66

He was confined in the Tower for twelve years, where he pursued his studies, literary and scientific, the axe of the headsman still suspended over him. In the year 1616. Sir Walter was released from prison, and entrusted with the conduct of an expedition to Guiana. This he conducted with a certain amount of success; but on his return, instead of bringing riches with him, he brought nothing but flattering descriptions of the wealth in store. He pictured the country and climate in glowing colours: as for its riches," he said, "the common soldier shall here fight for gold, and pay himself instead of pence with golden plates half a foot broad. Those commanders and chieftains that shoot at honour and abundance, shall find here more rich and beautiful cities, more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with treasure than either Cortez found in Mexico, or Pizarro in Peru." It was these brilliant promises that induced King James to send him out. No sooner was Raleigh released from prison, then he began to make preparations for his voyage. Plenty of adventurers gathered round him, money was advanced, a fleet of fourteen sail equipped and manned. But Raleigh had many enemies, and chief amongst them the Spanish king; the Spaniards were at that time at peace with England, and every means was adopted by them to lead Raleigh into some act not warranted by his commission, that they might have him once more safe in the Tower, or safer in the grave. The expedition failed; and as it included an attack on the Spanish possessions in Guiana, it gave to the Spaniards a fair ground for serious charges against the English captain. Raleigh suffered much in the voyage, and in the attack on the city of St. Thomas. He lost his scn; nay more, he lost his heart; a dozen years in gaol is not calculated to make a man very high spirited. He wrote to his wife that he felt his "brains were broken," and thus he returned to England, was arrested-feigned illness--escaped, was carried down the Thames in a boat-was betrayed, retaken and brought to trial. Then, in his last hour, his courage revived. He met his judge boldly-heard his sentence without flinching-waited for death quietly, saying, he would

sooner die of the axe than a burning fever. In palacevard he was brought out before an immense throng; spoke boldly, denying the charge which had been alleged against him, talking pleasantly to those about him, feeling the edge of the axe with a smile, saying, “'twas a sharp medicine, but cured all diseases; " bidding the executioner strike and fear not, and so submitting himself to death, and bequeathing to posterity a brilliant name. Thus perished one of the most remarkable men of his age and nation, one who had been equally distinguished as a scholar and orator, poet, historian, warrior, traveller, explorer, statesman, colonist, and courtier; one who had charmed the heart of the great Queen Bess, and had shone in the midst of her brilliant Court as one of its gayest, most graceful and gallant courtiers.

The next celebrity presented to our notice is Sir Francis Drake. He was born, as he told Camden, of mean parentage in Devonshire, and was placed, as a youth, with the master of a bark accustomed to carry merchandise to France and Zeland. So pleased was the old man with his industry, that, being a bachelor, he bequeathed his vessel to him by will; a circumstance, it has been remarked, that deserves to be remembered, not only as it illustrates the private character of this brave man, but as it may hint to all those who may hereafter propose his conduct for their imitation, that virtue is the surest foundation both for reputation and fortune, and that the first step to greatness is to be honest.

During the early part of his life, Drake carried on the traffic pursued by his late master; but the rage for new discoveries soon led him into bolder and more important adventures. Stimulated by the successes of other navigators, the narrow seas which Drake had been accustomed to traverse appeared far too limited to satisfy his capacious and aspiring mind. Captain John Hawkins, his kinsman, advised him to sell his bark, and venture on an expedition to the West Indies. The advice was adopted, but the result proved disastrous. But the ambition of Drake once aroused was not easily to be subdued. In perils and dangers he was only strengthened in his deter

mination to explore the world. In one of the islands of the West Indies he discovered a famous tree, on the trunk of which steps were cut to facilitate the ascent, while in the midst of the branches a convenient arbour was constructed, in which twelve men might sit, and from whence could plainly be discerned both the North and South Atlantic Oceans.

That world of water, the great South Sea, no sooner met the gaze of Drake, than it aroused within him increased enthusiasm. He vowed to navigate that sea-not as its original discoverer-to Balboa belonged this honour

AN EXFLORING PARTY IN THE ANDES.

-but for the purpose of exploring the countries which lay beyond.

Under the Earl of Essex, Drake did "good service" in Ireland, winning from the insurgents" divers strong forts." These acts of prowess obtained for him an introduction to Court, through Hatton the Chamberlain. Queen Elizabeth received him very graciously, and encouraged him to undertake a voyage round the world-an expedition accounted so terrible in those days, that the very thought of undertaking it was dreadful. With five small ships, the largest of one hundred, the smallest of fifteen tons, Drake left Plymouth in 1577. On the 23d

of August the expedition came to the mouth of the Strait of Magellan, an inland sea, set thick with islands, and enclosed by high cliffs and mountains, their tops covered with snow. On the 16th of September they entered the open South Sea, where a terrific tempest arose, in which one of the vessels was lost, with all on board, and another was missed, of which nothing more was heard. Deprived of his ships, his companions, and a great part of his crew; driven by stress of weather to the southern extremity of the great American continent; tossed about on an utterly unknown sea; suffering grievously in his own person, Drake's situation now seemed desperate. A genial breeze springing up, he sailed to the north-west, and captured a few small vessels laden with silver. Shortly after this, he entered the port of Lima, and enriched himself with the spoil of seventeen Spanish vessels-obtaining from one vessel alone a booty estimated at £90,000. We have not space to narrate all the dashing adventures and singular escapes of this gallant admiral. Suffice it that he "ploughed up a furrow round the world," and returned to England, and at Deptford, on the 4th of April 1581, received, on board his ship, the Golden Hinde, her Majesty the Queen, who conferred on him the honour of knighthood.

In 1585, Drake sailed again for the West Indies, where he captured several places from the Spaniards, and returned laden with spoil. In 1587 he made an attack upon Cadiz, and destroyed a quantity of shipping. The year following he commanded as vice - admiral under Lord Howard, and did good work upon the Spaniards. After this he went to the West Indies in company with Sir John Hawkins; but a disagreement arising between them as to the execution of their plans, Drake fell into a fit of melancholy and gradually sank. He died on January 28th, 1596.

Among our group of New World discoverers, this Sir John Hawkins occupies a prominent place. But there is something of unenviable notoriety about him, for he it was who was among the foremost of slave traffickers—one of the first dealers in "God's image cut in ebony." His son, Sir Richard, is also memorable for many a dashing venture

with the maritime missionaries of that era. We have not space even to allude to all of these,- simple men from the banks of the Plym and the Dart, the Thames and the Avon, who went across unknown seas, fighting, discovering, colonizing, marking out the channel through which the future commerce and enterprize of England was to flow all over the world.

We must not, however, omit mention of one of the best and bravest of those old navigators-John Davis-the Dartmouth man. This hero, early devoted to the sea, was remarkable for estimable qualities-there was that in him which attracted others, and awakened their affection and admiration that in the dignity of his carriage which elevated him above all common men, even in the estimation of resident natives. Both in the exploration of the South Sea, and in his north-western voyages, Davis displayed the same determination and courage; in famine, mutiny, storm-trials of inconceivable difficulty, he acquitted himself like a man and was strong. As an instance of the stuff of which he was made, it may be stated that “he ran back in the black night in a gale of wind through the Straits of Magellan, by a chart which he had made with the eye in passing up. The anchors were lost or broken; the cables were parted, he could not bring up the ship; there was nothing for it but to run; and he carried her safe through, along a channel not often three miles broad, sixty miles from one end to the other, and turning like the reaches of a river." A man who could do this, deserves more attention than has usually been accorded to Davis. Beyond the fact of his voyage among the icebergs of the north-west, his voyage in the South Sea, and his trip in a poor leaky cutter up the sea now known as Davis's Straits, but little is known of this man. He is known to have traded to the Eastern Seas, to have visited India five or more times, and the light which is thrown upon his death serves certainly to heighten the irresistible charm of his nature. He fell in with a crew of Japanese, whose ship had been burnt, drifting at sea, and starving in a leaky junk. He rescued them from their miserable fate, took them on board his own vessel, where they, watching their