The Gallery of Portraits, Vol. 6

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Excerpt from The Gallery of Portraits, Vol. 6: With Memoirs Very little is known Concerning the youth of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was a younger son, descended of an ancient family, and was born at a farm called Hayes, near the mouth of the river Otter, in Devon shire, in the year 1552. He went to Oriel College, Oxford, at an early age, and gained 'high praise for the quickness and precocity of his talents. In 1569 he began his military career in the civil wars of France, as a volunteer in the Protestant cause. It is conjectured that he remained in France for more than six years, and returned to Eng land in 1576. Soon after, he repaired to the Netherlands, and served as a volunteer against the Spaniards. In such schools, and under such leaders as Coligni and the Prince of orange, Raleigh's natural apti tude for political and military science received the best nurture: but he was soon drawn~ from the war ln Holland by a pursuit which had captivated his imagination from an early age - the prosecution of dis~ covery in the New World. In conjunction with his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a man of courage and ability, -and a'skilful sailor, he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a colony in North Ame rica. Returning home in 1579, he immediately entered the Queen's army in Ireland, and served with good esteem for personal courage and professional skill, until the suppression of the rebellion in that country. He owed his introduction to court, and the personal favour of Elizabeth, as is traditionally reported, to a fortunate and well-im proved accident, which is too familiar to need repetition here. It is probable, however, that his name and talents were not unknown, for we find him employed almost immediately in certain matters of diplomacy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.