There were sundrie of your ancestors by the name of Raleigh, who were of great account & nobilitie, and alied as well to the Courtneis earls of Deuon, as to other houses of great honour & nobilitie, & in sundrie succeeding The descent of the lord warden. descents were honoured with the degree of knighthood. One of them being your ancestor in the directest line, was named sir Iohn de Raleigh, who then dwelled in the house of Furdell in Deuon, an ancient house of your ancestors, and of their ancient inheritance: and which at these presents is in the possession of your eldest brother. This knight maried the daughter and heire to sir Roger D'amerei, or de Amerei, whome our English chronicles doo name lord de Amereie, who was a noble man and of great linage, and descended of the earls de Amereie in Britaine, and alied to the earls of Montfort in the same duchie and prouince. This man being come ouer into England, did serue in the court, and by the good pleasure of God and the good liking of the king he maried the ladie Elisabeth, the third sister and coheire to the noble Gilbert earle of Clare and of Glocester, who was slaine in the battell of Banokesborough in Scotland, in the time of king Edward the second. This earle died sans issue, he being the sonne and the said ladie Elisabeth the daughter to Gilbert de Clare earle of Glocester, by his wife the ladie Iane de Acres or Acon, daughter to king Edward the first. This Gilbert descended of Robert earle of Glocester, sonne to king Henrie the first, and of his wife the ladie Mawd, daughter and heire to Robert Fitzha|mon, lord of Astrouill in Normandie, coosen to the Conqueror, knight of the priuie chamber to king William Rufus, and lord of the lordship of Glamorgan in Wales. So that your ancestor sir Iohn de Raleigh married the daughter of de Amerie, Damereie of Clare, Clare of Edward the first, and which Clare by his father descended of king Henrie the first. And in like maner by your mother you maie be deriued out of the same house. These all were men of great honour and nobilitie, and whose vertues are highlie recorded sparsim in the chronicles of England; some greatlie commended for their wisedomes and deepe iudgements in matters of counsell, some likewise much praised for their prowesse & valiantnesse in martiall affaires, and manie of them honored for both.

But yet as nothing is permanent in this life, and all things variable vnder the sunne, and time hath deuoured and consumed the greatest men and the mightiest monarchs, and most noble commonwealths in the world, ac|cording to the old countrie saieng; Be the daie neuer so long, yet at length it will ring to euensong: so this hono|rable All things haue an end. race, though for so manie descents, and for the course of so manie yeares it continued in great honor, nobi|litie, and reputation, yet in processe of time the honour became to be of worship (neuerthelesse alied alwaies and matched in houses of great honour and nobilitie) and so euer since possessed by knights of your owne name, vntill by little and little the honour and estimation of your noble and worthie ancestors seemed at length to be buried in obliuion, and as it were extinguished and to be vtterlie forgotten as though it had neuer beene. And now when all was past anie hope and vnremembred to the world, it hath pleased God to raise the same euen as it were from the dead, and to looke vpon you the yoongest sonne of manie, as he did vpon Ioseph, one of the yoongest sonnes of Iacob; and in you hath left a hope to restore the decaied house of your sept and familie. He hath brought you into the good fauour of your prince, who hath pleased to reward and honour in you the approoued faithfull seruice of your late ancestors and kindered deceassed, and inclined hir princelie hart, conceiuing a great hope of your owne sufficiencie and abilitie to restore you againe, being the last branch remaining of so manie noble and famous houses descended. And whereof commeth this, that the Lord hath thus blessed you, and so bountifullie hath dealt with you? but onelie (as the wise man saith) Vt noscas in omni virtute omnibus prodesse, and that you should be beneficiall and profitable to all men. And therefore in all our actions, Semper aliquid ad communem v|tilitatem Cicero de offic. est afferendum: for we are not borne to our selues alone, but the prince, the countrie, the parents, freends, wiues, children and familie, euerie of them doo claime an interest in vs, and to euerie of them we must be benefi|ciall: otherwise we doo degenerate from that communitie and societie, which by such offices by vs is to be conser|ued, & doo become most vnprofitable: Nam inutilis prorsus est, qui nullam vtilitatem reipublicae ac communi socie|tati possit afferre, and euerie such man, as a member vnprofitable is to be cut off. And as the bee is no longer suf|fered Cicero. to haue a place in the hiue, than whiles he worketh; no more is that man to haue place in the publike weale than whiles he dooth some good therein, bicause through idlenesse they doo not onelie no good, but as Cato saith, Cato. Idlers ought not to haue place in the common|wealth. they doo euill: Nihil agendo homines male agere discunt. Idlenesse therefore the mother of all wickednesse, and idlers the sonnes of so bad a mother, are vtterlie to be exiled and expelled out of all well gouerned common|weales; and they onelie to be fostered, nourished and cherished, who as they are borne to the countrie, so if they doo good and be beneficiall to the same.

And how great your care hath beene heerein, the course of your life hitherto dooth manifest it. For after that you had seasoned your primer yeares at Oxford in knowledge and learning, a good ground and a sure foundation to build therevpon all your good actions, you trauelled into France, and spent there a good part of your youth in the warres and martiall seruices. And hauing some sufficient knowledge and experience therein, then after your returne from thense, to the end you might euerie waie be able to serue your prince and commonweale, you were desirous to be acquainted in maritimall affaires. Then you, togither with your brother sir Humfreie Gilbert, tra|uelled the seas, for the search of such countries, as which if they had beene then discouered, infinit commodities in EEBO page image 63 sundrie respects would haue insued, and whereof there was no doubt, if the fleet then accompanieng you, had according to appointment followed you, or your selfe had escaped the dangerous sea fight, when manie of your companie were slaine, and your ships therewith also sore battered and disabled. And albeit this hard begin|ning (after which followed the death of the said woorthie knight your brother) was a matter sufficient to haue dis|couraged a man of a right good stomach and value from anie like seas attempts; yet you, more respecting the good ends, wherevnto you leuelled your line for the good of your countrie, did not giue ouer, vntill you had re|couered a land, and had made a plantation of the people of your owne English nation in Virginia, the first Eng|lish colonie that euer was there planted, to the no little derogation of the glorie of the Spaniards, & an impeach to their vaunts; who bicause with all cruell immanitie, contrarie to all naturall humanitie, they subdued a naked and a yeelding people, whom they sought for gaine and not for anie religion or plantation of a commonwelth, ouer whome to satisfie their most greedie and insatiable couetousnesse, did most cruellie tyrannize, and most tyrannicallie and against the course of all humane nature did scorch and rost them to death, as by their owne hi|stories dooth appeare. These (I saie) doo brag and vaunt, that they onelie haue drawne strange nations and vn|knowne people to the obedience of their kings, to the knowledge of christianitie, and to the inriching of their countrie, and thereby doo claime the honor to be due to themselues onelie and alone. But if these your actions were well looked into, with such due consideration as apperteineth, it shall be found much more honorable in sun|drie respects, for the aduancement of the name of God, the honour of the prince, and the benefit of the common wealth. For what can be more pleasant to God, than to gaine and reduce in all christianlike manner, a lost people to the knowledge of the gospell, and a true christian religion, than which cannot be a more pleasant and a sweet sacrifice, and a more acceptable seruice before God? And what can be more honorable to princes, than to inlarge the bounds of their kingdoms without iniurie, wrong, & bloudshed; and to frame them from a sauage life to a ci|uill gouernment, neither of which the Spaniards in their conquests haue performed? And what can be more bene|ficiall to a common weale, than to haue a nation and a kingdome to transferre vnto the superfluous multitude of frutelesse and idle people (heere at home dailie increasing) to trauell, conquer, and manure another land, which by the due intercourses to be deuised, may and will yeeld infinit commodities? And how well you doo deserue euerie waie in following so honourable a course, not we our selues onelie can witnesse, but strange nations also doo ho|nour you for the same: as dooth appeare by the epistle of Bassimerus of France, to the historie of Florida: and by Iulius Caesar a citizen of Rome in his epistle to his booke intituled Cullombeados. It is well knowne, that it had beene no lesse easie for you, than for such as haue beene aduanced by kings, to haue builded great houses, purcha|sed large circuits, and to haue vsed the fruits of princes fauours, as most men in all former and present ages haue doone; had you not preferred the generall honour and commoditie of your prince and countrie before all priuat gaine and commoditie: wherby you haue beene rather a seruant than a commander to your owne fortune. And no doubt the cause being so good, and the attempt so honorable, but that God will increase your talent, and blesse your dooings, and euerie good man will commend and further the same. And albeit the more noble en|terprises a man shall take in hand, the more aduersaries he shall haue to depraue and hinder the same: yet I am persuaded, as no good man shall haue iust cause, so there is none so much carried with a corrupt mind, nor so enuious of his countries honour, nor so bent against you, that he will derogate the praise and honour due to so worthie an enterprise; and that so much the sooner, bicause you haue indured so manie crosses, and haue through so much enuiengs and misfortunes perseuered in your attempts, which no doubt shall at last by you be performed when it shall please him, who hath made you an instrument of so worthie a worke. And by how much the more God hath pleased thus to blesse you, so much the more are you bound to be thankefull vnto him, and to acknow|ledge the same to proceed from his grace and mercie towards you. Giue me leaue therefore (I praie you) to be bold with you, not onelie to put you in mind hereof, but also to remember you, how it hath pleased God to bring you into the fauour of your prince and souereigne: who besides hir great fauour towards you manie waies, she hath also laid vpon you the charge of a gouernement in your owne countrie, where you are to command ma|nie people by your honourable office of the stannarie, and where you are both a iudge and chancellor, to rule in iustice and to iudge in equitie. Wherin you are so much the more to be circumspect and wise, bicause vpon your iudgement (and such as you shall appoint to be vnder you) the determinations of all their causes dooth rest and depend, knowing that a hard iudgement abideth for such as be in authoritie, if they iudge not vprightlie, and doo not yeeld iustice to euerie man indifferentlie. Be you therefore carefull in this respect, that you be well reported for your vpright dealings, both herein, & in euerie of all your other actions to all men. Be you a patterne of vertue, & an example of true nobilitie, which is grounded & hath hir foundation vpon vertue, for as the poet saith, Ex vir|tute nobilitas nascitur, non ex nobilitate virtus: virtus sola nobilitat, nõ caro nec sanguis. And therfore saith Demost|henes; Palingenius. Demosthenes. If thou draw thy descent & pedegree euen from Iupiter himselfe, yet if thou be not vertuous, iust & good, Ignobilis mihi videris; In my opinion thou art no gentleman. It is a noble thing to be borne of noble ancestors (as Aristotle saith) but his nobilitie faileth, when his ancestors vertues in him faileth, Hic enim verè nobilis est cẽsendus, cui non aliena sed sua virtus ad gloriam opitulatur. Your ancestors were verie ancient, and men of great nobilitie, beneficiall to their princes and countrie manie & sundrie waies. And as in nature you are descended from them, so it hath pleased God to blesse you with knowledge in learning, with skill of warlike seruice, and in experience in maritimall causes, and besides hath placed you among the nobles, and in the good grace and fauour of your prince. Wherefore you are so much the more to be carefull to restore the house of your decaied forefathers to their ancient honor and nobilitie, which in this later age hath beene obscured, abiding the time by you to be re|stored to their first and primer state: which you are not onelie taught by their old and good examples, but also by the ensignes of their and your nobilitie. For the fusils, being an instrument of trauell and labour, doo aduertise Fusils, instru|ments of la|bours. you, that yo [...] are one of the sonnes of Adam, borne to walke in a vocation, and therein to be a profitable mem|ber in the church of God, and in maintenance of the common societie: which when you behold and looke vpon, you must so endeuour your selfe, euen as Agathocles king of Syracusa, whose cupbords, though they were well furnished with great store and varietie of rich plate, yet he thought not the same sufficientlie fraughted, vnlesse Agathocles. he had also his earthen pitchers and stone cups, in which he vsed to drinke, to teach & remember him in the mid|dle of his roialtie, to be mindfull of his origin estate and dutie.