Part 4 (2/2)

The 'Philip' and the 'St Thomas' burned themselves; the 'St

Matthew' and the 'St Andreere recovered by our boats ere they could get out to fire them The spectacle was very lamentable on their side, for many drowned themselves,by the ropes' end, by the shi+ps' side, under the water even to the lips; rievous wounds, stricken under water, and put out of their pain; and withal so huge a fire, and such tearing of the ordnance in the great 'Philip' and the rest, when the fire came to them, as, if a man had a desire to see hell itself, it was there ured Ourselves spared the lives of all, after the victory, but the Fleht, used hter, till they were by myself, and afterwards by my Lord Admiral, beaten off

The official report of the Duke of Medina Sidonia to Philip II does not greatly differ frolish set fire to the 'St Philip' Before the fight was over Raleigh received a very serious flesh wound in the leg, 'interlaced and deforet on horseback He was, therefore, to his great disappointment, unable to take part in Essex's land-attack on the town He could not, however, bear to be left behind, and in a litter he was carried into Cadiz He could only stay an hour on shore, however, for the agony in his leg was intolerable, and in the tu the town, there was danger of his being rudely pushed and shouldered He went back to the 'War Sprite' to have his wound dressed and to sleep, and found that in the general rush on shore his presence in the fleet was highly desirable

Early next ht's rest, he sent on shore to ask leave to follow the fleet of forty carracks bound for the Indies, which had escaped down the Puerto Real river; this navy was said to be worth twelve millions In the confusion, however, there came back no answer from Essex or Howard A ransom of two millions had meanwhile been offered for theh had no power to accept While he was thus uncertain, the Duke of Medina Sidonia solved the difficulty on June 23, by setting the whole flock of helpless and treasure-laden carracks on fire Froh had the o up to heaven The waste had been great, for of all the galleons, carracks, and frigates of which the great Spanish navy had consisted, only the 'St Matthew' and the 'St Andrew' had colish The Dutch sailors, who held back until the fight was decided, sprang upon the blazing 'St Philip,' and saved a great part of her fah pleasantly puts it, 'the two Apostles aforesaid' were richly furnished, and land

The English generals, engaged in sacking the palaces and razing the fortifications of Cadiz, were strangely indifferent to the anxieties of their friends at holand the wildest ruht before anyone on the spot thought it necessary to coh's letter to Cecil, written ten leagues to the west of Cadiz, on July 7, and carried to England by Sir Anthony Ashley, contained the first intih is careful to do himself justice with the Queen, and to clainal, for it was already patent to him that on a field where everyhad shut hi so far as ten leagues away from shore was that an epidemic had broken out on board his shi+p It proved impossible to cope with this disease, and so it was deterust 1 the 'War Sprite'

should return to England, in company with the 'Roebuck' and the 'John and Francis' On the sixth day they arrived in Plyh seven weeks had elapsed since the victory, no authentic account of it had hitherto reached the Council He was not well, and instead of posting up to London, where he easily perceived he would not be welcoust 12 he landed at Weymouth, and passed home to Sherborne The rest of the fleet came back later in the autual, swooped down upon the faarve, which he presented on his return to Sir Thomas Bodley The Bodleian Library at Oxford is now the chief existing lorious expedition to Cadiz which shattered the naval strength of Spain

As to prize-money, there proved to be very little of it for the captors

It was understood that the Lord Adh 3,000_l_; but Essex, in his proud aived his claim in favour of the Queen, just in ti Her scandalous avarice had grown upon her year by year, and now in her old age her finer and reed for money Even her political acumen had failed her; she was unable to see, in her vexation at the loss of the Indian carracks, that the blow to Spain had been one which relieved her of a constant and immense anxiety She determined that no one should be the richer or the nobler for a victory which had resulted in the destruction of so ht have flowed into her coffers Deeply disappointed at the Queen's surly ingratitude, Raleigh, whom she still refused to see, retired for the next nine months into absolute seclusion at Sherborne

In his retireh continued to remember that his function was, as Oldys put it, 'by his extraordinary undertakings to raise a grove of laurels, in a manner out of the seas, that should overspread our island with glory' In October 1596 he was preparing for his third expedition to Guiana, which he placed under the coator was absent until the su penetrated to Manoa, but confirolden dreams It is at this time, after his return froh's name mentioned most lavishly by the literary classes in their dedications and eulogistic addresses Whether his popularity was at the saeneral public is more easily asserted than proved, but there is no doubt that the victory at Cadiz was highly appreciated by the h's pronised

On January 24, 1597, Raleigh wrote from Sherborne a letter of sympathy to Sir Robert Cecil, on the death of his wife It is interesting as displaying Raleigh's intimacy with the members of a family which was henceforth to hold a prominent place in the chronicle of his life, since it was Henry Brooke, Lady Cecil's brother, who became, two months later, at the death of his father, Lord Cobhae Brooke who in 1603 became notorious as the conspirators for Arabella Stuart, and who dragged Raleigh doith thean to be intimate with the Brookes, and it is just at this time, when his fortunes had reached their clihest importance to us to follow theue If Cecil's letters to him had been preserved we should know more As it is we can but record certain isolated facts, and make as much use of them as we can venture to do In May 1597, nearly five years after his expulsion, we find hiain at Court Rowland White says, 'Sir Walter Raleigh is daily in Court, and a hope is had that he shall be admitted to the execution of his office as Captain of the Guard, before he goes to sea'

Cecil and Howard of Effingham had obtained this return to favour for their friend, and Essex, although hissubsided, did not oppose it He could not, however, be present when Ti Belphoebe On June 1, the Earl of Essex rode down to Chathah was conducted by Cecil into the presence of the Queen She received hiraciously, and immediately authorised him to resume his office of Captain of the Guard Without loss of tih filled up the vacancies in the Guard that very day, and spent the evening riding with her Majesty Nexthe made his appearance in the Privy Chamber as he had been wont to do, and his return to favour was complete Essex showed, and apparently felt, no very acute chagrin

He was busy in planning another expedition against Spain, and he needed Raleigh's help in arranging for the victualling of the land forces In July all jealousies seeossips of the Court reported, 'None but Cecil and Raleigh enjoy the Earl of Essex, they carry him away as they list'

It lies far beyond the scope of the present biography to discuss the obscure question of 'the conceit of _Richard the Second_' hich these three aan The bare facts are these On July 6, 1597, Raleigh wrote to Cecil from Weymouth about the preparations for the expedition, and added: 'I acquainted the Lord General [Essex] with your letter to me, and your kind acceptance of your entertainment; he was also wonderful merry at your conceit of _Richard the Second_ I hope it shall never alter, and whereof I shall be ood, quiet, and advancement, and most of all for His sake whose affairs shall thereby find better progression' Froh Cecil had offered a dra town This entertainedy, then being performed at the Globe Theatre and to be entered for publication just a month later When this play was printed it did not contain what is called the 'Deposition Scene,' but it would appear that this was given on the boards at the tih refers to it

It will be re feasted his eyes beforehand with a show of the dethroneest any direct disloyalty

Raleigh was in a state of considerable excitement at the prospect of the new expedition Cecil wrote, 'Good Mr Raleigh wonders at his own diligence, as if diligence and he were not fah would sometile occasion at least, four tiht to use this h had attempted by his manifesto entitled _The Spanish Alaruuard against a revengeful invasion of England by her old eneht out the whole situation, he had planned the defences of England by land and sea, and his new favour at Court had enabled him to put pressure on the royal parsis should be done as he saw fit He was perfectly right in thinking that Philip II would rather suffer complete ruin than not try once more to recover his position in Europe, but he saw that the late losses at Cadiz would force the Catholic king to delay his incursion, and he counselled a rapid and direct second attack on Spain As soon as ever he was restored to power, he began to victual a fleet of ten men-of-ith biscuit, beef, bacon, and salt fish, and to call for volunteers As the scheathered in extent, and it was finally decided to fit up three large squadrons, with a Dutch contingent of twelve shi+ps These vessels ht of Sunday, July 10, the fleet left Ply of the 12th, after a night of terrific storh found his squadron of four shi+ps parted from the rest, and in the course of the next day only one vessel beside his oas in sight This tempest was immortalised in his earliest known poem by John Donne, as in the expedition, and was described by Raleigh as follows:

The storrew very exceeding lofty, so that h to beat it up But the night following, the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the storreat, and the billows so raised and enraged, that we could carry out no sail which to our judgment would not have been rent off the yards by the wind; and yet our shi+ps rolled so vehemently, and so disjointed theain with our courses, or to sink In my shi+p it hath shaken all her beah asunder, in so ht last we made account to have yielded ourselves up to God For we had no way to work, either by trying, hauling, or driving, that pro worsted with labour and watchings, and our shi+p so open everywhere, all her bulkheads rent, and her very cook-room of brick shaken down into powder

Such were the lish adventure by sea The end of it was that about thirty vessels crept back to Falh, with the remainder, found harbour on July 18 at Ply their forces, and Essex, whose own shi+p was at Faluest on the 'War Sprite' Raleigh writes to Cecil: 'I should have taken it unkindly iftill the ”Lion” come: and now her Majesty may be sure his Lordshi+p shall sleep so with me, for I am an excellent watchman at sea' In this same letter, dated July 26, 1597, the fatal nah: 'I pray vouchsafe,' he says, 'to reust 18, in the face of a westerly wind, the fleet put out once more from Plymouth In the Bay of Biscay the 'St Andrew' and the 'St

Mattheere disabled, and had to be left behind at La Rochelle Off the coast of Portugal, Raleigh himself had a serious accident, for his mainyard snapped across, and he had to put in for help by the Rock of Lisbon, in co that Raleigh must follow him as fast as he could to the Azores, and on September 8 the 'War Sprite' cah's squadron joined the main fleet under Essex at Flores

The distress of the voyage and its separations had told upon the teer to poison his h When the latter dined with Essex in the 'Repulse' on the 15th, the Earl with his usual impulsivenessRaleigh know the very names of those scandalous and cankered persons who had ventured to accuse hi him that he rejected their counsel On this day or the next a pinnace fro its usual course, and would arrive farther south in the Azores A council of as held in the 'Repulse,' and it was resolved to divide the archipelago a the coh, Graciosa by Howard and Vere, San Miguel by Mountjoy and Blount, while Pico, with its famous wines, was left for the Dutch in provisions at Flores, where he dined in a small inland toith his old acquaintance Lord Grey, and others, including Sir Arthur Gorges, the ht, when they were safe in their shi+ps again, Captain Arthur Chah's kinsh to come over to Fayal at once, and complete his supplies there With his usual promptitude, he started instantly, and soon outstripped Essex

When Raleigh arrived in the great harbour of Fayal, the peaceful look of everything assured him in a moment that Essex had not yet been heard of

But no sooner did the inhabitants perceive the 'War Sprite' and the 'Dreadnought,' than they began to throw up defences and rehest degree irksoh to wait thus inactive, while this handso from his clutch, but he had been forbidden tofor Essex, a council of as held on board the 'War Sprite' On the fourth Raleigh leaped into his barge at the head of a landing cos ith hiet his troops on shore, but the Spaniards contested the road to the town inch by inch At last Raleigh and his four hundred and fifty men routed their opponents and entered Fayal, a town 'full of fine gardens, orchards, and wells of delicate waters, with fair streets, and one very fair church;' and allowed his ht in Fayal, and when they woke nextinto the harbour at last Sir Gilly Meyrick, the bitterest of the parasites of Essex, slipped into a boat and was on board the 'Repulse' as soon as she anchored, reporting Raleigh's conduct to the Earl

Raleigh must have known that Essex was not the man to be pleased at a feat which took all the credit of the Islands Voyage out of his hands; but he feigned unconsciousness In his barge he careet the Earl, and entered the General's cabin After a faint welcoan to reproach him with 'a breach of Orders and Articles,' and to point out to hi Fayal without authority he had h replied that he was exe, in succession to Essex and Lord Howard, himself commander of the whole fleet by the Queen's letters patent After a dispute of half an hour, Essex seeh on shore But another malcontent, Sir Christopher Blount, obtained his ear, and set his resenth he should not sup at all that night Raleigh left the 'Repulse,' and prepared to separate his squadron from the fleet, lest an attenity of a court-martial Howard finally h was induced to give soy for his action