and great sama carage: bar he was a cruel, rapaes as tyrant, and perstel senatly. Very different was is wide career from that of Combus; very different is the position when he deemples in history,

A man of sirenturers, we now turn our attention to a thoroughly English face honest, sagacious, sailor-like and we know it for Humphrey Gilbert, knighted by her most gracious Majesty Queen Bess.

On a projecting angle of land, about two miles above the port of Dartmouth, and running out into the river at the head of one of its most beautiful reaches, stood the old manor house of Greenaway. It was a fine old pile, the water running to it from the sea, and the largest vessels anchored with safety within a stone's throw of its windows. There in the latter half of the sixteenth century was born Humphrey Gilbert; and with him Adrian, and young Walter Raleigh. He often played at sailing in the reaches of Long Stream. Depend upon it those boys hearts beat high as they heard the wonderful stories t of the new earth beyond the sunset ; and that as guided their little boat among the black hulls of the in the port, each one wished he had a ship of his o ship between the three, that they might go "mes over the world to see strange sights, of wh they had scarcely heard. Young Hum his attention, as he grew older, to the corr matical instruments and naval sea cards studied, the more firmly convinced north-west passage to the New W covered, and that its discovery we commercial prosperity of his o more rapid colonization of t so frequently on these im tions at last reached th Walsingham were c

last compelled to lay off for England. That which he deplored most of all was the loss of his papers and books, which had gone down in one of the wrecked vessels; but he did not allow his loss to interfere with his sense of duty, and acquitted himself bravely on the voyage home. Two-thirds of the way home they had foul weather and terrible seas. Men who had been accustomed to the sea all their lives had never seen it more outrageous.

Mr. Edward Hayes, one of the principal actors and speculators on the voyage, and who has written its history, narrates that on 66 Monday, the 9th of September, in the afternoon, the frigate was near cast away, oppressed by waves, but at that time recovered, and giving forth signs of joy, the General, sitting abaft with a book in his hand, cried out to us in the Hinde, so often as we did approach within hearing: 'We are as near to heaven by sea as by land,' reiterating the same speech, well beseeming a soldier resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify that he was. The same Monday night, about twelve o'clock, or not long after, the frigate being a-head of us in the Golden Hinde, suddenly her lights were out, whereof as it were in a

moment we lost the sight; and withal our watch cried: The General was cast away,' which was too true."

There was something heroic and sublime in the end of Sir Humphrey Gilbert; he was still in the prime of life when the Atlantic swallowed him.

We now turn to another prominent figure in our groupthat of Sir Walter Raleigh, the old companion and playfellow of Humphrey Gilbert. It is a pleasing thing to find, with the remembrance of Pizarro and his doings still in our minds, that our English adventurers were full of kindness, wisdom, gentleness; that they bear untainted names, and that they made England as famous in the Indian seas, as Spain was infamous.

Sir Walter Raleigh was born at Budley, in Devonshire, in 1552. He served in the Netherlands, and in 1579, accompanied Sir Humphrey Gilbert on a voyage to America. On his return he distinguished himself again in the suppression of a rebellion in Ireland, and was included in a commission for the government of Munster. He is said to have obtained the queen's favour by an act of gallantry; that, as the queen was proceeding either to or from her barge, Raleigh observed that the ground in one part was moist or muddy, and threw down his velvet cloak for the queen to step on. Whatever may have been the originating cause of the queen's partiality for Raleigh, it is certain that she favoured him highly; and the gossip of court circles intimated that with a little more daring on his part, he might have become king consort, or husband of the queen. In 1584, he obtained letters patent for the discovery of unknown countries, by virtue. of which, he took possession of that part of America which was afterwards called Virginia, in honour of Elizabeth. Soon after this he received the honour of knighthood, was elected into Parliament for Devonshire, made Warder of the Stannaries, and received several grants of land both in England and Ireland. He bore an active part in the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and in the year following, accompanied the King of Portugal to his dominions. In 1592, he undertook an expedition against Panama, and in 1595, he engaged in an

enterprise for the conquest of Guiana, when he took the city of San Josef. The year following be displayed great valour in the expedition against Cadiz. And he was also appointed to the command in the army sent out to intercept the Spanish plate fleet, which it is generally acknowledged he would have captured, had he not been thwarted by the Earl of Essex. The heroism and devotion of Raleigh, rendered him the foremost man of his time; but in proportion as he increased in popularity, jealousy and hatred tracked his footsteps. He had done much in the effort to colonize North America-he had given evidence of skill alike serviceable in camp and cabinet; but when Queen Elizabeth died, and James the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne as James the First of England, the star of Raleigh declined.

He was immediately deprived of the valuable offices he held. Burning with resentment, Raleigh, and others who shared his fate, unfortunately for themselves, began to plot and intrigue against the royal favourites, if not against royalty itself. Everybody-except the few who basked in the sunbeams of crown patronage-was discontented; they had no liking for the Scottish king, and plots and conspiracies became the order of the day. Raleigh and Cobham were engaged in a plot, which had for its object nothing more nor less than the overturning of the government. They were suspected and summoned before the council; when Cobham confessed that he had been led by the persuasions of Raleigh, to involve himself in a conspiracy against the king. Raleigh and Cobham were both committed to the Tower. Raleigh was at last brought to trial; but the charges against him were so incomplete, that the prosecution assumed the appearance of nothing more than an outburst of tyrannical hatred against a man who had achieved greatness, and done the country good service.

In his defence, Sir Walter displayed a range of reading which astonished all who heard him. At last the case was left for the jury, who, with evident reluctance, returned a verdict of guilty and the sentence of death-the death of a traitor, was pronounced upon him.