In 1589 Raleigh was one of those who accompanied the exiled king of Portugal in his attempt to recover his throne. Upon his return from this expedition, he went to visit his estates in Ireland, where he either form ed or renewed his acquaintance with Spenser the poet, who has celebrated him under the appellation of the shepherd of the ocean, and who acknowledges the obli gation which he owed to Raleigh, of having first intro duced him to the queen. Spenser also prefixed to his Fairy Queen an introductory letter to Raleigh, in which he explaiyts the plan and object of that poem.
Eau/ for new enterprises, our military knight con ceived the design of attacking Panama, and intercepting the Spanish Plate fleet. No fewer than thirteen ships were fitted out by himself and his friends for that purpose, and these were joined by two men of war, all of which were put under the management of Raleigh. He was, however, recalled by the queen, when he had scarcely set sail ; but before he returned he proceeded to Cape Finisterre, and divided his fleet into two squad rons with cruising orders. A rich carrack which fell in the way of one of these squadrons, was the only prize of the expedition. In the year 1594 he obtained from the queen a grant of the manor of Sherborne, in the county of Dorset, upon which he erected a magni ficent house ; but the tide of fortune, which had thus lifted him to the highest summit of its wave, was now beginning to subside gently beneath him. An infamous person of the name of Parsons, a Jesuit, wrote a libel, in which he charged Raleigh with atheism. This im putation, groundless as it was, is still said to have creat ed some disagreeable feelings towards him on the part of the queen ; but these feelings were increased to a still greater degree by an intrigue with one of her maids of honour, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton. The court of the queen was scandalised by this inde cent amour ; but her favourite made all the redaration which he could, by marrying the lady, with whom he lived in great conjugal felicity. The queen, however, testified the weight of her displeasure, by committing him to the Tower for some months, and subsequently banished him from her presence.
In the solitude of his confinement, the imagination of Raleigh seems to have been fascinated by the marvel lous tales which had been circulated respecting the riches of Guiana, and he projected an expedition for exploring that country. Guided by some private in
formation which he had obtained from an old naviga tor whom he had dispatched on purpose, he embarked in July 1595, with a squadron of ships, and made for the island of Trinidad. After taking possession of the town of St. Joset:h, he sailed up the great river Oroonoko ; but the impediments to its navigation which he experi enced, and the intolerable heat of the climate compelled him to return, after taking possession of the country in the queen's name. Raleigh appears to have been annoyed with the unsuccessful issue of this expedition ; and it is not easy to reconcile with his character as an honest man, the account of the country which he pub lished on his return, under the title of, " Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana." Hume stigmatises this production as " full of the grossest and Most palpable lies that were ever attempted to be im posed on the credulity of mankind." The queen had so far forgotten her displeasure against Raleigh, as to give him a naval command as ad miral, in the successful expedition against Cadiz in 1596, which was sent out under Lord Howard of Effingham and the Earl of Essex. In 1597 he held the post of rear-admiral in the expedition commanded by Essex, and sent to the Azores for the purpose of intercepting the Spanish West India fleet. Having arrived with his squadron at Fayal before Lord Essex, and waited for a considerable time, he deemed it prudent to make an at tack on the place, which, fortunately for himself, turned out successful. This event gave deep offence to the Earl of Essex. He considered Raleigh as having inten tionally defrauded him of the glory of the action ; and he would not have scrupled to cashier him, had not Lord Howard exerted himself in bringing about an apparent reconciliation. On the return of the expedition Lord Essex publicly found fault with the conduct of his offi cers ; but the queen, after deliberately considering the whole transaction, seems to have considered the conduct of Sir Walter and the other officers as justified by the circumstances of the transaction.