th had authorized Cabot to prosecute a voyage of
discovery as early as 1497, in which he discovered the continent, thus
actually anticipating Columbus, who did not discover it till the
succeeding year, no real attempts at colonization took place until a
century afterward. In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained a patent from
Queen Elizabeth to colonize such parts of North-America as were not then
occupied by any of her allies. Soon after, he, assisted and accompanied
by his step-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, fitted out an expedition and
sailed for America; but they were intercepted by a Spanish fleet, and
returned unsuccessful.

In 1583, they equipped a new squadron, in which Raleigh did not embark.
This enterprise failed, and Sir Humphrey perished at sea. Still Raleigh
was not disheartened. He had been a soldier in the religious war then
raging in France, and associated with the Protestant admiral, Coligny,
and many of his officers, whose ill-fated colony met so bloody a fate
near the river St. John. Doubtless, during his intercourse with these
men, their experience in Florida often became the theme of discourse,
and it may be that from it he imbibed that passion for discovery and
colonization in America, which ended only with his life. He doubtless
learned of the voyage of Verranzo, who, in the employ of France, had, in
1524, coasted from Cape Fear to Rhode Island; but still our shores were
hardly more than a myth, and the country north of the peninsula of
Florida a _terra incognita_. Early in 1584, Raleigh, then a gallant
courtier, received a grant from Elizabeth to 'discover and find out such
remote and heathen lands, not actually possessed or inhabited by any
Christian King, or his subjects, and there to have, hold, fortify, and
possess, in fee-simple to him and his associates and their heirs
forever, with privileges of allegiance to the crown of all that might
there reside; they and their descendants.'

This grant would apply to any portion of the globe not claimed or
inhabited by the subjects of a Christian prince. The grant bears date
March 25th, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
1584. Raleigh anticipated its passing the great seal, and probably had
for some months been making preparations for a voyage of discovery under
this patent. So energetic was he, that two barks were prepared and
dispatched from the west of England on the 27th of April. They were
under the commands of Captains Amida