JOHN ARMAND DU PLESSIS DE RICHELIEU, Cardinal of Richelieu and Fronsac, Bishop of Lucon, &c., was born at Paris, in 1585. He was of excellent parts; and, at the age of twenty-two, obtained a dispen

sation to enjoy the bishopric of Lucon, in 1607. Returning into France, he applied himself to preaching; and his reputation this way procured him the office of almoner to the queen, Mary de Medicis. His abilities, in the management of affairs, advanced him to be secretary of state, in 1616; and the king soon gave him the preference to all his other secretaries.

The death of the Marquis of Ancre having produced a revolution in state affairs, Richelieu retired to Avignon; where he employed himself in composing books of controversy and piety. The king having recalled him. to court, he was made a cardinal in 1622; and, two years after, first minister of state, and grand-master of the navigation. In 1626, the Isle of Rhé was preserved by his care, and Rochelle taken, having stopped up the haven by that famous dyke which he ordered to be made there. He accompanied the king to the siege of Cazal, and contributed to the raising of it in 1629. He also obliged the Huguenots to the peace at Alets, which proved the ruin of that party; he took Pamerol, and succoured Cazal, besieged by Spinola.

In the mean time, the nobles found fault with his conduct, and persuaded the king to discard him. The cardinal, for his part, was unmoved with it; and by his reasonings overthrew what was thought to be determined against him; so that, instead of being disgraced, he, from that moment, became more powerful than ever. This able minister had from thenceforward an ascendency over the king's mind; and he now resolved to humble the excessive pride of the House of Austria. For that purpose, he concluded a treaty with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, for carrying the war into the heart of Germany. He also entered into a league with the Duke of Bavaria; secured Lorrain; raised a part of the princes of the empire against the emperor; treated with the Dutch to continue the war against Spain; favoured the Catalans and Portuguese till they shook off the Spanish yoke; and, in short, took so many different measures, that he accomplished his design; and after having carried on the war with success, was thinking of concluding it by a peace, when he died at Paris, on the 4th of December, 1642, aged 58. He was interred in the Sorbonne, where a magnificent mausoleum was erected to his memory.

This great politician made the arts and sciences flourish; formed the botanical garden at Paris, called the King's Garden; founded the French Academy; established the Royal Printing-house; erected the palace afterwards called Le Palais Royal, which he presented to the king; and rebuilt the Sorbonne, with a magnificence that appears truly royal. Besides his books of controversy and piety, there go under the name of this minister, a Journal, in two volumes 12mo; and a Political Testament, 12mo; all treating of politics and state affairs. Cardinal Mazarine pursued Richelieu's plan, and completed many of the schemes which he had begun, but left unfinished.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

IR FRANCIS DRAKE, the renowned English admiral, was the son of Edmund Drake, a sailor, and born near Tavistock, in Devonshire, in 1545. He was brought up under the care of Sir John Hawkins, who was his kinsman; and, at the age of eighteen, he was purser of a ship trading to Biscay. At twenty, he made a voyage to Guinea; and, at twenty-two, was made captain of the Judith. In that capacity, he was in the harbour of St. Juan de Ulloa, in the Gulf of Mexico, where he behaved most gallantly in the glorious actions under Sir John Hawkins, and returned with him to England, with great reputation but little money. Upon this he projected a design against the Spaniards in the West Indies; which he no sooner. published, than he had volunteers enough ready to accompany him. In 1570, he made his first expedition with two ships; and in 1571, with one only, in which he returned safe, if not with such advantages as he expected. He made another expedition in 1572, wherein he gained considerable booties.

In these expeditions he was much assisted by a nation of Indians, who were engaged in perpetual wars with the Spaniards. The prince of these people was named Pedro; to whom Drake presented a fine cutlass from his side, which he saw the Irdian greatly admired. Pedro, in return,

gave him four large wedges of gold; which Drake threw into the com mon stock, saying, that he thought it but just that such as bore the charge of so uncertain a voyage on his credit, should share the utmost advantage that voyage produced. Then, embarking his men with all the wealth he had obtained, which was very.considerable, he bore away for England, where he arrived in August, 1573. His success in this expedition, joined to his honourable behaviour towards his owners, gained him a high reputation; and the use he made of his riches, a still greater. For, fitting out three stout frigates at his own expense, he sailed with them to Ireland; where, under Walter Earl of Essex, the father of the famous unfortunate earl, he served as a volunteer, and did many glorious actions. After the death of his noble patron, he returned into England, where Sir Christopher Hatton introduced him to Queen Elizabeth. Thus he acquired a capacity of undertaking that grand expedition which will render his name immortal.

The first thing he proposed was a voyage into the South Seas through the Straits of Magellan; which was what, hitherto, no Englishman had ever attempted. The project was well received at court; the queen furnished him with means; and his own fame quickly drew together a sufficient force. The fleet with which he sailed, on this extraordinary undertaking, consisted only of five vessels, small when compared with modern ships, and no more than a hundred and sixty-four able men. He sailed on the 13th of December, 1577; on the 25th, fell in with the coast of Barbary, and on the 29th with Cape Verd. On the 13th of March, he passed the equinoctial, made the coast of Brazil on the 5th of April, and entered the river De la Plata, where he lost the company of two of his ships; but meeting them again, and taking out their provisions, he turned them adrift. On the 29th of May, he entered the port of St. Julians, where he continued two months for the sake of laying in provisions: on the 20th of August, he entered the Straits of Magellan, and on the 25th of September, passed them, having then only his own ship. On the 25th of November, he came to Machao, which he had appointed for a place of rendezvous, in case his ships separated; but Captain Winter, his vice-admiral, having repassed the straits, was returned to England. Thence, he continued his voyage along the coasts of Chili and Peru, taking all opportunities of seizing Spanish ships, and attacking them on shore, till his men were sated with plunder; and then, coasting America to the height of 48°, he endeavoured to find a northern passage back, but could not. However, he landed, and called the country New Albion, taking possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth; and, having careened his ship, set sail from thence, on the 29th of September, 1579, for the Moluccas. He is supposed to have chosen this passage round, partly to avoid being attacked by the Spaniards at a disadvantage, and partly from the lateness of the season,

whence dangerous storms and hurricanes were dreaded. On the 13th of October, he fell in with certain islands, inhabited by the most barbarous people he had met with in all his voyage. On the 4th of November, he had sight of the Moluccas; and, coming to Ternate, was extremely well received by the king thereof, who appears, from the most authentic relations of this voyage, to have been a wise and polite prince. On the 10th of December, he made Celebes, where his ship unfortunately ran upon a rock, the 19th of January following, from which, beyond all expectation, and almost miraculously, they got off and continued their course. On the 16th of March, he arrived at Java Major, and on the 25th, began to think of returning home. On the 15th of June, he doubled the Cape of Good Hope, having then on board fifty-seven men, and but three casks of water. On the 12th of July he passed the line, reached the coast of Guinea on the 16th, and there watered. On the 11th of September, he made the island of Tercera; and on the 3d of November, entered the harbour of Plymouth. This voyage round the world was performed in two years and about ten months.

Shortly after his arrival, the queen, going to Deptford, went on board his ship; where, after dinner, she conferred on him the order of knighthood, and declared her absolute approbation of all he had done. She likewise gave directions for the preservation of his ship, that it might remain a monument of his own and his country's glory. This celebrated ship, which had been contemplated many years at Deptford, at length decaying, it was broken up, and a chair, made out of the planks, was presented to the University of Oxford.

In 1585, he sailed with a fleet to the West Indies; and took the cities of St. Jago, St. Domingo, Carthagena, and St. Augustin. In 1587, he went to Lisbon with a fleet of thirty sail; and having intelligence of a great fleet assembled in the Bay of Cadiz, which was to have made part of the Armada, he with great courage entered that port, and burnt there upwards of ten thousand tons of shipping; which he afterwards called burning the King of Spain's beard.

In 1588, when the Armada from Spain was approaching our coasts, Sir Francis Drake was appointed vice-admiral, under Charles Lord Howard, of Effingham, high-admiral of England, where fortune favoured him as remarkably as ever: for he made prize of a very large galleon, commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez, who was reputed the projector of this invasion; and who surrendered, as soon as he learned it was Drake who summoned him. This Don Pedro remained, about two years, Sir Francis Drake's prisoner in England; and, when he was released, paid him for his own and his captain's liberties, a ransom of £3500. Drake's soldiers were well recompensed with the plunder of this ship; for they found in it fifty-five thousand ducats of gold, which were divided among them.