and three others, which brought sixescore
pounds weight of their corne, and letters to stay yet vntill Magdalentyde,
which is the 22. day of Iuly.

The rest of this Voyage is wanting.

XXII. A Discourse of Western Planting, written by M. Richard Hakluyt,
1584.

Introductory Note.

[The following Discourse, one of the most curious and valuable
contributions to the History of early discovery in the New World, has
remained practically unknown from the date of its composition to the
present time. Written, as appears from the title page, of which I give a
copy on page 173, by Hakluyt at the request of Mr. Walter Raleigh,(32) it
must, according to the same authority, have been composed between the 17th
of April and the middle of September 1584, the former being the date of
sailing of Raleigh's two ships there mentioned and the latter the date of
their return. The title-page itself must have been added afterwards, as it
speaks of "Mr. Walter Raghly, nowe knight," and the 21st chapter of the
Discourse seemes to have been added at the same time. Its object was
evidently to urge Elizabeth to support Raleigh's adventure, in which he
was then embarked under a patent granted him on 25th March 1584. It is
not, therefore, surprising to find from a letter written by Hakluyt to Sir
Francis Walsingham on the 7th April 1585,(33) and from another paper in
the Rolls Office, indicated in Mr. Lemon's Calendar of State Papers of the
reign of Elizabeth, 1581-90, Vol. cxcv., art. 127, that this Discourse was
presented to the Queen by Hakluyt in the early autumn of 1584.(34) Four
copies were certainly made of this Discourse--the original, which Hakluyt
would probably keep; one for the Queen; one for Walsingham (as appears
from the paper in the Record Office mentioned above); and the copy from
which the present text is taken, and which alone seems to have contained
the 21st Chapter. Perhaps this last copy was made for the Earl of
Leicester, as the paper above alluded to states that the Earl "hath very
earnestly often times writ for it." However this may be, no copy of the
Discourse was known to exist till the sale of Lord Valentia's collection,
when Mr. Henry Stevens bought the manuscript here published. Its value
seems to have been properly appreciated by him, owing perhaps to the
following memoranda written in pencil on the second blank leaf, in the
handwriting, it is believed, of Lord Valentia:--

"This unpublished manuscript of Ha