to proceed to Guiana whose object shall only be to plunder the
Indians. He sends Cecil an amethyst 'with a strange blush of carnation,'
and another stone, which 'if it be no diamond, yet exceeds any diamond
in beauty.'

Raleigh now determined to appeal to the public at large, and towards
Christmas 1595 he published his famous volume, which bears the date
1596, and is entitled, after the leisurely fashion of the age, _The
Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a
Relation of the Great and Golden City of Manoa, which the Spaniards call
El Dorado, and the Provinces of Emeria, Arromaia, Amapaia, and other
Countries, with their Rivers, adjoining_. Of this volume two editions
appeared in 1596, it was presently translated into Latin and published
in Germany, and in short gained a reputation throughout Europe. There
can be no doubt that Raleigh's outspoken hatred of Spain, expressed in
this printed form, from which there could be no escape on the ground of
mere hearsay, was the final word of his challenge to that Power. From
this time forth Raleigh was an enemy which Spain could not even pretend
to ignore.

The _Discovery of Guiana_ was dedicated to the Lord Admiral Howard and
to Sir Robert Cecil, with a reference to the support which the author
had found in their love 'in the darkest shadow of adversity.' There was
probably some courtly exaggeration, mingled with self-interest, in the
gratitude expressed to Cecil. Already the relation of this cold-blooded
statesman to the impulsive Raleigh becomes a crux to the biographers of
the latter. Cecil's letters to his father from Devonshire on the matter
of the Indian carracks in 1592 are incompatible with Raleigh's outspoken
thanks to Cecil for the trial of his love when Raleigh was bereft of all
but malice and revenge, unless we suppose that these letters represented
what Burghley would like to hear rather than what Robert Cecil actually
felt. In 1596 Burghley, in extreme old age, was a factor no longer to be
taken into much consideration. Moreover, Lady Raleigh had some hold of
relationship or old friendship on Cecil, the exact nature of which it is
not easy to understand. At all events, as long as Raleigh could hold the
favour of Cecil, the ear of her Majesty was not absolutely closed to
him.

The _Discovery_ possesses a value which is neither biographical nor
geographical. It holds a very prominent place in the prose literature of
the age. During th