nce, the Netherlands, and Ireland he had shown
himself a soldier of the same fearless stamp as his half-brother Sir
Humphrey Gilbert; and he was already looked upon as a seaman of
splendid powers for organization. Poet and scholar, he was the patron
of Edmund Spenser, the famous author of the _Faerie Queene_; of
Richard Hakluyt, the naval historian; of Le Moyne and John White, the
painters; and of Thomas Hariot, the great mathematician.

Expert in the art of gallantry, Raleigh won his way to the queen's
heart by deftly placing between her feet and a muddy place his new
plush coat. He dared the extremity of his political fortunes by
writing on a pane of glass which the queen must see, "Fain would I
climb, but fear I to fall." And she replied with an encouraging--"If
thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." The queen's favor developed
into magnificent gifts of riches and honor, and Raleigh received
various monopolies, many forfeited estates, and appointments as lord
warden of the stannaries, lieutenant of the county of Cornwall,
vice-admiral of Cornwall and Devon, and captain of the queen's guard.

The manner in which Raleigh went about the work of colonization showed
remarkable forethought and system. In order to enlist the active
cooperation of the court and gentry, he induced Richard Hakluyt to
write for him, in 1584, his _Discourse on Western Planting_, which he
circulated in manuscript.[5] He not only received from the queen in
1584 a patent similar to Gilbert's,[6] but by obtaining a confirmation
from Parliament in 1585 he acquired a national sanction which
Gilbert's did not possess.[7]

In imitation of Gilbert he sent out first an exploring expedition
commanded by Arthur Barlow and Philip Amidas; but, warned by his
brother's experience, he directed them to go southward. They left the
west of England April 27, 1584, and arrived upon the coast of North
Carolina July 4, where they passed into Ocracoke Inlet south of Cape
Hatteras. There, landing on an island called Wokokon--part of the
broken outer coast--Barlow and Amidas took possession in the right of
the queen and Sir Walter Raleigh.[8]

Several weeks were spent in exploring Pamlico Sound, which they found
dotted with many small islands, the largest of which, sixteen miles
long, called by the Indians Roanoke Island, was fifty miles north of
Wokokon. About the middle of September, 1584, they returned to England
and reported as the name of the new country "Wincon