English Literature For Boys And Girls by H.E. Marshall

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*Armada here means merely a Spanish ship of war.

**An arrangement to cease fighting on both sides.

"But as the day increased so our men decreased. And as the light
grew more and more, by so much more grew our discomforts. For
none appeared in sight but enemies, saving one small ship called
the Pilgrim, commanded by Jacob Whiddon, who hovered all night to
see the success. But in the morning bearing with the Revenge,
she was hunted like a hare amongst many ravenous hounds, but
escaped.

"All the powder of the Revenge to the last barrel was now spent,
all her pikes broken, forty of her best men slain, and the most
part of the rest hurt. In the beginning of the fight she had but
one hundred free from sickness and four score and ten sick, laid
in hold upon the ballast. A small troop to man such a ship, and
a weak garrison to resist so mighty an army. By those hundred
all was sustained, the volleys, boarding and enterings of fifteen
ships of war, besides those which beat her at large.

"On the contrary, the Spanish were always supplied with soldiers
brought from every squadron; all manner of arms and power at
will. Unto ours there remained no comfort at all, no hope, no
supply either of ships, men, or weapons; the masts all beaten
overboard, all her tackle cut asunder, her upper work altogether
razed, and in effect evened she was with the water, but the very
foundation of a ship, nothing being left overhead for flight or
defence.

"Sir Richard finding himself in this distress and unable any
longer to make resistance, having endured in this fifteen hours'
fight the assault of fifteen several Armadas, all by turns aboard
him, and by estimation eight hundred shot of great artillery
besides many assaults and entries; and (seeing) that himself and
the ship must needs be possessed of the enemy who were now all
cast in a ring round about him, the Revenge not able to move one
way or another, but as she was moved by the waves and billow of
the sea, commanded the Master Gunner, whom he knew to be a most
resolute man, to split and sink the ship, that thereby nothing
might remain of glory or victory to the Spaniards: seeing in so
many hours' fight, and with so great a navy, they were not able
to take her, having had fifteen hours' time, above ten thousand
men, and fifty and three sail of men of war to perform it withal.
And (he) persuaded the company, or as many as he could induce, to
yield themselves unto God, and to the mercy of none else, but as
they had, like valiant resolute men, repulsed so many enemies,
they should not now shorten the honour of their nation, by
prolonging their own lives by a few hours, or a few days. The
Master Gunner readily condescended and divers others. But the
Captain and the Master were of another opinion, and besought Sir
Richard to have care of them, alleging that the Spaniard would be
as ready to entertain a composition as they were willing to offer
the same. And (they said) that there being divers sufficient and
valiant men yet living, and whose wounds were not mortal, they
might do their country and their Prince acceptable service
hereafter. And whereas Sir Richard alleged that the Spaniards
should never glory to have taken one ship of her Majesty, seeing
they had so long and so notably defended themselves; they
answered that the ship had six foot water in hold, three shot
under water, which were so weakly stopped as with the first
working of the sea, she must needs sink, and was besides so
crushed and bruised, as she could never be removed out of the
place.

"And as the matter was thus in dispute, and Sir Richard refusing
to hearken to any of those reasons, the Master of the Revenge
(while the Captain won unto him the greater party) was convoyed
aboard the General Don Alfonso Bacan. Who (finding none
overhasty to enter the Revenge again, doubting lest Sir Richard
would have blown them up and himself, and perceiving by the
report of the Master of the Revenge his dangerous disposition)
yielded that all their lives should be saved, the company sent
for England, and the better sort to pay such reasonable ransom as
their estate would bear, and in the mean season to be free from
galley or imprisonment. To this he so much the better
condescended as well, as I have said, for fear of further loss
and mischief to themselves, as also for the desire he had to
recover Sir Richard Grenville, whom for his notable valour he
seemed greatly to honour and admire.

"When this answer was returned, and that safety of life was
promised, the common sort being now at the end of their peril the
most drew back from Sir Richard and the Master Gunner, (it) being
no hard matter to dissuade men from death to life. The Master
Gunner finding himself and Sir Richard thus prevented and
mastered by the greater number, would have slain himself with a
sword, had he not been by force with-held and locked into his
cabin. Then the General sent many boats aboard the Revenge, and
divers of our men fearing Sir Richard's disposition, stole away
aboard the General and other ships. Sir Richard thus over-
matched was sent unto by Alfonso Bacan to remove out of the
Revenge, the ship being marvellous unsavoury, filled with blood
and bodies of dead, and wounded men, like a slaughterhouse.

"Sir Richard answered he might do with his body what he list, for
he esteemed it not. And as he was carried out of the ship he
swooned, and reviving again desired the company to pray for him.

"The General used Sir Richard with all humanity, and left nothing
unattempted that tended to his recovery, highly commending his
valour and worthiness, and greatly bewailing the danger in which
he was, being unto them a rare spectacle, and a resolution seldom
approved, to see one ship turn toward so many enemies, to endure
the charge and boarding of so many huge Armadas, and to resist
and repel the assaults and entries of so many soldiers.

"There were slain and drowned in this fight well near one
thousand of the enemies, and two special commanders. . . .
besides divers others of special account.

"Sir Richard died as it is said, the second or third day aboard
the General and was by them greatly bewailed. What became of his
body, whether it were buried in the sea or on the land, we known
not. The comfort that remaineth to his friends is, that he hath
ended his life honourably in respect of the reputation won to his
nation and country and of the same to his posterity, and that
being dead, he hath not outlived his own honour."

This gallant fight of the little Revenge against the huge navy of
Spain is one of the great things in the story of the sea; that is
why I have chosen it out of all that Sir Walter wrote to give you
as a specimen of English prose in Queen Elizabeth's time. As
long as brave deeds are remembered, it will be told how Sir
Richard Grenville "walled round with wooden castles on the wave"
bid defiance to the might and pride of Spain, "hoping the
splendour of some lucky star."* The fight was a hopeless one
from the very beginning, but it was as gallant a one as ever took
place. Even his foes were forced to admire Sir Richard's
dauntless courage, for when he was carried aboard Don Alfonso's
ship "the captain and gentlemen went to visit him, and to comfort
him in his hard fortune, wondering at his courageous stout heart
for that he showed not any sign of faintness nor changing of
colour. But feeling the hour of death to approach, he spake
these words in Spanish and said, 'Here die I, Richard Grenville,
with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a
true soldier ought to do, and hath fought for his country, Queen,
religion, and honour, whereby my soul most joyfully departeth out
of this body, and shall always leave behind it an everlasting
fame of a valiant and true soldier that hath done his duty as he
was bound to do.' When he had finished these or other like words
he gave up the Ghost, with great and stout courage, and no man
could perceive any true signs of heaviness in him."**

*Gervase Markham.
**Linschoten's Large Testimony in Hakluyt's Voyages.

Poets of the time made ballads of this fight. Raleigh wrote of
it as you have just read, and in our own day the great laureate
Lord Tennyson made the story live again in his poem The Revenge.
Tennyson tells how after the fight a great storm arose:

"And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew
And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails
and their masts and their flags,
And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd navy of Spain.
And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags
To be lost evermore in the main."

So neither the gallant captain nor his little ship were led home
to the triumph of Spain.

It is interesting to remember that had it not been for the
caprice of the Queen, Raleigh himself would have been in Sir
Richard Grenville's place. For he had orders to go on this
voyage, but at the last moment he was recalled, and Sir Richard
was sent instead.

Chapter LI RALEIGH--"THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD"

SOON after the fight with the Revenge, the King of Spain made
ready more ships to attack England. Raleigh then persuaded Queen
Elizabeth that it would be well to be before hand with the
Spaniards and attack their ships at Panama. So to this end a
fleet was gathered together. But the Queen sent only two ships,
various gentlemen provided others, and Raleigh spent every penny
of his own that he could gather in fitting out the remainder. He
was himself chosen Admiral of the Fleet. So at length he started
on an expedition after his own heart.

But he had not gone far, when a swift messenger was sent to him
ordering him to return. Unwillingly he obeyed, and when he
reached home he was at once sent to the Tower a prisoner. This
time the Queen was really angry with him; in her eyes Raleigh's
crime was a deep one, for he had fallen in love with one of her
own maids of honor, Mistress Elizabeth Throgmorton, and the Queen
had discovered it. Elizabeth allowed none of her favorites to
love any one but herself, so she punished Raleigh by sending him
to the Tower.

Mistress Throgmorton was also made a prisoner. After a time,
however, both prisoners were set free, though they were banished
from court. They married and went to live at Sherborne where
Raleigh busied himself improving his beautiful house and laying
out the garden. For though set free Raleigh was still in
disgrace. But we may believe that he found some recompense for
his Queen's anger in his wife's love.

In his wife Raleigh found a life-long comrade. Through all good
and evil fortune she stood by him, she shared his hopes and
desires, she sold her lands to give him money for his voyages,
she shared imprisonment with him when it came again, and after
his death she never ceased to mourn his loss. How Raleigh loved
her in return we learn from the few letters written to her which
have come down to us. She is "Sweetheart" "Dearest Bess," and he
tells to her his troubles and his hopes as to a staunch and true
friend.

We cannot follow Raleigh through all his restless life, it was so
full and varied that the story of it would fill a long book. He
loved fighting and adventure, he loved books too, and soon we
find him back in London meeting Ben Jonson and Shakespeare, and
all the great writers of the age at the Mermaid Club. For
Raleigh knew all the great men of his day, among them Sir Robert
Bruce Cotton of whom you heard in connection with the adventures
of the Beowulf Manuscript.

But soon, in spite of his love for his wife, in spite of his
interest in his beautiful home, in spite of his many friends,
Raleigh's restless spirit again drove him to the sea, and he set
out on a voyage of discovery and adventure. This time he sailed
to Guiana in South America, in search of Eldorado, the fabled
city of gold. And this time he was not called back by the Queen,
but although he reached South America and sailed up the Orinoco
and the Caroni he "returned a beggar and withered"* without
having found the fabled city. Yet his belief in it was as strong
as ever. He had not found the fabled city but he believed it was
to be found, and when he came home he wrote an account of his
journey because some of his enemies said that he had never been
to Guiana at all but had been hiding in Cornwall all the time.
In this book he said that he was ready again to "lie hard, to
fare worse, to be subjected to perils, to diseases, to ill
savours, to be parched and withered"* if in the end he might
succeed.

*Raleigh's Discovery of Guiana.

Raleigh was ready to set off again at once to discover more of
Guiana. But instead he joined the Fleet and went to fight the
Spanish, who were once more threatening England, and of all
enemies Raleigh considered the Spaniards the greatest.

Once again the English won a splendid victory over Spain. Before
the town of Cadiz eight English ships captured or destroyed
thirty Spanish great and little. They took the town of Cadiz and
razed its fortifications to the ground. Raleigh bore himself
well in this fight, so well, indeed, that even his rival, Essex,
was bound to confess "that which he did in the sea-service could
not be bettered."

And now after five years' banishment from the Queen's favor,
Raleigh was once more received at court. But we cannot follow
all the ups and downs of his court life, for we are told "Sir
Walter Raleigh was in and out at court, so often that he was
commonly called the tennis ball of fortune." And so the years
went on. Raleigh became a Member of Parliament, and was made
Governor of Jersey. He fought and traveled, attended to his
estates in Ireland, to his business in Cornwall, to his
governorship in Jersey. He led a stirring, busy life, fulfilling
his many duties, fighting his enemies, until in 1603 the great
Queen, whose smile or frown had meant so much to him, died.

Then soon after the new king came to the throne, it was seen that
Raleigh's day at court was indeed at an end. For James had been
told that Sir Walter was among those who were unwilling to
receive him as king. Therefore he was little disposed to look
graciously on the handsome daring soldier-sailor.

One by one Raleigh's posts of honor were taken from him. He was
accused of treason and once more found himself a prisoner in the
Tower. He was tried, and in spite of the fact that nothing was
proved against him, he was condemned to die. The sentence was
changed, however, to imprisonment for life.

Raleigh was not left quite lonely in the Tower. His wife and
children, whom he dearly loved, were allowed to come to live
beside him. The governor was kind to him and allowed his
renowned prisoner to use his garden. And there in a little hen-
house Raleigh amused himself by making experiments in chemistry,
and discovering among other things how to distill fresh water
from salt water. He found new friends too in the Queen and in
her young son Henry, Prince of Wales. It was a strange
friendship and a warm one that grew between the gallant boy-
prince of ten and the tried man of fifty. Prince Henry loved to
visit Raleigh in the Tower and listen to the tales of his brave
doings by sea and land in the days when he was free. Raleigh
helped Prince Henry to build a model ship, and the Prince asked
Raleigh's advice and talked over with him all his troubles. His
generous young heart grieved at the though of his friend's
misfortunes. "Who but my father would keep such a bird in such a
cage," he said with boyish indignation.
And it was for this boy friend that Raleigh began the book by
which we know him best, his History of the World. Never has such
a great work been attempted by a captive. To write the history
of even one country must mean much labor, much reading, much
thought. To write a history of the world still more. And I have
told you about Raleigh because with him begins an interest in
history beyond the bounds of our own island. Before him our
historians had only written of England.

It gives us some idea of the large courage of Raleigh's mind when
we remember that he was over fifty when he began this tremendous
piece of work for the sake of a boy he loved. Raleigh labored at
this book for seven years or more. He was allowed to have his
own books in prison. Sir Robert Cotton lent him others, and
learned friends came to talk over his book with him and help him.
And so the pile of written sheets grew. But the book was never
finished, for long before the first volume was ready the brave
young prince for whom it was written died.

To Raleigh, this was the cruelest blow fate ever dealt him, for
with the death of Prince Henry died his hope of freedom. In
spite of his long imprisonment, Raleigh had never lost hope of
one day regaining his freedom. Prince Henry just before his
death had wrung an unwilling promise from the King his father
that Raleigh should be set free. But when the Prince died the
King forgot his promise.

"O eloquent, just and mighty death!" Raleigh says in the last
lines of his book, "Whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded,
what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath
flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised;
thou hast drawn together all the far stretching greatness, all
the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over
with these two narrow words Hic Jacet.

"Lastly, whereas this book by the title it hath, calls itself,
the first part of The General History of the World, implying a
second and third volume, which I also intended and have hewn out,
besides many other discouragements, persuading my silence, it
hath pleased God to take that glorious prince out of the world,
to whom they were directed; whose unspeakable and never enough
lamented loss hath taught me to say with Job, my heart is turned
to mourning and my organ into the voice of them that weep."

Raleigh begins his great book with the Creation and brings it
down to the third Macedonian war, which ended in 168 B.C. So you
see he did not get far. But although when he began he had
intended to write much more, he never meant to bring his history
down to his own time. "I know that it will be said by many," he
writes in his preface, "that I might have been more pleasing to
the reader if I had written the story of mine own times, having
been permitted to draw water as near the well-head as another.
To this I answer that whosoever in writing a modern history,
shall follow truth too near the heels, it may haply strike out
his teeth."

Raleigh feels it much safer to write "of the elder times." But
even so, he says there may be people who will think "that in
speaking of the past I point at the present," and that under the
names of those long dead he is showing the vices of people who
are alive. "But this I cannot help though innocent," he says.
Raleigh's fears were not without ground and at one time his
history was forbidden by King James "for being too saucy in
censuring princes. He took it much to heart, for he thought he
had won his spurs and pleased the King extraordinarily," He had
hoped to please the King and win freedom again, but his hopes
were shattered.

At last, however, the door of his prison was opened. It was a
golden key that opened it. For Raleigh promised, if he were set
free, to seek once more the fabled Golden City, and this time he
swore to find it and bring home treasure untold to his master the
King.

So once more the imprisoned sea-bird was free, and gathering men
and ships he set forth on his last voyage. He set forth bearing
with him all his hopes, all his fortune. For both Raleigh and
his wife almost beggared themselves to get money to fit out the
fleet, and with him as captain sailed his young son Walter.

A year later Raleigh returned. But he returned without his son,
with hopes broken, fortune lost. Many fights and storms had he
endured, many hardships suffered, but he had not found the Golden
City. His money was spent, his ships shattered, his men in
mutiny, and hardest of all to bear, his young son Walter lay dead
in far Guiana, slain in a fight with Spaniards. How Raleigh
grieved we learn from his letter to his wife, "I was loath to
write," he says, "because I knew not how to comfort you; and, God
knows, I never knew what sorrow meant till now. . . . Comfort
your heart, dearest Bess, I shall sorrow for us both, I shall
sorrow less because I have not long to sorrow, because not long
to live. . . . I have written but that letter, for my brains are
broken, and it is a torment for me to write, and especially of
misery. . . . The Lord bless and comfort you that you may bear
patiently the death of your most valiant son."

Raleigh came home a sad and ruined man, and had the pity of the
King been as easily aroused as his fear of the Spaniards he had
surely been allowed to live out the rest of his life in peaceful
quiet. But James, who shuddered at the sight of a drawn sword,
feared the Spaniards and had patched up an imaginary peace with
them. And now when the Spanish Ambassador rushed into the King's
Chamber crying "Pirates! Pirates!" Raleigh's fate was sealed.

Raleigh had broken the peace in land belonging to "our dear
brother the King of Spain" said James, therefore he must die.

Thus once again, Raleigh found himself lodged in the Tower. But
so clearly did he show that he had broken no peace where no peace
was, that it was found impossible to put him to death because of
what he had done in Guiana. He was condemned to death,
therefore, on the old charge of treason passed upon him nearly
fifteen years before. He met death bravely and smiling. Clad in
splendid clothes such as he loved, he mounted the scaffold and
made his farewell speech to those around.

"'Tis a sharp medicine, but it is a sound cure for all diseases,"
he said smiling to the Sheriff as he felt the edge of the ax.
Then he laid his head upon the block.

"Thus," says the first writer of Raleigh's life, "have we seen
how Sir Walter Raleigh who had been one of the greatest scourges
of Spain, was made a sacrifice to it."

"So may we say to the memory of this worthy knight," says Fuller,
"'Repose yourself in this our Catalogue under what topic you
please, statesman, seaman, soldier, learned writer or what not.'
His worth unlocks our cabinets and proves both room and welcome
to entertain him . . . so dexterous was he in all his
undertakings in Court, in camp, by sea, by land, with sword, with
pen."*

*Fuller's Worthies.

BOOKS TO READ

Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley may be read in illustration of
this chapter.

Chapter LII BACON--NEW WAYS OF WISDOM

WHEN we are little, there are many things we cannot understand;
we puzzle about them a good deal perhaps, and then we ask
questions. And sometimes the grown-ups answer our question and
make the puzzling things clear to us, sometimes they answer yet
do not make the puzzling things any clearer to us, and sometimes
they tell us not to trouble, that we will understand when we grow
older. Then we wish we could grow older quick, for it seems such
a long time to wait for an answer. But worst of all, sometimes
the grown-ups tell us not to talk so much and not to ask so many
question.

The fact is, though perhaps I ought not to tell you, grown-ups
don't know everything. That is not any disgrace either, for of
course no one can know everything, not even father or mother.
And just as there are things which puzzle little folks, there are
things which puzzle big folks. And just as among little folks
there are some who ask more questions and who "want to know" more
than others, so among grown-ups there are some who more than
others seek for the answer to those puzzling question. These
people we call philosophers. The word comes from two Greek
words, philos loving, sophos wise, and means loving wisdom. In
this chapter I am going to tell you about Francis Bacon, the
great philosopher who lived in the times of Elizabeth and James.
I do not think that I can quite make you understand what
philosophy really means, or what his learned books were about,
nor do I think you will care to read them for a long time to
come. But you will find the life of Francis Bacon very
interesting. It is well, too, to know about Bacon, for with him
began a new kind of search for wisdom. The old searchers after
truth had tried to settle the questions which puzzled them by
turning to imaginary things, and by mere thinking. Bacon said
that we must answer these questions by studying not what was
imaginary, but what was real--by studying nature. So Bacon was
not only a lover of truth but was also the first of our
scientists of to-day. Scientist comes from the Latin word scio
to know, and Science means that which we know by watching things
and trying things,--by making experiments. And although Bacon
did not himself find out anything new and useful to man, he
pointed out the road upon which others were to travel.