Ralph Fitch, England's pioneer to India and Burma; his companions and contemporaries, with his remarkable narrative told in his own words

Preface

SO much has been written of recent years of the history of what is generally known as the East India Company, and so much interesting matter has of late been brought to light from its earliest records, that it seems strange that the first successful English expedition to discover the Indian trade should have been, comparatively speaking, overlooked. Before the first East India Company was formed the Levant Company lived and flourished, largely through the efforts of two London citizens. Sir Edward Osborne, sometime Lord Mayor, and Master Richard Staper, merchant. To these men and their colleagues we owe the inception of our great Eastern enterprise. To the fact that among them there were those who were daring enough, and intelligent enough, to carry their extraordinary programme into effect we owe our appearance as competitors in the Indian seas almost simultaneously with the Dutch. The beginning of our trade with the East Indies is generally dated from the first voyage of James Lancaster, who sailed from

Plymouth in 1591. But, great as his achievement was, ,

•****

513241 vi PREFACE

and immediately pregnant with consequences of a permanent character, he was not the first Englishman to reach India, nor even the first to return with a valuable store of commercial information. To keep to the chronological order of events, the Rev. Thomas Stevens, S.J., went out in 1579 to join the Jesuit establishment founded at Goa under the Portuguese, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and ended his days / in the neighbourhood of the Indian settlement. The honour of "Pioneer Englishman," however, justly belongs to Ralph Fitch, who, as the survivor of a small party of men who carried with them Royal missives to India and China, returned with some practical, if not diplomatic, results of the mission. Sailing from the Thames on board the historic ship Tyger^ in 1583, and arriving in India as the prisoner of the united crowns of Portugal and Spain, Fitch eventually crossed the Peninsula, pursued his investigations to Burma and Malacca, and, after spending some time in Asia Minor, returned home within a month of Lancaster's first departure.

The wide public interest in the world's pioneer voyagers and empire builders — to make no further reference to the literature of the subject, more or less cognate — has been sufficiently exemplified during the last two years. France, in 1897, celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Dupleix, as "the Conqueror of India"; in April, 1898, Florence was en fete in honour of the fifth centenary of Paolo Toscanelli and Amerigo Vespucci ; the four hundredth anniversary of the passage of the Cape by Vasco da Gama was commemorated in May, both in

PREFACE vii

London and Lisbon ; and in September, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of North America was marked by the opening of a tower erected at Bristol in memory of John and Sebastian Cabot. Under these circumstances it is remarkable that the story of Ralph Fitch, embodying as it does, the first English account of the great resources of India and the Further East, should have escaped adequate attention. Passing references to his adven-~1 turous journey are made by all the modern authorities ; Professor Monier Williams, in the Contemporary Review of April, 1878, writing of the narrative and, assumedly, of the letters sent home by Fitch and his companions, says, "The account they published of their travels (preserved by Hakluyt) would well repay republication in a modern form, especially if illustrated and annotated like Colonel Yule's ' Marco Polo.' " The account of the voyage is here presented in full, with one small excision, which is duly indicated, for the first time since Hakluyt gave it to the world three centuries ago. _j

Whether the ideal set forth above has even been approached in this work the reader must judge ; the writer puts forward no claim in regard to it, except that which may be founded on the love of his task. The plan of the book has been to introduce the account of the arduous journey by an historical summary, drawn from authoritative sources, designed to illustrate the circumstances under which it was entered upon ; to borrow every additional light obtainable, either from the letters of Fitch and his companions, or the statements of those who came in contact with viii PREFACE

them ; to furnish a series of pen-portraits of the men concerned ; and, finally, to give a very brief account of the preliminary proceedings of the first East India Company, in which Ralph Fitch himself took no small part. Some deviation from this procedure occurs in reference to Burma, the most interesting British possession in the East and one which, without any doubt, will occupy a most conspicuous place in ' the history of the future. The notes and references, the author ventures to suggest, have not been unduly amplified, the object of this book being less to offer aid to the student than to present a popular and yet reliable account of a somewhat obscure, though fundamental, phase in the history of England's expansion.

Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India, has described the origin of our power in that empire in a single sentence. In an eloquent sympathic speech, delivered at a farewell banquet given to him by the Royal Societies' Club on November 7, 1 898, he said that, " The casual stone which was thrown into the sea of chance by a handful of merchant adventurers two hundred years ago had produced an ever-extending circle of ripples, until at the present moment they embraced the limits and affected the destinies of the entire Asiatic continent." The story of the handful of men, and of the " casual stone," is told in the following pages, but it has been necessary to add a century and more to his lordship's retrospect.

The author has many grateful acknowledgments to make for the generous, and in some cases spontaneous,

PREFACE ix

assistance rendered him during the progress of his undertaking. First, to Mr. William Foster, B.A., of the India Office, Hon. Secretary of the Hakluyt Society, for numerous most valuable suggestions, and for advice readily and freely given ; also to the President and Council of the Society for permission to copy several of the rare illustrations contained in their various publications, which was most cordially granted. To Sir Owen Roberts, D.C.L., who placed the resources of the Clothworkers' Hall at his disposal ; the Rev. J. A. L. Airey, M.A., Rector of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate ; the Rev. A. Keble White, M.A., Rector of Great Saxham, Suffolk ; Mr. W. Griggs, publisher of the Journal of Indian Art and Industry r, " The Rulers of India and Chiefs of Rajputana," and many other luxurious works in relation to our great Empire ; Mr. S. Colvin, M.A., of the Print Room, British Museum ; and the officials of the British Museum Reading Room, the Record Office, and the Guildhall Library, whose willingness to assist the literary inquirer is beyond all praise. The engravings in the Museum were photographed, by permission, by Mr. Dossetter, of Acton ; Messrs. Walker and Boutall, of Clifford's Inn, kindly consented to the reproduction of their photograph of Coello's fine painting of Philip II. in the National Portrait Gallery ; the Osborne and Staper photographs were specially taken by the London Stereoscopic Company ; and that of the Eldred bust was furnished by Mr. Spanton, of Bury St. Edmunds. References to the various works drawn upon for information will be found in the footnotes and, generally, in the body of the volume, x PREFACE

but particular mention is due to Hakluyt's "Principal! Navigations," 1599-1600, which is the -foundation of this book, Sir W. W. Hunter's " Imperial Gazetteer of India," and to Sir Arthur Phayre's small but unique " History of Burma."

London^ 1899.

Chapter II. Adventure And Discovery

Pirates and the Royal Navy— To N.E. ; Ivan the Terrible — To N.W. ; colonisation — The Spanish Main ; fight for sea supremacy — Drake's circumnavigation — Its results — Aspiration—To the East Indies 21 xii CONTENTS

Book II. England's Pioneers To India

CHAPTER I.

PAGK

QUEEN'S LETTERS TO INDIA AND CHINA. RE- MARKABLE RELATION OF RALPH FITCH. VOYAGE TO GOA. IMPRISONED.

The Levant or Turkey Company— Elizabeth to Akbar the Great Mogul— To the "King of China "—Narrative of Ralph Fitch (first part) . . . . .41

CHAPTER II.

DETAILS OF THE ARREST AND ESCAPE. A FRIEND IN NEED. NEWBERIE'S LAST LETTER. "GOLDEN GOA." PORTUGUESE IN INDIA.

Ralph Fitch to Leonard Poore — Linschoten's story — Master John Newberie's story— His letter to Leonard Poore— Goa in the sixteenth century — Portuguese rule . . 64

Chapter III

HINDUSTAN UNDER AKBAR. FITCH'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED. THREE ENGLISHMEN AT AGRA. TRAVELLERS SEPARATE. A LONELY JOURNEY.

Akbar the reformer — An opportune moment — India, the Journey (second park) . . . . . .88

CONTENTS xiii

Book III. In The Further East

PAGE

BURMA AND MALACCA. RISE OF AN EMPIRE. PORTUGUESE ADVENTURERS.

Capture of Malacca — A trade centre ; Siam, China, and Burma — First traffic with Burma ; "A pious fraud " — A glimpse of Burmese history — Fall of Pegu j first Portuguese mercenaries— Sack of Martaban — Fall of Prome ; death of Tabeng — Branginoco's empire — Last conquest ; death of Branginoco . . . . . . .123

CHAPTER II.

NARRATIVE CONTINUED. THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN IN PEGU. His PREDECESSORS. THE "VERY GREAT, STRONG AND VERY FAIRE" CITY.

Burma; the Journey (third part) . . . .150

CHAPTER III.

NARRATIVE CONCLUDED. MALACCA, THE EMPORIUM. TRADE WITH CHINA AND JAPAN. CHINESE SUSPICIONS. THE RETURN.

The Journey (fourth part)— List of commodities— Homeward bound ....... 175 xiv CONTENTS

Chapter I. Page

RALPH FITCH : HIS FAMILY, COMPANIONS, AND CORRESPONDENTS.

Ralph Fitch and the East India Company — William and Albert Fytche — John Newberie, pioneer and trader — Thomas Stevens, S. J. , missionary-pioneer — Linschoten, traveller and geographer — John Eldred, merchant and traveller . . . . . . -197

Chapter II. Three Men Of The Time

The Osborne romance — Richard Staper, merchant — Richard

Hakluyt, father of modern geography . . . 220

Chapter III

HISTORICAL SUMMARY, 1583-91. DECLINE OF PORTUGAL IN THE EAST. SPAIN AND THE PHILIPPINES. COMING OF THE DUTCH. BE- GINNINGS OF BRITAIN'S EMPIRE.

" Virginia " — Portuguese in the East, past and present- Spain as an interloper — The Dutch in the East — Lancaster's first voyage to India — Foundation of our Indian Empire— Another glimpse of Burma — Comparison and conclusion . 235

ILLUSTRATIONS

QUEEN ELIZABETH AND HER COUNSELLORS . Frontispiece

(From " The Cotnplcat Ambassador," by Sir Dudley Digges, 1655. A similar group appears in an engraving representing the Queen enthroned, used as a frontispiece to Sir SymondsD' Ewes' s "Journals of All the Parliaments during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth" 1682.)

FACING PAGE

" PHILIPS DE II." . . . . -9

(From an old engraving marked "Dutch," in the Print Room, British Museum.)

IVAN THE TERRIBLE . . . . .21

(By permission from the Hakluyt Society's "Early Voyages and Travels in Russia and Persia," by Messrs. E. Delmar Morgan and C. H. Coote.)

FACSIMILE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S SIGNATURE . 38

(From the Society's " World Encompassed," by Mr. W. S. W. Vaitx, M.A., who states that he is indebted for it to "Sir Trayton Drake, of Nuhvell Court, Devon, the lineal descendant of Sir Francis Drake.")

PHILIP II. . . . . .41

(Coello's painting, National Portrait Gallery.)

MARKET SCENE AT GOA . . . .64

(From Linschoten's " Itinerario," Amsterdam, 1595-6.)

PORTUGUESE GENTLEMEN AT GOA . . 8 1

(From the " Itinerario.")

AKBAR, THE GREAT MOGHUL . . . .88

(By permission, from the magnificent and authoritative " Ritlers of India antlChiefs of Rajputana" by Brigade Surgeon Lieut. -Colonel T. Holbein Hendley, CI.E., V.D., Griggs, 1897.)

xvi ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

THE GREAT ALBUQUERQUE . . . . 12$

(The "Lendas" portrait, from the Hakltiyt Society's "Commentaries," Vol. iv., by Mr. Walter de Gray Birch.)

THE SHWE-MAW-DAW PAGODA AT PEGU . • JS2

(From Lieut. -Colon el Symes's "Embassy to Ava," 1800.)

PLAN OF PORTUGUESE FORT AT MALACCA . . 175

(From the Ha kitty t Society's "Commentaries," Vol. Hi.)

JOHN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN . . • J97

(From the " Itinerario")

JOHN ELDRED . . . . . . 21 7

(Portrait of the memorial bust, now in Great Sa.vliam Church. Sn/olk.)

SIR EDWARD OSBORNE, SOMETIME LORD MAYOR OF

(Photograph of a painting in Clotlncorkers' Hall.)

DESIGN TO REPRESENT YOUNG OSBORNE'S RESCUE

OF THE DAUGHTER OF SIR W. HEWET . .222

(From the Drawing Room, Clothworkcrs' Hall.)

MURAL MONUMENT TO RICHARD STAPER, NOW IN ST. HELEN'S, BISHOPSGATE . . .228

(From an engraving at Clothworkers' Hall.)

THE SPANISH ARMADA ATTACKED BY FIRE SHIPS OFF

(From Pine's engravings of the Tapestries in the old House ofLoi'ds, 1 739-)

MIGUEL LOPEZ DE LEGAZPI, " CONQUISTADOR DE

FILIPINAS" ... .240

(From the Hakluyt Society's " The Philippine Islands," by Lord Stanley ofAlderley.)

THE RED DRAGON . . -259

(Also by permission from the Society's " I'i.>v<;&V of Sir Henry Middleton to Bantam and the Malnco Islands," by Mr. Bolton Corney, who borrowed the illustration from the Dutch collection of East Indian Voyages, 1645-6. It is thus described : " The Red Dragon, Captain Lancaster, in the Straits of Malacca, 1602." Lancaster sailed in this famous vessel, formerly known as the "Malice Scnrge" in his first voyage on behalf of the first East India Company.)

Book I Beginnings Of England's Expan- Sion

(1570-83)

THE story of the perilous adventures of Master Ralph Fitch, <( Marchant of London," in his endeavour to open up the Golden East to his countrymen, is in an eminent degree typical of the period, and of the Elizabethan Englishman. But in order to grasp the full meaning of the narrative, to realise the dangers of the journey, and to appreciate the great service thus rendered to this country, it is necessary to give a brief sketch of affairs as they appeared at home immediately before its commencement. For this purpose the Excommunication Year has been taken as marking a distinct departure in the policy of England and the sentiments of the people. At the same time, too much importance should not be attached to the issue of the Bull as regards its relations to English travellers abroad. There were two parties in this country when Fitch began his journey, and even in Spain and the Spanish possessions there was some sympathy, however small, for co-religionists who were supposed to desire the overthrow of the

Heretic Queen. Probably Ralph Fitch and his companions, whether they were all Roman Catholics or not, were not unwilling to be considered members of that communion till they were safe beyond the reach of Spaniard and Portuguese. But although news spread slowly in those days, the effect of the Papal anathema was practically instantaneous in Europe. In England itself it served as an incentive ; it fired the spirit of independence which had already surprised surrounding nations.

So far as it is possible to reduce the i"e°SriCati0n' foreign P°licy of Elizabeth, as a whole, to any definite plan, it maybe described in the political language of the present day as both opportunist and adventurous. Moreover, we cannot separate — even in the imaginary fashion now in vogue — the direction of her foreign affairs from her domestic policy. Religion was the dividing force of the two great parties at home, and at the same time dominated every transaction with foreign Powers. To begin with, the Queen's title to the crown she was now wearing had been called into question by the titular head of Christendom (Paul IV.), one of whose predecessors (Alexander VI,) had -shared the wonderful new worlds, East and West, between the Kings of Portugal and Spain. It only required the Bull of Excommunication of Pius V. to define the position of England, to herself as well as to the rest of Europe, as a distinct politico-religious Power — the stronghold of Protestantism, the home and starting-place of a new and more daring order of adventurers, who cared no more for Papal edicts and bans abroad than they feared the strange seas they were so well fitted to navigate. The language of the Bull was sufficiently contemptuous and provocative. Von Ranke says : " In the name of Him who had raised him to the supreme throne of Right, he (the Pope) declared Elizabeth to have forfeited the realm of which she claimed to be Queen ; he not merely released her subjects from the oath they had taken to her, 'we likewise forbid/ he adds, * her barons and peoples henceforth to obey this woman's commands and laws, under pain of excommunication.' " The personality of the author of the ban is thus described : " Pope Pius V., Michele Ghislieri, had been a Dominican inquisitor before his election to the Papacy. Austere, zealous, and determined, he devoted all his energies to the suppression of heresy. Under his rule the Inquisition crushed out Protestantism in Italy. Though a man of fervent piety and blameless life, he shrank from no measures which were likely to put down the schism. He rejoiced over Alva's cruelties in the Netherlands, and sent him a sword and cap which he had blessed, as a token of his favour." * With regard to the gift to the Duke of Alva, whose tortures and mutilations amongst the Protestants of the Low Countries drenched that unhappy land in blood for seven long years, Motley says his Holiness sent an autograph letter in which the recipient was requested " to remember, when he put the hat upon his head, that he was guarded with it as with a helmet of righteousness, and with the shield

1 Dr. Creighton (Bishop of London) in "Age of Elizabeth," p. 105.

of God's help, indicating the heavenly crown which was ready for all princes who support the Holy Church and the Roman Catholic faith."1

The Bull was issued on February 25, I57°' " Several copies were sent to the Duke of Alva, with a request that he would make them known in the seaports of the Netherlands ; and by the Duke some of these were forwarded to the Spanish ambassador in England. Early in the morning of the fifteenth of May, one was seen affixed to the gates of the bishop of London's residence in the capital. The Council was surprised and irritated ; a rigorous search was made through the Inns of law ; and another copy of the Bull was found in the chamber of a student in Lincoln's Inn, who acknowledged, on the rack, that he had received it from a person of the name of Felton. Felton resided near Southwark, a gentleman of large property and considerable acquirements : but his temper was ungovernable, and his attachment to the creed of his fathers approached to enthusiasm. On his apprehension he boldly confessed that he had set up the Bull." Lingard adds that Felton " refused, even under torture, to disclose the names of his accomplices, and abettors," but points out that the Government account of the execution, as preserved in Howell's " State Trials," represents him as repenting. Felton, it appears, " obtained the copies of the Bull from the chaplain of the Spanish ambassador, who immediately left the kingdom."

The Papal denunciation was warmly resented both 1 " Rise of the Dutch Republic,'' vol. ii. p. 243.

by sovereign and people, and in the complicated condition of affairs abroad there seems to have been some doubt at first whether to regard the document as merely an act of spiritual aggression or a declaration of war by one or both of those eminently Catholic countries, Spain and France. Cecil (Lord Burleigh) — the statesman to whom, with Sir Nicholas Bacon (father of the great Francis) and Sir Francis Walsingham (the Puritan), England owed at that time so much, and still owes — fulminated a reply which by the vigour of its terms must have considerably astonished the Papal party. The manifesto is preserved in the original at the Record Office (Dom., vol. Ixxiii., No. 49), and consists of thirteen pages of MS. with interlinings and marginal interpolations, all in Cecil's own hand. He begins : " An Advertisement of mete for all uses/'' and addresses himself to all subjects " to know their errors and by repentance to receive mercy," and lastly, " for all strangers great or small to be well informed of truth." There is a general statement to the effect that in all ages and in all countries it has been a common usage for offenders to make defence of their real designs by untruths and by colouring their deeds (" war they never so vile "), " wh pretences of soe other courses of contrary operation," in order not merely to avoid punishment or blame but that they might prosecute their " malechoos purposes." He deals with the plottings against the Queen, "styrred upp by ye Devill ye father of rebells," and says that some have been punished and others pardoned, while special mention is made, amongst others, of Thomas Stukley, " a faythless best rather than a man."

Cecil suggests that the " Bishop of Rome " was urged by these men to publish the Bull, and thus sow the seeds of sedition ; he challenges the Pope's authority on historical and other grounds, and concludes "by God's grace no collor nor occasion shall be given to shed the blood of any of the Queen's subjects." * The fleet in the Channel was immediately reinforced, and Lord Clinton, who was in command, was instructed to attack without question any French transports he might meet taking troops to Scotland. The following year Parliament passed Bills to secure Conformity from Catholic and Puritan alike (the arbitrary Court of High Commission was made permanent in 1583), declaring it high treason to call the Queen a heretic, or to publish a Papal Bull. The natural result of the new crisis was to elevate Elizabeth to the position of the Protestant champion, an honour, be it observed, which was forced upon her, but which was soon to be emphasised by the whole course of events on the Continent, including the massacre of Bartholomew's Day (1572) and the Spanish Fury at Antwerp (1576). Still she did not venture to take up the cause of the Netherlanders or the Huguenots. Her hands were too full of the plottings at home — the Pope's message had been accompanied by letters of encouragement to the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland — and the troubles in Scotland. So long as Spain was engaged

1 Sir T. Stukley, the u Marques of Ireland," was killed in 1578 whilst serving under Sebastian, King of Portugal, in an expedition to Barbary. The adventurer was in command of an Italian contingent sent by the Pope (Hakluyt, vol. ii. part ii.).

FROM AN OLD ENGRAVING MARKED "DUTCH."

in pouring the treasures of the Indies into the dykes and dunes of the Low Countries, so long as France was the scene of the varying fortunes of Huguenot and Leaguer, she felt comparatively safe, at any rate from temporal interference.

The Queen throughout the period under review was personally in a perilous position, and the story of the Ridolfi conspiracy, in which the most powerful monarch in Europe lent himself to a scheme for the assassination of a sovereign with whom he was in diplomatic relations, is sufficiently characteristic of the general position of affairs.1 But she extended her sympathy to her co-religionists abroad ; although she gave them no systematic material assistance, resisting even the touching appeals of William the Silent, there was an asylum offered to the refugees in this country. Elizabeth lived in an atmosphere of plot and counterplot, and did not hesitate to stake in the game the prospect of marriage and a share of her throne. She trifled with one foreign prince or party or the other in order to secure her own inviolability, for, turn where she would, she found no country willing enough to defy the Pope, or which was not more or less under the influence of her great enemy and rival, Spain. Whilst her enemies were busy conspiring, she dallied with the Duke of Anjou and the repulsive Alengon (" the Frog ") ; whilst the adventurous charlatan Sir Thomas Stukley (referred to in Cecil's manifesto), was scheming at Madrid

1 Motley gives extracts from Philip's correspondence with Alva on the subject. Vol. ii. p. 286.

io RALPH FITCH

for the conquest of Ireland, the redoubtable Hawkins, in 1571, actually succeeded in so befooling Philip with offers to betray his country and his queen that the king handed over two months' pay for 1,600 men, who were to man a fleet to co-operate with Alva in an effort to place Mary of Scots on the throne of England. Froude suggests that the principal object that Hawkins had in view was to save the remnants of his force captured by the Spaniards after the treachery of San Juan de Ulloa. Such of the wretches who did not perish in Mexico, or fall victims to the Inquisition, now lay in Spanish dungeons, and Sir John, in negotiating for their release, found a daring and astute agent in one Fitzwilliam. This man carried messages between Philip and Mary of Scots, all of which were carefully inspected by Cecil en route ; he obtained the order for the payment of the sum mentioned above, and a " free pardon " for Hawkins, who was made a grandee of Spain for his "treachery." Another of the striking incidents of this exciting time, which may be referred to in passing, was the capture of Dr. Story, an arch-conspirator, who had sought refuge at Antwerp. A spy was sent over and induced the doctor to come aboard an English ship lying in the Scheldt. He was at once thrown into the hold, and his captor was similarly treated on the pretence that he was his fellow-prisoner, and in the hope that he might retain the doctor's confidence and obtain information from him. The Public Records contain a piteous complaint by Dr. Story, who was executed, that the irons he wore galled his legs.

The popularity, generally speaking, of Tudor government has been much discussed. In the present case there can be no question that loyalty to the queen, and to her cause as they understood it, deepened amongst the people as the reign lengthened. With regard to the condition of religion in the country, it is always difficult to gauge a national faith, and in this reign it is impossible to dissociate, on the one hand, the Papacy from the foreign element ; or, on the other, Patriotism from Protestantism. In an effort to arrive at some estimate of the forces of the two great religious sects, Macaulay quotes several historians, including Lingard and Hallam. The result he reaches is that the bulk of the people, while holding firmly to the doctrines which were common to both sections, had no fixed opinion upon the matters in dispute. This conclusion he strengthens by reference to the drama of the reign ; he adds, however, that the people " disliked the policy of the Court of Rome. Their spirit rose against the interference of a foreign priest with their national concerns." I Froude says, " Walsingham believed that at this time (1579) the establishment of the succession in a Protestant would extinguish the extreme Catholic party altogether ; ' the most part of the Papists of this realm being rather of State than of conscience, in respect of the hope they have of the succession.' " Dr. Creighton remarks : " Opposition to the papacy was shown to be a necessary safeguard of the national independence. 1 Essay on " Burleigh and His Times."

The stirring events of Elizabeth's reign bound her people together, and demanded that they should offer a united front to their foes." One of our most popular authors, who may claim the metropolis as his own peculiar ground, suggests that the only way to get at the people of the time is through those who wrote about them ; behind the poets and dramatists, who were the chief glory of this age, " were the turbulent youth, prodigal of life, eager for joy, delighting in feast and song, always ready for a fight, extravagant in speech and thought, jubilant in their freedom from the tyranny of the Church." He further states : " If the London of the Third Edward was a city of palaces, that of Queen Elizabeth was a city of ruins," and adds, in effect, that the appropriation or destruction of many Catholic establishments was witnessed with indifference.1

" When Queen Elizabeth ascended tne throne, the commercial centre of the world was Antwerp ; when she died the commercial centre of the world was London." 2 Thus writes one authority. Another says : " The reign of Elizabeth is the epoch from which dates the naval and commercial greatness of England, and the queen's care and attention contributed in no slight degree to this result." 3 We have here, as it were, the conception and realisation of a brilliant vision placed in juxtaposition. But what comes between ? It is impossible to peruse the most dramatic page of England's history without

1 Sir Walter Besant in " London."

2 Sir W. Besant. 3 Dr. Creighton.

being almost overpowered by a sense of Opportunity. The programme of Elizabeth and her courageous Ministers from the beginning was one of freedom, first from the power of the Pope. But to all intents and purposes this meant isolation. The English became the Ishmaelites of Europe, with enemies whose resources were only outnumbered by their vulnerable points. The defensive struggle for religious freedom soon developed into a contest for Commercial Equality and subsequently — as the courage which prompted the first defiance of Catholic Europe became more and more daring — into an aggressive spirit of Expansion.1 The conditions under which the world's trade was carried on were peculiarly favourable to the enterprise, and with a prescience which, looked at from a distance, appears altogether remarkable, the queen prepared for coming events in a substantial, honest manner. One of the first acts of her reign was the restoration of the coinage, which had been debased to one-third of its face value. The worst debasements were made by Henry VIII. and Edward VI., so that in 1551 no less than seventy-two shillings were coined out of a pound. A thorough change was made by Elizabeth,