From this extract one might perhaps reasonably infer that Hariot went directly from the University in 1580 at the age of twenty into Raleigh’s service, or at latest in 1582 when Raleigh returned from Flanders.  As our translation of this important passage is rather a free one the old geographer’s words are here added, in his own peculiar Latin.  Hakluyt in his edition of Peter Martyr’s Eight Decades, printed at Paris in 1587, 8°, writes of his young friend Hariot in his dedication to his older friend Sir Walter Raleigh, as follows :-

Tibi igitur has meas vigilias condonatas & confecratas efle volui.  Cui enim potius, quàm tibi has noui Orbis Decades offerem, qui centum ferè millium ducatoru impenfa, nouis tuis clafsibus regiones nouas, nouam iam tertiò ducendo coloniam, notas ex ignotis, ex inaccefsis peruias, nouifsimis hifce teporibus nobis exhibes ?  Cuius omnes curse, cogitationes, conatus, hue fpeflant, haec verfant, in his inhaerent.  Cui cum Illuftrifsimo illo herôe, Carolo Hovvardo, altcro Oceani maris Neptuno, Edoardi Staffbrdij, noftri apud regem Chriftianifsimum oratoris prudentifsimi fororio, eadem ftudia, eaedem voluntates, iidem ad res magnas terra maríque aggrediendas funt & fuerunt ani-morum ftimuli.  Cùm vero artis nauigatoriæ peritia, præcipuum regni infularis ornamentum, Mathematicarii fcientiaru adminiculis adhibitis, fuu apud nos fplendore poffe cofequi facile per-fpiceres, Thomas Hariotum, iuuenem in illis difciplinis excellente, honeftifsimo falario iamdiu donatum apud te aluifti, cuius fubndio horis fuccefsiuis nobililsimas fcientias illas addifcercs, tuique familiarcs duces maritimi, quos habes non paucos, cum praii theoria non fine fructu incredibili coiungeret.  Ex quo pulcherrimo & fapientifsimo inftitutotuo, quid breui euentutum fit, qui vel mediocri iudicio volent, facilè proculdubio diuinare poterunt.  Vnum hoc fcio, vnam & vnicam rationem te inire, quaæ primò Lufitani, deinde Caftellani, quod antea toties cum no exigua iactura funt conati, tandem ex animoru votis perficerut.  Perge ergo Spartam quam nactus es ornare, perge nauem illam plufquam Argonauticam, mille cuparum fere capace, quam fumptibus plane regiis fabricatam iam tadem foelicitcr abfoluifti, reliquae tuae clafsi, quam babes egregiè inftructam, adiungere.

From this early time for nearly forty years, till the morning of the 29th of October 1618, when Raleigh was beheaded, these two friends are found inseparable.  Whether in prosperity or in adversity, in the Tower or on the scaffold, Sir Walter always had his Fidus Achates to look after him and watch his interests.  With a sharp wit, close mouth, and ready pen Hariot was of inestimable service to his liberal patron.  With rare attainments in the Greek and Latin Classics, and all branches of the abstract sciences, he combined that perfect fidelity and honesty of character which placed him always above suspicion even of the enemies of Sir Walter.  He was neither a politician nor statesman, and therefore could be even in those times a faithful guide, philosopher, and friend to Raleigh.