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from the place of its birth.
The colony, now com-
posed of eighty-nine men, seventeen women, and two children, whose names are all preserved, might reasonably hope for the speedy return of the governor, who, as he sailed for
England, left with them, as hostages,
his daughter and his grandchild, Virginia Dare.
And yet even those ties were insufficient.
The colony received no seasonable relief; and the further history of this neglected plantation is involved in gloomy uncertainty.
The inhabitants of ‘the city of
Raleigh,’ the emigrants from
England and the firstborn of
America, failed, like their predecessors, in establishing an enduring settlement; but, unlike their predecessors, they awaited death in the land of their adoption.
If
America had no English town, it soon had English graves.
1
For when
White reached
England, he found its whole attention absorbed by the threats of an invasion from
Spain; and
Grenville,
Raleigh, and
Lane, not less than
Frobisher,
Drake, and
Hawkins, were engaged in planning measures of resistance.
Yet
Raleigh, whose patriotism did not diminish his generosity, found means to despatch
White with supplies
in two vessels.
But the company, desiring a gainful voyage rather than a safe one, ran in chase of prizes; till, at last, one of them fell in with men-of-war from
Rochelle, and, after a bloody fight, was boarded and rifled.
Both ships were compelled to return immediately to
England, to the ruin of the colony and the displeasure of its author.
2 The delay was fatal; the independence of the
English kingdom, and the security