1592] SPOIL OF THE "MADRE DE DIOS.” 81 as I came on board the carrack on Wednesday, at one of the clock, with the rest of her Majesty's commissioners, within one hour Sir Walter Ralegh arrived with his keeper, Mr. Blount. I assure you, sir, his poor servants, to the number of a hundred and forty goodly men, and all the mariners, came to him with shouts of joy, as I never saw a man more troubled to quiet them in my life. But his heart is broken, for he is extremely pensive, longer than he is busied, in which he can toil terribly; but if you did hear him rage at the spoils, finding all the short wares utterly devoured, you would laugh as I do, which I cannot choose. . . . . He belike finding that it is known he had a keeper, whensoever he is saluted with congratulations for liberty, he doth answer, 'No; I am still the Queen of England's poor captive.' I wished him to conceal it, because here it doth diminish his credit, which I do vow to you before God is greater amongst the mariners than I thought for. I do grace him as much as I may; for I find him marvellously greedy to do anything to recover the conceit of his brutish offence."

From this letter, written by an opponent of Ralegh's, we can judge of his popularity amongst the men of his own county. Ralegh was not, as a rule, a popular man. His manners were haughty and overbearing; but in Devonshire, and amongst sailors, he seems to have succeeded in winning universal love.

The spoil of the Madre de Dios was divided

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with some difficulty, and a good deal of squabbling. Elizabeth's greedy spirit showed itself in her desire to get as much as possible at all costs for herself. Ralegh was very anxious to recover some of the jewels which had been stolen from the ship. He wrote to Burleigh, on September 17th: "If it please your lordship to send a commission to Alderman Marten and others, to make inquiry into London what goldsmiths or jewellers are gone down, and that at their return they may be examined upon oath what stones or pearls they have bought, I doubt not but many things will be discovered. If I meet any of them coming up, if it be upon the wildest heath in all the way, I mean to strip them as naked as ever they were born; for it is infinite that her Majesty hath been robbed, and that of the most rare things."

The Queen of course got the best part of the profits. She took somewhat more than half of the net proceeds. The Earl of Cumberland got £36,000, having adventured in the enterprize £19,000. The rest of the adventurers, whose share in the expense of the expedition amounted to £30,000, only got £36,000; and Ralegh, after summing up the services that he had rendered the expedition, adds bitterly, that "the others only sat still, for which double is given to them, and less than mine own to me."

There is something very undignified in the spectacle of the Queen and her courtiers quarrelling for the plunder won from Spain by piracy.

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ELIZABETH AND THE SPOIL.

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Elizabeth wished in every way to make the most of her bargain. The sale of certain precious articles was forbidden in the ordinary way of trade, so as to get a better market for the merchandise from the Madre de Dios; so that the prize was probably not of so much benefit to the people as to their Queen.

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CHAPTER VII.

Ralegh's First Woyage to Guiana.

FTER his journey to Dartmouth Ralegh did

not go back to the Tower; though it is uncertain when he was relieved of the company of his keeper. He was not again received into favour at Court, or allowed for some years to exercise his duties as Captain of the Guard. In May, 1593, we find him at Sherborne Castle.

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This manor of Sherborne, which lay upon the road between London and Plymouth, had attracted Sir Walter's admiration as he passed it on his frequent journeys to Devon and Cornwall. belonged to the bishopric of Salisbury, which had once been seated at Sherborne. When Ralegh cast longing eyes upon it, the Queen, who was not scrupulous about the way in which she deprived the church of its lands, made the bishop give her a lease of ninety-nine years of the estate, which she made over to her favourite. Ralegh wished to get absolute possession of the estate. When the see of Salisbury next fell vacant, it was decided to make the gift of it conditional on a

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SHERBORNE CASTLE.

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promise from the new bishop that he would convey over to the Queen, for the benefit of Ralegh, the estate of Sherborne. The first man to whom the see was offered on these terms refused it; but it was accepted by Dr. Henry Cotton, Prebendary of Winchester, in 1598, and the estate of Sherborne was granted to Ralegh. In return, an annuity of £260 was granted to the see of Salisbury in perpetuity. From this and suchlike proceedings of Elizabeth towards the church, we may see that the royal supremacy was in its way as oppressive to the clergy as the pope's supremacy had been.

Ralegh made Sherborne his chief residence, and did much to improve it. He shared the taste of the age for building and gardening. A great improvement was made in those days in the homes. of the gentry. The days of civil war were past and forgotten. The fortified castles of former times were no longer needed. Men wanted comfort for their daily life, and a new style of domestic architecture sprung up, which has since borne the name of Elizabethan architecture. It was a combination of the old Gothic with classical architecture, the taste for which had been called out by the revival of classical learning, and it was admirably fitted for domestic purposes. The comfort of the houses inside was also greatly increased. The walls were covered with tapestry, or wainscoted with oak. Feather-beds were in common use. Stoves began to be used in the houses of the gentry; cupboards full of silver