lor is telling
it--the picture was painted at Budleigh Salterton--and it may be that,
with Raleigh's amazing faculty for gathering knowledge, he learned
enough of seamanship as he grew up to enable him to grasp and hoard in
his memory every detail of the subject as it came before him in later
life.

It is impossible to judge any character of a past century without trying
to realize in many questions of conduct the gulf that lies between the
former point of view and our own, and whatever Sir Walter's faults were,
his genius was incomparably greater. His failings were those of his age,
and were more than surpassed by the shortcomings of several of Queen
Elizabeth's very eminent statesmen. Raleigh left Oxford when he was only
seventeen, and joined Mr Henry Champernowne's band of gentlemen
volunteers who were fighting for the Protestant Princes in France. After
six years' fighting he left the army and betook himself to the Middle
Temple, where possibly he spent more time over lyrics than over the law,
for a biographer, describing this period of his life, passes over his
legal acquirements, but says that 'his vein for ditty and amorous ode
was esteemed most lofty, insolent, and passionate.' He and Spenser were
very congenial companions, and later Spenser, speaking of their great
friendship, said: 'He pip'd, I sang, and when he sang, I pip'd.'

Sir Walter left the Temple for the sea, then went to fight in Ireland,
and at the time of the Armada he was Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and
responsible for the companies of tinners, who had turned to soldiering.
He planned one expedition after another to the New World, and sent them
out mainly at his own expense, giving careful instructions to those in
charge to observe carefully any plants or produce of any kind that might
profit this country, whereas usually explorers searched eagerly for
precious metals alone. It was due to these instructions that the potato
was brought to England. Rumour for long maintained that Sir Walter
actually brought back the plant himself, but, as a matter of fact, the
credit of this is due to Heriot, a man of science employed by Raleigh.
He showed it with the other 'commodities' he had collected to Sir
Walter, who took the potatoes with him to Ireland, and planted them in
his new estate of Youghal.

And though it was most probably Sir John Hawkins who introduced tobacco
into England, it certainly was Sir Walter who brought smoking into
fashion. In par