sition with extraordinary success. In almost every
particular he showed himself a true prophet with regard to the Irish
rising of 1601.

In November the Duke of Lennox came somewhat hastily to London from
Paris, entrusted with a very delicate diplomatic commission from James
of Scotland to Elizabeth. It is certain that he saw Raleigh and Cobham,
and that he discussed with them the thorny question of the succession to
the English throne. It moreover appears that he found their intentions
'traitorous to the King,' that is to say unfavourable to the candidature
of James. The whole incident is exceedingly dark, and the particulars of
it rest mainly on a tainted authority, that of Lord Henry Howard. It
may be conjectured that what really happened was that the Duke of
Lennox, learning that Raleigh was in town, desired Sir Arthur Savage to
introduce him; that he then suggested a private conference, which was
first refused, then granted, in Cobham's presence, at Durham House; that
Raleigh refused King James's offers, and went and told Cecil that he had
done so. Cecil, however, chose to believe that Raleigh was keeping
something back from him, and his attitude from this moment grows
sensibly colder to Raleigh, and he speaks of Raleigh's 'ingratitude,'
though it is not plain what he should have been grateful for to Cecil.

It was now thirteen years since Raleigh had abandoned the hope of
colonising Virginia, though his thoughts had often reverted to that
savage country, of which he was the nominal liege lord. In 1602 he made
a final effort to assert his authority there. He sent out a certain
Samuel Mace, of whose expedition we know little; and about the same time
his nephew, Bartholomew Gilbert, with an experienced mariner, Captain
Gosnoll, went to look for the lost colony and city of Raleigh. These
latter started in a small barque on March 26, but though they enjoyed an
interesting voyage, they never touched Virginia at all. They discovered
and named Martha's Vineyard, and some other of the islands in the same
group; then, after a pleasant sojourn, they came back to England, and
landed at Exmouth on July 23. It was left for another than Raleigh,
while he was impoverished and a prisoner in the Tower, to carry out the
dream of Virginian settlement. Perhaps the most fortunate thing that
could have happened to Raleigh would have been for him to have
personally conducted to the West this expedition of 1602. To have been
out of Engla