the territory of the United States became known. Embarking, in 1577, on a three years' voyage in quest of fortune, Francis Drake acquired immense treasures as a freebooter in the Spanish harbors on the Pacific; and, having laden his ship with spoils, the illustrious corsair gained for himself an honest fame by circumnavigating the globe. But, before following in the path which the ship of Magellan had thus far alone dared to pursue, Drake determined to explore the north-western coast of America, in the hope of discovering the strait which connects the oceans. With this view he crossed the equator, sailed beyond the peninsula of California, and followed the continent to the latitude of forty-three degrees. Here, in June, 1579, the cold seemed intolerable to men who had just left the tropics. Despairing of success, he retired to a harbor in a milder clime within the limits of Mexico, and, having refitted his ship and named the country New Albion, he sailed for England, through the seas of Asia. But it has already been related that the Spaniards preceded him by thirty-six years.

The adventures of Drake were but a career of splendid piracy against a nation with which his sovereign and his country professed to be at peace. The humble labor of the English fishermen who frequented the Grand Bank prepared the way for settlements of their countrymen in the New World. Already four hundred vessels came annually from the harbors of Portugal and Spain, of France and England, to the shores of Newfoundland. The English "were commonly lords in the harbors," and exacted payment for protection.

While the queen and her adventurers were dazzled by dreams of finding gold in the frozen regions of the north, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with a sounder judgment and better knowledge, watched the progress of the fisheries, and formed healthy plans for colonization. He had been a soldier and a member of parliament; had written judiciously on navigation; and, though censured for his ignorance of the principles of liberty, was esteemed for the sincerity of his piety. Free alike from fickleness and fear, danger never turned him aside from the pursuit of honor or the service of his sovereign; for he knew that death is inevitable, and the fame of

virtue immortal. It was not difficult for him, in June, 1578, to obtain a patent, formed according to commercial theories of that day, and to be of perpetual efficacy, if a plantation should be established within six years. To the people who might belong to his colony the rights of Englishmen were promised; to Gilbert, the possession for himself or his assigns of the soil which he might discover, and the sole jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, of the territory within two hundred leagues of his settlement, with supreme executive and legislative authority.

Under this patent Gilbert collected a company of volunteer adventurers, contributing largely from his own fortune to the preparation. His most faithful friend was his stepbrother, Walter Raleigh. This is he who a few years before had abruptly left the university of Oxford to fight for the Huguenots against the Catholics, and, with the prince of Navarre, afterward Henry IV., to learn the art of war under the veteran Coligny at the time when the Protestant party in France was glowing with indignation at the massacre of their colony of Calvinists in Florida.

The first movement of Gilbert proved a failure. Jarrings and divisions had ensued before the voyage was begun; many. abandoned what they had inconsiderately undertaken. In 1579 the general and a few of his assured friends, among them Walter Raleigh, put to sea: one of his ships was lost; and misfortune compelled the remainder to return.

But the pupil of Coligny delighted in hazardous adventure. To prosecute discoveries in the New World, lay the foundation of states, and acquire immense domains, appeared to Raleigh as easy designs, which would not interfere with the pursuit of favor in England. Before the limit of the charter had expired, Gilbert, assisted by his brother, equipped a new squadron. In 1583 the fleet embarked under happy omens; the commander, on the eve of his departure, received from Elizabeth a golden anchor guided by a lady. A man of letters from Hungary, and "a mineral-man" from Saxony, the land of miners, accompanied the expedition; and some part of the United States would have been colonized but for a succession of overwhelming disasters. Two days after leav

ing Plymouth, the largest ship in the fleet, which had been furnished by Raleigh, who himself remained in England, deserted, under a pretence of infectious disease, and returned into harbor. Gilbert, incensed, but not intimidated, sailed for Newfoundland; and, on the fifth of August, entering St. John's, he summoned the Spaniards and Portuguese and other strangers to witness the ceremonies by which he took possession of the country for his sovereign. A pillar, on which the arms of England were infixed, was raised as a monument; and lands were granted to the fishermen in fee, on condition of the payment of a quit-rent. It was generally agreed that "the mountains made a show of mineral substance;" the "mineral-man" protested on his life that silver ore abounded. He was charged to keep the discovery a profound secret; and the precious ore was carried on board the larger ship with such mystery that the dull Portuguese and Spaniards suspected nothing of the matter.

It was not easy for Gilbert to preserve order in the little fleet. Many of the sailors, infected with the vices which in that age degraded their profession, were no better than pirates, and were perpetually bent upon pillaging whatever ships fell in their way. At length, having abandoned one of their barks, the English, in three vessels only, sailed on further discoveries, intending to visit the coast of the United States. But they had not proceeded toward the south beyond the latitude of Wiscasset, when, on the twenty-seventh of August, the largest ship, from the carelessness of the crew, struck and was wrecked. Nearly a hundred men perished; .the “mineralman" and the ore were all lost; nor was it possible to rescue Parmenius, the Hungarian, who should have been the historian of the expedition.

It now seemed necessary to hasten to England. Gilbert had sailed in the Squirrel, a bark of ten tons only, and therefore convenient for entering harbors and approaching the coast. On the homeward voyage he would not forsake his little company, with whom he had encountered so many storms and perils. A desperate resolution! The weather was extremely rough; the oldest mariner had never seen more outrageous seas." The little frigate, not more than

twice as large as the long-boat of a merchantman, "too small a bark to pass through the ocean sea at that season of the year," was nearly wrecked. That same night, about twelve o'clock, its lights suddenly disappeared; and neither the vessel, nor any of its crew, was ever again seen. Before the end of September the Hind reached Falmouth in safety.

Raleigh, not disheartened by the sad fate of his stepbrother, revolved a settlement in the milder clime from which the Protestants of France had been expelled. He readily obtained from Elizabeth, in March, 1584, a patent as ample as that which had been conferred on Gilbert. It was drawn according to the principles of feudal law, and with strict regard to the Christian faith as professed in the church of England. Raleigh was constituted a lord proprietary, with almost unlimited powers, holding his territories by homage and an inconsiderable rent, and possessing jurisdiction over an extensive region, of which he had power to make grants according to his pleasure.

Expectations rose high, since the inviting regions of the south were now to be colonized. In April two vessels, well laden with men and provisions, under the command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, buoyant with hope, set sail for the New World. They pursued the circuitous route by the Canaries and the islands of the West Indies; after a short stay in those islands they sailed for the north, and were soon opposite the shores of Carolina. As in July they drew near land, the fragrance was "as if they had been in the midst of some delicate garden, abounding with all kinds of odoriferous flowers." Ranging the coast for one hundred and twenty miles, they entered the first convenient harbor, and, after thanks to God for their safe arrival, they took possession of the country for the queen of England.

The spot on which this ceremony was performed was in the island of Wocoken, the southernmost of the islands forming Ocracoke inlet. The air was agitated by none but the gentlest breezes, and the English commanders were in raptures with the beauty of the ocean, gemmed with islands, and seen in the magnificence of repose. The vegetation of that southern latitude struck the beholders with admiration; the trees

had not their paragons; luxuriant climbers gracefully festooned the loftiest cedars; wild grapes abounded; and natural arbors formed an impervious shade. The forests were filled with birds; and, at the discharge of an arquebuse, whole flocks would arise, uttering a cry as if an army of men had shouted together.

The tawny inhabitants of the land, which they called Secotan, appeared in harmony with the loveliness of the scene. The desire of traffic overcame their timidity, and the English received a friendly welcome. On the island of Roanoke they were entertained, by the wife of Granganimeo, father of Wingina the king, with the refinements of Arcadian hospitality. "The people were most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as lived after the manner of the golden age." They had no cares but to guard against the moderate cold of a short winter, and to gather such food as the earth almost spontaneously produced. And yet it was added, with singular inconsistency, that their wars were cruel and bloody; and the English were solicited to engage in them under promise of lucrative booty.

The adventurers were satisfied with observing the general aspect of the New World; Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and Roanoke island were explored, and some information gathered by inquiries from the Indians; the commanders had not the courage or the activity to undertake an extensive survey of the country. Having made but a short stay in America, they arrived in September in the west of England, accompanied by Manteo and Wanchese, two natives of the wilderness; and the returning voyagers gave such glowing descriptions of their discoveries as might be expected from men who had done no more than sail over the smooth waters of a summer's sea, among "the hundred islands" of North Carolina. Elizabeth esteemed her reign signalized by the discovery of the enchanting regions, and, as a memorial of her state of life, named them Virginia.

Nor was it long before Raleigh, elected to represent in parliament the county of Devon, obtained a bill confirming his patent of discovery; and while he received the honor of