Beside, he becomes a member of Parliament now; Lord Warden of the
Stannaries; business which of course keeps him in England, business
which he performs, as he does all things, wisely and well. Such a
generation as this ought really to respect Raleigh a little more, if
it be only for his excellence in their own especial sphere--that of
business. Raleigh is a thorough man of business. He can 'toil
terribly,' and what is more, toil to the purpose. In all the
everyday affairs of life, he remains without a blot; a diligent,
methodical, prudent man, who, though he plays for great stakes,
ventures and loses his whole fortune again and again, yet never seems
to omit the 'doing the duty which lies nearest him'; never gets into
mean money scrapes; never neglects tenants or duty; never gives way
for one instant to 'the eccentricities of genius.'

If he had done so, be sure that we should have heard of it. For no
man can become what he has become without making many an enemy; and
he has his enemies already. On which statement naturally occurs the
question--why? An important question too; because several of his
later biographers seem to have running in their minds some such train
of thought as this--Raleigh must have been a bad fellow, or he would
not have had so many enemies; and because he was a bad fellow, there
is an a priori reason that charges against him are true. Whether
this be arguing in a circle or not, it is worth searching out the
beginning of this enmity, and the reputed causes of it. In after
years it will be because he is 'damnable proud,' because he hated
Essex, and so forth: of which in their places. But what is the
earliest count against him? Naunton, who hated Raleigh, and was
moreover a rogue, has no reason to give, but that 'the Queen took him
for a kind of oracle, which much nettled them all; yea, those he
relied on began to take this his sudden favour for an alarm; to be