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 192 RALEIGH an elevation, and is very regularly laid out. In the centre is a park of ten acres called Union square, from which extend four streets, 99 ft. wide, dividing the city into four parts, in each of which is a square of four acres. The state house is of granite, 166 ft. long and 90 ft. wide, and cost $531,000. The old state house, containing Canova's statue of Washington, was burned in 1831. Other pub- lic buildings are the state geological museum, the state institution for the deaf and dumb and the blind, the state insane asylum, the state penitentiary, the county court house, and the county jail. The United States court house and post office, a fine granite building, is in course of erection (1875). The state su- preme court and the United States circuit court for the eastern district of North Carolina are held here. There is a large trade in cotton and dry goods. The city contains the shops of the Raleigh and Gaston and Raleigh and Augusta Air Line railroads, two iron founde- ries, two cigar manufactories, a manufactory of pumps, two or three marble yards, several printing and binding establishments, and three national banks, with an aggregate capital of $700,000. There are three hotels, two public halls, separate public schools for white and col- ored children, three female seminaries, under the management of the Baptists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians respectively, several private schools, two libraries in the state house (the law library with 4,000 volumes, and the state library with 25,000 volumes), two daily, one semi- weekly, and nine weekly newspapers, and Baptist, Christian, Episcopal, Methodist, Pres- byterian, and Roman Catholic churches. The site of Raleigh having been selected as the seat of government in 1788, it was laid out in 1792 and incorporated as a city in 1794. RALEIGH, or Ralegh, Sir Walter, an English courtier and navigator, born at Hayes, Devon- shire, in 1552, beheaded at Old Palace yard, Westminster, Oct. 29, 1618. At the ago of 17 he left Oriel college, Oxford, to join a troop sent to the aid of the Huguenots in France, and afterward served, it is said, in the Neth- erlands. On his return to England he found that his half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had just obtained a patent (1578) for estab- lishing a plantation in America, and entered into the scheme. They put to sea in 1579; one of their ships was lost, the remainder, it is said, were crippled in an engagement with a Spanish fleet, and they returned without making land. The next year Raleigh served as captain against the Desmond rebellion in Ireland. On his return, it is said that he met the queen one day as she was walking, and spread his mantle over a miry place in the path for her to tread upon it. Struck by his gallantry, Elizabeth admitted him to court, loaded him with attentions, and employed him to attend the French ambassador Simier on his return to France, and afterward to escort the duke of Anjou to Antwerp. He soon made use of his influence to promote a second expe- dition to America. Prevented by an accident from going in person, he left the command of the fleet to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who sailed from Plymouth with five ships in 1583, and reached Newfoundland, of which he took pos- session in the name of the queen ; but his ships were dispersed, and Gilbert himself on the voyage home was lost. Raleigh, obtaining from Elizabeth an ample patent and the title of lord proprietor over an extensive region, fitted out two vessels under the command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, who reach- ed Ocracoke inlet on the shore of North Caro- lina in July, 1584. They explored Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, and returned to England in September with a glowing account of their discoveries. Elizabeth, as a memorial of her state of life, called the newly found region Virginia, and conferred knighthood upon Ra- leigh, with a lucrative monopoly of wines. Raleigh, now a member of parliament for Dev- onshire, obtained a bill confirming his patent, raised a company of colonists, and in 1585 sent out under command of Sir Richard Grenville seven vessels with 108 emigrants. The colony landed at Roanoke island about July 1, and Grenville soon returned home with the ships, capturing on his way a rich Spanish prize. In the mean time Raleigh had been appointed seneschal of the duchies of Devon and Corn- wall and lord warden of the stannaries, and had obtained a grant of 12,000 acres of for- feited land in Ireland. His favor at court con- tinued to increase, but among the multitude he was one of the most cordially hated persons in England. In 1586 two parties were sent out to Virginia with reinforcements, but they found the settlement abandoned. The dis- heartened colonists had gone home in Sir Francis Drake's ship, and the fruit of their expedition had been little more than the intro- duction into England of tobacco and potatoes. Raleigh now determined to found an agricul- tural state, and in April, 1587, despatched a considerable body of emigrants to make a set- tlement on Chesapeake bay. He granted them a charter of incorporation, and appointed a municipal government " for the city of Ra- leigh," intrusting the administration to John White, with 12 assistants. They founded their city not on the bay, but on the site of the for- mer settlement at Roanoke island, and when their ship returned sent Gov. White back to England to expedite reinforcements. But two ships which Raleigh sent out with supplies fell into the hands of the French. His means were now exhausted, and the colonists all per- ished. Meanwhile Raleigh had exerted him- self to assist the preparations for resisting an expected Spanish invasion ; in 1587 he was a member of the council of war, and had com- mand of the forces in Cornwall, of which coun- ty he was lieutenant general ; and in 1588, when the great armada appeared in the chan- nel, he hung upon its rear in a vessel of his