, and he spent the weary hours of his long confinement in
that companionship which is known only to those who really love books,
and to such minds they prove a panacea for sorrow and injustice. During
that imprisonment he wrote his famous "History of the World," marking
the eventful epoch by writing a history of the Old World at the same
time that he was opening the gates of the future by planting English
colonies in the New World. As soon as he was released from prison his
mind returned to schemes of exploration. He made a voyage to South
America, where new disasters befell him, and where his oldest son was
killed. Shattered by grief and misfortune he returned to England, where
his enemies had planned his certain downfall. Again he was sent to
prison, but not for a long time, for soon his princely head paid the
penalty which true greatness has too often paid to the power of a weak
king. As a subject he was loyal and valiant, as a husband faithful and
devoted, as a father affectionate and inspiring, as a scholar
distinguished in prose and poetry, as a soldier he won fame and
fortune, as a statesman he contributed to the renown of his sovereign's
realm, and as a man he lived and died guided by the highest ideals.
This was the man who spent a fortune trying to establish English
colonies in North America, and who sent repeated expeditions to the
island of Roanoak, situated where the waters of the Albemarle and
Pamlico Sounds meet, on the coast of North Carolina, but which was then
called Virginia.

The island wears a cluster of historic jewels which should endear it to
all patriotic Anglo-Americans. To them it should be the most sacred,
the best loved spot in all the United States. There the first English
settlements were made which led to English supremacy in the New World.
There the first home altar was reared and the first child of English
parents in the United States was born and baptized. There the blood of
Englishmen first dyed the sod of North America, and there the first
attempts at English agriculture were made. There was enacted the
tragedy of American colonization, the disappearance of Raleigh's Lost
Colony, and there the sacrament of baptism was first administered in
the United States. Roanoak Island is a beautiful place, with fertile
soil and wild luxuriance of vine-covered forests which are enveloped in
a deep solitude which has become dignity. Restless waters ebb and flow
by its side, restless winds kiss its