Public-domain ebook
by Edmund Gosse
Language: en5,017 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Biographies·History - British·History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #27580.
The work is a scholarly biography of Sir Walter Raleigh that situates his life apart from the broader Elizabethan and early‑Jacobean narrative. It opens with a meta‑historical overview, noting the many earlier lives of Raleigh and explaining why the author has collated the fresh material uncovered by Edward Edwards and James Augustus St. John in 1868. The preface outlines the author’s reliance on recent reports, the Lismore Papers, and a new Raleigh bibliography, then declares the intention to trace Raleigh’s career from his Devonshire birth through his university years, his early military service in France, and his first forays into exploration, while deliberately skimming over events such as the Spanish Armada that only marginally involve him. The detailed table of contents, Youth, At Court, In Disgrace, Guiana, Cadiz, and so on, signals a comprehensive, chapter‑by‑chapter treatment of his public and private fortunes.
Written in a formal, nineteenth‑century academic voice, the biography reflects the Victorian habit of exhaustive footnoting and a reverence for primary sources. Its style is dense, with long sentences that weave together documentary evidence, genealogical notes, and occasional conjecture. Readers who relish meticulous historical research, enjoy the texture of early modern English politics, and appreciate a measured, source‑driven portrait of a famed explorer will find this book rewarding. It appeals especially to scholars of Elizabethan and Jacobean history, naval historians, and anyone interested in the intricate interplay of personal ambition and imperial adventure in the age of discovery.
The opening · free to read
The present sketch of Raleigh's life is the first attempt which has been made to portray his personal career disengaged from the general history of his time. To keep so full a life within bounds it has been necessary to pass rapidly over events of signal importance in which he took but a secondary part. I may point as an example to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, a chapter in English history which has usually occupied a large space in the chronicle of Raleigh and his times. Mrs. Creighton's excellent little volume on the latter and wider theme may be recommended to those who wish to see Raleigh painted not in a full-length portrait, but in an historical composition of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. I have to thank Dr. Brushfield for the use of his valuable Raleigh bibliography, now in the press, and for other kind help.
CONTENTS.
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
