gentleman of the company, is preserved in Hakluyt, iii., 692–697. They left Weymouth December 27, 1596, and returned to Plymouth June 28, 1597, having explored a large extent of the coast of Guiana, and entered many of the rivers. They brought back, however, little information, except the geography of the coast, and the report of the natives that those who dwelt in the interior had "great store of gold:" enough to excite curiosity and stimulate to farther enterprise, but nothing to gratify them.

It was not till his return from the expedi tion to Cadiz that he was completely restored to the queen's favour. He was powerful in the politic friendship of Sir Robert Cecil, now secretary of state. The influence of Essex, his enemy, was declining. He was employed to effect a reconciliation between these two noblemen. They were all rivals, though seemingly on the most intimate terms. A contemporary letter-writer, under date of June 2d, 1597, says: "Yesterday Sir Walter Raleigh was brought to the queen by Sir Robert Cecil, who used him very graciously, and gave him full authority to execute his place as captain of the guard, which immediately he undertook. In the evening he rode abroad with the

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queen, and had private conference with her; and now he comes boldly to the privy-chamber as he was wont." Though the displeas ure under which he had long laboured was removed, Sir Walter made little progress in the preferments he desired. He was anxious to be made a baron, to be chosen vice-chamberlain, to be called to the privy-council. all these points his wishes were steadily evaded or declined. The only post he gained, from a mistress who bestowed honours with cautious jealousy even on her favourites, was the government of Jersey, with a grant of a manor in the same island. His commission was dated August 26, 1600.

Meanwhile, in 1597, a great fleet was equipped for what was called the Island Voyage. It consisted of 120 ships, and was designed to intercept the Plate-fleet near the Azores. Essex was commander-in-chief, and Raleigh rear-admiral. They sailed from Plymouth August 17. Being disappointed of the fleet, it was determined, in a council of war, that Essex and Raleigh should jointly attack Fayal. Departing from Flores, the place of their first rendezvous, the two squadrons were accidentally separated, and Raleigh arrived first. Having waited two days for Essex, and find

ing that the enemy were busily completing their preparations for defence, he held a council of his officers, in which it was decided that, if Essex did not arrive the next day, it would become Sir Walter's duty to make the attack alone, and without farther delay. On the fourth day, the earl having not yet come, Sir Walter followed the decision of the council, and, landing with a small portion of his force, took possession of the town, with slight loss. The next day Essex arrived, and was much exasperated that Raleigh had dared to make the attempt without him. He had long been jealous of Sir Walter, and naturally conceived himself injured, and deprived of an occasion of honour by the forwardness of one whom he hated. Several of the officers who had been concerned in the enterprise were cashiered and confined; and it was only on concessions and submissions made by Raleigh, at the instance of Lord Howard, that the earl's indignation was for the time appeased. The earl's proceedings were, however, "much mistaken in England, and Sir Walter gained large additions to his reputation for military skill and experience at sea."

The career of the brave and popular, but impetuous and hasty Earl of Essex was now

drawing to its close. He had provoked the queen's displeasure by various rash sayings and actions; and, on his untimely return from his government of Ireland, he was arrested by her order, and treated with unexpected severity.

Despairing of a restoration to her majesty's favour, he formed the wild scheme of raising an insurrection in the city of London, of seizing the queen's person, and expelling by force his enemies from the court. The plan was communicated by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a partisan of Essex, to Sir Walter Raleigh, and by him, it is supposed, to the queen. The attempted rising proved a failure, and Essex was imprisoned, and subjected to the power of his enemies. In this number he counted Raleigh; and, as one of the pretexts of his rebellion, had caused a rumour to be circulated that Cobham and Raleigh were plotting against his life. This charge was amply refuted by Blount, a creature of Essex's, who testified on his trial that this rumour was only "a word cast out to colour other matters."

While, however, the fate of Essex was in suspense, Sir Walter wrote a letter to Sir Robert Cecil,* which has been used in later

* [Burghley State Papers, i., 811.-H.]

times to prove his malice against Essex, and an indecent anxiety for his death. Raleigh was doubtless his enemy, and would have been glad to have him out of the way; but the letter bears, and I think requires, a less harsh construction, and recommends a lasting imprisonment or degradation perhaps, but not an execution. "The less you make

....

him," he says, "the less he shall be able to harm you and yours; and if her majesty's favour fail him, he will again decline to a common person. Look to the present, and do you wisely.... Lose not your advantage; if you do, I read your destiny. Let the queen hold Bothwell while she hath him; he will ever be the canker of her estate and safety. I have seen the last of her good days, and all ours, after his liberty." The advice here given is clearly to crush the earl, and it may have been cautiously worded, so as to urge Cecil to accomplish his death. Raleigh was present as captain of the guard at the trial and execution of Essex, and a report was then spread that he attended the execution to gratify his hatred by the sight of his enemy's suffering. Certainly his supposed connexion with the death of Essex added to his former unpopularity. It was a misfortune to