Sir Walter Ralegh: A Biography. W. Stebbing
Wharton MSS. (Bodleian, Oxford): pp. 221 [vol. lxxx], 230 [lxxx. ff. 440, &c.].
Wheatley, H.B., London Past and Present (based on Peter Cunningham's Handbook of London), 1891: pp. 104 [i. 540–2], 248 [iii. 76], 371 [ii. 88–9].
White, Walter, A Londoner's Walk to the Land's End, 1855: p. 7 [98–100].
Winstanley, William, English Worthies, 1660: p. 282 [256–7].
Winwood, Sir Ralph, Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I (Collection of Papers belonging to him), ed. Edmund Sawyer, 1725: pp. 156 [i. 215, 231], 205 [ii. 8], 237 [ii. 11].
Wotton, Sir Henry, Of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, Some Observations by way of Parallel, 1641 (in Reliquiae Wottonianae, 4th ed. 1685): pp. 23 [162], 40 [175], 56 [162], 139 [180], 145 [190].
Wood, Anthony À, Athenae Oxonienses, to which are added The Fasti (1691–1692), ed. Rev. Philip Bliss, 1815: pp. 8 [ii. 235], 12 [ibid.], 54 [ii. 299–303], 89 [ii. 237], 270 [ii. 242], 273 [iii. 18], 274 [ii. 626], 300 [iii. 169], 301 [ii. 612], 382 [ii. 244–5].
CORRIGENDA
P.5, l. 12, for 'him. It has not been' read 'his career. Until lately it had not even.'
P.5, ll. 22–26, for 'In fact no trace … face of Ralegh's words' read 'But a few years ago an entry was discovered in the Registers of St. Mary Major, Exeter, of the burial in that church on February 23, 1581, of "Mr. Walter Rawlye, gentelman." Katherine Ralegh, as appears from her will, found in 1895, died in 1594.'
P.89, l. 10, omit 'published in 1615.'
P.90, l. 2 from bottom, omit 'in 1615 by Ralegh and his wife.'
P.102, l. 28, for 'absence of the detail of private life' read 'barrenness in Oldys's biography of the detail of private life.'
P.209, l. 7, for 'Wolvesey Castle, the old episcopal palace, now a ruin' read 'the great Hall of the Castle.'
P.233, l. 20, for 'Send me my life' read 'Lend me my life.'
P.248, l. 4, omit 'and there remained all the years of his imprisonment.'
P.248, l. 8, for 'died on Tower Hill' read 'was buried in St. Peter's Chapel in the Tower.'
P.256, l. 14, for 'the Duke' read 'the Dukes.'
P.258, l. 8 from bottom, 'Historical scavengers, Aubrey and Osborn,' omit 'Aubrey and Osborn.'
P.269, l. 11, for 'against the phrase' read 'against misuse of the phrase.'
P.285, l. 12, for 'a statement in the Dialogue' read 'a statement in the Preface to the History.'
P.317, l. 2, for 'November 17' read 'November 14, 1617.'
P.324, l. 10 from bottom, for '"I know"—or, according to the Apology, "I know not"' read '"I know," according to the Apology—or, according to another account, "I know not."'
P.335, ll. 11–14, omit sentence 'Mr … mob,' which, entirely in error, attributes to Dr. Gardiner the opinion of another writer.
P.373, l. 9 from bottom, for 'God hold me and' read 'God hold me in.'
P.398, l. 22, omit 'and a fund of materials not yet properly manufactured.'
SIR WALTER RALEGH.
CHAPTER I.
Genealogy.
The Raleghs were an old Devonshire family, once wealthy and distinguished. At one period five knightly branches of the house flourished simultaneously in the county. In the reign of Henry III a Ralegh had been Justiciary. There were genealogists who, though others doubted, traced the stock to the Plantagenets through an intermarriage with the Clares. The Clare arms have been found quartered with those of Ralegh on a Ralegh pew in East Budleigh church. The family had held Smallridge, near Axminster, from before the Conquest. Since the reign of Edward III it had been seated on the edge of Dartmoor, at Fardell. There it built a picturesque mansion and chapel. The Raleghs of Fardell were, writes Polwhele, 'esteemed ancient gentlemen.' But the rapacious lawyers of Henry VII had discovered some occasion against Wimund Ralegh, the head of the family in their day. They thought him worth the levy of a heavy fine for misprision of treason; and he had to sell Smallridge.
Ralegh's Parents.
Wimund married into the Grenville family; and in 1497 his son and heir, Walter, was born. Before the boy attained majority the father died. As Dr. Brushfield, a Devon antiquarian, to whose diligence and enthusiasm all students of the life of Walter Ralegh are indebted, has shown, Walter Ralegh of Fardell, on the termination of his minority, in 1518, was possessed, in addition to Fardell, of the manors of Colaton Ralegh, Wythecombe Ralegh, and Bollams. He may be presumed to have succeeded to encumbrances likewise. Part of Colaton was sold by him; and he did not occupy Fardell. As he is known to have owned a bark in the reign of Mary, it has been supposed that he took to commerce. Whether for the sake of contiguity to Exeter, then the centre of a large maritime trade, or for economy, he fixed his residence in East Budleigh parish, on a farm, which was his for the residue of an eighty years' term. His choice may have been partly determined by his marriage to Joan, daughter to John Drake of Exmouth. The Exmouth Drakes were connected with East Budleigh; and Joan's nephew, Robert Drake, bequeathed charitable funds in 1628 for the benefit of East Budleigh parish in which he lived. The dates of Joan's marriage and death are uncertain. It is only known that the two events occurred between 1518 and 1534. Her tomb is in East Budleigh church, with an inscription asking prayers for her soul. She left two sons, George and John. Secondly, Walter married a lady of the family of Darell or Dorrell, though some genealogists describe her as Isabel, daughter of de Ponte, a Genoese merchant settled in London. She left a daughter, Mary, who married Hugh Snedale. On her death, some time before 1549, Walter married thirdly Katherine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun. She was widow of Otho Gilbert, of Compton and Greenway Castles, to whom she had borne the three Gilbert brothers, John, Humphrey, and Adrian. By her marriage to Walter Ralegh of Fardell she had three more children, Carew, and Walter, 'Sir Walter Ralegh,' with a daughter, Margaret, described sometimes as older, and sometimes as younger than Walter.
At the time of Ralegh's birth the family had lost its pristine splendour. But there has been a tendency to exaggeration of the extent of the decadence, by way of foil to the merit which retrieved the ruin. John Hooker, a contemporary Devonshire antiquary, uncle to the author of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, described the family as 'consopited,' and as having 'become buried in oblivion, as though it had never been.' Yet Walter Ralegh of Fardell was still a land-owner of importance. His third marriage indicates that he had not fallen out of the society of his class. Not even personally can he and his wife Katherine be set down as altogether Their Character. obscure. Holinshed names one of them, and Foxe names both. Walter seems to have had much of his great son's restlessness and independence of character, if without the genius and the gift of mounting. After his first wife's death he energetically adopted reformed doctrines. In 1549 during the rising in the West his religious zeal endangered