Blackadder II size of the principal cast was reduced compared to the previous series, with a fixed number of characters appearing in every episode. Richard Curtis has been quoted as saying that due to the familiar cast, the series was the happiest for him to work on, comparing it to a "friendly bunch of school chums". The series also featured at least one significant cameo role per episode. Notable appearances include Rik Mayall as the debonair Lord Flashheart in "Bells"; Tom Baker and Simon Jones as Captain Redbeard Rum and Sir Walter Raleigh, respectively, in "Potato"; Miriam Margolyes, who had appeared in
Walter Raleigh (priest) of Raleigh by a Cambridge admirer, who is probably Patrick himself. The volume is entitled "Reliquiæ Raleighanæ, being Discourses and Sermons on several subjects, by the Reverend Dr. Walter Raleigh". The editor praises Raleigh's quickness of wit, ready elocution, and mental powers, but says that he 'was led to imitate too far a very eminent man,' whose name is not given. In 1719 Laurence Howell published "Certain Queries proposed by Roman Catholicks, and answered by Dr. Walter Raleigh", with an account of Raleigh copied from Patrick. Of a tract on the millennium which Raleigh is said to have written, no