from a perfect and entire friend, to have counsel given, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to some ends which he hath that giveth it; the other, that he shall have counsel given, hurtful and unsafe (though with good meaning), and mixed partly of mischief and partly of remedy-even as if you would call a physician, that is thought good for the cure of the disease you complain of, but is unacquainted with your body -and therefore, may put you in a way for present cure, but overthroweth your health in some other kind, and so cure the disease, and kill the patient: but a friend, that is wholly acquainted with a man's estate, will beware, by furthering any present business, how he dasheth upon other inconvenience and, therefore, rest not upon scattered counsels, for they will rather distract and mislead, than settle and direct. After these two noble fruits of friendship (peace in the affections, and support of the judgment), followeth the last fruit, which is, like the pomegranate, full of many kernels-I mean, aid and bearing a part in all actions and occasions. Here, the best way to represent to life the manifold use of friendship, is to cast and see how many things there are which a man cannot do himself; and then it will appear that it was a sparing speech of the ancients, to say that a friend is another himself; for that a friend is far more than himself. Men have their time, and die many times in desire of some things which they principally take to heart; the bestowing of a child, the finishing of a work, or the like. If a man have a true friend, he may rest almost secure that the care of those things will continue after him; so that a man hath, as it were, two lives in his desires. A man hath a body, and that body is confined to a place; but where friendship is, all offices of life are, as it were, granted to him and his deputy; for he may exercise them by his friend. How many things are there which a man cannot, with any face or comeliness, say or do himself? A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or beg; and a number of the like: but all these things are graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a man's own. So, again, a man's person hath many proper relations which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his son but as a father; to his wife but as a husband; to his enemy but upon terms: whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. But to enumerate these things were endless: I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage. [Uses of Knowledge.] Learning taketh away the wildness, barbarism, and fierceness of men's minds; though a little of it doth rather work a contrary effect. It taketh away all levity, temerity, and insolency, by copious suggestion of all doubts and difficulties, and acquainting the mind to balance reasons on both sides, and to turn back the first offers and conceits of the kind, and to accept of nothing but [what is] examined and tried. It taketh away all vain admiration of anything, which is the root of all weakness: for all things are admired, either because they are new, or because they are great. If a man meditate upon the universal frame of nature, the earth with men upon it (the divineness of souls excepted) will not seem more than an ant-hill, where some ants carry corn, and some carry their young, and some go empty, and all to and fro a little heap of dust. It taketh away or mitigateth fear of death, or adverse fortune: which is one of the greatest impediments of virtue, and imperfection of manners. Virgil did excellently and profoundly couple the knowledge of causes and the conquest of all fears together. It were too long to go over the particular remedies which learning doth minister to all the * diseases of the mind-sometimes purging the ill humours, sometimes opening the obstructions, sometimes helping the digestion, sometimes increasing appetite, sometimes healing the wounds and ulcerations thereof, and the like; and I will therefore conclude with the chief reason of all, which is, that it disposeth the constitution of the mind not to be fixed or settled in the defects thereof, but still to be capable and susceptible of reformation. For the unlearned man knoweth not what it is to descend into himself, and call himself to account; nor the pleasure of that most pleasant life, which consists in our daily feeling ourselves become better. The good parts he hath, he will learn to show to the full, and use them dexterously, but not much to increase them: the faults he hath, he will learn how to hide and colour them, but not much to amend them; like an ill mower, that mows on still and never whets his scythe. Whereas, with the learned man it fares otherwise, that he doth ever intermix the correction and amendment of his mind with the use and employment thereof. [Books and Ships Compared.] If the invention of the ship was thought so noble, which carrieth riches and commodities from place to place, and consociateth the most remote regions in letters to be magnified, which, as ships, pass through participation of their fruits, how much more are ticipate of the wisdom, illuminations, and inventions, the vast seas of time, and make ages so distant parthe one of the other! [Studies.] Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business; for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar; they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience-for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. In the brilliant constellation of great men which adorned the reigns of Elizabeth and James, one of *This expression is given in the original in Latin. the most distinguished of those who added eminence in literature to high talent for active business, was SIR WALTER RALEIGH, a man whose character will the purposes now executed chiefly by literary and philosophical societies. The description of this scheme, given by Sir William Petty, affords a striking picture of the difficulties and obstacles which lay in the way of men of study and inquiry two centuries ago. It seems, says Sir William, 'to have been a plan by which the wants and desires of all learned men might be made known to each other, where they might know what is already done in the business of learning, what is at present in doing, and what is intended to be done; to the end that, by such a general communication of designs and mutual assistance, the wits and endeavours of the world may no longer be as so many scattered coals, which, having no union, are soon quenched, whereas, being but laid together, they would have yielded a comfortable light and heat. For the present condition of men [in the early part of the seventeenth century] is like a field where a battle having been lately fought, we see many legs, arms, and organs of sense, lying here and there, which, for want of conjunction, and a soul to quicken and enliven them, are fit for nothing but to feed the ravens and infect the air; so we see many wits and ingenuities dispersed up and down the world, whereof some are now labouring to do what is already done, and puzzling themselves to re-invent what is already invented; others we see quite stuck fast in difficulties for default of a few directions, which some other man, might he be met withal, both could and would most easily give him. Again, one man requires a small sum of money to carry on some design that requires it, and there is perhaps another who has twice as much ready to bestow upon the same design; but these two having no means to hear the one of the other, the good work intended and desired by both parties does utterly perish and come to nothing.' When visiting his Irish estates after his return from Portugal, Raleigh formed or renewed with Spenser an aquaintance which ripened into intimate friendship. He introduced the poet to Elizabeth, and otherwise benefited him by his patronage and encouragement; for which favour Spenser has acknowledged his obligation in his pastoral entitled Colin Clout's Come Home Again,' where Raleigh is celebrated under the title of the 'Shepherd of the Ocean,' and also in a letter to him, prefixed to the 'Faery Queen,' explanatory of the plan and design of that poem. In 1592, Sir Walter engaged in one of those predatory naval expeditions which, in Elizabeth's reign, were common against the enemies of England; a fleet of thirteen ships, besides two of her majesty's men-ofwar, being intrusted to his command. This armament was destined to attack Panama, and intercept the Spanish plate fleet, but, having been recalled by Elizabeth soon after sailing, came back with a single prize. On his return, Raleigh incurred the displeasure of the virgin queen by an amour with one of her maids of honour; for which offence, though he married the lady, he suffered imprisonment for some months. While banished from the court, he undertook, at his own expense, in 1595, an expedition to Guiana, concerning whose riches many wonderful tales were then current. He, however, accomplished nothing beyond taking a formal possession of the country in the queen's name. After coming back to England, he published, in 1596, a work entitled Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana: this production Hume has very unjustly characterised as full of the grossest and most palpable lies that were ever attempted to be imposed on the credulity of mankind.' It would appear that he now regained the queen's favour, since we find him holding, in the same year, a command in the expedition against Cadiz, under the Earl of Essex and Lord Effingham. In the successful attack on that town, his bravery, as well as prudence, was very conspicuous. In 1597, he was rear-admiral in the expedition which sailed under Essex to intercept the Spanish West-India fleet; and by capturing Fayal, one of the Azores, before the arrival of the commander-in-chief, gave great offence to the earl, who considered himself robbed of the glory of the action. A temporary reconciliation was effected; but Raleigh afterwards heartily joined with Cecil in promoting the downfall of Essex, and was a spectator of his execution from a window in the Armoury. On the accession of James I., which followed soon after, the prosperity of Raleigh came to an end, a dislike against him having previously been instilled by Cecil into the royal ear. Through the malignant scheming of the same hypocritical minister, he was accused of conspiring to dethrone the king, and place the crown on the head of Arabella Stuart; and likewise of attempting to excite sedition, and to establish popery by the aid of foreign powers. A trial for high treason ensued, and upon the paltriest evidence, he was condemned by a servile jury. Sir Edward Coke, who was then attorney-general, abused him on this occasion in violent and disgraceful terms, bestowing upon him freely such epithets as viper, damnable atheist, the most vile and execrable traitor that ever lived, monster, and spider of hell. Raleigh defended himself with such temper, eloquence, and strength of reasoning, that some even of his enemies were convinced of his innocence, and all parties were ashamed of the judgment pronounced. He was, however, reprieved, and instead of being executed, was committed to the Tower, in which his wife was permitted to bear him company. During the twelve years of his imprisonment, he wrote the chief portion of his works, especially the History of the World, of which only a part was finished, comprehending the period from the creation to the downfall of the Macedonian empire, about 170 years before Christ. This was published in 1614. The excellent way in which he treats the histories of Greece and Rome, has excited just regret that so great a portion of the work is devoted to Jewish and Rabbinical learning-subjects which have withdrawn too much of the author's attention from more interesting departments of his scheme. The learning and genius of Raleigh, who, in the words of Hume, being educated amidst naval and military enterprises, had surpassed in the pursuits of literature even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives,' have excited much admiration; but Mr D'Israeli* has lately attempted to diminish the wonder, by asserting, on the authority of Ben Jonson and a manuscript in the Lansdowne collection, that our historian was materially aided by the contributions of his learned friends. Jonson told Drummond of Hawthornden that Raleigh esteemed more fame than conscience. The best wits in England were employed in making his history; Ben himself had written a piece to him of the Punic war, which he altered and set in his book.' According to the manuscript above-mentioned, a still more important helper was a 'Dr Robert Burrel, rector of Northwald, in the county of Norfolk, who was a great favourite of Sir Walter Raleigh, and had been his chaplain. All, or the greatest part, of the drudgery of Sir Walter's history, for criticisms, chronology, and reading Greek and Hebrew authors, was performed by him for Sir Walter.' Mr Tytler, in his recent 'Life of Raleigh,'† has, however, shown that there is no good reason for supposing Raleigh's obligations to his friends to have been greater than those of literary men in general, when similarly circum *Curiosities of Literature, 9th edit., vol. v., p. 233. † Page 457, note G. stanced; and, moreover, that it was not left for Mr D'Israeli to discover the fact, that Raleigh had obtained such assistance from the individuals whom he specifies. Both in style and matter, this celebrated work is vastly superior to all the English historical productions which had previously appeared. Its style, though partaking of the faults of the age, in being frequently stiff and inverted, has less of these defects than the diction of any other writer of the time. Mr Tytler, with justice, commends it as 'vigorous, purely English, and possessing an antique richness of ornament, similar to what pleases us when we see some ancient priory or stately manor-house, and compare it with our more modern mansions.' The work,' he adds, "is laborious without being heavy, learned without being dry, acute and ingenious without degenerating into the subtle but trivial distinctions of the schoolmen. Its narrative is clear and spirited, and the matter collected from the most authentic sources. The opinions of the author on state-policy, on the causes of great events, on the different forms of government, on naval or military tactics, on agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and other sources of national greatness, are not the mere echo of other minds, but the results of experience, drawn from the study of a long life spent in constant action and vicissitude, in various climates and countries, and from personal labour in offices of high trust and responsibility. But perhaps its most striking feature is the sweet tone of philosophic melancholy which pervades the whole. Written in prison during the quiet evening of a tempestuous life, we feel, in its perusal, that we are the companions of a superior mind, nursed in contemplation, and chastened and improved by sorrow, in which the bitter recollection of injury, and the asperity of resentment, have passed away, leaving only the heavenly lesson, that all is vanity.'* But that Paradise lay; and of one of these rivers, which afterward doth divide itself into four branches, we are sure that the partition is at the very border of the garden itself. For it is written, that out of Eden went a river to water the garden, and from thence it was divided, and became into four heads. Now, whether the word in the Latin translation (inde), from thence, be referred to Eden itself, or to Paradise, yet the division and branching of those rivers must be in the north or south side of the very garden (if the rivers run, as they do, north and south); and therefore these rivers yet remaining, and Eden manifestly known, there could be no such defacing by the flood, as is supposed. Furthermore, as there is no likelihood that the place could be so altered, as future ages know it not, so is there no probability that either these rivers were turned out of their courses, or new rivers created by the flood, which were not; or that the flood, as aforesaid, by a violent motion, when it began to decrease, was the cause of high hills or deep valleys. For what descent of waters could there be in a spherical and round body, wherein there is nor high nor low? seeing that any violent force of waters is either by the strength of wind, by descent from a higher to a lower, or by the ebb or flood of the sea. there was any wind (whereby the seas are most enraged), it appeareth not; rather the contrary is probable; for it is written, 'Therefore God made a wind to pass upon the earth, and the waters ceased.' So as it appeareth not that until the waters sank there was any wind at all, but that God afterward, out of his goodness, caused the wind to blow, to dry up the abundant slime and mud of the earth, and make the land more firm, and to cleanse the air of thick vapours and unwholesome mists; and this we know by experience, that all downright rains do evermore dissever the violence of outrageous winds, and beat down and level the swelling and mountainous billow of the sea; for any ebbs and flows there could be none, when face of the earth, and when there were no indraughts, the waters were equal and of one height over all the bays, or gulfs, to receive a flood, or any descent or violent falling of waters in the round form of the earth and waters, as aforesaid; and therefore it seemeth most agreeable to reason, that the waters rather stood in a quiet calm, than that they moved with any raging or overbearing violence. And for a more direct proof that the flood made no such destroying alteration, Joseph avoweth, that one of those pillars erected by Seth, the third from Adam, was to be seen in his And first, whereas it is supposed by Aug. Chry- days; which pillars were set up above 1426 years samensis, that the flood hath altered, deformed, or before the flood, counting Seth to be an hundred years rather annihilated this place, in such sort, as no man old at the erection of them, and Joseph himself to can find any mark or memory thereof (of which opi- have lived some forty or fifty years after Christ; of nion there were others, also, ascribing to the flood the whom, although there be no cause to believe all that cause of these high mountains, which are found on all he wrote, yet that, which he avouched of his own time, the earth over, with many other strange effects); for cannot (without great derogation) be called in quesmy own opinion, I think neither the one nor the other tion. And therefore it may be possible, that some to be true. For, although I cannot deny but that the foundation or ruin thereof might well be seen: now, face of Paradise was, after the flood, withered and grown that such pillars were raised by Seth, all antiquity old, in respect of the first beauty (for both the ages of hath avowed. It is also written in Berosus (to whom, men and the nature of all things time hath changed), although I give little credit, yet I cannot condemn yet, if there had been no sign of any such place, or if him in all), that the city of Enoch, built by Cain, the soil and seat had not remained, then would not about the mountains of Lebanus, was not defaced by Moses, who wrote of Paradise 850 years after the flood, length of time; yea, the ruins thereof, Annius (who have described it so particularly, and the prophets, commented upon that invented fragment) saith, were long after Moses, would not have made so often men- to be seen in his days, who lived in the reign of Ferdition thereof. And though the very garden itself were nand and Isabella of Castile; and if these his words not then to be found, but that the flood, and other be not true, then was he exceeding impudent. For, accidents of time, made it one common field and pas-speaking of this city of Enoch, he concludeth in this ture with the land of Eden, yet the place is still the same, and the rivers still remain the same rivers. By two of which (never doubted of), to wit, Tigris and Euphrates, we are sure to find in what longitude Pp. 339 and 346. We shall commence our quotations from Raleigh with one in which the merits of the book are not represented, but which is instructive, as showing the childishness with which men argued in those days upon subjects they understood not, and could not understand. That the flood hath not utterly defaced the marks of Paradise, nor caused hills in the earth. sort:- Cujus maxima et ingentis molis fundamenta visuntur, et vocatur ab incolis regionis, civitas Cain, ut nostri mercatores et perigrini referunt-['The foundation of which huge mass is now to be seen, and the place is called by the people of that region the City of Cain, as both our strangers and merchants report.'] It is also avowed by Pomponius Mela (to whom I give more credit in these things), that the city of Joppa was built before the flood, over which Cepha was king, whose name, with his brother Phineas, together with the grounds and principles of their religion, was found graven upon certain altars of stone; and it is not impossible that the ruins of this other city, called Enoch by Annius, might be seen, though founded in the first age; but it could not be of the first city of the world, built by Cain, the place, rather than the time, denying it. And to prove directly that the flood was not the cause of mountains, but that there were mountains from the creation, it is written, that the waters of the flood overflowed by fifteen cubits the highest mountains.' And Masius Damascenus, speaking of the flood, writeth in this manner: Et supra Minyadam excelsus mons in Armenia (qui Baris appellatur) in quo confugientes multos sermo est deluvii tempore liberatos'-[And upon Minyada there is a high mountain in Armenia (called Baris), unto which (as it is said) that many fled in the time of the deluge, and that they saved themselves thereon.'] Now, although it is contrary to God's word, that any more were saved than eight persons (which Masius doth not avouch but by report), yet it is a testimony, that such mountains were before the flood, which were afterwards, and ever since, known by the same names; and on which mountains it is generally received that the ark rested, but untruly, as I shall prove hereafter. And again, it appeareth, that the mount Sion (though by another name) was known before the flood; on which the Talmudists report, that many giants saved them selves also, but (as Annius saith) without all authority either divine or human. Lastly, it appeareth that the flood did not so turn upside down the face of the earth, as thereby it was made past knowledge after the waters were decreased, by this, that when Noah sent out the dove the second time, she returned with an olive leaf in her mouth, which she had plucked, and which (until the trees were discovered) she found not; for otherwise, she might have found them floating on the water; a manifest proof, that the trees were not torn up by the roots, nor swam upon the waters; for it is written, folium olive raptum,' or 'decerptum'-['a leaf plucked']; which is, to take from a tree, or to tear off. By this it is apparent (there being nothing written to the contrary), that the flood made no such alteration as was supposed, but that the place of Paradise might be seen to succeeding ages, especially unto Moses, by whom it pleased God to teach the truth of the world's creation, and unto the prophets which succeeded him; both which I take for my warrant, and to guide me in this discovery. [The Battle of Thermopyla.] : of the bordering Locrians, defended the passage two whole days together against that huge army of the Persians. The valour of the Greeks appeared so excellent in this defence, that, in the first day's fight, Xerxes is said to have three times leaped out of his throne, fearing the destruction of his army by one handful of those men whom not long before he had utterly despised and when the second day's attempt upon the Greeks had proved vain, he was altogether ignorant how to proceed further, and so might have continued, had not a runagate Grecian taught him a secret way, by which part of his army might ascend the ledge of mountains, and set upon the backs of those who kept the straits. But when the most valiant of the Persian army had almost inclosed the small forces of the Greeks, then did Leonidas, king of the Lacedæmonians, with his 300, and 700 Thespians, which were all that abode by him, refuse to quit the place which they had undertaken to make good, and with admirable courage, not only resist that world of men which charged them on all sides, but, issuing out of their strength, made so great a slaughter of their enemies, that they might well be called vanquishers, though all of them were slain upon the place. Xerxes having lost in this last fight, together with 20,000 other soldiers and captains, two of his own brethren, began to doubt what inconvenience might befall him by the virtue of such as had not been present at these battles, with whom he knew that he shortly was to deal. Especially of the Spartans he stood in great fear, whose manhood had appeared singular in this trial, which caused him very carefully to inquire what numbers they could bring into the field. It is reported of Dieneces, the Spartan, that when one thought to have terrified him by saying that the flight of the Persian arrows was so thick would hide the sun, he answered thus-It is very good news, for then shall we fight in the cool shade.' as In another of his works Raleigh tells, in the following vigorous language, wherein lies The Strength of Kings. They say the goodliest cedars which grow on the high mountains of Libanus thrust their roots between the clefts of hard rocks, the better to bear themselves against the strong storms that blow there. As nature has instructed those kings of trees, so has reason taught the kings of men to root themselves in the hardy hearts of their faithful subjects; and as those kings of trees have large tops, so have the kings of men large crowns, whereof, as the first would soon be broken from their bodies, were they not underborne by many branches, so would the other easily totter, were they not fastened on their heads with the strong chains of civil justice and of martial discipline. In the year 1615, Raleigh was liberated from the After such time as Xerxes had transported the army Tower, in consequence of having projected a second over the Hellespont, and landed in Thrace (leaving expedition to Guiana, from which the king hoped to the description of his passage alongst that coast, and derive some profit. His purpose was to colonise how the river of Lissus was drunk dry by his multi-the country, and work gold mines; and in 1617 a tudes, and the lake near to Pissyrus by his cattle, fleet of twelve armed vessels sailed under his comwith other accidents in his marches towards Greece), mand. The whole details of his intended proceedI will speak of the encounters he had, and the shame-ings, however, were weakly or treacherously comful and incredible overthrows which he received. As municated by the king to the Spanish government, first at Thermopyla, a narrow passage of half an acre by whom the scheme was miserably thwarted. Reof ground, lying between the mountains which divide turning to England, he landed at Plymouth, and on Thessaly from Greece, where sometime the Phocians his way to London was arrested in the king's name. had raised a wall with gates, which was then for the At this time the projected match between Prince most part ruined. At this entrance, Leonidas, one of Charles and the Infanta of Spain occupied James's the kings of Sparta, with 300 Lacedæmonians, assisted attention, and, to propitiate the Spanish government, with 1000 Tegeata and Mantineans, and 1000 Arca- he determined that Raleigh must be sacrificed. After dians, and other Peloponnesians, to the number of many vain attempts to discover valid grounds of accu3100 in the whole; besides 100 Phocians, 400 Thebans, sation against him, it was found necessary to proceed 700 Thespians, and all the forces (such as they were) upon the old sentence, and Raleigh was accordingly |