Sham S.Misri
Six foot tall, one of the bold young men of England, Sir Walter Raleigh, was born in 1552. This English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer, was an officer in Queen Elizabeth's army.
One day, the queen was out for a walk in the royal park in London. She had her courtiers with her. On their path there was a muddy place over which the Queen had to go. The queen hesitated for a moment. Soon, there stepped from the bystanders a young man who threw his cloak down over the mud so that she might pass without soiling her shoes. When the queen had walked over it, she called the young man to her and offered to pay for the velvet cloak.
"The only pay I desire, your Majesty, is permission to keep the cloak; for since your Majesty's foot has pressed on it, it has become valuable indeed," was the reply of the young officer. The Queen was pleased at the answer, and asked his name. "Walter Raleigh, most gracious lady," said he. The next day she made him one of the guards in the royal household.
Raleigh soon grew into favor with the Queen. He was among the most brilliant and successful of all the courtiers. He wore a hat with a band of pearls, and his shoe-buckles cost several thousand dollars. He also had a suit of silver armor, studded with diamonds. He paid for all these things himself. He was a fine soldier, a sailor, and a good business man of his time.
On the orders of the queen, Raleigh founded a colony in America. The queen was cautious in saying that Raleigh had to do that at his own expense. Raleigh was adventurous. He fixed two ships, and collected a lot of poor people who were willing to go anywhere, and he sent them across the ocean to plant a colony in the New World. After four months' sailing, they came to the coast of North Carolina. Taking a look at the land, they sailed back home, and reported that the country was very beautiful, but that they would rather be in England. Raleigh named the land Virginia, in honor of the Virgin Queen.
The next year another company was sent out by Raleigh. They landed on Roanoke Island and started a colony, but in a short while they grew tired and a passing ship took them also back to England. Thus the second effort was a failure.
These colonists, however, brought back to Raleigh many products of the country, among other things some tobacco, which they told Raleigh the Indians burned in their pipes, drawing the smoke through their mouths. Raleigh liked the idea of smoking, and soon began to use tobacco like the Indians. As he sat in his room one day with his pipe, blowing the smoke into the air, his servant came in with a pot of water. He was amazed to see smoke coming out of Raleigh's mouth. "The master is on fire," he cried in alarm, and threw the water into Raleigh's face, very much to the latter's amusement.
One day while smoking before the Queen, Raleigh laid her a bet he could weigh the smoke coming from his pipe. The Queen accepted the bet. Raleigh thereupon weighed a small quantity of tobacco, smoked it all, and then carefully weighed the ashes. The difference between the weight of the tobacco and the weight of the ashes, he said, must be the weight of the smoke. The Queen laughingly paid the stake.
Raleigh married one of the Queen's maids r, which displeased Elizabeth and Raleigh lost his favored place at Court. In 1594 Raleigh heard of a "City of Gold" in South America and sailed to find it. After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower, for allegedly being involved in the plot against King James I.
King James did not like Raleigh. There were many who were envious of Raleigh’s popularity. On the day of his trial, he pleaded his own cause. He spoke all day long, but he was condemned to death. He was kept in prison for fifteen years where he spent his time writing a history of the world.
He met death like a brave man. He asked to be executed in the morning hours. He had fever. He knew that if he waited until evening the chill would come and he would shake; thus his enemies might think he trembled for fear. His request was granted. As he mounted the block, he touched the headsman's axe, saying, "It is a sharp medicine, but it will cure all ills." He then laid his aged head upon the block, and, when the axe fell, the old courtier's troubles were over.
No comments:
Post a Comment