ng Paunsfords. He is not visible
as pictured to the vivid fancy of the author of _Kenilworth_, the
youthful aspirant, graceful, eager, slender, dark, restless, and
supercilious, with a sonnet or an epigram ever ready on his lips to
delight friends and sting enemies.

[Sidenote: _Spelling of Name._]

[Sidenote: _Seventy-four Forms._]

The spelling of his name for the first thirty-two years of his life was
as vague and unsettled as his acts. There was no standard of orthography
for surnames till the latter part of the seventeenth century. Neither
the owners, nor others, were slaves to uniformity. Posterity has used
its own liberty of selection, often very arbitrarily. Robert Cecil, for
instance, signed his name Cecyll, and nobody follows him, not even his
descendants. For Ralegh's name his contemporaries never had a fixed rule
to the end of him. Transcribers with the signature clear before them
would not copy it; they could not keep to one form of their own. His
correspondents and friends followed the idea of the moment. Lord
Burleigh wrote Rawly. Robert Cecil wrote to him as Rawley, Raleigh, and
Ralegh. A secretary of Cecil wrote Raweley and Rawlegh. King James, for
whom in Scotland he had been Raulie, wrote once at any rate, and Carew
Ralegh commonly, Raleigh. Carew's son Philip spelt his name both Raleigh
and Ralegh. Lady Ralegh signed one letter Raleigh, but all others which
have been preserved, Ralegh. The only known signature of young Walter is
Ralegh. The Privy Council wrote the name Raleghe, Rawleighe, and
Rawleigh. George Villiers spelt it Raughleigh, and Cobham, Rawlye. In
Irish State Papers he is Rawleie. Lord Henry Howard wrote Rawlegh and
Rawlie. The Lord Admiral called him Rawlighe. For some he was Raileigh,
Raughlie, and Rauleigh. In a warrant he was Raleighe, and in the
register of Stepney Church, Raylie. Naunton wrote Rawleigh and Raghley,
and Milton, in a manuscript commonplace book, Raugleigh. Sir Edward
Peyton in his book spelt the name Rawliegh. Stukely in his Apology spelt
it Raligh. The name to his verses printed in Gascoigne's volume is
Rawely, and in a manuscript poem it is Wrawly. In another manuscript
poem it is Raghlie. Puttenham printed it Rawleygh. In the wonderful mass
of manuscripts at Lambeth, collected by Sir George Carew, who kept every
paper sent him, though his correspondents might beg him to burn their
letters, the name, beside forms already given, appears spelt as Ralighe,
Raule,