‘To you therefore I have freely desired to give and dedicate these my labors. For to whom could I present these Decades of the New World [of Peter Martyr] more appropriately than to yourself, who, at the expense of nearly one hundred thousand ducats, with new fleets, are showing to us of modern times new regions, leading forth a third colony [to Virginia], giving us news of the unknown, and opening up for us pathways through the inaccessible ; and whose every care, and thought, and effort tend towards this end, hinge upon and adhere to it ? To whom have been present and still are present the same ideas, desires, & incentives as with that most illustrious Charles Howard, the Second Neptune of the Ocean, and Edward Stafford our most prudent Ambassador at the Court of France, in order to accomplish great deeds by sea and land. But since by your skill in the art of navigation you clearly saw that the chief glory of an insular kingdom would obtain its greatest splendor among us by the firm support of the mathematical sciences, you have trained up and supported now a long time, with a most liberal salary, Thomas Hariot, a young man well versed in those studies, in order that you might acquire in your spare hours by his instruction a knowledge of these noble sciences ; and your own numerous Sea Captains might unite profitably theory with practice. What is to be the result shortly of this your wise and learned school, they who possess even moderate judgment can have no difficulty in guessing. This one thing I know, the one and only consideration to place before you, that first the Portuguese and afterwards the Spaniards formerly made great endeavours with no small loss, but at length succeeded through determination of mind. Hasten on then to adorn the Sparta[Vir-ginia] you have discovered; hasten on that ship more than Argonautic, of nearly a thousand tons burthen which you have at last built and finished with truly regal expenditure, to join with the rest of the fleet you have fitted out.’
From this extract one might perhaps reasonably infer that Hariot went directly from the University in 1580 at the age of twenty into Raleigh’s service, or at latest in 1582 when Raleigh returned from Flanders. As our translation of this important passage is rather a free one the old geographer’s words are here added, in his own peculiar Latin. Hakluyt in his edition of Peter Martyr’s Eight Decades, printed at Paris in 1587, 8°, writes of his young friend Hariot in his dedication to his older friend Sir Walter Raleigh, as follows :—
Tibi igitur has meas vigilias condonatas & confecratas efle volui. Cui enim potius, quàm tibi has noui Orbis Decades offerem, qui centum ferè millium ducatoru impenfa, nouis tuis clafsibus regiones nouas, nouam iam tertiò ducendo coloniam, notas ex ignotis, ex inaccefsis peruias, nouifsimis hifce teporibus nobis exhibes ? Cuius omnes curse, cogitationes, conatus, hue fpeflant, haec verfant, in his inhaerent. Cui cum Illuftrifsimo illo herôe, Carolo Hovvardo, altcro Oceani maris Neptuno, Edoardi Staffbrdij, noftri apud regem Chriftianifsimum oratoris prudentifsimi fororio, eadem ftudia, eaedem voluntates, iidem ad res magnas terra maríque aggrediendas funt & fuerunt ani-morum ftimuli. Cùm vero artis nauigatoriæ peritia, præcipuum regni infularis ornamentum, Mathematicarii fcientiaru adminiculis adhibitis, fuu apud nos fplendore poffe cofequi facile per-fpiceres, Thomas Hariotum, iuuenem in illis difciplinis excellente, honeftifsimo falario iamdiu donatum apud te aluifti, cuius fubndio horis fuccefsiuis nobililsimas fcientias illas addifcercs, tuique familiarcs duces maritimi, quos habes non paucos, cum praii theoria non fine fructu incredibili coiungeret. Ex quo pulcherrimo & fapientifsimo inftitutotuo, quid breui euentutum fit, qui vel mediocri iudicio volent, facilè proculdubio diuinare poterunt. Vnum hoc fcio, vnam & vnicam rationem te inire, quaæ primò Lufitani, deinde Caftellani, quod antea toties cum no exigua iactura funt conati, tandem ex animoru votis perficerut. Perge ergo Spartam quam nactus es ornare, perge nauem illam plufquam Argonauticam, mille cuparum fere capace, quam fumptibus plane regiis fabricatam iam tadem foelicitcr abfoluifti, reliquae tuae clafsi, quam babes egregiè inftructam, adiungere.
From this early time for nearly forty years, till the morning of the 29th of October 1618, when Raleigh was beheaded, these two friends are found inseparable. Whether in prosperity or in adversity, in the Tower or on the scaffold, Sir Walter always had his Fidus Achates to look after him and watch his interests. With a sharp wit, close mouth, and ready pen Hariot was of inestimable service to his liberal patron. With rare attainments in the Greek and Latin Classics, and all branches of the abstract sciences, he combined that perfect fidelity and honesty of character which placed him always above suspicion even of the enemies of Sir Walter. He was neither a politician nor statesman, and therefore could be even in those times a faithful guide, philosopher, and friend to Raleigh.
In the year 1585, as has already been stated above, Hariot, at the age of twenty-five, went out to Virginia in Raleigh’s « first Colonie’ as surveyor and historiographer with Sir Richard Grenville, and remained there one year under Governor Ralph Lane, returning in July 1586, in Sir Francis Drake’s home-bound fleet from the West Indies. During the absence of this expedition Raleigh had received triple favors from Fortune. He had entered Parliament, been knighted, and had been presented by the Queen with twelve thousand broad acres in Ireland. These Irish acres were partly the Queen’s perquisite from the Babington ‘conspiracy.’ Other royal windfalls had considerably increased Sir Walter’s expectations, and aroused his ambition. Hariot is known to have spent some time in Ireland on Raleigh’s estates there during the reign of Elizabeth, but it is uncertain when. It may have been between the autumn of 1586 and the autumn of 1588. He was in London in the winter of 1588-89 in time to get out hurriedly his report in February 1589. It is possible, however, that he went to Ireland after his book was out. He was probably the manager of one of the estates there as Governor John White was of another in 1591-93.
The next early author whom we find speaking of Hariot is his lifelong friend and companion Robert Hues or Hughes in his ‘Tractatus de / Globis et eo- / rvm vsv, / Accommo-datus iis qui Lon-/dini editi funt Anno I593,/ fumptibus Gulielmi Sanderfoni / Ciuis Londinienfis/Confcriptus a Ro-/bertoHues./ Londini/ In ardibus Thomae Dawfon. / 1594.’ / 8°
In his dedication to Sir Walter Raleigh the author says :
Borealiora Europae noftrates diligentimme luftrarunt. Primo Hugo Willoughby eques Anglus & Richardus Chanceler has oras apperuerunt. Succedit eis Stephanus Borough, vlterius pro-grefsi funt Artunis Pet & Carol. Iackman. Sufceptæ funt hae nauigationes, inftigante Sebaftiano Caboto, vt, fiquâ pofset fieri traiectum in regiones Synanum & Cathayac breuimmum confequeremur, at irreto haec omnia conatu, nifi quod his medijs firmatum eft commercium cum Mofchouitis. Hâc cum non fuccederet, inftitutx funt nauigationes ad Borealiora Americæ;, quas primo fuscepit Martinus Frobifher, fecutus eft poftca Ioannes Dauis. Ex his omnibus nauigationibus multi antiquiorum errores,magna eorum ignorantia detectacft. Atque his conatibus minus fuccedentibus, gens noftra nauibus abundans otij impatiens, in alias paries fuas nauigationes inftituerunt. Humphredus Gilbert Eques, Americæ oras Hifpanis incognitas, magno animo & viribus, fucceffu non aequali noftris aperire conatus eft. Id quod tuis poftea aufpicijs (vir honoratifsime) felicius fufceptum eft quibus Virginia nobis patefacta eft, præefecto clafsis Richardo Grinuil nobili equite, quam diligentifsime luftrauit & defcripfit Thomæ Hariotus.
In the English edition of Robert Hues’ work, London, 1638, this very interesting but somewhat irrelevant passage appears as follows:
Among whom, the first that adventured on the discovery of these parts, were, Sir Hugh Willoughby, and Richard Chanceler: after them, Stephen Borough. And farther yet then either of these, did Arthur Pet, and Charles Lackman discover these parts. And these voyages were all undertaken by the instigation of Sebastian Cabot: that so, if it were possible, there might bee found out a nearer pafsage to Cathay and China : yet all in vane ; fave only that by this meanes a course of trafficke was confirmed betwixt us and the Mofcovite.