SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

Sir Walter Raleigh, in his faults as in his merits a type and model of a great Englishman, was born at Hayes Barton in Devonshire in 1552, and was beheaded at London on Oct. 29th, 1618. His History of the World, composed during his long captivity in the Tower, is said to have received the collaboration of Jonson and other men of letters. Its finest passages are magnificent examples of sixteenth century style.

THE END OF EMPIRES AND OF LIFE.

JOW these great kings, and conquering nations have been the

Now

subject of those ancient histories, which have been preserved, and yet remain among us; and withal of so many tragical poets as in the persons of powerful princes, and other mighty men, have complained against infidelity, time, destiny; and most of all, against the variable success of worldly things, and instability of fortune. To these undertakings, these great lords of the world have been stirred up, rather by the desire of fame, which plougheth up the air, and soweth in the wind, than by the affection of bearing rule, which draweth after it so much vexation, and so many cares. And that this is true, the good advice of Cineas to Pyrrhus proves. And certainly, as fame hath often been dangerous to the living, so is it to the dead of no use at all; because separate from knowledge. Which were it otherwise, and the extreme ill bargain of buying this last discourse, understood by them which were dissolved; they themselves would then rather have wished, to have stolen out of the world without noise than to be put in mind, that they have purchased the report of their actions in the world, by rapine, oppression and

cruelty, by giving in spoil the innocent and labouring soul to the idle and insolent, and by having emptied the cities of the world of their ancient inhabitants, and filled them again with so many and so variable sorts of sorrows.

Since the fall of the Roman empire, omitting that of the Germans, which had neither greatness nor continuance, there hath been no state fearful in the east, but that of the Turk; nor in the west any prince that hath spread his wings far over his nest, but the Spaniard; who since the time that Ferdinand expelled the Moors out of Granada, have made many attempts to make themselves masters of all Europe. And it is true, that by the treasures of both Indies, and by the many kingdoms which they possess in Europe, they are at this day the most powerful. But as the Turk is now counterpoised by the Persian, so instead of so many millions as have been spent by the English, French, and Netherlands in a defensive war, and in diversions against them, it is easy to demonstrate, that with the charge of two hundred thousand pounds, continued but for two years or three at the most, they may not only be persuaded to live in peace; but all their swelling and over-flowing streams may be brought back into their natural channels and old banks. These two nations, I say, are at this day the most eminent and to be regarded; the one seeking to root out the Christian religion altogether, the other the truth and sincere profession thereof; the one to join all Europe to Asia, the other the rest of all Europe to Spain.

For the rest, if we seek a reason of the succession and continuance of this boundless ambition in mortal men, we may add to that which hath been already said; That the kings and princes of the world have always laid before them, the actions, but not the ends, of those great ones which preceded them. They are always transported with the glory of the one; but they never mind the misery of the other, till they find the experience in themselves. They neglect the advice of God, while they enjoy life, or hope it; but they follow the counsel of death, upon his first approach. It is he that puts into man all the wisdom of the world, without speaking a word; which God with all the words of his law, promises or threats, doth not infuse. Death, which

hateth and destroyeth man, is believed; God, which hath made him and loves him, is always deferred. "I have considered," saith Solomon, "all the works that are under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit :" but who believes it, till death tells it us? It was death, which opening the conscience of Charles the fifth, made him enjoin his son Philip to restore Navarre; and king Francis the first of France, to command that justice should be done upon the murderers of the protestants in Merindol and Cabrières, which till then he neglected. It is therefore death alone, that can suddenly make man to know himself. He tells the proud and insolent, that they are but abjects, and humbles them at the instant; makes them cry, complain, and repent; yea, even to hate their fore-passed happiness. He takes the account of the rich, and proves him a beggar; a naked beggar, which hath interest in nothing, but in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass before the eyes of the most beautiful, and makes them see therein their deformity and rottenness; and they acknowledge it.

O eloquent, just and mighty death! 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 stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hic jacet. The History of the World.

P. 13, L. 15. Discourse. This word at the date usually meant “argument,” but here is taken in the least special and exact sense == "being talked about."

P. 15, 1. 9. Merindol and Cabrières. Villages of the Vaudois, which were sacked and their inhabitants subjected to all possible outrages during the campaign of the President d'Oppède in 1545.

IT

EDMUND SPENSER.

Edmund Spenser was born about 1552, and died at Westminster in 1599. The View of the State of Ireland, his only prose work of any magnitude, was posthumously published. It has interest not merely as his work and as a piece of prose of merit, but as one of the earliest political tractates of a finished and important kind in English.

THE IRISH MANTLE.

T is a fit house for an outlaw, a meet bed for a rebel, and an apt cloke for a thief. First the outlaw being for his many crimes and villanies banished from the towns and houses of honest men, and wandering in waste places, far from danger of law, maketh his mantle his house, and under it covereth himself from the wrath of heaven, from the offence of the earth, and from the sight of men. When it raineth it is his pent-house; when it bloweth it is his tent; when it freezeth it is his tabernacle. In summer he can wear it loose; at all times he can use it; never heavy, never cumbersome. Likewise for a rebel it is as serviceable. For in his war that he maketh, if at least it deserve the name of war, when he still flyeth from his foe, and lurketh in the thick woods and strait passages, waiting for advantages, it is his bed, yea and almost his household stuff. For the wood is his house against all weathers and his mantle is his couch to sleep in. Therein he wrappeth himself round, and coucheth himself strongly against the gnats, which in that country do more annoy the naked rebels, whilst they keep the wood, and do more sharply wound them than all their enemies swords, or spears,

which can seldom come nigh them: yea and oftentimes their mantle serveth them, when they are near driven, being wrapped about their left arm, for it is hard to cut through with a sword. Besides it is light to bear, light to throw away, and, being, as they commonly are, naked, it is to them all in all. Lastly for a thief it is so handsome, as it may seem it was first invented for him, for under it he may cleanly convey any fit pillage that cometh handsomely in his way, and when he goeth abroad in the night in freebooting, it is his best and surest friend; for lying, as they often do, two or three nights together abroad to watch for their booty, with that they can prettily shroud themselves under a bush or a bank side, till they may conveniently do their errand : and, when all is over, he can in his mantle pass through any town or company, being close hooded over his head as he useth, from knowledge of any to whom he is endangered. Besides this, he, or any man else that is disposed to mischief or villany, may under his mantle go privily armed without suspicion of any, carry his head-piece, his skean, or pistol if he please to be always in readi

ness.

A View of the State of Ireland.

P. 17, 1. 6. Handsome, it must be remembered, is here used in its original sense, implying "handy."

P. 17, L 18. Skean, knife.