"
Thomas Fuller, who wrote the book in which this story is found,
was only a boy of ten when Raleigh died, so he could not have
known the great man himself, but he must have heard many stories
about him from those who had, and we need not disbelieve this
one. It is one of those things which might very well have
happened even if it did not.
And whether Raleigh first came into Queen Elizabeth's notice in
this manner or not, after he did become known to her, he soon
rose in her favor. He rose so quickly that he almost feared the
giddy height to which he rose. According to another story of
Fuller's, "This made him write in a glasse window, obvious to the
Queen's eye,
'Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.'
"Her Majesty, either espying or being shown it, did underwrite:
'If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.'
"However he at last climbed up by the stairs of his own desert."
Honors and favors were heaped upon Raleigh, and from being a poor
soldier and country gentleman he became rich and powerful, the
lord of lands in five counties, and Captain of the Queen's Own
Body-Guard.
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