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Stars of lesser magnitude, however, present themselves to shed a further light upon the subject.

Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Philip Sidney were two men whose characters exhibited many points of identity.

In any arduous enterprize which promised fame and honour, Sir Walter Raleigh was always prominent. Eager to support the Reformation, he served in the Protestant army as a volunteer during the civil wars in France, and afterwards tendered his services to the Netherlands in their contest with Spain for civil and religious liberty. One of the most attractive enterprizes of the reign of Elizabeth to men of energy and forethought was, however, that presented by the recently-opened field of American discovery. Into this Raleigh threw himself heart and soul. With his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, he made the then perilous voyage to the New World, but failed to establish a firm footing on its shores.

Still he was not to be thus foiled. After a careful consideration of the best authorities, he came to the just conclusion that there was land north of the Gulf of Florida, a tract then wholly unexplored. Having obtained from the Queen the inexpensive grant of all he might discover, be it sea or be it land, be it inhabited or be it void, he fitted out vessels of discovery; and, though not permitted by the wary Queen to accompany them himself, they verified his predictions by discovering the country now called Virginia—a name which the virgin Queen herself bestowed upon it.