that no one at Court
supported his hopes in that direction, he began to withdraw a little
from a contest in which he was so heavily handicapped. In the next
chapter we shall touch upon the modification of his American policy. He
had failed hitherto, and yet, in failing, he had already secured for his
own name the highest place in the early history of Colonial America.

We now reach that famous incident in English history over which every
biographer of Raleigh is tempted to linger, the ruin of Philip's
Felicissima Armada. Within the limits of the present life of Sir Walter
it is impossible to tell over again a story which is among the most
thrilling in the chronicles of the world, but in which Raleigh's part
was not a foremost one. We possess no letter of 1588 in which he refers
to the fight.

On March 31, he had been one of the nine commissioners who met to
consider the best means of resisting invasion. In the same body of men
sat two of Raleigh's captains, Grenville and Ralph Lane, as well as his
old opponent, Lord Grey. Three months before this, Raleigh had reported
to the Queen on the state of the counties under his charge, and his
counsel on the subject had been taken. That he was profoundly excited at
the crisis in English affairs is proved by the many allusions he makes
to the Armada in the _History of the World_. It is on the whole
surprising that he was not called to take a more prominent part in the
event.[3]

It is believed that he was in Ireland when the storm actually broke,
that he hastened into the West of England, to raise levies of Cornish
and Devonian miners, and that he then proceeded to Portland, of which,
among his many offices, he was now governor, in order that he might
revise and complete the defences of that fortress. Either by land or
sea, according to conflicting accounts, he then hurried back to
Plymouth, and joined the main body of the fleet on July 23. There is a
very early tradition that his advice was asked by the Admiral, Howard of
Effingham, on the question whether it would be wise to try to board the
Spanish galleons. The Admiral thought not, but was almost over-persuaded
by younger men, eager for distinction, when Raleigh came to his aid
with counsel that tallied with the Admiral's judgment. In the _History
of the World_ Raleigh remarks:

To clap ships together without any consideration belongs rather
to a madman than to a man of war. By such an ignorant bravery
was P