had been lying at interest ever since
he had received it as part of the compensation for the Sherborne
estates. Lady Raleigh had raised 2,500_l._ by the sale of some lands at
Mitcham.[11] 5000_l._ more were brought together by various expedients,
some being borrowed in Amsterdam through the famous merchant, Pieter
Vanlore,' and 15,000_l._ were contributed by Raleigh's friends, who
looked upon his enterprise much as men at the present day would regard a
promising but rather hazardous investment.

His first business was to build one large ship of 440 tons in the
Thames. This he named the 'Destiny,' and he received no check in fitting
her up to his desire; the King paid 700 crowns, as the usual statutable
bounty on shipbuilding, without objection. At the same time Raleigh
built or collected six other smaller vessels, and furnished them all
with ordnance. The preparation of such a fleet in the Thames could not
pass unobserved by the representatives of the foreign courts, and during
the last six months of 1616 Raleigh's name became the centre of a tangle
of diplomatic intrigue, and one which frequently occurs in the
correspondence of Sarmiento, better known afterwards as Gondomar, the
Spanish ambassador, and in that of Des Marets, the French ambassador.
Mr. Edwards has remarked, with complete justice, that the last two years
of Raleigh's life were simply 'a protracted death-struggle between him
and Gondomar.' The latter had been in England since 1613, and had
acquired a singular art in dealing with the purposes of James I. At the
English Court during 1616 we find Spain watching France, and Venice
watching Savoy, all of them intent on Raleigh's movements in the river.
For the unravelment of these intrigues in detail, the reader must be
referred to Mr. Gardiner's masterly pages.

On August 26, a royal commission was issued, by which Raleigh was made
the commander of an expedition to Guiana, under express orders, more
stringently expressed than usual, not to visit the dominions of any
Christian prince. This was to allay the alarm of the Spanish ambassador,
who from the first rumour of Raleigh's voyage had not ceased to declare
that its real object was piracy, and probably the capture of the Mexican
plate fleet. At the same time James I. allowed Gondomar to obtain
possession of copies of certain documents which Raleigh had drawn out at
the royal command describing his intended route, and these were at once
forwarded to Madrid,