preparing for his third expedition
to Guiana, which he placed under the command of Captain Leonard Berrie.
This navigator was absent until the summer of the following year, when
he returned, not having penetrated to Manoa, but confirming with an
almost obsequious report Raleigh's most golden dreams. It is at this
time, after his return from Cadiz, that we find Sir Walter Raleigh's
name mentioned most lavishly by the literary classes in their
dedications and eulogistic addresses. Whether his popularity was at the
same time high with the general public is more easily asserted than
proved, but there is no doubt that the victory at Cadiz was highly
appreciated by the mass of Englishmen, and it is not possible but that
Raleigh's prominent share in it should be generally recognised.

On January 24, 1597, Raleigh wrote from Sherborne a letter of sympathy
to Sir Robert Cecil, on the death of his wife. It is interesting as
displaying Raleigh's intimacy with the members of a family which was
henceforth to hold a prominent place in the chronicle of his life, since
it was Henry Brooke, Lady Cecil's brother, who became, two months later,
at the death of his father, Lord Cobham. It was he and his brother
George Brooke who in 1603 became notorious as the conspirators for
Arabella Stuart, and who dragged Raleigh down with them. We do not know
when Raleigh began to be intimate with the Brookes, and it is just at
this time, when his fortunes had reached their climacteric, and when it
would be of the highest importance to us to follow them closely, that
his personal history suddenly becomes vague. If Cecil's letters to him
had been preserved we should know more. As it is we can but record
certain isolated facts, and make as much use of them as we can venture
to do. In May 1597, nearly five years after his expulsion, we find him
received again at Court. Rowland White says, 'Sir Walter Raleigh is
daily in Court, and a hope is had that he shall be admitted to the
execution of his office as Captain of the Guard, before he goes to sea.'

Cecil and Howard of Effingham had obtained this return to favour for
their friend, and Essex, although his momentary liking for Raleigh had
long subsided, did not oppose it. He could not, however, be present when
Timias was taken back into the arms of his pardoning Belphoebe. On
June 1, the Earl of Essex rode down to Chatham, and during his absence
Sir Walter Raleigh was conducted by Cecil into the presence of