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 _UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL
                              KNOWLEDGE._




                                  THE
                         GALLERY OF PORTRAITS:
                                  WITH
                                MEMOIRS.

                               VOLUME VI.


                                LONDON:
                  CHARLES KNIGHT, 22, LUDGATE-STREET.

                                 1836.

                  [PRICE ONE GUINEA, BOUND IN CLOTH.]




                                LONDON:
                  PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
                         Duke-Street, Lambeth.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                       PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES
                       CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME.


                                           Page.

                        1. Raleigh             1

                        2. Jenner             11

                        3. Maskelyne          20

                        4. Hobbes             25

                        5. Raphael            30

                        6. John Knox          40

                        7. Adam Smith         49

                        8. Calvin             55

                        9. Lord Mansfield     62

                       10. Bradley            69

                       11. Melancthon         75

                       12. William Pitt       84

                       13. Wesley             93

                       14. Dr. Cartwright    102

                       15. Porson            108

                       16. Wiclif            113

                       17. Cortez            122

                       18. Leibnitz          132

                       19. Ximenes           137

                       20. Addison           147

                       21. Bramante          156

                       22. Madame de Stael   161

                       23. Palladio          172

                       24. Queen Elizabeth   177

[Illustration:

  _Engraved by Posselwhite._

  RALEIGH.

  _From a Picture in the Collection of the Duchess of Dorset._

  Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
    Knowledge.

  _London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street._
]




[Illustration]

                                RALEIGH.


Very little is known concerning the youth of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was
a younger son, descended of an ancient family, and was born at a farm
called Hayes, near the mouth of the river Otter, in Devonshire, in the
year 1552. He went to Oriel College, Oxford, at an early age, and gained
high praise for the quickness and precocity of his talents. In 1569 he
began his military career in the civil wars of France, as a volunteer in
the Protestant cause. It is conjectured that he remained in France for
more than six years, and returned to England in 1576. Soon after, he
repaired to the Netherlands, and served as a volunteer against the
Spaniards. In such schools, and under such leaders as Coligni and the
Prince of Orange, Raleigh’s natural aptitude for political and military
science received the best nurture: but he was soon drawn from the war in
Holland by a pursuit which had captivated his imagination from an early
age—the prosecution of discovery in the New World. In conjunction with
his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a man of courage and ability,
and a skilful sailor, he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a
colony in North America. Returning home in 1579, he immediately entered
the Queen’s army in Ireland, and served with good esteem for personal
courage and professional skill, until the suppression of the rebellion
in that country. He owed his introduction to court, and the personal
favour of Elizabeth, as is traditionally reported, to a fortunate and
well-improved accident, which is too familiar to need repetition here.
It is probable, however, that his name and talents were not unknown, for
we find him employed almost immediately in certain matters of diplomacy.

Among the cares and pleasures of a courtier’s life, Raleigh preserved
his zeal for American discovery. He applied his own resources to the
fitting out of another expedition in 1583, under command of Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, which proved more unfortunate than the former one: two out of
five vessels returned home in consequence of sickness, and two were
wrecked, including that in which the admiral sailed; and the only result
of the enterprise was the taking possession of Newfoundland in the name
of England. Still Raleigh’s desire for American adventure was not
damped. The Continent northward of the Gulf of Florida was at this time
unknown. But Raleigh, upon careful study of the best authorities, had
concluded that there was good reason for believing that a considerable
tract of land did exist in that quarter; and with the assent of the
Queen in council, from whom he obtained letters patent, granting to
himself and his heirs, under certain reservations, property in such
countries as he should discover, with a right to provide for their
protection and administration, he fitted out two ships, which sailed in
April, 1584. The first land which they made was an island named Okakoke,
running parallel to the coast of North Carolina. They were well received
by the natives, and returned to England in the following autumn highly
pleased. Nor was less satisfaction felt by Raleigh, or even by the
Queen, who conferred on him the honour of knighthood, a title which was
then in high esteem, inasmuch as it was bestowed by that wise princess
with a most frugal and just discrimination. She also gave him a very
lucrative mark of favour, in the shape of a patent for licensing the
selling of wine throughout the kingdom; and she directed that the new
country, in allusion to herself, should be called Virginia. Raleigh did
not think it politic, perhaps was not allowed, to quit the court to take
charge in person of his undertaking; and those to whom he intrusted the
difficult task of directing the infant colony appear to have been
unequal to their office. It is not necessary to pursue the history of an
enterprise which proved unsuccessful, and in which Sir Walter personally
bore no share. He showed his earnestness by fitting out several
expeditions, which must have been a heavy drain upon his fortune. But he
is said to have derived immense wealth from prizes captured from the
Spaniards; and we may here observe that the lavish magnificence in
dress, especially in jewels, for which Raleigh was remarkable, even in
the gorgeous court of Elizabeth (his state dress is said to have been
enriched with jewels to the value of £60,000), may be considered less as
an extravagance, than as a safe and portable investment of treasure. A
mind less active might have found employment more than enough in the
variety of occupations which pressed upon it at home. He possessed a
large estate, granted out of forfeited lands, in Ireland; but this was
always a source rather of expense than of profit, until, in 1601, he
sold it to the Earl of Cork. He was Seneschal of the Duchies of Cornwall
and Exeter, and held the wardenship of the Stannaries; and in 1586, as
well as formerly in 1584, we find that he possessed a seat in
parliament. In 1587, the formidable preparation of the Spanish Armada
withdrew the mind of Raleigh, as of all Englishmen, from objects of
minor importance, to the defence of their country. He was a member of
the council of war directed to prepare a general scheme of defence, and
held the office of Lieutenant-General of Cornwall, in addition to the
charge of the Isle of Portland: but as on this occasion he possessed no
naval command, he was not actively engaged in the destruction of that
mighty armament. In 1589 he served as a volunteer in the expedition of
Norris and Drake to Portugal, of which some account has been given in
the life of the latter. Nor were his labours unrewarded even in that
unfortunate enterprise; for he captured several prizes, and received the
present of a gold chain from the Queen, in testimony of her approbation
of his conduct.

Soon after these events, Raleigh retired to his Irish property, being
driven from court, according to some authorities, by the enmity of the
Earl of Essex, then a young man just rising into favour. He there
renewed a former intimacy with the poet Spenser, who, like himself, had
been rewarded with a grant of land out of forfeited estates, and then
resided at Kilcolman Castle. Spenser has celebrated the return of his
friend in the beautiful pastoral, ‘Colin Clout’s come home again;’ and
in that, and various passages of his works, has made honourable mention
of the highly poetic spirit which enabled the ‘Shepherd of the Ocean,’
as he is there denominated, to appreciate the merit of the ‘Fairy
Queen,’ and led him to promote the publication of it by every means in
his power. The loss of Raleigh’s court-favour, if such there were, could
not have been of long duration on this occasion. But he incurred more
serious displeasure in consequence of a private marriage contracted with
Elizabeth Throgmorton, one of the Queen’s maids of honour, a lady of
beauty and accomplishments, who proved her worth and fidelity in the
long train of misfortunes which beset the latter years of Raleigh’s
life. In consequence of this intrigue, he was committed to the Tower.
One or two amusing anecdotes are related of the devices which he
employed to obtain forgiveness, by working on that vanity which was the
Queen’s chief foible. He succeeded in appeasing his indignant mistress
so far as to procure his release; and about the same time, in 1594, she
granted to him the valuable manor of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire: but
though she requited his services, she still forbade his appearance at
court, where he now held the office of Captain of the Yeomen of the
Guard. Raleigh was peculiarly fitted to adorn a court by his imposing
person, the graceful magnificence of his taste and habits, the elegance
of his manners, and the interest of his conversation. These
accomplishments were sure passports to the favour of Elizabeth; and he
improved to the utmost the constant opportunities of intercourse with
her which his post afforded, insomuch that, except the Earls of
Leicester and Essex, no one ever seems to have stood higher in her
graces. But Elizabeth’s jealousy on the subject of her favourites’
marriages is well known, and her anger was lasting, in proportion to the
value which she set on the incense of Raleigh’s flattery. He retired, on
his disgrace, to his new estate, in the improvement and embellishment of
which he felt great interest. But though deeply alive to the beauties of
nature, he had been too long trained to a life of ambition and adventure
to rest contented in the tranquil routine of a country life; and during
this period of seclusion, he again turned his thoughts to his favourite
subject of American adventure, and laid the scheme of his first
expedition to Guiana, in search of the celebrated El Dorado, the fabled
seat of inexhaustible wealth. Having fitted out, with the assistance of
other private persons, a considerable fleet, Raleigh sailed from
Plymouth, February 6, 1595. He left his ships in the mouth of the river
Orinoco, and sailed 400 miles into the interior in boats. It is to be
recorded to his honour, that he treated the Indians with great kindness;
which, contrasted with the savage conduct of the Spaniards, raised so
friendly a feeling towards him, that for years his return was eagerly
expected, and at length was hailed with delight. The hardships of the
undertaking, and the natural advantages of the country which he
explored, are eloquently described in his own account of the ‘Discovery
of Guiana.’ But the setting in of the rainy season rendered it necessary
to return, without having reached the promised land of wealth; and
Raleigh reaped no other fruit of his adventure than a certain quantity
of geographical knowledge, and a full conviction of the importance of
colonizing and taking possession of the newly-discovered region. This
continued through life to be his favourite scheme; but neither Elizabeth
nor her successor could be induced to view it in the same favourable
light.

On reaching England, he found the Queen still unappeased; nor was he
suffered to appear at court: and he complains in pathetic terms of the
cold return with which his perils and losses were requited. But he was
invested with a high command in the expedition of 1596, by which the
Spanish fleet was destroyed in the harbour of Cadiz; and to his judgment
and temper in overruling the faulty schemes proposed by others the
success of that enterprise was chiefly due. Indeed his services were
perhaps too important, and too justly appreciated by the public, for his
own interests: for the great and general praise bestowed on him on this
occasion tended to confirm a jealousy of long standing on the part of
the commander-in-chief, the Earl of Essex; and it was probably owing to
that favourite’s influence, that Raleigh was still forbidden the Queen’s
presence. Essex, and the Secretary of State, Sir Robert Cecil, regarded
each other with mutual distrust and dislike. Cecil and Raleigh were
connected by ties of common interest, and, as the latter supposed, of
friendship. Still Raleigh found the interest of the minister too weak to
serve his purpose, while the interest of the favourite was employed
against him; and, as the only method of effecting his own restoration to
the Queen’s favour, he undertook to work a reconciliation between these
two powerful rivals. In this he succeeded, to the great admiration of
all spectators; and the fruit of his policy was seen in his re-admission
to the execution of his official duties at court, June 1, 1597. In the
following August he was appointed Rear Admiral in the expedition called
the Island Voyage, of which Essex held the chief command. The slight
successes which were obtained were again due to the military talents of
Raleigh; the main objects of the voyage were lost through the Earl’s
inexperience.

From this time to the death of the Queen, Raleigh enjoyed an
uninterrupted course of favour. The ancient enmity between Essex and
himself was indeed renewed, and that with increased rancour; but the
indiscretions of the favourite had greatly weakened his influence.
Raleigh and Cecil spared no pains to undermine him, and were in fact the
chief workers of his ruin. This is perhaps the most unamiable passage in
Raleigh’s life; and the only excuse to be pleaded for him is, the
determined enmity of that unfortunate nobleman. This fault, however,
brought a slow but severe punishment with it; for the death of Essex
dissolved the tie which held together Cecil and himself. Neither could
be content to act second to the other; and Raleigh’s high reputation,
and versatile as well as profound abilities, might well alarm the
secretary for his own supremacy. The latter took the surest way of
establishing his power prospectively. Elizabeth was now old: Cecil took
no steps to diminish the high esteem in which she held Sir Walter
Raleigh, but he secretly laboured to prejudice her successor against
him, and he succeeded to his wish. Very soon after the accession of
James I., Raleigh’s post of captain of the guard was taken from him; and
his patent of wines was revoked, though not without a nominal
compensation being made. To complete his ruin, it was contrived to
involve him in a charge of treason. Most writers have concurred in
speaking of this passage of history as inexplicable: it is the opinion
of the last historian of Raleigh, Mr. Tytler, that he has found
sufficient evidence for regarding the whole plot as a device of Cecil,
and he has supported this opinion by cogent arguments. Lord Cobham, a
violent and ambitious but weak man, had engaged in private dealings with
the Spanish ambassador, which brought him under the suspicion of the
government. By a device of Cecil’s (we here follow the account of Mr.
Tytler) he was induced, in a fit of anger, and in the belief that
Raleigh had given information against him, to accuse Sir Walter himself
of being privy to a conspiracy against the government. This charge
Cobham retracted, confirmed, and retracted again, behaving in so
equivocal a manner, that no reliance whatever can be placed on any of
his assertions. But as the King was afraid of Raleigh as much as the
secretary hated him, this vague charge, unsupported by other evidence,
was made sufficient to commit him to the Tower; and, after being plied
with private examinations, in which nothing criminal could be elicited,
he was brought to trial, November 17, 1603. For an account of that
memorable scene we shall refer to Mr. Jardine’s ‘Criminal Trials,’ vol.
i. It is reported to have been said by one of the judges who presided
over it, on his death-bed, that “the justice of England had never been
so degraded and injured as by the condemnation of Sir Walter Raleigh.”
The behaviour of the victim himself was the object of universal
admiration, for the tempered mixture of patience and noble spirit with
which he bore the oppressive measure dealt to him. He had before been
unpopular; but it was recorded by an eye-witness that “he behaved
himself so worthily, so wisely, and so temperately, that in half a day
the mind of all the company was changed from the extremest hate to the
extremest pity.”

The sentence of death thus unfairly and disgracefully obtained was not
immediately carried into execution. James was not satisfied with the
evidence adduced on the trial; and believing at the same time that
Raleigh had been plotting against him, he set his royal wit to dive into
the mystery. Of the singular scene which our British Solomon devised it
is not necessary to speak, since Raleigh was not an actor in it. But as
no more evidence could be obtained against him even by the King’s
sagacity, he was reprieved, and remanded to the Tower, where the next
twelve years of his life were spent in confinement. Fortunately, he had
never ceased to cultivate literature with a zeal not often found in the
soldier and politician, and he now beguiled the tedium of his lot by an
