honour
the memory of the man who was the first to dream of colonising her
shores. Until his time, the ambition of Englishmen in the west had been
confined to an angry claim to contest the wealth and beauty of the New
World with the Spaniard. The fabulous mines of Cusco, the plate-ships of
Lima and Guayaquil, the pearl-fisheries of Panama, these had been
hitherto the loadstar of English enterprise. The hope was that such
feats as those of Drake would bring about a time when, as George Wither
put it,

the spacious West,
Being still more with English blood possessed,
The proud Iberians shall not rule those seas,
To check our ships from sailing where they please.

Even Frobisher had not entertained the notion of leaving Spain alone,
and of planting in the northern hemisphere colonies of English race. It
was Sir Humphrey Gilbert who first thought of a settlement in North
America, and the honour of priority is due to him, although he failed.

His royal charter was dated June 1578, and covered a space of six years
with its privilege. We have already seen that various enterprises
undertaken by Gilbert in consequence of it had failed in one way or
another. After the disaster of 1579 he desisted, and lent three of his
remaining vessels to the Government, to serve on the coast of Ireland.
As late as July 1582 the rent due to him on these vessels was unpaid,
and he wrote a dignified appeal to Walsingham for the money in arrears.
He was only forty-three, but his troubles had made an old man of him,
and he pleads his white hairs, blanched in long service of her Majesty,
as a reason why the means of continuing to serve her should not be
withheld from him. Raleigh had warmly recommended his brother before he
was himself in power, and he now used all his influence in his favour.
It is plain that Gilbert's application was promptly attended to, for we
find him presently in a position to pursue the colonising enterprises
which lay so near to his heart. The Queen, however, could not be induced
to encourage him; she shrewdly remarked that Gilbert 'had no good luck
at sea,' which was pathetically true. However, Gilbert's six years'
charter was about to expire, and his hopes were all bound up in making
one more effort. He pleaded, and Raleigh supported him, until Elizabeth
finally gave way, merely refusing to allow Raleigh himself to take part
in any such 'dangerous sea-fights' as the crossing of the Atlan