which he now knew the world deemed excellent. But he ever bore in mind one side of Court life which he describes with vividness, remembering probably what Ralegh had told him in their first long talks together.

"Cause have I none (quoth he) of cancred will
To quite them ill, that me demeaned so well:
But selfe-regard of private good or ill

Moves me of each, so as I found, to tell

And else to warne young shepheards wandring wit,
Which, through report of that lives painted blisse,
Abandon quiet home, to seeke for it,

And leave their lambes to losse misled amisse.

For sooth to say it is no sort of life

For shepheard fit to lead in that same place,

Where each one seeks with malice, and with strife,

To thrust down other into foule disgrace,

Himself to raise : and he doth soonest rise

That best can handle his deceitful wit

In subtil shifts, and finest sleights devise."

Ralegh knew this dark side of the Court life as well as Spenser knew it: he knew how some men were ready to slander a well-deemed name by lies and by forgery: how some men were pleased to creep into a man's secrecy and betray him: he knew the frequency of

"A filed toung furnisht with tearmes of art,

No art of schoole, but courtiers schoolery."

For there were many impostors at the Court; men eager to touch a great man's cloak-hem, and still more eager to raise the cry of Treason which should send that great man to his ruin. Ralegh, when he was well, was roused by these dangers to grapple with them: it stirred his fighting instinct and his pride. It proved his knowledge of men and tested his power of dealing with men. He liked to pass on his way with his head erect, scorning the clamour of the little men, that he might stoop the

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lower in reverence to his great Queen. But Spenser looked upon this darker side of Court life, and turned away from it in disgust. He had neither the power nor the instinct to overcome such circumstances: they merely tired and offended him. He was king of the land of dreams a leader of men he could never be. And he did not complain against his kingdom, though his waking hours were troubled by care and sorrow.

It is uncommonly pleasant to linger over these quiet months of Ralegh's life: it is pleasant to think of Ralegh, one of the greatest men that have ever lived, finding that Edmund Spenser whom he remembered well enough, was his friend: hearing him read those three books of the "Faërie Queene," and finding that his new and gentle friend was a very great poet. Each man had his dream. of a kingdom: Spenser, the realm of Faërie, where he would fashion the allegory of a perfect chivalry: Ralegh, the kingdom of Guiana, which was to make his Queen mighty and his country the greatest in the world. Neither dream was wrought out to its end.

CHAPTER X

EVIL TIMES

Ralegh and the Puritans-John Udall-Blount-Ralegh's marriage-Queen's anger-In the Tower-His sincerity-The Episode in the "Faërie Queene "-Madre de Dios-Robert CecilSherborne.

RALEGH returned to Court in 1591, bringing the greatest poet who had yet come to English literature with him. He was able after his respite to manage circumstances once more, even that most trying circumstance of all, young Essex, and joined with him in helping the Puritans who were at that time being treated more hardly even than they deserved.

It is unlikely that their views influenced Ralegh in any way. He was beyond the constraint of any fixed creed. But he saw sincere men and honest men receiving injuries; and he exerted himself on their behalf. He was called an atheist, naturally enough; that has always been the cry against men who dared to think beyond the scope of sects' understanding. Not even Shelley was less of an atheist, however.

One, John Udall, who was an eminent Hebrew scholar, had come under ecclesiastical disgrace (dissenters are apt to be malignant to other forms of dissent-witness the hues and cries raised lately against a new Theology) by writing a book in which he pointed out the need of reform in the reformed church. The book had the

portentous name of "The Demonstration of Discipline which Christ hath prescribed in His Word for the government of the Church, in all times and places, until the World's end." The English Church was in too shocking a state to allow such a book to go quietly on its way. They laid hands on John Udall, put him in a prison at Southwark, and sentenced him to death. Something about the man's straightforwardness and sincerity seems to have appealed to Ralegh. He advised Udall to draw up a schedule of his opinions, which he promised to show to the Queen. These opinions had been twisted and exaggerated into treasonable utterances by enemies, who had thus turned the Queen against Udall; but Ralegh was convinced that he would be able to change the Queen's mind by his own influence. Essex, too, was in favour of Udall's release. Their efforts were so far successful that the sentence was mitigated to one of banishment, but while the exact nature of the sentence was under discussion, John Udall died in the prison at Southwark. The bishops could not be hurried in their deliberations. Rigorous repression begun thus early, strengthened the cause of the Puritans beyond all reasonable necessity. There is nothing to show that Ralegh was in any sympathy with their cause or with their hatred of playhouses and dancing and games. He probably did not take them more seriously than Spenser when he wrote of the Crab on which jolly June was riding.

"And backward yode, as bargemen wont to fare

Bending their force contrary to their face

Like that ungracious crew which faines demurest grace." But John Udall was a scholar and an honest man; and Ralegh reverenced scholarship and honesty, knowing the value of letters and the courage that honesty required.

Moreover he always favoured tolerance in dealing with those whose consciences gave them peculiar views, as is seen by his speech in Parliament a few years later, when he opposed the banishment of the sect called Brownists.

Meanwhile Essex had not grown in any way less arrogant. About this time a younger brother of Lord Mountjoy attracted the Queen's notice; his name was Charles Blount, and Naunton described him as "brownhaired, of a sweet face, and of a most neat composure tall in his person." The Queen seeing him at dinner at Whitehall gave him her hand to kiss, and afterwards a chessman as favour. Blount wore the piece on his sleeve, and Essex remarking it and being told whose favour it was, said, "Ah! I see every fool must have a favour nowaday." Blount challenged Essex. They fought in what is now called Regent's Park, and Essex was wounded in the thigh. "God's death," cried out Elizabeth when she heard of it, "it was time that some one or other should take him down and teach him better manners; otherwise there would be no rule with him."

And now an event of some importance occurred in the life of Sir Walter Ralegh-his marriage. His behaviour has called down much censure upon him. Macaulay invented a phrase which has had potent results, "the disease of biographers." Every man seems fearful lest he should be branded with the ignominy of the complaint; yet he must be a strange fellow who can live again with a man like Ralegh in times like Ralegh's times and not catch the fire of enthusiasm. But enough. At this point in his career, writers are wont to show their breadth of judgment: "There could have been no true nobility in the man . . ." writes one of his letter to the Queen. Fortunately ideas differ as to the nature of true