The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-09-16
s.SIR w ALTER RALEIGH.o
Outlines OF Dr. IL. T.. Shepherds Lecture
at the University.
Especial Cor STATE CHRONICLE.

CHAPEL HILL, n. G., sept. 13, 1SS6.-
According to announcement Or. Henry +.
Shepherd, President Of Charleston College,
delivered the first lecture of the monthly
series, Saturday night. The number OF
students, citizens and ladies present was
large Dr. Battle presented the learned
doctor who spoke Of The Life and Char
acter of Sir Walter Raleigh
(Dr Shepherd introduced his subject by
concise review Of the historic condition
of the age that produced Sir Walter Raj
eigh He pointed ont and explained its
heroic and chvalric character, q time
abounding in brilliant emprlse and spendld
achievement. when ali the glOrleS OF the
| ArthuIian cycle, seemed 10 be revived IN
| the Sidneys, EsseXes and Giilberts OF the
| Elizabethan era. Born in 1902, IN the
same year with his friend Edmund Spen-
Ger, two years before Shakespeare, RAJ
/ eigh was one of those ausplcous charac-
| ters who seem ''tO take occasion by the
| hand by the very circumstances OF their
/ environment. He was in the flush and
| vigor of manhood Just at the time that the
literary activity of EliZabethan days was
attaining its climax, being the contempO-
rary of Marlowe, Shakespeare, Bacon, Ben
| Johnson. the ''gOodlieSt fellowship where
of the earth holds record
The versatile genius Of Raleigh was
| dWelt upon, and he was shown to be one
| Of the conspicuous illustrations of that
manysidedness of character which was so
distinctive a feature OF the kiiZabethan
heroes The founder of the State OF North
Carolina wrote the history Of the world
during his fourteen years imprisonment
in the White Tower, Il work marked by
passages Of stately eloquence, and 10y
the peculiar scholastic mode of treatment
| inherited from the medieval age of dla-
lectics: he replied to Marlowes exquisite
| song ''Come live With Me and be My
Love- by graceful lyric which is almost
the antiphony to Marlowe'S melody. lie
was IN large measure the lnsplrcr OF the
: Fairy Queen the lofticst creation of non
dramatic poetry during this age so fruit
| full in poetic marvels; he is the summer
nightingale" and .'the shepherd OF the
ocean," the delicate tributes bestowed b,
: his grateful patron in allusion to his eX
/ ploits upon the sea, and his cultivation 0
. the muses. The lecturer then traced tn
political side of Raleigh's character, ant
I showed that his death was an ignomlnlou
e CONCESSION to the power OF the Spanlsl
d monarchy, of which he had been the mos
formidable and relentless foe during tn
days of the Armada, indeed, during tn
: whole of his active career. The polltlca
5 creed of Raleigh was embodied III relent
e | less hostility TO the SpdulSll-- l--AuSIIld
Is house and its policy, and he anticipate
the line of action adopted by Cromwell
nearly forty years later towards its ove1
III weening and arrogant pretenslons. Wit
t the accession of the Stuart dynasty III l60'
r the most brilliant phase of Raleigh's caret
a. was ended His comprehensive grasp {
II the political problems of his age was show
10 in his being the first fully to conceive II
N conquest Of the North American contlnel
rs by the English race, and it was the IN
Il pulse communicated to English cooniz
ton by his aggressive and invinclbe ge
ius; that led to the supremacy OF Engll
lie law and English speech within the Inn
On of our land, thus realizing the splend
OF prophecy of Daniel, the poet laureate al
!, contemporary of Raleigh
!" The lecturer then described the last da
'ss of Raleigh, the place of his burial in
ch Margarets church, under the shadow
be Westminster Abbey, and gave br
iii sketch of the origin Of both abbey a
church so as to convey to the audience
nS vivid impression of the surroundings tt
or mark the grave of the founder OF MOI
Carolina~ Many other points IN comm
no ton With the subject, are necessar
A - omitted in so limited an outline. DIR.
49, flow of language is matchless. His |
ture was varied with almost all kinds
far learning All were interested and charm'
Lol NOEL