ved,
And, on her prow, where the lost figure-head
Once turned the brine, a name forgot was graved,
It was "The Irresistible" I read.

--HEATON.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

PERSECUTOR OF THE SPANIARDS

(1552-1618)

"All great men have lived by hope."--JAMES FREEMAN
CLARKE.

[Illustration: YOUNG RALEIGH AND A COMPANION LISTENING TO TALES OF
THE SPANISH MAIN.]

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

PERSECUTOR OF THE SPANIARDS

(1552-1618)

"When the sobbing sea is squally,
Then,--look out for Walter Raleigh!
He's the fellow whom Queen Bess is said to love.
He's a reckless, handsome sailor,
With a 'Vandyke' like a tailor,
He can coo fond words of loving like a dove.
Faith! I like this gallant rover,
Who has ploughed the wild seas over,
Who has passed the grim and wild equator's ring.
And I cheer, whene'er I view him,
For--my Boy--off Spain I knew him
When he trimmed the Spanish cruisers, like a King."

--_Chant of the Plymouth Dock-Hand._

Boys! You have all heard about the _Square Deal_. Well--Here is the
story of a man who didn't get one.

Walter Raleigh was a brave man; he was an able seafarer; his younger
manhood was spent in the midst of the most brilliant Royal Court which
England has known. He proved his courage and military prowess in more
than one bitterly contested battle-field and naval conflict. His love
of his own land and his hatred of his enemies was ardent.

He was also a fellow of wit, and, as an author, took rank with the
great literary lights of the Elizabethan Age. He was an adventurer,
and, in middle life, as well as in old age, braved the great deep and
perils of savage lands in the magnificent attempt to make discoveries
and to settle English colonies in the New World. Chivalrous in actions
and feeling; of handsome person; graceful manners and courtly address;
it is no wonder that he had a host of enemies: those fellows who
couldn't do anything worth while themselves, and wanted to "pull the
other fellow down." There are plenty of them around, to-day, doing the
same thing in the same, old way.

As an Englishman he loved England to such an extent, that--upon the
return from one of his numerous voyages--he dropped upon one knee and
kissed the sand.

"My men," said he to his followers, "I love this land as nothing else
on earth!"

The hostility of his rivals subjected him to hars