Despairing of
winning it from the clemency of James, he applied his wits to
extracting it from the King's cupidity.
Throughout his life, since the day when first he had brought
himself to the notice of a Queen by making of his cloak a carpet
for her feet, he had retained side by side with the dignity of
the sage and the greatness of the hero, the craft and opportunism
of the adventurer. His opportunity now was the straitened
condition of the royal treasury, a hint of which had been let
fall by Winwood the Secretary of State. He announced at once that
he knew of a gold mine in Guiana, the El Dorado of the Spaniards.
On his return from a voyage to Guiana in 1595, he had written of
it thus:
"There the common soldier shall fight for gold instead of pence,
pay himself with plates half a foot broad, whereas he breaks his
bones in other wars for provant and penury Those commanders and
chieftains that shoot at honour and abundance shall find here
more rich and beautiful cities, more temples adorned with golden
images, more sepulchres filled with treasure than either Cortez
found in Mexico or Pizarro in Peru."
Winwood now reminded him that as a consequence many expeditions
had gone out, but failed to discover any of these things.
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