This edition contains the full text, in the original spelling, with modern punctuation of all known surviving letters of Sir Walter Ralegh. The letters help to reconcile the family man, never happier than at home in the West Country estate, with one who is revered, especially in North America, as the founder and inspirer of English overseas settlements. They show him drawn both to towards his native West Country, where he was not universally admired, and towards the Court at Westminster where lay the determination of the success or failure of his enterprises.