 vafTal, Walter Ralegh. (Epiflle dedi- 
 catory of ' Prerogative of Parliaments.') 
 
 r 
 
 ADVICE TO KINGS. 
 
 Counfellor. ... I would fain know 
 the man that durll perfuade the king to 
 call a Parliament ; for if it fhould fuc- 
 ceed ill in what cafe were he ? Jujlice. 
 You fay well for yourfelf, my Lord, and 
 perchance you that are lovers of your- 
 felves (under pardon) do follow the ad- 
 vice of the late Duke of Alva, who was 
 ever oppofite to all refolutions in bufmefs
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 115 
 
 of importance ; for if the things enter- 
 prifed facceeded well the advice never 
 came in queilion ; if ill (whereto great 
 undertakings are commonly fubjecSl), 
 he then made his advantage by remem- 
 bering his contrary counfel : but, my 
 good Lord, thele referved politicians are 
 not the beft fervants ; for he that is 
 bound to adventure his life for his 
 mafter is alfo bound to adventure his 
 advice : ' Keep not back counfel,' faith 
 Ecclefiafticus, ' when it may do good.' 
 (* Prerogative of Parliaments.') 
 
 r 
 
 AMBITION. 
 
 The power of ambition which pof- 
 feffeth the minds of men is fuch as rarely 
 or never fufEceth them to reft : the 
 reafon thereof is that Nature hath 
 framed in them a certain difpofition to 
 defire all things but not power to obtain 
 them ; fo as our defires being greater 
 than our power, thereof followcth dif- 
 content and evil fatisfaftion. Hereof 
 alfo proceedeth the variation of for- 
 tune ; for fome men defiring to get and
 
 ii6 Choice Passages from 
 
 others fearing to lofe that they have 
 gotten, do occafion one man to injure 
 another, and confequently public wars 
 do follow ; by means whereof one 
 country is ruined and another enlarged. 
 (Cab.) 
 
 r 
 
 NOBILITY AND FAVOURITES. 
 
 By keeping that degree and due pro- 
 portion that neither they exceed in 
 number more than the realm or State can 
 bear, as the Scottifh kingdom, and fome- 
 times the Englifh, when the realm was 
 overcharged with the number of dukes, 
 earls, and other nobles ; whereby the 
 authority of the prince was eclipfed and 
 the realm troubled with their fadlions 
 and ambitions. . . . Nor muft it be 
 negledled that not ' anyone fo excel in 
 honour, power, or wealth, as that he 
 refembles another king within the king- 
 dom ' as the houfe of Lancafter within 
 the realm. To that end, not to load any 
 with too much honour and preferment, 
 becaufe it is hard even for the beft and 
 worthiefl m^en to bear their greatnefs 
 and high fortune temperately, as ap-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 peareth by infinite examples in all States. 
 The fophifms [ = wife maxims] for pre- 
 venting or reforming this inconvenience 
 are to be ufed with great caution and 
 wifdom. If any great pcrfon be to be 
 abated, not to deal with him by calumni- 
 ation or forged matter, and fo to cut 
 him off without defert ; efpecially if he 
 be gracious among the people ; which, 
 befides the injuftice, is an occafion many 
 times of great danger towards the prince. 
 Nor to withdraw their honour all at 
 once, which maketh a defperate difcon- 
 tentmcnt in the party, and acommifera- 
 tion in the people, and fo begetteth 
 greater love towards him if he be already 
 gracious for his virtue and public fervice. 
 Nor to banifli him into foreign countries, 
 where he may have opportunity of 
 pradlifmg [= plotting] with foreign 
 States ; whereof great danger may enfue, 
 as in the example of Coriolanus, Henry 
 IV., and fuch like. But to ufe thefe 
 and the like fophifms, viz., to abate their 
 greatnefs by degrees, as David, Joab, 
 Juftinian, Belifarius, etc. ; to advance 
 fome other men to as great or greater 
 honour, to fhadow or over-mate the 
 greatnefs of the other ; to draw from
 
 1 1 8 Choice Passages from 
 
 him by degrees his friends and followers, 
 by preferments, rewards, and other good 
 and lawful means ; efpecially, to be pro- 
 vided that thefe great men be not em- 
 ployed in great and powerful affairs of 
 the Commonwealth, whereby they may 
 have more opportunity to fway the 
 State. (M.) 
 
 r 
 
 Enlarging Dominions, 
 
 He that enlargeth his dominions doth 
 not always increafe his power ; but he 
 that increafeth in force as well as in 
 dominion, fhall thereby grow great ; 
 otherwife he gaineth no more than is 
 fhortly to be loft, and confequently he 
 ruineth himfelf; for he who fpends 
 more on the war than he gains by 
 victory, lofeth both labour and coft. 
 (Cab.) 
 
 r 
 
 Ancient Kingdoms vanijhed. 
 
 Who hath not obferved what labour, 
 practice [ = confpiracy], feud, bloodflied, 
 and cruelty the kings and princes of the
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 world have undergone, exercifed, taken 
 on them and committed, to make them- 
 felves and their ifTues mafters of the 
 world ? And yet hath Babylon, Perfia, 
 Egypt, Syria, Macedon, Carthage, Rome, 
 and the reft, no fruit, flower, grafs, nor 
 leaf, fpringing upon the face of the earth 
 of thofe feeds. No, their very roots and 
 ruins do hardly remain. (Cab.) 
 
 King near his Run. 
 
 A prince ftieweth his ruin at hand 
 whenfoever he beginneth to break the 
 laws and cuftoms which are ancient and 
 have been long time obeyed by the 
 people of his dominion. (Cab.) 
 
 ^ 
 
 Royal Favourites, 
 
 That prince which careth to keep 
 himfelf fecure from confpiracy ought 
 rather to fear thofe to whom he hath 
 done over-great favours than them whom 
 he hath much injured ; for thefe want
 
 I20 Choice Passages from 
 
 opportunities, the other do not ; and 
 both their defires are as one, becaufe the 
 appetite of commanding is always as 
 much or more than the defire of re- 
 venge. (Cab.) 
 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 A Commonwealth is the fwerving or 
 depravation of a free or popular State, 
 or the government of the whole multi- 
 tude of the bafe and poorer fort, without 
 refpeft of the other orders. Thefe 
 two States, to wit, the Oligarchy and 
 Commonwealth, are very adverfe the 
 one to the other, and have many bicker- 
 ings between them. For that the richer 
 or nobler fort fuppofe a right or 
 fuperiority to appertain unto them in 
 every refpefl, becaufe they are fuperior 
 but in fome refpedls only, to wit, in 
 riches, birth, parentage, etc. On the 
 other fide, the common people fuppofe 
 there ought to be an equality in all 
 other things, and in fome State matters, 
 becaufe they are equal with the rich or 
 noble, touching their liberty ; whereas, 
 indeed, neither the one nor the other
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 are fimply equal or fuperior, as touch- 
 ing government and fitnefs thereunto, 
 becaufe they are fuch, to wit, becaufe 
 they are rich, noble, free, etc., but 
 becaufe they are wife, virtuous, valiant, 
 etc., and fo have fit parts to govern a 
 State. The feveral States are fome- 
 times mixed and interwrought one with 
 the other, yet even fo as that the one 
 hath eminence or predomination over 
 the other, as in the humours and com- 
 plexions of the body. So in the Roman 
 State, the people had their pkbifcita, 
 and gave the fufFrage in the election of 
 magiflrates, yet the Senate (as the State 
 flood) for the moflpart fwayed the State 
 and bore the chief rule. So in the 
 Venetian State, the Duke feemeth to 
 reprefent a monarch, and the Senate 
 to be his council ; yet the Duke hath 
 no power in State matters, but is like a 
 head fet on by art that beareth no 
 brain. And fo that State is fenatorical 
 and ariflocratical. (M.) 
 
 r
 
 122 I Choice Passages from 
 
 RULES JND AXIOMS FOR PRE- 
 SERVING OF A KINGDOM, 
 HEREDITARY OR CON- 
 QUERED. 
 
 Prerogative. 
 
 By the tempering and moderation of 
 the princely power and prerogative. 
 For the lefs and more temperate their 
 power and ftate is, the more firm and 
 ftable is their kingdom and government ; 
 becaufe they feem to be farther off from 
 a mafter-like and tyrannical empire, and 
 lefs unequal in condition to the next 
 degree, to wit, the nobility, and To lefs 
 fubjedl to grudge and envy. (M.) 
 
 Free or Popular Stdte. 
 
 The popular ftate is the government 
 of a State by the choiceft fort of 
 people, tending to the public good of 
 all fort, viz., with due refped of the 
 better, nobler and richer fort. In every 
 juft State some part of the government
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 is, or ought to be, imparted to the 
 people : as in a kingdom, a voice or 
 fuffrage in making laws ; and fometimes 
 alfo in levying of arms (if the charge 
 be great and the Prince forced to borrow 
 help of his fubjefts) the matter rightly 
 may be propounded to a Parliament, that 
 the tax may feem to have proceeded 
 from themfelves. So confultations and 
 proceedings in judicial matters may in 
 part be referred to them. The reafon, 
 left feeing themfelves to be in no 
 number nor of reckoning, they miflike 
 the State or kind of government : and 
 where the multitude is difcontented 
 there muft needs be many enemies to 
 the prefcnt State. For which caufe 
 tyrants (which allow the people no 
 manner of dealing in State matters) are 
 forced to bereave them of their wealth 
 and weapons, and all other means 
 whereby they may refift or amend 
 themfelves, as in Rufhland [= Ruffia], 
 Turkey, etc. (M.)
 
 124 
 
 Choice Passages fro'm 
 
 Adminiftration of Jujlice. 
 
 The good and dired adminiftration of 
 juftice is in all places a principal part of 
 government ; for feldom or never fhall 
 w^e fee any people difcontented and 
 delirous of alteration where juftice is 
 equally adminiftered without respedl of 
 perfons ; and in every State this con- 
 dition is required, but moft of all in 
 countries that do front upon other 
 princes or were lately conquered. 
 Hereunto the Prince's vigilancy and the 
 magiftrates' uprightnefs are efpecially 
 required ; for oftentimes the prince is 
 deceived and the magiftrates corrupted. 
 It behoveth alfo the prince to maintain 
 the judges and minifters of juftice in 
 their reputation, and yet to have a vigi- 
 lant eye upon their proceedings, and 
 the rather if their authority do include 
 equity, and from their cenfure [ = judg- 
 ment] be no appeal ; and if their office 
 be during life, and they are men born 
 and dwelling in the fame country ; all 
 thefe things are to be duly confidered 
 of the prince : for as to call the judges
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 125 
 
 intoquellion is as it were todifgrace the 
 judicial feat, fo to wink at their corrup- 
 tions were matter of juft difcontent to 
 the fubjetl. In this cafe, therefore, the 
 prince cannot do more than by his 
 wifdom to make choice of good men, 
 and being chofen, to hold them in good 
 reputation, fo as the ordinary courfe of 
 juftice may proceed ; for otherwife great 
 diforder, contempt and general con- 
 fufion will enfue thereof. Secondly, he 
 is to keep his eye upon their proceed- 
 ings ; and laftly, to referve unto himfelf 
 a fupreme power of appellation. (Cab.) 
 
 Royal Example. 
 
 Subjefts are made good by two 
 means, viz., by conftraint of law and 
 the prince's example ; for in all eftates 
 the people do imitate thofe conditions 
 whereunto they fee the prince inclined. 
 Cf. guintillian. (Cab.) 
 
 r
 
 126 Choice Passages from 
 
 Punijhments, 
 
 Punifhments, impofitions and cenfure 
 are in all States necelTary, although they 
 Ihew and feem terrible, and confequently 
 breed a certain defperation in iubjecfls 
 unlefs they be difcreetly and modeftly 
 ufed ; for extreme and frequent punifh- 
 ments tafte of cruelty ; great and 
 many imports favour of covetoufnefs ; 
 cenfure of manners, when it exceedeth 
 the quality of offences, doth feem 
 rigorous in thefe matters ; therefore it 
 behoveth the prince to be moderate and 
 cautelous [ = cautious], chiefly in capital 
 punifhment, which mufl be confined 
 within the bounds of juflice : Sit apud 
 principem parfimonia etiam vilijjimi fan- 
 guinis. Seneca. (Cab.) 
 
 Diffimulation. 
 
 DifTimulation is as it were begotten by 
 diffidence, a quality in princes of fo 
 great necefTity as moved the Emperor 
 Tiberius to say, Nejcit regnare qui nefcit
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 127 
 
 dijjimulare. The necelTity of diffimula- 
 tion is chiefly to be ufed with llrangers 
 and enemies. It alfo fheweth a certain 
 difcretion in magiftrates fometimes to 
 difguife with friends when no offence 
 doth thereof follow : Dolt non dolt Junt, 
 niji aftu colas. Plautus. This kind of 
 craft, albeit in every man's conceit not 
 praifeable, is neverthelefs tolerable ; and 
 For princes and magiftrates (the fame 
 being ufed to good ends) very neceffary. 
 But thofe cunnings which are contrary 
 to virtue ought not of honeft men to be 
 ufed ; neither dare I commend adulation 
 and corruption, though they be often 
 ufed in Court and are of fome learned 
 writers allowed : Decipere pro moribus 
 temporum^ prudentia eft. Plautus. (Cab.) 
 
 r 
 
 Heroical Virtue in Kings. 
 
 To be a good Governor is a rare 
 commendation, and to prefer the weal 
 public above all refpedls whatfoever, is 
 the virtue juftly termed heroical. Of 
 this virtue many ages afford not many 
 examples. Hedor is named by Ariflotle
 
 128 Choice Passages from 
 
 as one of them, and defervedly if this 
 praife be due to extraordinary height of 
 fortitude ufed in defence of a man's 
 own country. But if we confider that 
 a love of the general good cannot be 
 perfed without reference unto the 
 Fountain of all goodnefs ; we fhall find 
 that no moral virtue how great foever 
 can by itfelf deferve the commendation 
 of more than virtue, as the heroical doth. 
 Wherefore we mull: fearch the Scrip- 
 tures for patterns hereof; fuch as 
 David, Jeholhaphat and Jofiah were, of 
 Chriftian kings. If there were many 
 fuch the world would foon be happy. 
 It is not my purpofe to wrong the work 
 of any, by denying the praife where it 
 is due or by preferring a lefs excellent. 
 But he that can find a king religious and 
 zealous in God's caufe, without enforce- 
 ment either of adverfity or of fome 
 regard of State ; a procurer of the 
 general peace and quiet ; who not only 
 ufeth his authority but adds the travail 
 of his eloquence in admonifhing his 
 judges to do juftice ; by the vigorous 
 influence of whofe government civility is 
 infufed even into thofe places that had 
 been the dens of favage robbers and cut-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 throats ; one that hath quite abolifhed a 
 flavifli Brehon law, by which a whole 
 nation of his fubjedls were held in 
 bondage [ = Ireland], and one whofe 
 higher virtue and wifdom doth make the 
 praife not only of nobility and other 
 ornaments, but of abftinence from the 
 blood, the wives and the goods of thofe 
 that are under his power, together with 
 a world of chief commendations be- 
 longing unto fome good princes to ap- 
 pear lefs regardable : he, I fay, that can 
 find fuch a king, findeth an example 
 worthy to add unto virtue an honour- 
 able title, if it were formerly wanting. 
 Under fuch a king it is likely by God's 
 blefling that a land fhall flourifh, with 
 increafe of trade, in countries before 
 unknown, that civility and religion Ihall 
 be propagated into barbarous and hea- 
 then countries, and that the happinefs of 
 his fubjedls fhall caufe the nations far 
 off removed to wifli him their fovereign. 
 (M.) 
 
 r
 
 130 Choice Passages from 
 
 LAW, 
 Authority above Law. 
 
 A wife man ought not to defire to 
 inhabit that country where men have 
 more authority than laws. (Cab.) 
 
 r 
 
 Magna Charta. 
 
 My good Lord, if you will give me 
 leave to fpeak freely, I fay that they are 
 not well advifed that perfuade the king 
 not to admit the Magna Charta with the 
 former refervations ; for as the king can 
 never lofe a farthing by it . . . fo ex- 
 cept England were as Naples is, and 
 kept by garrifons of another nation, it 
 is impoffible for a King of England to 
 greaten and enrich himfelf by any way 
 fo alTuredly as by the love of his people; 
 for by one rebellion the king hath more 
 lofs than by a hundred years' obfervance 
 of Magna Charta. For therein have 
 our kings been forced to compound with 
 rogues and rebels, and to pardon them; 
 yea, the ftate of the king, the monarchy,
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 the nobility, have been endangered by 
 them. (Prerogative of Parliaments.) 
 
 r 
 
 Parliament. 
 
 The Kings of England have never re- 
 ceived lofs by Parliament ; or prejudice. 
 (Prerogative of Parliaments.) 
 
 Fower. 
 
 It is an old country proverb that 
 Might overcomes Right : a weak title 
 that wears a ftrong fword commonly 
 prevails againfl: a ftrong title that wears 
 but a weak one. (Prerogative of Parlia- 
 ments.) 
 
 Loyalty. 
 
 I fay the people are as loving to their 
 king now as ever they were if they be 
 honeftly and wifely dealt withal ; and fo 
 his Majefty had found them in his lail: 
 two Parliaments, if he had not been 
 betrayed by thofe whom he moll trufted. 
 (Prerogative of Parliaments.)
 
 132 Choice Passages from 
 
 Oueen Elizabeth tAcceJJible. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth would fet the reafon 
 of a mean man before the authority of 
 the greateft counfellor fhe had ; and by 
 her patience therein ihe raifed, upon 
 the ufual and ordinary cufloms of Lon- 
 don, without any new impofition, above 
 j^50,ooo a year. For though the trea- 
 furer Burleigh, and the Earl of 
 Leicefter and Secretary Walfingham, 
 all three penfioners to cuftomer Smith, 
 did fet themfelves againft a poor waiter 
 of the cuilom-houfe, called Carwarden, 
 and commanded the grooms of the privy- 
 chamber not to give him accefs ; yet 
 the Queen fent for him and gave him 
 countenance againft them all. It 
 would not ferve the turn with her when 
 your lordfliips would tell her that the 
 difgracing her great officers by hearing 
 the complaints of bufy heads was a dis- 
 honour to herfelf ; but ihe had always 
 the anfwer : * That if any man com- 
 plain unjuftly againft a magiftrate, it was 
 reafon that he ftiould be feverely 
 punifhed ; if juftly, fhe was the Queen 
 of the fmall as well as of the great, and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 would hear their complaints.' For a 
 prince that fufFereth himfelf to be 
 befieged [ = ihut up, inacceffible] for- 
 faketh one of the greateft regalities 
 belonging to a monarchy, to wit, the 
 laft appeal, or, as the French call it, 
 le dernier rejfort. (Prerogative of Parlia- 
 ments.) 
 
 r 
 
 LIFE AND DEATH. 
 
 'The Port of Death: 
 
 Let every man value his own wifdom 
 as he pleafeth : let the rich man think 
 all fools, that cannot equal his abund- 
 ance ; the revenger efteem all negligent 
 that have not trodden down their 
 oppofites ; the politician, all grofs, that 
 cannot merchandife their faith ; yet, 
 when we once come in fight of the port 
 of Death, to which all winds drive us, 
 and when, by letting fall that fatal 
 anchor which can never be weighed 
 again, the navigation of this life takes 
 end ; then it is, I fay, that our own 
 cogitations (thofe fad and fevere cogita-
 
 134 Choice Passages from 
 
 tions formerly beaten from us by our 
 
 health and felicity) return again and 
 
 pay us to the uttermoll for all the pleaf- 
 
 ing pafTages of our lives paft. It is then 
 
 that we cry out to God for mercy ; then, 
 
 when ourfelves can no longer exercii'e 
 
 cruelty towards others : and it is only 
 
 then that we are flrucken through the 
 
 foul with this terrible fentence, that 
 
 * God will not be mocked' (Galatians 
 
 vi. 7). For if, according to St, Peter, 
 
 'the righteous fcarcely be faved' 
 
 (i Peter iv. 18), and that 'God fpared 
 
 not His angels ' (2 Peter ii. 4), where 
 
 fhall thofe appear, who, having ferved 
 
 their appetites all their lives, prefume 
 
 ! to think that the fevere commandments 
 
 1 of the all-powerful God were given but 
 
 I in fport ; and that the fhort breath 
 
 I which we draw when Death preffeth 
 
 j us, if we can but falhion it to the found 
 
 of mercy (without any kind of fatisfac- 
 
 tion or amends), is fufficient. * O quam 
 
 multi^ faith a reverend father, * cum kac 
 
 fpe ad arternos labor :s et bella defcendunt.^ 
 
 (Preface, H. W.) 
 
 r
 
 Death of the Righteous — Real and 
 Spurious. 
 
 I confefs that it is a great comfort to 
 our friends, to have it faid that we 
 ended well ; for we all defire (as Balaam 
 did), to 'die the death of the righteous.' 
 But what fhall we call a difefteeming, 
 an oppofing, or, indeed, a mocking of 
 God, if thofe men do not oppofe Him, 
 difefteem Him and mock Him, that 
 think it enough for God to aflc Him for- 
 givenefs at leifure, with the remainder 
 and laft drawing of a malicious breath? 
 For what do they otherwife, that die 
 this kind of well-dying, but fay unto 
 God as followeth : We befeech Thee, 
 O God, that all the falfehoods, for- 
 fwearing and teaching of our lives paft, 
 may be pleafmg unto Thee ; that Thou 
 wilt for our fakes (that has had no leifure 
 to do anything for Thine) change Thy 
 nature (though impofTible), and forget to 
 be a juft God ; that Thou wilt love injuries 
 and oppreffions ; call ambition wifdom 
 and charity foolifhnefs ? For fliall I 
 prejudice my fon (which I am refolved 
 not to do), if I make reftitution and con-
 
 136 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 fefs myfelf to have been unjuft (which I 
 am too proud to do), if I deliver the 
 opprelTed ? Certainly thefe wife world- 
 lings have either found out a new God, 
 or have made one ; and in all likelihood 
 fuch a leaden one as Louis the Eleventh 
 wore in his cap ; which, when he had 
 caufed any that he feared or hated to be 
 killed, he would take it from his head 
 and kifs it, befeeching it to pardon him 
 this one evil act more and it fhould be 
 the laft; which (as at other times) he 
 did, when by the pradice [= plotting] 
 of a Cardinal and a falfified facrament, 
 he caufed the Earl of Armagnac to be 
 ftabbed to death ; mockeries indeed fit 
 to be ufed towards a leaden, but not 
 towards the ever-living God. {Ibid.) 
 
 Fortunate and Wretched. 
 
 Now, for the reft, if we truly examine 
 the difference of both conditions, to wit, 
 of the rich and mighty, whom we -call 
 fortunate, and of the poor and opprefTed, 
 whom we account wretched ; wefhallfind 
 the happinefs of the one and the mifer-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 able eftate of the other, fo tied by God 
 to the very inftant, and both fo fubjed: 
 to interchange (witnefs the fudden 
 downfall of the greateft princes and 
 the fpeedy uprifing of the meancft per- 
 fons), as the one hath nothing fo certain 
 whereof to boaft, nor the other fo un- 
 certain whereof to bewail itfelf. For 
 there is no man fo aflured of his honour, 
 of his riches, health or life, but that he 
 'may be deprived of either or all the very 
 next hour or day to come, ^id vejper 
 vehat^ incertum ejl : ' What the evening 
 will bring with it, it is uncertain ' 
 (James iv. 14); *And yet ye cannot 
 tell ' (faith St. James) ' what (hall be to- 
 morrow. To-day he is fet up, and to- 
 morrow he fhall not be found ; for he 
 is turned into duft, and his purpofe 
 perifheth.' And although the air which 
 compalfeth adverfity be very obfcure, 
 yet therein we better difcern God than 
 in that fhining light which environeth 
 worldly glory ; through which, for the 
 clearnefs thereof, there is no vanity 
 which efcapeth our fight. And let 
 adverfity fcem what it will ; to happy 
 men ridiculous, who make themfelves 
 merry at other men's misfortunes, and
 
 138 Choice Passages from 
 
 to thofe under the Crofs, grievous ; yet 
 this is true, that for all that is paft, to 
 the very inftant, the portions remaining 
 are equal to either. For be it that we 
 have lived many years, and (according 
 to Solomon) ' in them all we have re- 
 joiced'; or be it that we have meafured 
 the fame length of days and therein have 
 evermore forrowed ; yet, looking back 
 from our prefent being, we find both 
 the one and the other, to wit, the joy 
 and the woe, failed out of fight, and 
 Death, which doth purfue us and hold 
 us in check from our infancy hath 
 gathered it. Sluicquid atatis retro ejiy 
 mors tenet: ^Whatfoever of our age is 
 pail, Death holds it.' ^Ibid.) 
 
 Sorrovjs of this Life. 
 
 For myfelf, this is my confolation, 
 and all that I can offer to others, that 
 the forrows of this life are but of two 
 forts : whereof the one hath refpefl to 
 God, the other to the world. In the 
 firft, we complain to God againft our- 
 felvcs for our offences againft Him, and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 confefs : Et tu jtijius es in omnibus quce 
 venerunt fuper nos, * And Thou, O Lord, 
 art juft in all that hath befallen us.' In 
 the fecond, we complain to ourfelves 
 againll God as if He had done us 
 wrong, either in not giving us worldly 
 goods and honours anfwering our appe- 
 tites, or for taking them again from us 
 having had them ; forgetting that 
 humble and juft acknowledgment of 
 Job, * The Lord hath given and the 
 Lord hath taken' (c. i., v. 21). To the 
 firft of which St. Paul hath promifed 
 bleiTednefs, to the fecond death. And 
 out of doubt he is either a fool or un- 
 grateful to God, or both, that doth not 
 acknowledge, how mean foever his 
 eftate be, that the fame is yet far 
 greater than that which God oweth him ; 
 or doth not acknowledge, how fharp 
 foever his affliftions be, that the fame 
 are yet far lefs than thufe which are 
 due unto him. And if an heathen wife 
 man call the adverfities of the world but 
 tributa vivendi^ ' the tributes of living,* 
 a wife Chriftian man ought to know 
 them and bear them but as the tributes 
 of offending ; he ought to bear them 
 manlike and refolvedly, and not as thofe
 
 140 I Choice Passages from 
 
 \ whining foldiers do, qui gementes feguuntur 
 imperatorejn, * who lamenting followed 
 their imperator! {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 Our Parts in Play of Life. 
 
 j Seeing God, Who is the author of all 
 I our tragedies, hath written out for us 
 I and appointed us all the parts we are to 
 j play, and hath not, in their diftribution, 
 been partial to the moft mighty princes of 
 the world ; that gave unto Darius the part 
 of thegreateft emperor and the part of the 
 moft miferable beggar, a beggar begging 
 water of an enemy to quench the great 
 drought of Death ; that appointed Baja- 
 zet to play the grand fignor of the 
 Turks in the morning, and in the fame 
 I day the footftool of Tamerlane (both 
 which parts Valerian had alfo played, 
 being taken by Sapores) ; that made 
 Belifarius play the moft vi6torious cap- 
 tain, and laftly the part of a blind 
 beggar ; of which examples many thou- 
 fands may be produced ; why fhould 
 other men, who are but as the leaft 
 worms, complain of wrongs ? Certainly
 
 Sir IV alter Raleigh. | 141 
 
 there is no other account to be made of 
 this ridiculous world, than to refolve 
 that the change of fortune on the great 
 theatre is but as the change of garments 
 on the lefs ; for when, on the one and 
 the other, every man wears but his own 
 (kin, the players are all alike. [Ibid.) 
 
 Death Leaji of Evils. 
 
 I have often thought upon Death, and 
 I find it the leaft of all evils. All that } 
 which is paft is as a dream, and he that 
 hopes or depends upon time coming 
 dreams waking. So much of our life 
 as we have difcovered is already dead ; 
 and all thofe hours which we fhare even 
 from the breafts of our mothers until we 
 return to our grandmother the Earth, 
 are part of our dying days, whereof even 
 this is one ; and thofe that fucceed are of 
 the fame nature, for we * die daily '; 
 and as others have given place to us, fo 
 we muft in the end give way to others. 
 {Ibid.) 
 
 r
 
 142 Choice Passages from 
 
 Joys of Heaven. 
 
 Hereof we are aflured that the long 
 and dark night of Death, of whofe 
 following day we (hall never behold 
 the dawn (till His return that hath 
 triumphed over it), fhall cover us over 
 till the world be no more. After which, 
 and when we fhall again receive organs 
 glorified and incorruptible, the feats of 
 angelical afFeftions, in fo great admiration 
 fhall the fouls of the bleffed be exercifed, 
 as they cannot admit the mixture of any 
 fecond or lefs joy, nor any return of 
 foregone and mortal afFedlion towards 
 friends, kindred, or children. Of whom, 
 whether we fhall retain any particular 
 knowledge, or in any fort diflinguifh 
 them, no man can allure us, and the 
 wifeft men doubt [that is being flill on 
 earth]. But, on the contrary, if a 
 divine life retain any of thofe faculties 
 which the foul exercifed in a mortal 
 body, we fhall not at that time fo divide 
 the joys of Heaven as to cafl any part 
 thereof on the memory of their felicities 
 which remain in the world. No ; be 
 their eflates greater than ever the world i 
 gave, we fhall (by the difference known
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. \ 143 
 
 unto us) even deteft their confideration. 
 And whatfoever comfort shall remain of 
 all forepart, the fame will confifl in the 
 charity which we exercifed living, and 
 in that piety, juftice, and firm faith for 
 which it pleafed the infinite mercy of 
 God to accept of us and receive us. 
 {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 Frailty of Human Life Unrealised. 
 
 Though our own eyes do everywhere 
 behold the fudden and rcfiftlefs affaults 
 of Death, and Nature affureth us by 
 never-failing experience, and Reafon by 
 infallible demonftration, that our times 
 upon the earth have neither certainty 
 nor durability ; that our bodies are but 
 the anvils of pain and difcafes and our 
 minds the hives of unnumbered cares, 
 forrows, and paflions ; and that (when 
 we are raoft glorified) we arc but thofe 
 painted ports againrt which Envy and 
 Fortune dired their darts ; yet fuch is the 
 true unhappinefs of our condition and 
 the dark ignorance which covereth the 
 eyes of our underrtanding, that we only 
 prize, pamper, and exalt this vartal and
 
 144 Choice Passages from 
 
 flave of Death [the body], and forget 
 altogether (or only remember at our 
 caftaway leifure) the imprifoned im- 
 mortal foul, which can neither die with 
 the reprobate, nor perifh w^ith the mortal 
 parts of virtuous men : feeing God's 
 juftice in the one and His greatnefs in 
 I the other is exercifed for evermore, on 
 j the ever-living fubjefts of His reward 
 j and punifhment. But when is it that 
 j we examine this great account ? Never 
 I while we have one vanity left us to fpend: 
 we plead for titles till our breath fail 
 us ; dig for riches while our ftrength 
 enableth us ; exercife malice while we 
 can revenge ; and then, when time hath 
 beaten from us both youth, pleafure, and 
 health, and that Nature itfelf hateth the 
 houfe of Old Age, we remember with 
 Job that 'we muft go the way from 
 whence we fhall not return,' and * that 
 our bed is made ready for us in the 
 dark' (x. 21, xvii. 13) ; and then, I fay, 
 looking over-late into the bottom of our 
 confcience (which pleafure and ambition 
 had locked up from us all our lives), we 
 behold therein the fearful images of our 
 a6lions paft, and withal the terrible in- 
 fcription (Eccles. xii. 14) 'that God
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 will bring every work into judgment 
 that man hath done under the fun.' But 
 what examples have ever moved us ? 
 what perfuafions reformed us ? or what 
 threatenings made us afraid ? We be- 
 hold other men's tragedies played be- 
 fore us, we hear what is promifed and 
 threatened ; but the world's bright glory 
 hath put out the eyes of our minds; and 
 thefe betraying lights (with which we 
 only fee) do neither look up towards 
 termlefs joys, nor down towards endlefs 
 forrows, till we neither know nor can 
 look for anything elfe at the world's 
 hands. But let us not flatter our im- 
 mortal fouls herein ; for to negleft God 
 all our lives and know that we negleft 
 Him, to offend God voluntarily and 
 know that we offend Him, calling our 
 hopes on the peace which we truft to 
 make at parting, is no other than a 
 rebellious prefumption, and that which 
 is the worft of all, even a contemptuous 
 laughing to fcorn and deriding of God, 
 His laws and precepts : Frujira fperant 
 qui Jic mifericordia Dei Jibi blandiuntur : 
 ' They hope in vain,' faith Bernard, 
 * which in this fort flatter themfelves 
 with God's mercy.' (H. W., B. i., c. i.)
 
 [46 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 * Eloquent ' Death. 
 
 It is Death that puts into man all the 
 wifdom of the world without fpeaking a 
 word, which God with all the words of 
 His law, promifes or threats, doth not 
 infufe. Death, which hateth and de- 
 flroyeth man, is believed ; God, which 
 hath made him and loves him is always 
 deferred : *I have confidered,' faith 
 Solomon, 'all the works that are under 
 the fun, and behold all is vanity and 
 vexation of fpirit ' (Eccles. i. 14) ; but 
 who believes it till Death tells it us? 
 It was Death, which, opening the con- 
 fcience of Charles the Fifth, made him 
 enjoin his fon Philip to reftore Navarre; 
 and King Francis the Firft of France 
 to command that jullice fhould be done 
 upon the murderers of the Proteftants in 
 Merindol and Cabrieres, which till then 
 he negledled. It is, therefore. Death 
 alone that can fuddenly make man to 
 know himfelf. He tells the proud and 
 infolent that they are but abjefts, and 
 humbles them at the inftant, makes them 
 cry, complain, and repent, yea, even to 
 hate their forepart happinefs. He takes 
 the account of the rich, and proves him
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 a beggar, a naked beggar, which hath 
 interell in nothing but in gravel that 
 fills his mouth. He holds a glafs before 
 the eyes of the moft beautiful and makes 
 them fee therein their deformity and 
 rottennefs, and they acknowledge it. 
 
 O eloquent, juft, and mighty Death! 
 Whom none could advife thou haft per- 
 fuaded ; what none hath dared thou 
 haft done; and whom all the world hath 
 flattered thou only haft caft out of the 
 world and defpifed ; thou haft drawn 
 together all the far-ftretched greatnefs, 
 all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of 
 men, and covered it all over with thefe 
 two narrow words — Jjic Jacet. (H. 
 W., B. vi., c. vi.) 
 
 r 
 
 MORAL GOVERNMENT OF 
 THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 Providence. 
 
 Providence (which the Greeks call 
 pronoia) is an intelleftual knowledge, 
 both forefeeing, caring for, and ordering 
 all things, and doth not only behold all
 
 Past, all Present, and all To Come, 
 but is the caufe of their fo being, which 
 Prefcience (fimply taken) is not ; and 
 therefore Providence, by the philo- 
 fophers, faith St. Auguftine, is divided 
 into memory, knowledge, and care : 
 memory of the Paft, knowledge of the 
 Prefent, and care of the Future ; and 
 we ourfelves account fuch a man for 
 provident, as remembering things paft, 
 and obferving things prefent, can by 
 i judgment, and comparing the one with 
 \ the other, provide for the future and 
 I times fucceeding. . . . God, therefore. 
 Who could only be the caufe of all, 
 can only provide for all and fuftain all ; 
 fo as to abfolute power, to everywhere- 
 prefence, to perfect goodnefs, to pure 
 and divine love (i John iv. l), this 
 attribute and tranfcendent ability of 
 Providence is only proper and belong- 
 ing. (H. W., B. i., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 Predejiination. 
 
 For Predeftination, we can difference 
 it no otherwife from Providence and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 149 
 
 Prefcience, than in this, that Prefcience 
 only forefeeth, Providence forefeeth and 
 careth for, and hath refpeft to all 
 creatures (Rom. viii., ix.), even from 
 the higheft angels of heaven to the 
 unworthieft worms of the earth ; and 
 predeftination (as it is ufed, efpecially 
 by divines) is only of men, and yet not 
 of all men belonging, but of their 
 falvation properly, in the common ufe 
 of divines ; or perdition, as fome have 
 ufed it. Yet Peter Lombard (1. i., dift. 
 39), Thomas (Pt. i., dift. 23), Bernenfis 
 Theologus (in Probl., de p. d.), and 
 others, take the v^or^ predeftination more 
 ftriftly, and for a preparation to felicity. 
 Divers of the Fathers take it more 
 largely fometimes ; among whom St. 
 Auguftine, fpeaking of two cities and' 
 two focieties, ufeth thefe words (1. xv., 
 c. i., de Civ. Dei) : ' Whereof one is 
 it, which is predeftinated to reign for 
 ever with God, but the other is to 
 undergo everlafting torment with the 
 devil '; for according to Nonius Mar- 
 cellus, deftinare eft praparare. And of 
 the fame opinion are many Protcftant 
 writers, as Calvin (in c. ix., ad Rom,), 
 Beza [ibid.), Buchanus, Danaeus, and
 
 150 I Choice Passages from 
 
 fuch like ; and as for the manifold 
 queflions hereof arifing, I leave them to 
 the Divines ; and why it hath pleafed 
 God to create fome veflels of honour 
 and fome of difhonour, I will anfwer 
 with Gregory, who faith, * He that 
 feeth no reafon in the adlions of God 
 by confideration of his own infirmity 
 perceiveth the reafon of his blindnefs ' 
 (Mag., Job ix.). And again with St. 
 Augulline (ad Polin., ep. 59), 'Hidden 
 the caufe of His predeftination may be, 
 unjuft it cannot be.' (H. W., B. i.. 
 c.i.) 
 
 Fortune. 
 
 Seeing deftiny or necellity is fubfe- 
 quent to God's providence, and feeing 
 that the ftars have no other dominion 
 than as before fpoken, and that Nature 
 is nothing but as Plato called it, ' the 
 art or artificial organ of God,' and 
 Cufanus ' the inftrument of the divine 
 precept'; we may with better reafon 
 rejefl that ivind of idolatry or god of 
 fools, called Fortune or Chance ; a
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 goddefs the moft reverenced and the 
 moft reviled of all other, but not 
 ancient, for Homer maketh her the 
 daughter of Oceanus, as Paufanias wit- 
 nefTeth in his Meffeniacks. The Greeks 
 call her rZyjiv, fignifying a relative being 
 or betiding, fo as before Homer's time 
 this great lady was fcarce heard of; 
 and Hefiod, who hath taught the birth 
 and beginning of all thefe counterfeit 
 gods, hath not a word of Fortune ; yet 
 afterwards fhe grew fo great and omni- 
 potent, as from kings and kingdoms to 
 beggars and cottages fhe ordered all 
 things, refilHng the wifdom of the 
 wifeft, by making the poflefTor thereof 
 miferable ; valuing the folly of the mofl. 
 foolifh, by making their fuccefs prof- 
 perous ; infomuch as the adions of men 
 were faid to be but the fport of Fortune 
 and the variable accidents happening in 
 men's lives but her paftimes. . . . 
 But I will forbear to be curious in that 
 which (as it is commonly underftood) is 
 nothing elfe but a power imaginary, to 
 which the fuccefs of human adions and 
 endeavours were for their vanity marked ; 
 for when a manifeft caufe coulr* not be 
 given then was it attributed to Fortune,
 
 as if there were no caufe of thofe things 
 of which moft men are ignorant ; con- 
 trary to this true ground of Plato, 
 * Nothing ever came to pafs under the 
 fun of which there was not a juft pre- 
 ceding caufe.' But Aquinas hath herein 
 anfwered in one diftinftion, whatfoever 
 may be objefted ; for many things there 
 are, faith he, which happen befides the 
 intention of the inferior, but not belides 
 the intention of the fuperior, to wit, 
 the ordinance of God ; and, therefore, 
 faith Melancthon (Sat. x. 366), * Whom 
 the poets call Fortune we know to be 
 God.' (H. W., B. i., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 Misfortune and Chance. 
 
 It may be obje6led that if Fortune 
 and Chance were not fometimes the 
 caufes of good and evil in men, but an 
 idle voice whereby we exprefs fuccefs ; 
 how comes it, then, that fo many worthy 
 and wife men depend upon fo many 
 unworthy and empty-headed fools ? 
 that riches and honour are given to 
 external men and without kernel, and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 153 
 
 fo many learned, virtuous, and valiant 
 men wear out their lives in poor and 
 dejefted eftates ? In a word, there is no 
 other inferior or apparent caufe befide 
 the partiality of man's afFeftion, but the 
 fafhioning and not fafhioning of our- 
 felves according to the nature of the 
 time wherein we live ; for whofoever 
 is moft able and beft sufficient to difcern, 
 and hath withal an honeft and open 
 heart and loving truth ; if princes and 
 thofe that govern endure no other dif- 
 courfe than their own flatterers, then I 
 fay fuch an one, whofe virtue and 
 courage forbiddeth him to be bafe and 
 a dilfembler, fhall evermore hang under 
 the wheel, which kind of deferving well 
 and receiving ill we always falfely 
 charge Fortune withal. For whofoever 
 fhall tell any great man or magiftrate 
 that he is not juft, the general of an 
 army that he is not valiant, and great 
 ladies that they are not fair, (hall never 
 be made a counfellor, a captain or a 
 courtier. Neither is it fufficient to be 
 wife with a wife prince, valiant with a 
 valiant, and juft with him that is juft, 
 for fuch a one hath no eftate in his 
 profperity ; but he muft alfo change
 
 154 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 with the fucceflbr if he be of contrary 
 qualities ; fail with the tide of the time 
 and alter form and condition as the 
 eftate or the eftate's mafter changeth ; 
 otherwife how were it poiTible that the 
 moft bafe men, and feparate from all 
 imitable qualities, could fo often attain 
 to honour and riches, but by fuch an 
 obfervant, flavifh courfe ? Thefe men, 
 having nothing elfe to value themfelves 
 by but a counterfeit kind of wondering 
 at other men, and by making them 
 believe that all their vices are virtues, 
 and all their dufty anions cryflalline, 
 have yet in all ages profpered equally 
 with the moft virtuous, if not exceeded 
 them. For, according to Menander, 
 * every fool is won with his own pride 
 and others' flattering applaufe,' fo as 
 whofoever will live altogether out of 
 himfelf and ftudy other men's humours, 
 and relieve them, shall never be unfor- 
 tunate ; and, on the contrary, that man 
 which prizeth truth and virtue (except 
 the feafon wherein he liveth be of all 
 thefe and of all forts of goodnefs, fruit- 
 ful), fhall never profper by the polTefTion 
 or profefTion thereof. It is alfo a token 
 of a worldly-wife man not to war or
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 contend in vain againft the nature of 
 times wherein he liveth, for fuch a one 
 is often the author of his own mifery. 
 . . . Whofoever therefore will fet 
 before him Machiavel's two marks to 
 (hoot at, to wit, riches and glory, muft 
 fet on and take off a back of iron to a 
 weak wooden bow, that it may fit both 
 the ftrong and the feeble ; for as he that 
 firft devifed to add fails to rowing vefTels 
 did either fo proportion them as, being 
 faftened abaft and towards the head of 
 the maft, he might abide all winds and 
 ftorms, or elfe he fometime or other 
 periflied by his own invention. So that 
 man which prizeth virtue for itfelf, and 
 cannot endure to hoife and ftrike his 
 fails as the divers natures of calms and 
 ftorms require, muft cut his fails and 
 his cloth of mean length and breadth, 
 and content himfelf with a flow and 
 fure navigation, to wit, a mean and free 
 eftate. But of this difpute of Fortune 
 and the reft, or of whatfoever lords or 
 gods, imaginary powers or causes, the 
 wit (or rather foolifhness) of man hath 
 found out, let us refolve with St. Paul, 
 who hath taught us, that there is *but 
 one God, the Father, of Whom are all
 
 156 Choice Passages from 
 
 things, and we in Him, and our Lord 
 Jefus Chrift, by Whom are all things, 
 and we by Him. There are diverfities 
 of operations, but God is the fame which 
 maketh all in all' (i Cor. viii. 6 ; xii. 
 6). (H. W., B. i., c. i.) 
 
 r 
 
 Prefcience. 
 
 Prefcience or Foreknowledge (which 
 the Greeks call prognojts, the Latins 
 pracogjiitio or prajcientia), confidered in 
 order and nature (if we may fpeak of 
 God after the manner of men), goeth 
 before Providence ; for God foreknew 
 all things before He had created them, 
 or before they had being to be cared 
 for ; and Prefcience is no other than 
 an infallible foreknowledge. For what- 
 foever ourfelves foreknow, except the 
 fame be to fucceed accordingly, it can- 
 not be true that we foreknow it. But 
 this prefcience of God (as it is 
 prefcience only) is not the caufe of 
 anything futurely fucceeding, neither 
 doth God's foreknowledge impofe any 
 neceffity or bond. For in that we fore-
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 157 
 
 know that the fun will rife and fct ; that 
 all men born in the world (hall die 
 again ; that after winter the fpring fhall 
 come ; after the fpring, fummer and 
 harvell ; and that according to the 
 feveral feeds that we fow we fhall reap 
 feveral forts of grain ; yet is not our 
 foreknowledge the caufe of this, or any 
 of thefe ; neither doth the knowledge in 
 us bind or conftrain the fun to rife and 
 fet, or men to die ; for the caufes (as 
 men perfuade themfelves) are otherwifc 
 manifeft and known to all (cf. Boethius 
 dc Confol.). (H. W., B. i., c. i.) 
 
 Accidents fo-c ailed. 
 
 There is not the fmallcft accident 
 which may feem unto man as falling 
 out by chance and of no confequence 
 but that the fame is caufed by God, to 
 efFeft fomewhat elfe by ; yea, and often- 
 times to efFeft things of the greateft 
 worldly importance either prefently or 
 in many years after, when the occafions 
 are either not confidered or forgotten. 
 {Ibid.)
 
 158 Choice Passages from 
 
 Trifles in Providetice. 
 
 In Deuteronomy the xixth [verfe 5] 
 the flipping of an axe from the helve, 
 whereby another was flain, was the 
 work of God Himfelf. We in our 
 phrafe attribute this accident to chance 
 or fortune. And in Proverbs the xvith : 
 * The lot is caft into the lap, but the 
 whole difpofition thereof is of the 
 Lord' [verfe 33]. So as that which 
 feemeth moll cafual and fubjedl to for- 
 tune is yet dispofed by the ordinance of 
 God, as all things elfe. {Ibid.) 
 
 r 
 
 INJUSTICE OF ARRAIGNMENT 
 OF TREASON, NOT., 1603. 
 
 To Lord Cecil of EJJingdon. 
 
 Sir, — To fpeak of former times, it 
 were needlefs. Your Lordfliip knows 
 what I have been towards yourfelf, and 
 how long I have loved you and have 
 been favoured by you ; but change of 
 times and mine own errors have worn 
 out thofe remembrances (I fear), and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. j 159 
 
 I 
 if aught did remain yet in the ftate | 
 wherein I Hand, there can be no friend- i 
 Ihip ; compaffion there may be, for it 
 is never feparate from honour and 
 virtue. 
 
 If the power of law be not greater 
 than the power of truth, I may juftly 
 befeech you to relieve me in this my 
 affli6lion. If it be, then your Lordfhip 
 fhall have caufe (as a juft man) to bewail 
 my undeferved miferable eftate. I 
 cannot defpair but that fome warmth 
 remaineth in cinders to move you to 
 the iirft. To the fecond I may aflure 
 myfelf that even God Himfelf and your 
 Lordfhip's love to juftice, will perfuade 
 you. 
 
 Your Lordfhip knows my accufer ; 
 and have ever known my afFeftion to 
 that nation for which I am accufed. A 
 heavy burden of God to be in danger 
 of perifhing for a Prince which I have 
 fo long hated, and to fuffer thefc 
 miferies under a Prince whom I have 
 fo long loved. 
 
 Sir, what malice may do againft me 
 I know not. My caufe hath been 
 handled by ftrong enemies. But if 
 ever I fo much as fufpedlcd this prac-
 
 i6o Choice Passages from 
 
 tife [ = confpiracy] laid to my charge, 
 leave me to death ; if the fame by any 
 equity fhall be proved againft me. And 
 equitas is faid to be Juris legitimi emen- 
 datio et juJiiti(S dire^io. 
 
 Your Lordfhip is now a counfellor to 
 a merciful and juft King, if ever we had 
 any. You have ever dealt in matter of 
 juilice, as knowing no man's face ; yet 
 vouchfafe now fo to ufe the power 
 which God and the King hath given 
 you, as to defend me from undeferved 
 cruelty. Potentia non eji, nifi ad bonum. 
 The law ought not to overrule piety, 
 but piety the law. The law doth 
 warrant all adlions before men, but 
 God hath faid, Innocentem no?i interjicies. 
 Your Lordfhip hath known in your 
 time one in this place condemned — 
 and in this place he perifhed — who at 
 the hour of his death received the 
 Sacrament that he was innocent. How, 
 therefore, I fhall be judged I know not. 
 How I have deferved to be judged, I 
 know ; and I defire nothing but fecun- 
 dum meritu?n meutn. 
 
 If I fhould fay unto the King that 
 my love fo long borne him might hope 
 for fome grace, it would perchance be
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 taken for prefumption, becaufe he is a 
 king and my fovereign. But as the 
 King is a true gentleman and a jull 
 man, befides his being a king, fo he 
 oweth unto me fuch a merciful refpeft 
 as the refolution moft willingly to have 
 hazarded my life and fortune for him 
 againft all men may deferve. 
 
 For yourfelf, my Lord Cecil, and for 
 me, fometime your true friend, and now 
 a miferable forfaken man, I know that 
 afFeftions are neither taught nor per- 
 fuaded. But if aught remain of good, 
 of love, or of compaffion towards me, 
 your Lordfhip will now Ihow it, when 
 I am moft unworthy of your love, and 
 moft unable to deferve it. For even 
 then is love, true honour, and true 
 virtue expreffed. And what I fhall 
 leave to pay [ = leave unpaid] of fo great 
 a debt, God will perform to your Lord- 
 fhip and to yours. Your Lordfliip's 
 wretched poor friend and fervant, , 
 W. Ralegh. 
 
 Your Lordfhip will find that I have 
 been ftrangely praftifed [ = confpired] 
 againft, and that others have their lives 
 promifed to accufe me. I can fay no 
 more, but befeech you to ufe charity :
 
 1 62 Choice Passages from 
 
 Char it as eji qua dam participatio Spirit us 
 Sa?jSfi. (* Letters,' pp. 278-80.) 
 
 BOOKS IN PRISON, 1609. 
 
 To Sir Robert Cotton. 
 
 Sir Robert Cotton, — If you have 
 any of thofe old books, or any manu- 
 fcripts wherein I can read any of our 
 written antiquities, if you pleafe to lend 
 them me for a little while, I will fwiftly 
 reilore them, and think myfelf much 
 beholden unto you ; or if you have any 
 old French hiftory wherein our nation 
 is mentioned, or any elfe in what 
 language foever. — Your poor friend, 
 W. Ralegh. (* Letters,' p. 322 ; 
 Edwards annotates the lift of long fmce 
 obfolete books, pp. 322, 323. See our 
 Introduftion.)
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 SEIZURE OF SHERBORNE, 
 1609 (?). 
 
 To Sir Robert Carr, after Earl of 
 Somerfet. 
 
 Sir, — After many great loiTes and 
 many years' forrows, of both which I 
 have caufe to fear I was miftaken in 
 their ends, it is come to my knowledge 
 that yourfelf (whom I know not but by 
 an honourable fame), have been per- 
 fuaded to give me and mine our laft 
 fatal blow, by obtaining from his Majefty 
 the inheritance of my children and 
 nephews, loft in law for want of words. 
 This done, there remaineth nothing 
 with me but the bare name of life, dc- 
 fpoiled of all elfe but the title and forrow 
 thereof. His Majesty, whom I never 
 offended (for I ever held it both un- 
 natural and unmanly to hate goodnefs), 
 ftayed me at the grave's brink ; not, as 
 I hope, that his Majefty thought me 
 worthy of many deaths and to behold 
 all mine caft out of the world with my- 
 felf, but as a king who, judging the 
 poor in truth, hath retained a promife
 
 164 Choice Passages from 
 
 from God that his throne shall be 
 eftablifhed for ever. 
 
 And for yourfelf, Sir, feeing your day 
 is but now in the dawn and mine come 
 to the evening — your own virtues and 
 the king's grace, affuring you of many 
 good fortunes and much honour — I 
 befeech you not to begin your firft build- 
 ings upon the ruins of the innocent ; 
 and that their griefs and forrows do not 
 attaint your firft plantation. I have 
 been bounden to your nation, as well 
 for many other graces as for the true 
 report of my trial to the king's Majerty, 
 againft whom had I been found malig- 
 nant, the hearing of my cause would 
 not have changed enemies into friends, 
 malice into compaffion, and the greateft 
 number prefent into a commiferation of 
 mine eftate. It is not the nature of 
 foul treafons to beget fuch fair paflions ; 
 neither would it agree with the duty 
 and love of faithful fubjeils (efpecially 
 of your nation) to bewail his overthrow 
 who had conipired againft their moft 
 blefTed and natural Lord. I therefore 
 truft, Sir, that you will not be the firft 
 that will kill us outright, cut down the 
 tree with the fruit, and undergo the
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 curfe of them that enter into the fields 
 of the fatherlefs — the which (if it pleafc 
 you to know the truth) are far lefs fruit- 
 ful in value than in fame ; and that so 
 worthy a gentleman as yourfelf will 
 rather bind us to your fervice, being 
 Sir, gentlemen, not bafe in birth or 
 alliance, who have intereft therein. 
 And myfelf, with the uttermoft thank- 
 fulnefs, will ever remain ready to obey 
 your commandments. — W. Ralegh. 
 (* Letters,' pp. 326-328.) 
 
 r 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS SON 
 AND TO POSTERITT. 
 
 § i. Virtuous Perfons to be made Choice 
 of for Friends. 
 
 There is nothing more becoming an)' 
 wife man than to make choice of 
 friends ; for by them thou (halt be 
 judged what thou art. Let them, there- 
 fore, be wife and virtuous, and none of 
 thofe that follow thee for gain. But 
 make eledion rather of thy betters than 
 thy inferiors, fhunning always fuch as 
 are poor and needy. For if thou givell:
 
 1 66 Choice Passages from 
 
 twenty gifts and refufe to do the like 
 but once, all that thou haft done will be 
 loft, and fuch men will become thy 
 mortal enemies. Take alfo fpecial 
 care that thou never truft any friend or 
 fervant with any matter that may en- 
 danger thine eftate ; for fo Ihalt thou 
 make thyfelf a bondflave to him that 
 thou trufteft, and leave thyfelf always to 
 his mercy. And be fure of this, thou 
 {halt never find a friend in thy young 
 years, whofe conditions and qualities 
 will pleafe thee after thou comeft to 
 more difcretion and judgment j and 
 then all thou giveft is loft, and all 
 wherein thou fhalt truft fuch a one will 
 be difcovered [ = revealed]. 
 
 Such, therefore, as are thy inferiors 
 will follow thee but to eat thee out, 
 and when thou leaveft to feed them 
 they will hate thee ; and fuch kind of 
 men, if thou preferve thy eftate, will 
 always be had. 
 
 And if thy friends be of better quality 
 than thyfelf, thou may eft be fure of two 
 things ; the firft, that they will be more 
 careful to keep thy counfel, becaufe 
 they have more to lofe than thou haft ; 
 the fecond, they will efteem thee for
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 thyfelf, and not for that which thou doft 
 pofTefs. 
 
 But if thou be fubjecl to any great 
 vanity or ill (from which I hope God 
 will blefs thee), then therein trull no 
 man ; for every man's folly ought to be 
 his greateft fecret. And although I 
 perfuade thee to alTociate thyfelf with 
 thy betters, or at leaft with thy peers, 
 yet remember always that thou venture 
 not thy eftate with any of thofe great 
 ones that fhall attempt unlawful things ; 
 for fuch men labour for themfelves and 
 not for thee. Thou Ihalt be fure to 
 part [ = fhare] with them in the danger, 
 but not in the honour ; and to venture 
 a fure eftate in prefent, in hope of a 
 better in future, is mere madnefs. 
 
 And great men forget fuch as have 
 done them fervice, when they have ob- 
 tained what they would, and will rather 
 hate thee for faying thou haft been a 
 means of their advancement, than ac- 
 knowledge it. I could give thee a 
 thoufand examples, and I myfelf know- 
 it and have tafted of it in all the courfc 
 of my life. When thou ihalt read and 
 rehearfe the ftories of all nations, thou 
 ihalt find innumerable examples of the
 
 1 68 Choice Passages from 
 
 like. Let thy love, therefore, be to the 
 beft, fo long as they do well ; but take 
 heed that thou love God, thy country, 
 thy prince, and thine own eftate, before 
 all others ; for the fancies of men 
 change, and he that loves to-day, hateth 
 to-morrow. But let reafon be thy 
 fchoolmiftrefs, which fhall ever guide 
 thee aright. 
 
 § ii. Great Care to be had in Choofi7ig 
 of a Wife. 
 
 The next and greateft care ought to 
 be in the choice of a wife ; and the 
 only danger therein is beauty, by which 
 all men in all ages, wife and foolifh, 
 have been betrayed. And though I 
 know it vain to ufe reafons or argu- 
 ments to diiTuade thee from being cap- 
 tivated therewith, there being few or 
 none that ever refilled that witchery ; 
 yet I cannot omit to warn thee, as of 
 other things, which may be thy ruin 
 and deftruftion. 
 
 For the prefent time, it is true, that 
 every man prefers his fantafy in that
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 appetite, before all other worldly defires, 
 leaving the care of honour, credit and 
 fafety, in refpedl thereof. But remem- 
 ber, that though thefe affeftions do not 
 laft, yet the bond of marriage dureth to 
 the end of thy life ; and therefore 
 better to be borne withal in a miftrefs 
 than as a wife ; for when thy humour 
 fhall change thou art yet free to 
 choofe again (if thou give thyfelf that 
 vain liberty). Remember, fecondly, that 
 if thou marry for beauty, thou bindeft 
 thyfelf all thy life for that which, per- 
 chance, will never [qu. neither ?] laft 
 nor pleafe thee one year ; and when 
 thou haft it, it will be to thee of no 
 price at all ; for the defire dieth when 
 it is attained, and the affeftion perifheth 
 when it is fatisfied. 
 
 Remember, when thou vvert a fucking 
 child, that thou didft love thy nurfe, and 
 thou wert fond of her ; after a while 
 thou didft love thy dry-nurfe and didft 
 forget the other ; after that thou didft 
 alfo defpife her. So will it be with thy 
 liking in elder years ; and therefore, 
 though thou canft not forbear to love, 
 forbear to link ; and after a while thou 
 ftialt find an alteration in thyfelf, and
 
 lyo ■ 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 fee another far more pleafmg than the 
 firft, fecond, or third love. 
 
 Yet I wifh thee above all the reft to 
 have a care thou doft not marry an un- 
 comely woman for any refpe6l ; for 
 comelinefs in children is riches, if 
 nothing elfe be left them. And if thou 
 have a care for thy races of horfes and 
 other beafts, value the fhape and come- 
 linefs of thy children, before alliances 
 or riches. Have care, therefore, of both 
 together ; for if thou have a fair wife 
 and a poor one, if thine own eftate be 
 not great, afTure thyfelf that love abideth 
 not with want ; for fhe is the companion 
 of plenty and honour. For I never yet 
 knew a poor woman exceeding fair that 
 was not made difhoneft by one or other 
 in the end. Thus Bathfheba taught her 
 fon Solomon : * Favour is deceitful and 
 beauty is vain.' She wrote further : 
 * That a wife woman overfeeth the ways 
 of her houfehold, and eateth not the 
 bread of idlenefs ' [Proverbs xxxi. 27]. 
 
 Have, therefore, ever more care that 
 thou be beloved of thy wife, rather than 
 thyfelf befotted on her ; and thou fhalt 
 judge of her love by thefe two obferva- 
 tions : firft, if thou perceive fhe has a
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. | 171 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 care of thy eftate, and exercife herfelf | 
 therein ; the other, if ihe ftudy to pleafe 
 thee, and be fweet unto thee in con- 
 verfation, without thy inftruftion ; for 
 love needs no teaching nor precept. 
 On the other fide, be not four or ftern 
 to thy wife ; for cruelty cngendereth 
 no other thing than hatred. 
 
 Let her have equal part of thy eftate 
 whilft thou liveft, if thou find her 
 fparing and honeft ; but what thou 
 givcft after thy death, remember that 
 thou givcft it to a ftranger, and moft 
 times to an enemy ; for he that fhall 
 marry thy wife will defpife thee, thy 
 memory and thine, and fhall pofTefs the 
 quiet of thy labours, the fruit which 
 thou haft planted, enjoy thy love, and 
 fpend with joy and eafe what thou haft 
 fpared, and gotten with care and travail. 
 
 Yet always remember that thou leave 
 not thy wife to be a fhame unto thee 
 after thou art dead, but that flie may 
 live according to thy eftate ; efpecially 
 if thou haft but few children, and them 
 provided for. But howfoevcr it be, or 
 whatfoever thou find, leave thy wife no 
 more than of neceffity thou muft, but 
 only during her widowhood; for if ftie
 
 172 Choice Passages from 
 
 1 ; 
 
 love again, let her not enjoy her fecond 
 love in the fame bed wherein Ihe loved 
 thee, nor fly to future plcafures with 
 thofe feathers which Death hath pulled 
 from thy wings ; but leave thy eftate to 
 thy houfe and children, in which thou 
 livefl upon earth whilft it lafteth. 
 
 To conclude — Wives were ordained 
 to continue the generation of men, not 
 to transfer them and diminifti them, 
 either in continuance or ability ; and 
 therefore thy houfe and eftate which 
 liveth in thy fon, and not in thy wife, is 
 to be preferred. 
 
 Let thy time of marriage be in thy 
 young and ftrong years ; for believe it, 
 ever the young wife betrayeth the old 
 huftiand, and ihe that had thee not in 
 thy flower, will defpife thee in thy fall 
 [ = Autumn], and thou ftialt be unto her 
 but a captivity and forrow. 
 
 Thy beft time will be towards thirty ; 
 for as the younger times are unfit, either 
 to choofe or to govern a wife and family ; 
 fo if thou ftay long, thou flialt hardly fee 
 the education of thy children, which 
 being left to ftrangers, are in effeft loft ; 
 and better were it to be unborn than ill- 
 bred ; for thereby thy pofterity fliall
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 173 
 
 either perifli or remain a fhame to thy 
 name and family. Furthermore, if it 
 be late ere thou take a wife, thou (halt 
 fpend thy prime and fummer of thy life 
 with harlots, deftroy thy health, im- 
 poverifh thy eftate and endanger thy 
 life ; and be fure of this, that how 
 many miftreflcs foever thou hail, fo many 
 enemies thou (halt purchafe to thyfelf. 
 For there never was any fuch afFeftion 
 which ended not in hatred or dif- 
 dain. Remember the faying of Solomon, 
 * There is a way which feemeth right to 
 a man, but the ifTues thereof are the 
 ways of death' [Prov. xiv. 12]; for how- 
 foever a lewd woman pleafc thee for a 
 time, thou wilt hate her in the end and 
 fhe will ftudy to deftroy thee. If thou 
 canfl not abflain from them in thy vain 
 and unbridled times, yet remember 
 that thou fowell on the fands and doft 
 mingle thy vital blood with corruption, 
 and purchafeft difeafes, repentance and 
 hatred only. 
 
 Beftow, therefore, thy youth, fo that 
 thou mayft have comfort to remember 
 it, when it hath forfaken thee, and not 
 figh and grieve at the account thereof 
 
 Whilft thou art young thou wilt
 
 174 Choice Passages from 
 
 think it will never have an end j but 
 behold, the longeft day hath his evening ; 
 and thou fhalt enjoy it but once, for it 
 never [rejturns again. 
 
 Ufe it therefore as the Springtime 
 which foon departeth, and wherein thou 
 oughtefl to plant, and fow all provifions 
 for a long and happy life. 
 
 § iii. JVifeJl Men kave been abused by 
 Flatterers. 
 
 Take care thou be not made a fool by 
 flatterers, for even the wifeft men are 
 abufed by thefe. 
 
 Know therefore that flatterers are the 
 worft kind of traitors ; for they will 
 fl:rengthen thy imperfedions, encourage 
 thee in all evils, correal thee in nothing, 
 but fo fliadow and paint all thy vices 
 and follies, as thou flialt never, by their 
 will, difcern evil from good or vice from 
 virtue. 
 
 And becaufe all men are apt to flatter 
 themfelves, to entertain the additions of 
 other men's praifes is moft perilous. Do 
 not, therefore, praife thyfelf except thou
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. I 175 
 
 wilt be counted a vain -glorious fool ; 
 neither take delight in the praifc of 
 other men, except thou deferve it, and 
 receive it from fuch as are worthy and 
 honeft, and will withal warn thee of thy 
 faults. 
 
 For flatterers have never any virtue. 
 They are ever bafe, creeping, cowardly 
 perfons. 
 
 A flatterer is laid to be a beaft that 
 biteth fmiling. It is faid by Ifaiah in 
 this manner: *My people, they that 
 praife thee feduce thee and diforder the 
 paths of thy feet' [iii. 12]; and David 
 defired God to cut out the tongue of a 
 flatterer. But it is hard to know them 
 from friends, they are fo obfequious and 
 full of proteftations. 
 
 For as a wolf refembles a dog, fo doth 
 a flatterer a friend. 
 
 A flatterer is compared to an ape, who, 
 becaufe fhe cannot defend the houfe like 
 a dog, labour as an ox, or bear burdens 
 as a horfe, doth therefore yet play tricks, 
 and provoke laughter. 
 
 Thou mayft be fure that he that will 
 in private tell thee thy faults, is thy 
 friend ; for he adventures thy diflike, 
 and doth hazard thv hatred. For there
 
 176 Choice Passages from 
 
 are few men that can endure it, every 
 man for the moft part delighting in 
 felf-praife, which is one of the moft 
 univerfal follies that bewitcheth man- 
 kind. 
 
 § iv. Private parrels to be avoided. 
 
 Be careful to avoid public difputations 
 at feafts, or at tables, among choleric or 
 quarrelfome perfons ; and efchew ever- 
 more to be acquainted or familiar with 
 ruffians ; for thou fhalt be in as much 
 danger in contending with a brawler in 
 a private quarrel as in a battle, wherein 
 thou mayft get honour to thyfelf and 
 fafety to thy Prince and country; but 
 if thou be once engaged, carry thyfelf 
 bravely, that they may fear thee after. 
 
 To fhun, therefore, private fight, be 
 well advifed in thy words and behaviour, 
 for honour and fhame is in the talk, and 
 the tongue of a man caufeth him to 
 fall. 
 
 Jeft not openly at thofe that are fimple, 
 but remember how much thou art bound 
 to God, who hath made thee wifer. 
 
 Defame not any woman publicly,
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 though thou know her to be evil ; for 
 thofe that are faulty cannot endure to 
 be taxed [ = accufed or condemned], but 
 will feck to be avenged of thee ; and 
 thofe that are not guilty cannot endure 
 unjuft reproach. 
 
 And as there is nothing more fhamc- 
 ful and difhonell: than to do wrong, fo 
 truth itfelf cutteth his throat that carrieth 
 her publicly in every place. 
 
 Remember the divine faying, ' He 
 that kecpeth his mouth keepeth his life ' 
 [Prov. xiii. 3]. Do, therefore, right 
 to all men where it may profit them, 
 and thou (halt thereby get much love ; 
 and forbear to fpeak evil things of men, 
 though it be true (if thou be not con- 
 ftrained), and thereby thou fhalt avoid 
 malice and revenge. 
 
 Do not accufe any man of any crime, 
 if it be not to fave thyfelf, thy prince, 
 or country; for there is nothing more 
 difhonourable (next to treafon itfelf) 
 than to be an accufer. Notwithftand- 
 ing, I would not have thee for any 
 refped lofe thy reputation, or endure 
 public difgrace; for better it were not 
 to live than to live a coward, if the 
 offence proceed not from thyfelf; if it
 
 178 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 do, it fhall be better to compound it 
 upon good terms than to hazard thyfelf. 
 For if thou overcome thou art under 
 the cruelty of the law, if thou art over- 
 come thou art dead or diihonoured. If 
 thou, therefore, contend, or difcourfe in 
 argument, let it be with wife and fober 
 men, of whom thou muft learn by 
 reafoning, and not with ignorant per- 
 fons ; for thou Ihalt thereby inftrudl 
 thofe that will not thank thee, and will 
 utter what they have learned from thee 
 for their own. But if thou know more 
 than other men, utter it when it may 
 do thee honour, and not in affemblies of 
 ignorant and common perfons. 
 
 Speaking much, alfo, is a fign of 
 vanity; for he that is lavilh in words 
 is a niggard in deeds ; and as Solomon 
 faith : ' The mouth of a wife man is in 
 his heart ; the heart of a fool is in his 
 mouth, becaufe what he knoweth or 
 thinketh he uttereth' [xiv. 33]. 
 
 And by thy words and difcourfes men 
 will judge thee ; for, as Socrates faith, 
 ' Such as thy works are, fuch will thy 
 affedions be efteemed ; and fuch will 
 thy deeds as thy afFedions, and fuch thy 
 life as thy deeds.'
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Therefore, be advifed what thou doft 
 difcourfe of, and what thou maintaineft ; 
 whether touching religion. State, or 
 vanity, for if thou err in the firft thou 
 Ihalt be counted profane ; if in the 
 fecond, dangerous ; if in the third, 
 indifcreet and foolifh. 
 
 He that cannot refrain from much 
 fpeaking is like a city without walls, 
 and lefs pains in the world a man cannot 
 take than to hold his tongue. 
 
 Therefore, if thou obferveft this rule 
 in all affemblies, thou fhalt fcldom err. 
 Reftrain thy choler, hearken much and 
 fpeak little ; for the tongue is the inftru- 
 ment of the greateft good and greateft 
 evil that is done in the world. Accord- 
 ing to Solomon, *life and death are in 
 the power of the tongue' [xviii. 12]; 
 and as Euripides truly affirmeth, * Every 
 unbridled tongue in the end fhall find 
 itfelf unfortunate,' for in all that ever 
 I obferved in the courfe of worldly 
 things I ever found that men's fortunes 
 are oftener made by their tongues than 
 by their virtues, and more men's for- 
 tunes overthrown thereby alfo than by 
 their vices. 
 
 And, to conclude, all quarrels, mif-
 
 i8o Choice Passages from 
 
 chief, hatred, and deftruftion arife from 
 unadviled fpeech, and in much fpeech 
 there are many errors, out of which thy 
 enemies fhall ever take the moft danger- 
 ous advantage. And as thou fhalt be 
 happy if thou thyfelf obferve thefe 
 things, fo fhall it be moft profitable 
 for thee to avoid their companies that 
 err in this kind; and not to hearken to 
 tale-bearers, to inquifitive perfons, and 
 fuch as bufy themfelves with other 
 men's eftates ; that creep into houfes 
 as fpies, to learn news which concerns 
 them not ; for aflure thyfelf fuch perfons 
 are moft bafe and unworthy, and I never 
 knew any of them profper, or refpefted 
 amongft worthy or wife men. 
 
 Take heed, alfo, that thou be not 
 found a liar; for a lying fpirit is hateful 
 both to God and man. A liar is com- 
 monly a coward, for he dares not avow 
 truth. A liar is trufted of no man ; he 
 can have no credit, either in public or 
 private. 
 
 And if there were no more arguments 
 than this, know that our Lord, in St. 
 John, faith, ' that it is a vice proper to 
 Satan ' [viii. 44], lying being oppofite to 
 the nature of God, which confifteth in
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 truth. And the gain of lying is nothing 
 elfe but not to be trufted of any, nor to be 
 believed when we fay the truth. It is 
 faid in the Proverbs that * God hateth 
 falfe lips, and he that fpeaketh lies fhall 
 perifh' [xix. 9]. Thus thou mayil fee 
 and find in all the books of God how 
 odious and contrary to God a liar is ; 
 and for the world, believe it, that it 
 never did any man good (except in the 
 extremity of faving life) ; for a liar is 
 of a bafe, unworthy, and cowardly 
 fpirit. 
 
 r 
 
 § V. Three Rules to be objerved for the 
 Prefer vat ion of a Mian's Eft ate. 
 
 Amongft all other things of the world, 
 take care of thy cftate, which thou fhalt 
 ever preferve, if thou obferve three 
 things : firft, that thou know what thou 
 haft, what everything is worth that thou 
 haft, and to fee that thou art not wafted 
 by thy fervants and officers. The fecond 
 is, that thou never fpend anything before 
 thou have it, for borrowing is the canker 
 and death of every man's eftate. The 
 third is, that thou fuifer not thyfelf to
 
 ! i82 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 be wounded for other men's faults, and 
 fcourged for other men's offences, which 
 is the furety for another ; for thereby 
 millions of men have been beggared 
 and deftroyed, paying the reckoning of 
 other men's riot and the charge of otlier 
 men's folly and prodigality. 
 
 If thou fmart, fmart for thine own 
 I fms ; and above all things, be not 
 made an afs to carry the burdens of 
 other men. 
 
 If any friend defire thee to be his 
 furety, give him a part of what thou 
 haft to fpare. If he prefs thee farther 
 he is not thy friend at all, for friendfhip 
 rather choofeth harm to itfelf than 
 ofFcreth it. If thou be bound for a 
 ftranger, thou art a fool ; if for a mer- 
 chant, thou puttert thy eftate to learn to 
 fwim ; if for a churchman, he hath no 
 inheritance ; if for a lawyer, he will 
 find an evafion by a fyllable or word to 
 abufe thee ; if for a poor man, thou 
 muft pay it thyfelf ; if for a rich man, 
 it need not ; therefore from furety- 
 fhip, as from a manflayer or enchanter, 
 blefs thyfelf, for the beft profit and 
 return will be this, that if thou force 
 him for whom thou art bound to pay it
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 himfelf, he w'll become thy enemy ; if 
 thou ufe to pay it thyfelf, thou wilt be- 
 come a beggar. 
 
 And believe thy father in this, and 
 print it in thy thought, that what virtue 
 focver thou haft, be it never fo manifold, 
 if thou be poor withal, thou and thy 
 qualities (hall be defpifed. Bcfides, 
 poverty is oftentimes fcnc as a curfe of 
 God. It is a fhame amongft men, an 
 imprifonment of the mind, a vexation 
 of every worthy fpirit. Thou (halt 
 neither help thyfelf nor others ; thou 
 (halt drown thee in all thy virtues, 
 having no means to fhow them ; thou 
 fhalt be a burden and an eyefore to thy 
 friends, every man will fear thy company, 
 thou fhalt be driven bafely to beg and 
 depend on others, to flatter unworthy 
 men, to make diflioneft fhifts ; and, to 
 conclude, poverty provokes a man to do 
 infamous and detefted deeds. Let not 
 vanity, therefore, or perfuafion, draw 
 thee to that worft of worldly miferies. 
 
 If thou be rich, it will give thee 
 pleafure in health, comfort in fickncfs, 
 keep thy mind and body free, fave thee 
 from many perils, relieve thee in thy 
 older years, relieve the poor and thy
 
 i84 
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 honeft friends, and give means to thy 
 pofterity to live and defend thcmfelves 
 and thine own fame. Where it is faid 
 in the Proverbs that 'he fhall be fore 
 vexed that is furety for a ftranger, and 
 he that hateth furetyfhip is fure' [xi. 15], 
 it is further faid, ' The poor is hated 
 even of his own neighbour, but the rich 
 have many friends' [xiv. 20]. Lend not 
 to him that is mightier than thyfelf, for 
 if thou lendeft him count it but loft. 
 Be not furety above thy power, for if 
 thou be furety, think to pay it. 
 
 § vi. What fort of Servants Jitteji to be 
 Entertained. 
 
 Let thy fervants be fuch as thou mayft 
 command, and entertain none about thee 
 but yeomen, to whom thou giveft wages; 
 for thofe that will ferve thee without 
 thy hire will coft thee treble as much 
 as they that know thy fare. 
 
 If thou truft any fervant with thy 
 purfe, be fure thou take his account ere 
 thou flccp ; for if thou put it off, thou 
 wilt then afterwards for tedioufnefs
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 negledl it. I myfelf have, therefore, 
 loft more than I am worth. And what- 
 foever thy fervant gaineth thereby, he 
 will never thank thee, but laugh thy 
 fimplicity to fcorn ; and befidcs, it is 
 the way to make thy fervants thieves, 
 which elle would be honeft. 
 
 r 
 
 § vii. Brave Rags wear Jo on eft out of 
 
 Fajkion, 
 
 Exceed not in the humour of rags 
 and bravery, for thefe will foon be out 
 of fafliion ; but money in thy purfe will 
 ever be in fafhion ; and no man is 
 efteemed for gay garments, but by fools 
 and women. 
 
 r 
 
 § viii. Riches not to be fought by Evii 
 
 Means. 
 
 On the other fide, take heed that 
 thou feek not riches bafely, nor attain 
 them by evil means ; deftroy no man 
 for his wealth, nor take anything from
 
 1 86 Choice Passages from 
 
 __ 
 
 the poor, for the cry and complaint 
 thereof will pierce the heavens. And it 
 is moll detellable before God, and moft 
 difhonourable before worthy men, to 
 wreft anything from the needy and 
 labouring foul. God will never profper 
 thee in aught if thou oiFend therein. 
 
 But ufe thy poor neighbours and 
 tenants well. Give not them and their 
 children to add fuperfluity and needlefs 
 expenfes to thyfelf. He that hath pity 
 on another man's forrow fhall be free 
 from it himfelf ; and he that delighteth 
 in, and fcorneth the mifery of, another, 
 fhall one time or another fall into it 
 himfelf. Remember the precept, *He 
 that hath mercy on the poor lendeth 
 unto the Lord, and the Lord will 
 recompenfe him what he hath given' 
 [xix. i]. 
 
 I do not underftand thofe for poor 
 which are vagabonds and beggars, but 
 thofe that labour to live, fuch as are old 
 and cannot travel, fuch poor widows and 
 fatherlefs children as are ordered to be 
 relieved, and the poor tenants that 
 travail to pay their rents and are driven 
 to poverty by mifchance, and not by 
 riot or carelefs expenfes. On fuch
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 have thou compafTion, and God will 
 blefs thee for it. 
 
 Make not the hungry foul forrowful j 
 defer not thy gift to the needy; for if 
 he curfe thee in the bitternefs of his 
 foul, his prayer fhall be heard of Him 
 that made him. 
 
 r 
 
 § ix. What inconveniences to fuch as 
 delight in Wine. 
 
 Take efpecial care that thou delight 
 not in wine, for there never w^as any 
 man that came to honour or preferment 
 that loved it. For it transformeth a 
 man into a beaft, decayeth health, 
 poifoneth the breath, deflroyeth natural 
 heat, brings a man's ftomach to an arti- 
 ficial heat, deformeth the face, rotteth 
 the teeth, and, to conclude, maketh a 
 man contemptible, foon old, and defpifed 
 of all wife and worthy men ; hated in 
 thyfervants, in thyfelf, and companions, 
 for it is a bewitching and infedious 
 vice. And remember my words, that 
 it were better for a man to be subjedl 
 to any vice than to it ; for all other 
 vanities and fms are recovered, but a
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 drunkard will never ihake ofF the de- 
 lights of beaftlinefs. For the longer it 
 pollelleth a man the more he will de- 
 light in it, and the older he groweth the 
 more he fhall be fubjeft to it ; for it 
 dulleth the fpirits and deftroyeth the 
 body as ivy doth the old tree, or as the 
 worm that engendereth in the kernel of 
 the nut. 
 
 Take heed, therefore, that fuch a 
 curelefs canker pafs not thy youth, nor 
 fuch a beaftly infedlion thy old age, for 
 then fhall all thy life be but as the life 
 of a beaft, and after thy death thou Ihalt 
 only leave a fhameful infamy to thy 
 pofterity, who {hall ftudy to forget that 
 fuch a one was their father. Anacharfis 
 faith, ' the iirft draught ferveth for health, 
 the fecond for pleafure, the third for 
 fhame, the fourth for madnefs.' But in 
 youth there is not fo much as one 
 draught permitted, for it putteth fire to 
 fire, and wafteth the natural heat and 
 feed of generation. And therefore, 
 except thou defire to haften thine end, 
 take this for a general rule, that thou 
 never add any artificial heat to thy body, 
 by wine or fpice, until thou find that 
 time hath decayed thy natural heat, and
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 189 
 
 the fooner thou beginncft to help nature 
 the fooner fhe will forfake thee and truft 
 altogether to art. ' Who have misfor- 
 tune,' faith Solomon, * who have forrow 
 and grief, who have trouble without 
 fighting, ftrifcs without caufc, and faint- 
 nefs of eyes ? Even they that fit at wine 
 and chain themfclves to empty cups' 
 [Prov\ xxiii. 29]. Pliny faith: 'Wine 
 maketh the hand quivering, the eyes 
 watery, the night unquiet, lewd dreams, 
 a (linking breath in the morning, and 
 an utter forgetfulnefs of all things.' 
 
 Whofoever loveth wine fhall not be 
 trufted of any man, for he cannot keep a 
 fecret. Wine maketh man not only a 
 beaft, but a madman ; and if thou love 
 it, thy own wife, thy children and thy 
 friends will defpife thee. In drink men 
 care not what they fay, what offence 
 they give, forget comelinefs, commit 
 diforders, and, to conclude, offend all 
 virtuous and honeft company, and God 
 moil of all, to whom we daily pray for 
 health and a life free from pain ; and yet 
 by drunkennefs and gluttonnefs (which 
 is the drunkennefs of feeding) we draw 
 on, faith Hefiod, *a fwift, hally, un- 
 timely, cruel, and an infamous old age.*
 
 190 ' Choice Passages from 
 
 And St. Auguftine defcribeth drunken- 
 nefs in this manner : * Drunkennefs is a 
 j flattering devil, a fweet poifon, a ple- 
 fant fin, which whofoever hath hath not 
 himfelf, which whofoever doth commit 
 doth not commit fln, but he himfelf is 
 wholly fin.' 
 
 Innocentius faith: 'What is filthier 
 than a drunken man, to whom there is 
 ftink in the mouth, trembling in the 
 body, which uttcreth foolifh things and 
 revealeth fecret things, whofe mind is 
 alienate and face transformed ? There 
 is no fecrefy where drunkennefs rules ; 
 nay, what other mifchief doth it not 
 defign ? Whom have not plentiful cups 
 made eloquent and talking ?' 
 
 When Diogenes faw a houfe to be 
 fold, whereof the owner was given to 
 drink, 'I thought at the laft,' quoth 
 Diogenes, *he would fpue out a whole 
 h.o\i{Q^ : fciebam inquity quod domum tan- 
 dem evomeret. 
 
 § X. Let God be thy Prote^or and Dire8or 
 in all thy anions. 
 
 Now, for the world, I know it too 
 well, to perfuade thee to dive into the
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 1191 
 
 pra6lices thereof; rather (land upon thine j 
 own guard againft all that tempt thee 
 thereunto, or may pradife upon thee in 1 
 thy conlcience, thy reputation, or thy | 
 purfe. Refolve that no man is wife or j 
 fafe but he that is honed. 1 
 
 Serve God ; let Him be the Author 
 of all thy adlions ; commend all thy en- 
 deavours to Him that muft either wither 
 or prolper them. Pleai'e Him with 
 prayer, left if He frown He confound 
 all thy fortunes and labours like the 
 drops of rain on the fandy ground. 
 
 Let my experienced advice and 
 fatherly inftruftions fink deep into thy 
 heart. So God dired thee in all His 
 ways, and fill thy heart with His grace. 
 (See our Introdudlion on this complete 
 Paper.) 
 
 r 
 
 'MY OWN times: 
 
 I know that it will be faid by many, 
 that I might have been more pleafing to 
 the readers if I had written the (lory of 
 mine own times, having been permitted 
 to draw water as near the well-head as 
 another. To this I anfwer, that who-
 
 Choice Passages from 
 
 foever in writing a modern hiftory fhall 
 follow truth too near the heels, it may 
 happily ftrike out his teeth. There is 
 no miftrefs or guide that hath led her 
 followers and fervants into greater 
 miferies. He that goes after her too 
 far off, lofeth her fight and lofeth him- 
 felf ; and he that walks after her at a 
 middle dillance, I know not whether I 
 ihould call that kind of courfe temper 
 or bafenefs. It is true that I never 
 travelled after men's opinions when I 
 might have made the beii ufe of them ; 
 and I have now too few days remaining 
 to imitate thofe that, either out of ex- 
 treme ambition or extreme cowardice, 
 or both, do yet (when Death hath them 
 on his fhoulders) flatter the world be- 
 tween the bed and the grave. It is 
 enough for me (being in that flate I am) 
 to write of the oldeft times; wherein 
 alfo, why may it not be faid, that in 
 fpeaking of the Paft I point at the Pre- 
 fent, and tax the vices of thofe that are 
 yet living in their perfons that are long 
 iince dead, and have it laid to my 
 charge. But this I cannot help, though 
 innocent. And certainly, if there be 
 any that, finding themfelves fpotted like
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 
 the tigers of old time, fhall find fault 
 with me for painting them over anew, 
 they fliall therein accufe themfelves 
 juftly, and me falfely. For I proteft 
 before the majefiy of God, that I malice 
 no man under the fun. Impoflible I 
 know it is to pleafe all, feeing few or 
 none are fo pleafed with themfelves, or 
 fo affured of themfelves, by reafon of 
 their fubjedion to their private paffions, 
 but that they fcem diverfe perfons in one 
 and the fame day. (Preface, H. W.) 
 
 r 
 
 HISTORY— ITS RIGHTS AND 
 DIGNITY. 
 
 Among many other benefits for which 
 History hath been honoured, in this one 
 it triumphcth over all human knowledge, 
 that it hath given us life in our under- 
 ftanding, fmce by it the world itfelf had 
 life and beginning, even to this day : 
 yea, it hath triumphed over Time, which 
 befides it nothing but Eternity hath 
 triumphed over. For it hath carried 
 our knowledge over the vail and de- 
 vouring fpace of fo many thoufands of
 
 94 Choice Passages from 
 
 years, and given (o fair and piercing 
 eyes to our mind, that we plainly behold 
 living now, as if we had lived then, that 
 great world, fnagni Dei fapiens opus — 
 * the wife world,' faith Hermes, ' of a 
 great God' — as it was then, when but 
 new to itfelf. By it, I fay, it is that 
 we live in the very time when it was 
 created ; we behold how it was governed 3 
 how it was covered with water and 
 again repeopled ; how kings and king- 
 doms have flourifhed and fallen, and for 
 what virtue and piety God made prof- 
 perous, and for what vice and deformity 
 He made wretched, both the one and 
 the other. And it is not the leall debt 
 which we owe unto History, that it 
 hath made us acquainted with our dead 
 anceftors, and out of the depth and 
 darkncfs of the Earth delivered us their 
 memory and fame. In a word, we may 
 gather out of Hiftory a policy no lefs 
 wife than eternal, by the comparifon 
 and application of other men's fore- 
 palTed miferies with our own like errors 
 and ill-defervings. {Ibid.) 
 
 r
 
 Sir Walter Rahigh 
 
 ENGLISH V. ROMAN AND 
 FRENCH VALOUR. 
 
 Methinks it were not amifs for an 
 Englifhman to give fuch a fcntence 
 between the Macedonians and Romans 
 as the Romans once did (being chofen 
 arbitrators) between the Ardeates and 
 Aricini, that ftrove about a piece of 
 land, faying that it belonged unto 
 neither of them, but unto the Romans 
 themfelves. If, therefore, it be de- 
 manded whether the Macedonian or 
 the Roman were the bcil warrior ? I 
 will anfwer * The Englifhman'; for it 
 will foon appear to any that fhall 
 examine the noble a6ts of our Nation in 
 war, that they were performed by no 
 advantage of weapon, againft no favage 
 or unmanly people ; the enemy being 
 far fuperior unto us in numbers and all 
 needful provifions, yea, as well trained 
 as we, or commonly better, in the exer- 
 cife of war. 
 
 In what fort Philip won his dominions 
 in Greece ; what manner of men the 
 Perfians and Indians were, whom Alex- 
 ander vanquiilied ; as likewife of what
 
 196 Choice Passages from 
 
 force the Macedonian phalanx was, and 
 how well appointed againft fuch arras 
 as it commonly encountered, any man 
 that hath taken pains to read the ftory 
 of them doth fufficiently underftand. 
 Yet was this phalanx never, or very 
 feldom, able to ftand againft the Roman 
 armies, which were embattled in fo ex- 
 cellent a form as I know not whether 
 any nation befides them have ufed, 
 either before or fince. The Roman 
 weapons likewife, both offenfive and 
 defenfive, were of greater ufe than 
 thofe with which any other nation hath 
 ferved, before the iiery inftruments of 
 gunpowder were known. As for the 
 enemies with which Rome had to do, 
 we find that they which did overmatch 
 her in numbers were as far over- 
 matched by her in weapons, and that 
 they of whom fhe had little advantage 
 in arms had as little advantage of her in 
 multitude. This alfo (as Plutarch well 
 obferveth) was a part of her happinefs, 
 that fhe was never overlaid with two 
 great wars at once. 
 
 It is not my purpofe to difgrace the 
 Roman valour, which was very noble, 
 or to blemifh the reputation of fo many
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 famous vidlorles ; I am not fo idle. 
 This I fay, that among all their wars I 
 find not any wherein their valour hath 
 appeared comparable to the Engliili. 
 If my judgment feem over-partial, our 
 wars in France may help to make it 
 good. 
 
 Firft, therefore, it is well known that 
 Rome, or perhaps all the world befides, 
 had never any fo brave a commander in 
 war as Julius Csfar, and that no Roman 
 army was comparable unto that which 
 ferved under the fame Casfar. Whence 
 it is apparent that this gallant army, 
 which had given fair proof of the 
 Roman courage in good performance of 
 the Helvetian War, when it entered 
 into Gaul, was neverthelefs utterly dif- 
 heartened when Casfar led it againft the 
 Germans. So that we may juftly im- 
 pute all that was extraordinary in the 
 valour of Cajfar's men to their long 
 exercife under fo good a leader in fo 
 great a war. Now let us in general 
 compare with the deeds done by thofe 
 beft of Roman foldiers in their principal 
 fervice, the things performed in the 
 fame country by our common Englifh 
 foldier, levied in hafle from following
 
 198 Chcice Passages from 
 
 the cart or fitting on the fhop-ftall ; fo 
 we fhall fee the difference. Herein 
 will we deal fairly, and believe Caefar 
 in relating the adls of the Romans ; but 
 will call the French hillorians to wit- 
 nefs what adions were performed by 
 the Englifh. (H. W.) 
 
 TO HIS MISTRESS, QUEEN 
 ELIZABETH. 
 
 Wrong not, fweet emprefs of my heart, 
 
 The merit of true paffion, 
 With thinking that he feels no fmart 
 
 That fues for no compaflion. 
 
 Since, if my plaints ferve not t' approve 
 The conqueft of thy beauty. 
 
 It comes not from defed of love. 
 But from excefs of duty. 
 
 For, knowing that I fue to ferve 
 
 A faint of fuch perfedlion. 
 As all defire, but none defervc, 
 
 A place in her affedtion.
 
 Sir fValter Raleigh. 
 
 I rather choofe to want relief 
 Than venture the revealing : 
 
 Where glory recommends the grief, 
 Defpair diftrufls the healing. 
 
 Thus thofe defires that aim too high 
 
 For any mortal lover, 
 When Reafon cannot make them die, 
 
 Difcretion doth them cover. 
 
 Yet, when difcretion doth bereave 
 The plaints that they ihould utter, 
 
 Then thy difcretion may perceive 
 That iilcnce is a fuitor. 
 
 Silence in love bewrays more woe 
 Than words, though ne'er fo witty : 
 
 A beggar that is dumb, you know, 
 May challenge double pity. 
 
 Then wrong not, dearefl: to my heart, 
 My true, though fecret, paffion ; 
 
 He fmarteth moll that hides his fmart. 
 And fues for no compafTion.
 
 200 Choice Passages from 
 
 A POESY TO PROVE AFFEC- 
 TION IS NOT LOVE. 
 
 [Before 1602.] 
 
 Conceit, begotten by the eyes, 
 Is quickly born and quickly dies ; 
 For while it feeks our hearts to brave, 
 Meanwhile there Reafon makes his 
 
 grave ; 
 For many things the eyes approve, 
 Which yet the heart doth feldom move. 
 
 For as the feeds in Spring-time fown 
 Die in the ground ere they be grown. 
 Such is conceit, whofe rooting fails 
 As child that in the cradle quails, 
 Or elfe within the mother's womb 
 Hath his beginning and his tomb. 
 
 AfFedion follows Fortune's wheels, 
 And foon is fhaken from her heels ; 
 For following beauty or eflate, 
 Her liking ftill is turned to hate ; 
 For all affedlions have their change, 
 And Fancy only loves to range. 
 
 Defire himfelf runs out of breath. 
 And, getting, doth but gain his death ;
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 201 
 
 Defire nor reafon hath not reft, 
 
 And, blind, doth feldom choofe the 
 
 beft; 
 Defire attained is not defire, 
 But as the cinders of the fire. 
 
 As ihips in port dcfired are drowned, 
 As fruit, once ripe, then falls to ground, 
 As flies that fcek for flames are brought 
 To cinders by the flames they fought ; 
 So fond defire, when it attains, 
 The life expires, the woe remains. 
 
 And yet fome poets fain would prove 
 AfFedion to be perfe£l love. 
 And that defire is of that kind 
 No lefs a pafllon of the mind ; 
 As if wild beafts and men did feek 
 To like, to love, to choofe alike.
 
 202 Choice Passages. 
 
 FERSES FOUND IN HIS BIBLE 
 IN IHE GATEHOUSE AT 
 WESTMINSTER, 1618. 
 
 ^^Transcribed by Sancroft, Arc/: bishop of 
 Canterbury.'] 
 
 Even fuch is time, that takes in truft 
 Our youth, our joy, our all we have, 
 
 And pays us but with earth and duft ; 
 Who, in the dark and lilent grave. 
 
 When we have wander'd all our ways, 
 
 Shuts up the ftory of our days ; 
 
 But from this earth, this grave, this 
 duft. 
 
 My God fhall raife me up, I truft. 
 
 THE END.
 
 Elliot Stock, ti, Paternoster Ro^u, Loruion, E.C.
 
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