28. Romeo and Juliet, * a Tragedy. 4to. 1597. 31. Macbeth,† a Tragedy. 1623. 32. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, a Tragedy. 4to. 1605. 33. King Lear, a Tragedy. 4to. 1608. 34. Othello, the Moor of Venice, § a Tragedy. 4to. 35. Antony and Cleopatra, a Tragedy. 1623. 36. Cymbeline, || a Tragedy. 1623. * 37. Pericles, Prince of Tyre; an historical play. *38. The London Prodigal, a Comedy. 39. The Life and Death of Thomas Lord Cromwell, the favourite of King Henry VIII. *40. The History of Sir John Oldcastle, the good Lord Cobham, a Tragedy. *41. The Puritan; or, the Widow of Watlingstreet, a Comedy. * 42. A Yorkshire Tragedy.** * 43. The Tragedy of Locrine,ft the eldest Son of King Brutus. • Founded upon a real tragedy which happened about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The story, with all it's circumstances, is related by Girolamo Corte in his History of Verona.' Pope refers its origin to a novel by Bondello, which is translated in Painter's Palace of Pleasure.' " The plot from Buchanan, and other Scottish historians. The plot from Cinthio's Novels. The plot partly from the Decameron of Boccacio, II. 9, and partly from the ancient traditions of British history. ** This is rather an Interlude than a Tragedy, being very short, and not divided into acts. ++ See the story in Milton's History of England.' VOL. II. Y 322 SIR WALTER RALEGH.* [1552-1618.] THIS ornament of his country, in whom was combined almost every variety of talent with almost every acquirement of science, and who with the most heroic courage of chivalry united the most ardent spirit of enterprise, was the fourth son of Walter Ralegh, Esq. of Fardel, in the parish of Cornwood near Plymouth, an ancient and very respectable family in Devonshire. His mother was Katharine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernon of Modbury, and relict of Otho Gilbert, Esq. of Compton in Devonshire. To Mr. Ralegh she bore two sons, Carew and Walter. The latter was born in 1552, at Hayes Farm, † in the parish of Budley, Devonshire, near the spot where the Ottery discharges itself into the British Channel. On attaining the age of sixteen, he was sent * AUTHORITIES. Oldys', Birch's, and Cayley's Lives of Sir Walter Ralegh; Fuller's Worthies of Devon; Campbell's Lives of the Admirals; and Mortimer's History of England. Of this farm, belonging to a Mr. Drake, his father had only a lease. This appears from a letter addressed to that gentleman by Sir Walter in 1584, when his fortunes had begun to flourish, entreating to purchase it; as for the natural disposition he had to it, being born in that house, he had rather seat himself there than any where else.' to finish his education at the University of Oxford, where he became a gentleman-commoner of Oriel College. There he distinguished himself by the strength and vivacity of his genius, and by his close application to his studies: notwithstanding which, however, a disposition for more active scenes of life frequently discovered itself in his conversation. His father therefore, finding the thirst of fame his ruling passion, resolved to introduce him into the military service. Accordingly, after remaining a short time at Oxford, in 1569 he became one of the troop of a hundred gentlemen volunteers, whom Queen Elizabeth permitted Henry Champernon to conduct into France, for the service of the Protestant princes. FINEM DET MIHI VIRTUS, or 'Let valour decide the contest,' streamed on their standard. Here Ralegh enjoyed the opportunity at once of acquiring experience in the art of war, of improving himself in the knowledge of the modern languages, and of acquiring all the accomplishments of a gentleman. He did not return till the end of the year 1575.* * "In France," says Hooker, "he spent good part of his youth in wars and martial services." That he became a student of the Middle Temple after quitting college, is disproved by his own testimony; for in his reply to the Attorney-General upon his arraignment, he lays a heavy imprecation upon himself, "if ever he read a word of law or statutes, before he was a prisoner in the Tower." If therefore the lines prefixed to Gascoigne's 'Steele-glass,' and subscribed Walter Rawely of the Middle Temple,' were (as, from other circumstances, it is probable they were) his, we must conclude that young gentlemen then, as at present, occasionally occupied chambers in the Inns of Court, without ever studying much less intending to practise the law. At the time of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's, which (according to Natalis Comes) destroyed 60,000 victims of all ranks andages, he perhaps found refuge in the embassador Walsingham's The activity of his temper, however, did not suf fer him to rest long at home; for in 1578, he entered into the service of the Prince of Orange against the Spaniards. Soon after this, he had an opportunity of trying his fortune at sea. His half-brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert, having obtained a patent to plant and settle some of the northern parts of America, not claimed by any nation in alliance with England, Ralegh engaged with a considerable party in an expedition to Newfoundland. But the voyage proved unsuccessful: for divisions arising among the volunteers, Sir Humphry was in 1579 obliged to set sail with only a few of his friends; and, after various misfortunes, returned with the loss of one of his ships in an engagement, in which Ralegh himself was exposed to great danger. In 1580, the Spanish and Italian forces having invaded Ireland, under the Pope's banner, for the support of the Desmonds then in rebellion in the province of Munster, he obtained a captain's commission under the Lord Deputy Arthur Lord Grey de Wilton; where under the command of Thomas Earl of Ormond, governor of Munster, he surprised the Irish kerns at Rekell, and took every rebel upon the spot.* He assisted, likewise, at the siege of Fort Del house, in company with Lord Wharton, young Philip Sidney, and others. During the whole interval from 1569 to 1579, of the twenty-four hours (we are told) he allowed only five to sleep, and constantly devoted four to study. Among them was one loaded with withs (or willows), who being asked, What he intended to have done with them?' rudely answered, To have hung up the English churls;' upon which Ralegh said, They should now serve for an Irish kern,' • Ore, which the Spanish troops had built as a place of retreat. The Lord Deputy himself besieging it by land, Sir William Winter the Admiral by sea, and Ralegh commanding in the trenches, it was obliged to surrender at discretion; and the principal part of the garrison were (under the superintendence of the latter and Mackworth, who first entered the castle) inhumanly put to the sword. During the winter of this year, Ralegh had quarters assigned him at Cork; when observing the seditious practices of David Lord Barry and others, he took a journey to Dublin, and remonstrated with Lord Grey so strongly upon the occasion, that his Lordship gave him full commission to seize the lands of this turbulent nobleman, and to reduce him to peace and subjection by such means as he should think proper; for which purpose, he was furnished with a party of horse. But before he could carry his purpose into effect, Barry himself burnt his castle. to the ground, though it was his principal seat, and laid waste the country round it with greater devastation, than even the zeal of his enemies would have inflicted. In his return to his quarters, Ralegh was attacked by Fitz-Edmonds, an old rebel of Barry's faction, at and ordered him immediately to be hanged. We read of another rebel of higher rank named O'Rourke, who petitioned that, ' instead of a rope, he might be hanged in a withy;' assigning, as a reason for his request, that it was a distinction, which had been paid to his countrymen before him.' This example Lord Bacon applies, to illustrate the tyranny of custom. · At this siege, fell the son of Sir John Cheke. |