There Was So Much More .....

..... to Sir Walter Raleigh, than just a brand of tobacco, and a tired old joke about letting the man out of a pouch.

He was, of course, an adventurer, an explorer and an entrepreneur of the Old World, who helped open the New World. I guess it was the part of my youth I spent in Virginia, and my education there, that emphasized his part in that region's history ..... around here, he doesn't seem as well-known or regarded.

His profile was raised by the release this year of Elizabeth: the Golden Age, in which he (as portrayed by Clive Own) has a prominent role ..... although filmmakers did take some liberties with that role.

He was also a literate man ..... an accomplished writer of prose and poetry, really, and considered by some to be one of the 'lights' of the Elizabethan era. Here is one of his poems .....

"The Conclusion"
EVEN such is Time, that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with earth and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wander'd all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days;
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.
(The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900)

According to tradition, the next day - THIS day in 1618 - Raleigh was executed, beheaded by order of King James.