courtier, statesman, Raleigh with all his varied graces and powers
rises before us, the type and personification of the age in which he
lived. The associations of his youth, and the training of his early
manhood, fitted him to sympathize with the aims of his half-brother
Gilbert, and there is little reason to doubt that Raleigh had a share
in his undertaking and his failure.

In 1584 he obtained a patent precisely similar to Gilbert's. His first
step showed the thoughtful and well-planned system on which he began
his task. Two ships were sent out, not with any idea of settlement,
but to examine and report upon the country. Their commanders were
Arthur Barlow and Philip Amidas. To the former we owe the extant
record of the voyage: the name of the latter would suggest that he was
a foreigner. Whether by chance or design, they took a more southerly
course than any of their predecessors....

Coasting along for about a hundred and twenty miles the voyagers
reached an inlet and with some difficulty entered. They solemnly took
possession of the land in the Queen's name, and then delivered it over
to Raleigh according to his patent. They soon discovered that the land
upon which they had touched was an island about twenty miles long and
not above six broad, named, as they afterward learned, Roanoke.
Beyond, separating them from the mainland, lay an enclosed sea,
studded with more than a hundred fertile and well-wooded islets....

Barlow and Amidas returned to England in the middle of September. With
them they brought two of the savages, named Wanchese and Manteo. A
probable tradition tells us that the Queen herself named the country
Virginia, and that Raleigh's knighthood was the reward and
acknowledgement of his success. On the strength of this report Raleigh