ajutata da quel buon Spirito che l'ha mosso le concede sua Beneditione plenaria Indulgenza remissione di tutti li peccati secondo che V. S. ha chiesto assicurandos si che oltre il merito che n'havera in cielo vuole anco sua Santita constituir si debitore a riconoscere li meriti di V. S. in ogni miglior modo che potra cio tanto piu quanto che V. S. ùsa maggior modestia in non pretender niente Metta dunque ad effetto lìesuoi santi honorati pensieri attenda astar sano Che per fine io me le offero di core le desidero ogni buono felice suceesso Di Roma a 30 di Gennaro MDLXXXIV Al piacer di V. S. N. Cardinale di Como Al Sig. Guglielmo Parri Cardinal de Como's Letter to Will Parry January 30th 1584. by accompt of Rome MOnsignor the Holiness of our Lord hath seen the Letter of your Signory of the first with the assurance included and cannot but commend the good disposition and resolution which you write to hold towards the Service and Benefit publick Wherein his Holiness doth exhort you to persevere with causing to bring forth the effects which your Signorie promiseth And to the end you may be so much the more holpen by that good Spirit which hath moved you thereunto his Blessedness doth grant to you plenary Indulgence and Remission of all your Sins according to your request Assuring you that besides the Merit that you shall receive therefore in Heaven his Holiness will further make himself Debtour to re-acknowledge the deservings of your Signorie in the best manner that he can And that so much the more in that your Signorie useth the greater Modesty in not pretending any thing Put therefore to effect your holy and honourable thoughts and attend your Health And to conclude I offer my self unto you heartily and do desire all good and happy success From Rome the 30th of January 1584. At the pleasure of your Signorie N. Card. of Como UPon all which former Accusation Declaration Confessions and Proofs upon Munday the 22th day of February last past at Westminster-Hall before Sir Christopher Wray Knight Chief Justice of England Sir Gilbert Gerrard Knight Master of the Rolls Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Roger Manwood Knight Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Gawdy Knight one of the Justices of the Pleas before her Majesty to be holden and Will. Perriam one of the Justices of the Common Pleas by vertue of her Majesties Commission to them and others in that behalf directed The same Parry was Indicted of High Treason for intending and practising the Death and Destruction of her Majesty whom God long prosper and preserve from all such wicked attempts The tenour of which Indictment appeareth more particularly in the course of his Arraignment following The manner of the Arraignment of Will Parry the 25th of February 1584. at Westminster in the place where the Court commonly called the Kings-Bench is usually kept by vertue of her Majesties Commission of Oyer and Terminer before Henry Lord Hunsdon Governour of Barwick Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of the Queens Majesties Houshold Sir James Croft Knight Comptroller of the same Houshold Sir Christopher Hatton Knight Vice-Chamberlain to her Majesty Sir Christopher Wray Knight Chief Justice of England Sir Gilbert Gerrard Knight Master of the Rolls Sir Edmund Anderson Knight Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Roger Manwood Knight Chief-Baron of the Exchequer and Sir Thomas Hennage Knight Treasurer of the Chamber FIrst three Proclamations for silence were made according to the usual course in such cases Then the Lieutenant was commanded to return his Precept which did so and brought the Prisoner to the Bar to whom Miles Sandes Esquire Clerk of the Crown said William Parry hold up thy hand and he did so Then said the Clerk of the Crown Thou art here Indicted by the Oaths of twelve good and lawful men of the County of Middlesex before Sir Christopher Wray Knight and others which took the Indictment by the name of William Parry late of London Gentleman otherwise called William Parry late of London Doctor of the Law for that thou as a false Traitor against the most Noble and Christian Prince Queen Elizabeth thy most gracious Soveraign and Liege-Lady not having the fear of God before thine eyes nor regarding thy due Allegiance but being seduced by the instigation of the Devil and intending to withdraw and extinguish the hearty Love and due Obedience which true and faithful Subjects should bear unto the same our Soveraign Lady didst at Westminster in the County of Middlesex on the first day of February in the 26th year of her Highness Reign and at divers other times and places in the same County maliciously and traiterously conspire and compass not only to deprive and depose the same our Sovereign Lady of her Royal Estate Title and Dignity but also to bring her Highness to Death and final Destruction and Sedition in the Realm to make and the Government thereof to subvert and the sincere Religion of God established in her Highness Dominions to alter and subvert And that whereas thou William Parry by thy Letters sent unto Gregory Bishop of Rome didst signifie unto the same Bishop thy purposes and intentions aforesaid and thereby didst pray and require the same Bishop to give thee Absolution that thou afterwards that is to say the last day of March in the 26th year aforesaid didst traiterously receive Letters from one called Cardinal de Como directed unto thee William Parry whereby the same Cardinal did signifie unto thee that the Bishop of Rome had perused thy Letters and allowed of thine intent and that to that end he had absolved thee of all thy Sins and by the same Letter did animate and stir thee to proceed with thine Enterprize and that thereupon thou the last day of August in the 26th year aforesaid at Saint Giles in the fields in the same County of Middlesex didst traiterously confer with one Edmund Nevil Esquire uttering to him all thy wicked and traiterous devises and then and there didst move him to assist thee therein and to joyn with thee in those wicked Treasons aforesaid against the Peace of our said Soveraign Lady the Queen her Crown and Dignity What sayest thou William Parry Art thou guilty of these Treasons whereof thou standest here Indicted or not guilty Then Parry said Before I plead not guilty or confess my self guilty I pray you give me leave to speak a few words and with humbling himself began in this manner God save Queen Elizabeth and God send me grace to discharge my duty to her and to send you home in charity But touching the matters that I am Indicted of some were in one place and some in another and done so secretly as none can see into them except that they had eyes like
Squadron two days after us the 10th of August where he found the Army in that perfect Health as the like hath not been seen for so many to go out of England to such great Enterprises and so well to return home again He himself rid up to the Court to advise with her Majesty about the winning of Callis which the Spaniards took the Easter before Here was a good opportunity to have re-gained the Ancient Patrimony of England but the French King thought he might with more ease re-gain it from the Spaniard who was his Enemy than recover it again from us who were his Friends My Lord Admiral with the Fleet went to the Downs where he landed and left the Charge of the Navy to Sir Robert Dudley and Sir William Monson In going from thence to Chatham they endured more foul Weather and contrary Winds than in the whole Voyage besides A Voyage to the Islands the Earl of Essex General Anno 1597. Ships Commanders The Mere-honor The Earl of Essex Capt. under him After in the Repulse Sir Robert Mansell The Lyon The Lord Thomas Howard The Warspite Sir Walter Rawleigh The Garland The Earl of Southampton The Defiance The Lord Mountioy The Mary Rose Sir Francis Vere The Hope Sir Richard Lewson The Matthew Sir George Carew The Rainbow Sir Will. Monson The Bonaventure Sir Will. Harvey The Dreadnought Sir Will. Brooke The Swiftsuer Sir Gilly Merick The Antelope Sir John Gilbert he went not The Nonperil Sir Tho. Vavasor The St. Andrew Capt. Throgmorton HER Majesty having Knowledge of the King of Spain's drawing down his Fleet and Army to the Groyn and Ferrol with an intent to enter into some Action against Her and that notwithstanding the loss of thirty six Sail of his Ships that were cast away upon the North Cape in their coming thither He prepared with all possible means to revenge the Disgraces we did him the year last past at Cadiz Her Majesty likewise prepared to defend her self and fitted out the most part of her Ships for the Sea but at length perceiving his Drift was more to afright than offend her though he gave it it out otherwise because she should provide to resist him at home rather than to annoy him abroad She was unwilling the great Charges she had been at should be bestowed in vain and therefore turned her Preparations another way than that for which she first intended them The Project of this Voyage was to assault the King of Spain's Shipping in the Harbor of Ferrol which the Queen chiefly desired to do for her own Security at home and afterwards to go and take the Islands of Tercera and there to expect the coming home of the Indian Fleet. But neither of these two Designs took that effect which was expected For in our setting forth the same day we put to Sea we were taken with a most violent Storm and contrary Winds and the General was seperated from the Fleet and one Ship from another so that the one half of the Fleet were compelled to return home and the rest that kept the Sea having reached the Coast of Spain were commanded home by order of the Lord General Thus after their return they were to advise upon a new Voyage finding by their Ships and Victuals they were unable to perform the former Whereupon it was thought convenient all the Army should be discharged for the prolonging of the Victuals except a thousand of the prime Souldiers of the Low Countries which were put into her Majesties Ships that they might be the better prepared if they should chance to encounter the Spanish Fleet. Thus the second time they departed England though not without some danger of the Ships by reason of the Winter 's near approach The first Land in Spain we fell withal was the North Cape the place whither our Directions led us if we happened to lose Company being there descried from the Shore and not above 12 Leagues from the Groyn where the Spanish Armado lay We were in good hopes to have enticed them out of the Harbor to fight us but spending some time thereabouts and finding no such Disposition in them it was thought fit no longer to linger about that Coast lest we should lose our opportunity upon the Indian Fleet therefore every Captain received his Directions to stand his Course into 36 Degrees there to spread our selves North and South it being a heighth that commonly the Spaniards sail in from the Indies At this time the Lord General complained of a Leak in his Ship and two days after towards midnight he brought himself upon the Lee to stop it Sir Walter Rawleigh and some other Ships being a head the Fleet and it growing dark they could not discern the Lord General 's Working but stood their Course as before directed and through this unadvised working of my Lord they lost him and his Fleet. The day following Sir Walter Rawleigh was informed by a Pinnace he met that the great Armado which we supposed to be in the Groyn and Ferrol was gone to the Islands for the Guard of the Indian Fleet. This Pinnace with this Intelligence it gave us Sir Walter Rawleigh immediately sent to look out the General My Lord had no sooner received this Advice but at the very instant he directed his Course to the Islands and dispatched some small Vessels to Sir Walter Rawleigh to inform him of the suddain Alteration of his Course upon the News received from him commanding him with all Expedition to repair to Flores where he would not fail to be at our Arrival At the Islands we found this Intelligence utterly false For neither the Spanish Ships were there nor were expected there We met likewise with divers English men that came out of the Indies but they could give us no assurance of the coming home of the Fleet neither could we recive any Advertisement from the Shore which made us half in despair of them By that time we had watered our Ships and refreshed our selves at Flores Sir Walter Rawleigh arrived there who was willed by the Lord General after he was furnished of such Wants as that poor Island afforded to make his repair to the Island of Fayal which my Lord intended to take Here grew great Questions and Heart-burnings against Sir Walter Rawleigh For he coming to Fayal and missing the Lord General and yet knowing my Lord's Resolution to take the Island he held it more advisable to land with those Forces he had than to expect the coming of my Lord For in that space the Island might be better provided whereupon he landed and took it before my Lord's approach This Act was held such an Indignity to my Lord and urged with that Vehemence by those that hated Sir Walter that if my Lord though naturally kind and flexible had not feared how it would have been taken in England I think Sir Walter had smarted for it From this Island we went to Graciosa which did willingly relieve our Wants as
after we had entred into this Conspiracy In which space her Majesty and ten Princes in several Provinces might have been killed God bless her Majesty from him for before Almighty God I joy and am glad in my soul that it was his hap to discover me in time though there were no danger near And now to the manner of our meetings He came to me in the beginning of August and spake to me in this or like sort Cousin let us do somewhat sithens we can have nothing I offered to joyn with him and gladly heard him hoping because I knew him to be a Catholick that he would hit upon that I had in my head but it fell not out so He thought the delivery of the Queen of Scotland easie presuming upon his Credit and Kindred in the North I thought it dangerous to her and impossible to men of our fortunes He fell from that to the taking of Barwick I spake of Quinborough and the Navy rather to entertain him with discourse than that I cared for those motions my head being full of a greater matter 12 I told him that I had another manner of Enterprise more honourable and profitable to us and the Catholicks Common-wealth than all these if he would joyn in it with me as he presently vowed to do He pressed to know it I willed him to sleep upon the motion He did so and belike overtaken came to me the next morning to my Lodging in London offered to joyn with me and took his Oath upon a Bible to conceal and constantly to pursue the enterprise for the advancement of Religion which I also did and meant to perform the killing of the Queen was the matter The manner and place to be on Horsback with eight or ten horses when she should ride abroad about St. James or some other like place It was once thought fit in a Garden and that the escape would be easiest by water into Shepey or some other part but we resolved upon the first This continued as agreed upon many moneths until he heard of the death of Westmoreland whose Land and Dignity whereof he assured himself bred belike this Conscience in him to discover a Treason in February contrived and agreed upon in August If it cost him not an ambitious Head at last let him never trust me He brought a tall Gentleman whom he commended for an excellent Pistolier to me to Chanon-Row to make one in the match but I refused to deal with him being loth to lay my head upon so many hands Master Nevil hath I think forgotten that he did swear to to me at divers times that all the advancement she could give should serve but for her scourge if ever time and occasion should serve and that though he would not lay hand upon her in a corner his heart served him to strike off her Head in the field Now leaving him to himself this much to make an end I must confess of my self I did mean to try what might be done in Parliament to do my best to hinder all hard courses to have prayed hearing of the Queens Majesty to move her if I could to take compassion upon her Catholick Subjects and when all had failed to do as I intended If her Majesty by this course would have eased them though she had never preferred me I had with all comfort and patience born it 13 but if she had preferred me without ease or care of them the Enterprise had held Parry God preserve the Queen and encline her merciful heart to forgive me this desperate purpose and to take my Head with all my heart for her better satisfaction After which for the better manifesting of his Treasons on the 14th of February last there was a Letter written by him to her Majesty very voluntarily all of his own Hand without any motion made to him The tenor whereof for that which concerneth these his Traiterous dealings is as followeth A Letter written by Parry to Her Majesty YOur Majesty may see by my voluntary Confession the dangerous fruits of a discontented minde and how constantly I pursued my first conceived purpose in Venice for the relief of the afflicted Catholicks continued it in Lions and resolved in Paris to put it in adventure for the Restitution of England to the antient Obedience of the See Apostolick You may see withal how it is Commended Allowed and Warranted in Conscience Divinity and Policy by the Pope and some great Divines Though it be true or likely that most of our English Divines less practised in matters of this weight do utterly mislike and condemn it The Enterprise is prevented and Conspiracy discovered by an honourable Gentleman my Kinsman and late familiar Friend Master Edmund Nevil privy and by solemn Oath taken upon the Bible party to the matter whereof I am hardly glad but now sorry in my very Soul that ever I conceived or intended it how commendable or meritoritous soever I thought it God thank him and forgive me who would not now before God attempt it if I had liberty and opportunity to do it to gain your Kingdome I beseech Christ that my Death and Example may as well satisfie you Majesty and the world as it shall glad and content me The Queen of Scotland is your Prisoner let her be honourably entreated but yet surely guarded The French King is French you know it well enough you will finde him occupied when he should do you good he will not loose a Pilgrimage to save you a Crown I have no more to say at this time but that with my Heart and Soul I do now honour and love you am inwardly sorry for mine Offence and ready to make you amends by my Death and Patience Discharge me à culpâ but not à poenâ good Lady And so farewel most gracious and the best-natured and qualified Queen that ever lived in England From the Tower the 14th of February 1584. W. Parry After which to wit the 18th of February last past Parry in further acknowledging his wicked and intended Treasons wrote a Letter all of his own hand in like voluntary manner to the Lord Treasurer of England and the Earl of Leicester Lord Steward of her Majesties house the Tenour whereof is as followeth William Parry's Letter to the Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester MY Lords now that the Conspiracy is discovered the Fault confessed my Conscience cleared and Minde prepared patiently to suffer the Pains due for so heinous a Crime I hope it shall not offend you if crying Miserere with the poor Publican I leave to despair with cursed Cain My Case is rare and strange and for any thing I can remember singular A natural Subject solemnly to vow the Death of his natural Queen so born so known and so taken by all men for the Relief of the afflicted Catholicks and Restitution of Religion The Matter first conceived in Venice the Service in general words presented to the Pope continued and undertaken in
Andalusian Squadron and on whom the Duke most relied because of his experience and judgment was the main man that persuaded the Attempt of our Ships in Harbour and with that resolution they directed their course for England The first Land they fell with was the Lizard the Southermost part of Cornwall which they took to be the Rams Head athwart Plymouth and the night being at hand they tacked off to Sea making account in the morning to make an Attempt upon our Ships in Plymouth But whilest they were thus deceived in the Land they were in the mean time discovered by Capt. Flemminge a Pyrat who had been at Sea pilfering and upon view of them knowing them to be the Spanish Fleet repaired with all speed to Plymouth and gave warning and notice to our Fleet who were then riding at Anchor whereupon my Lord Admiral hastned with all possible expedition to get forth the Ships and before the Spaniards could draw near Plymouth they were welcomed at Sea by my Lord and his Navy who continued fight with them untill he brought them to an Anchor at Callice The particulars of the Fight and the Successes thereof being things so well known I purposely omit While this Armado was preparing Her Majesty had from time to time perfect intelligence of the Spaniards Designs and because she knew his intent was to invade her at Sea with a mighty Fleet from his own Coast she furnished out her Royal Navy under the Conduct of the Lord High Admiral of England and sent him to Plymouth as the likeliest place to attend their coming as you have heard Then knowing that it was not the Fleet alone that could endanger her safety for that they were too weak for any Enterprize on Land without the assistance of the Prince of Parma and his Army in Flanders therefore she appointed 30 Sail of Holland Ships to lie at an Anchor before the Town of Dunkirk where the Prince was to imbarque in Flat-bottom'd Boats made purposely for the Expedition of England Thus had the Prince by the Queens Providence been prevented if he had attempted to put out of Harbour with his Boats but in truth neither his Vessels nor his Army were in readiness which caused the King ever after to be jealous of him and as 't is supposed to hasten his end Her Majesty notwithstanding this her vigilant care to foresee and prevent all danger that might happen at Sea would not hold her self too secure of her Enemy and therefore prepared a Royal Army to welcom him upon his Landing but it was not the will of God that he should set foot on English ground the Queen becoming Victorious over him at Sea with little hazard or bloudshed of her Subjects Having shewed the Design of the Spaniards and the course taken by Her Majesty to prevent them I will now collect the Errors committed as well by the one as by the other as I have promised in the beginning of my Discourse As nothing could appear more rational and likely to take effect after the Duke had gotten intelligence of the state of our Navy than his design to surprize them unawares in Harbour he well knowing that if he had taken away our strength by Sea he might have landed both when and where he listed which is a great advantage to an Invader yet admitting it had took that effect he designed I see not how he was to be commended in breaking the Instructions given him by the King what blame then did he deserve when so ill an event followed by his rashness and disobedience It was not the want of Experience in the Duke or his laying the fault upon Valdes that excused him at his return but he had smarted bitterly for it had it not been for his Wife who obtained the Kings favour for him Before th' Arrival of the Ships that escaped in this Voyage it was known in Spain that Diego Flores de Valdes was he who persuaded the Duke to break the Kings Instructions whereupon the King gave commandment in all his Ports where the said Diego Flores de Valdes might arrive to apprehend him which was accordingly executed and he carried to the Castle of Sancta Andrea and was never seen or heard of after If the Kings Directions had been punctually followed then had his Fleet kept the Coast of France and arrived in the Road of Callice before they had been discovered by us which might have endangered Her Majesty and the Realm our Ships being so far off as Plymouth where then they lay and thought the Prince of Parma had not been presently ready yet he had gained time sufficient by the absence of our Fleet to make himself ready And whereas the Prince was kept in by the 30 Sail of Hollanders so many of the Dukes Fleet might have been able to have put the Hollanders from the Road of Dunkirk and possest it themselves and so have secured the Army and Fleets meeting together and then how easie it had been after their joyning to have transported themselves for England And what would have ensued upon their Landing here may be well imagined But it was the will of him that directs all men and their actions that the Fleets should meet and the Enemy be beaten as they were put from their Anchorage in Callice Road the Prince of Parma beleaguered at Sea and their Navy driven about Scotland and Ireland with great hazard and loss which sheweth how God did marvellously defend us against their dangerous Designs And here was opportunity offered us to have followed the Victory upon them for after they were beaten from the Road at Callice and all their hopes and designs frustated if we had once more offered them fight the General by persuasion of his Confessor was determined to yield whose example 't is very likely would have made the rest to have done the like But this opportunity was lost not through the negligence or backwardness of the Lord Admiral but merely through the want of Providence in those that had the charge of furnishing and providing for the Fleet for at that time of so great advantage when they came to examine their Provisions they found a general scarcity of Powder and Shot for want whereof they were forced to return home Another opportunity was lost not much inferiour to the other by not sending part of our Fleet to the West of Ireland where the Spaniards of necessity were to pass after so many dangers and disasters as they had endured If we had been so happy as to have followed this course as it was both thought and discoursed of we had been absolutely victorious over this great and formidable Navy for they were brought to that necessity that they would willingly have yielded as divers of them confess'd that were shipwreck'd in Ireland By this we may see how weak and feeble the designs of Men are in respect of the Creator of Man and how indifferently he dealt betwixt the two Nations sometimes giving one sometimes
to yield and this too was made use of by the Portugalls as a main Reason why they joyned not with us And there is as much to be said on the Portugalls behalf as an Evidence of their good Will and Favor to us that though they shewed themselves forward upon this Occasion to aid us yet they opposed not themselves as Enemies against us Whereas if they had pursued us in our Retreat from Lisbon to Cask Cadiz our Men being weak sickly and wanting Powder and Shot and other Arms they had in all probability put us to a great Loss and Disgrace And if ever England have the like Occasion to aid a Competitor in Portugal we shall questionless find that our fair Demeanor and Carriage in this Expedition towards the People of that Countrey have gained us great Reconciliation among them and would be of singular Advantage to us For the General strictly forbad the Rifling of their Houses in the Country and the Suburbs of Lisbon which he possess'd and commanded just Payment to be made by the Souldiers for every thing they took without Compulsion or rigorous Usage And this hath made those that stood but indifferently affected before now ready upon the like Occasion to assist us A Voyage undertaken by the Earl of Cumberland with one Ship Royal of her Majesties and six of his own and of other Adventures Anno Dom. 1589. Ships Commanders The Victory The Earl of Cumberland The Margaret Capt. Christopher Lister And Five other Capt. Monson now Sir William Monson Vice-Amiral AS the Fleets of Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake returned from the Voyage of Portugal my Lord of Cumberland proceeded upon his towards that Coast and meeting with divers of that Fleet relieved them with Victuals who otherwise had perished This Voyage was undertaken at his and his Friends Charge excepting the Victory a Ship Royal of the Queen's which she adventured The Service performed at Sea was the taking of three French Ships of the League in our Channel and his encountring upon the Coast of Spain with Thirteen Hulks who made some Resistance Out of these he took to the Value of 7000 l. in Spices belonging to Portugal From thence he crossed over to the Island of Terceras and coming to St. Michaels with Boats he fetched out two Spanish Ships from under the Castle which the same Night arrived out of Spain In this Course from thence to Flores he took a Spanish Ship laden with Sugars and Sweet-meats that came from the Maderas Being at Flores he received Intelligencence of divers Spanish Ships which were in the Road of Fayal whereupon he suddainly made from that Island where Captain Lister and Captain Monson gave a desperate Attempt in their Boats upon the said Ships and after along Fight possessed themselves of one of them of 300 Tuns Burden carrying Eighteen Pieces of Ordidinance and Fifty Men. This Ship with one other came from the Indies two of the rest out of Guiney and another was Laden with Woad which that Island affords in great Plenty who putting from thence to Sea and coming to the Island of Graciosa after two days Fight yielded us by Composition some Victuals Off that Island we likewise took a French Ship of the League of 200 Tuns that came from New-found-land Afterwards Sailing to the Eastward of the Road of Terceras in the Even-we beheld 18 Tall Ships of the Indies entring into the said Road one whereof we after took in her Course to the Coast of Spain She was laden with Hides Silver and Cochineal but coming for England she was cast away upon the Mounts Bay in Cornwall being valued at 100000 l. Two other Prizes of Sugar we took in our said Course to the Coast of Spain esteemed each Ship at 7000 l. and one from under the Castle of St. Maries to the same Value There was no Road about those Islands that could defend their Ships from our Attempts yet in the last Assault we gave which was upon a Ship of Sugars we found ill Success being sharply resisted and two parts of our Men slain and hurt Which Loss was occasioned by Captain Lister who would not be persuaded from Landing in the View of their Forts The Service performed by Land was the taking of the Island of Fayall some months after the surprizing of those Ships formerly mentioned The Castle yielded us 45 Pieces of Ordinance great and small We sacked and spoiled the Town and after ransomed it and so departed These Summer Services and Ships of Sugar proved not so sweet and pleasant as the Winter was afterwards sharp and painful For in our Return for England we found the Calamity of Famine the Hazard of Shipwrack and the Death of our Men so great that the like befell not any other Fleet during the time of the War All which Disasters must be imputed to Captain Lister's Rashness upon whom my Lord of Cumberland chiefly relyed wanting Experience himself He was the man that advised the sending the Ships of Wine for England otherwise we had not known the Want of Drink he was as earnest in persuading our Landing in the Face of the Fortifications of St. Maries against all Reason and Sence As he was rash so was he valiant but paid dearly for his unadvised Counsel For he was one of the first hurt and that cruelly in the Attempt of St. Maries and afterward drowned in the Rich Ship cast away at Mounts Bay Sir John Hawkins and Sir Martin Forbisher their Voyage undertaken Anno 1590. Ships Commanders The Revenge Sir Martin Forbisher The Mary-Rose Sir John Hawkins The Lyon Sir Edward Yorke The Bonaventure Capt. Fenner The Rainbow Capt. George Beeston The Hope  The Crane Capt. Bostock The Quittance  The Foresight Capt. Burnell The Swiftseur  FRom the Yeear 1585. untill this present Year 1590. there was the greatest possibility imaginable of enriching our Nation by Actions at Sea had they been well followed the King of Spain was grown so weak in Shipping by the Overthrow he had in 1588 that he could no longer secure the Trade of his Subjects Her Majesty now finding how necessary it was for her to maintain a Fleet upon the Spanish Coast as well to hinder the Preparations he might make against Her to repair the Disgrace he received in 1588. as also to intercept his Fleets from the Indies by which he grew Great and Mighty She sent this Year 1590. Ten Ships of her own in two Squadrons the one to be Commanded by Sir John Hawkins the other by Sir Martin Forbisher two Gentlemen of tried Experience The King of Spain understanding of this Preparation of hers sent forth 20 Sail of Ships under the Command of Don. Alonso de Bassan Brother to the late Famous Marquess of St. Cruz. His Charge was to secure home the Indian Fleet and Carrecks But after Don Alonso had put off to Sea the King of Spain becoming better advised than to adventure 20 of his Ships to 10 of outs sent
for Don Alonso back and so frustrated the Expectation of our Fleet. He likewise made a Dispatch to the Indies commanding the Fleets to Winter there rather than to run the hazard of coming Home that Summer But this proved so great a Hind'rance and Loss to the Merchants of Spain to be so long without Return of their Goods that it caused many to become Bankrupts in Sevil and other places besides which was so great a weakening to their Ships to Winter in the Indies that many years hardly sufficed to repair the Damage they received Our Fleet being thus prevented spent seven months in vain upon the Coasts of Spain and the Islands but in that space could not possess themselves of one Ship of the Spaniards and the Carrecks upon which part of their Hopes depended came Home without Sight of the Islands and arrived safe at Lisbon This Voyage was a bare Action at Sea though they attempted Landing at Fayal which the Earl of Cumberland the year before had taken and quitted but the Castle being re-fortified they prevailed not in thier Enterprize And thence forwards the King of Spain endeavored to strengthen his Coasts and to encrease in Shipping as may appear by the next ensuing Year Two Fleets the one by Vs under the Lord Thomas Howard the other by the Spaniards Commanded by Don Alonso de Bassan Anno 1591. Ships Commanders The Defiance The Lord Thomas Howard The Revenge Sir Richard Greenvile Vice-admiral The Nonperil Sir Edward Denny The Bonaventure Capt. Crosse The Lyon Capt. Fenner The Foresight Capt. Vavasor The Crane Capt. Duffeild HER Majesty understanding of the Indian Fleets Wintering in the Havana and that Necessity would compell them home this Year 1591. she sent a Fleet to the Islands under the Command of the Lord Thomas Howard The King of Spain perceiving her Drift and being sensible how much the safety of that Fleet concerned him caused them to set out thence so late in the Year that it endangered the Shipwrack of them all chosing rather to hazard the perishing of Ships Men and Goods than their falling into our Hands He had two Designs in bringing home this Fleet so late One was he thought the Lord Thomas would have consumed his Victuals and have been forced Home The other that he might in the mean time furnish out the great Fleet he was preparing little inferior to that of 1588. In the first he found himself deceived For my Lord was supplied both with Ships and Victuals out of England and in the second he was as much prevented For my Lord of Cumberland who then lay upon the Coast of Spain had Intelligence of the Spaniards putting out to Sea and advertised the Lord Thomas thereof the very Night before they arrived at Flores where my Lord lay The day after this Intelligence the Spanish Fleet was discovered by my Lord Thomas whom he knew by their Number and Greatness to be the Ships of which he had warning and by that means escaped the Danger that Sir Richard Greenvile his Vice-admiral rashly ran into Upon View of the Spaniards which were 55 Sail the Lord Thomas warily and like a discreet General weighed Anchor and made Signs to the rest of his Fleet to do the like with a purpose to get the Wind of them but Sir Richard Greenvile being a stubborn man and imagining this Fleet to come from the Indies and not to be the Armado of which they were informed would by no means be persuaded by his Master or Company to cut his main Sail to follow his Admiral nay so head-strong and rash he was that he offered violence to those that councelled him thereto But the Old Saying that a wilful man is the Cause of his own Woe could not be more truly verified than in him For when the Armado approached him and he beheld the Greatness of the Ships he began to see and repent of his Folly and when it was too late would have freed himself of them but in vain For he was left a Prey to the Enemy every Ship striving to be the first should board him This wilful Rashness of Sir Richard made the Spaniards triumph as much as if they had obtained a Signal Victory it being the first Ship that ever they took of Her Majesties and commended to them by some English Fugitives to be the very best she had but their Joy continued not long For they enjoyed her but five days before she was cast away with many Spaniards in her upon the Islands of Tercera Commonly one Misfortune is accompanied with another For the Indian Fleet which my Lord had waited for the whole Summer the day after this mishap fell into the Company of this Spanish Armado who if they had staid but one day longer or the Indian Fleet had come home but one day sooner we had possest both them and many millions of Treasure which the Sea afterward devoured For from the time they met with the Armado and before they could recover home nigh an hundred of them suffered Shipwrack besides the Ascention of Sevil and the double Fly-boat that were sunk by the side of the Revenge All which was occasioned by their Wintering in the Indies and the late Disambogueing from thence For the Worm which that Country is subject to weakens and consumes their Ships Notwithstanding this cross and perverse Fortune which happened by means of Sir Richard Greenvile the Lord Thomas would not be dismayed or discouraged but kept the Sea so long as he had Victuals and by such Ships as himself and the rest of the Fleet took defrayed the better part of the Charge of the whole Action The Earl of Cumberland to the Coast of Spain 1591. Ships Commanders The Garland of her Majesties The Earl of Cumberland Capt. under him Seven other Ships of his and his Friends Capt. Monson now Sir William Monson THE Earl of Cumberland keeping the Coast of Spain as you have heard while the Lord Thomas remained at the Islands and both to one end viz. to annoy and damnifie the Spaniards though in two several Fleets the Earl found Fortune in a sort as much to frown upon him as it had done upon the Lord Thomas Howard In his Course from England to the Spanish Coast he encountred with divers Ships of Holland which came from Lisbon wherein he found a great quantity of Spices belonging to the Portugalls So greatly were we abused by that Nation of Holland who though they were the first that engaged us in the War with Spain yet still maintained their own Trade into those parts and supplied the Spaniards with Munition Victuals Shipping and Intelligence against us Upon my Lord's Arrival on the Coast of Spain it was his hap to take three Ships at several times one with Wine which he unladed into his own and two with Sugars which he enjoyed not long no more did he the Spices which he took out of the Hollanders For one of the Ships of Sugar by means of a Leak that
the guarding of his Coasts and securing of his Trade and though there was little fear of any Fleet from England to impeach him besides this in the Indies yet because he would shew his greatness and satisfie the Portugal of the care he had in preserving their Carrecks he sent the Count of Feria a young Nobleman of Portugal who desired to gain Experience with 20 Ships to the Islands but the Carrecks did as they used to do in many other years miss both Islands and Fleets and arrived at Lisbon safely The other Fleets of the King of Spain in the Indies consisted of 24 Ships their General Don Bernardino de Villa nova an approved Coward as it appeared when he came to encounter the English Fleet but his Defects were supplied by the Valor of his Vice-admiral who behaved himself much to his Honor His Name was John Garanay The Earl of Essex and the Lord Admiral of England Generals equally both by Sea and Land Anno 1596. Ships Commanders The Repulse The Earl of Essex Capt. under him The Ark-royal Sir Will. Monson The Mere-honor The Lord Admiral Capt. under him The Warspite Ames Preston The Lyon The Lord Thomas Howard The Rainbow Sir Walter Rawleigh The Nonperil Sir Robert Southwell The Vauntguard Sir Francis Vere The Mary Rose Sir Robert Dudley The Dreadnought Sir John Wingfield The Swiftsuer Sir George Carew The Quittance Sir Alexander Clifford The Tremontary with several others Sir Robert Crosse  Sir George Clifford  Sir Robert Mansfield  Capt. King THE first of June 1596. we departed from Plymouth and our Departure was the more speedy by reason of the great pains care and industry of the 16 Captains who in their own Persons labored the Night before to get out some of their Ships riding at Catwater which otherwise had not been easily effected The Third we set Sail from Cansom Bay the Wind which when we weighed was at West and by South instantly cast up to the North East and so continued untill it brought us up as high as the North Cape of Spain and this fortunate beginning put us in great hopes of a lucky Success to ensue We being now come upon our Enemies Coast it behoved the Generals to be vigilant in keeping them from Intelligence of us who therefore appointed the Litness the True Love and the Lion's Whelp the three chief Sailors of our Fleet to run a Head suspecting the Spaniards had some Carvels of Advice out which they did usually send to discover at Sea upon any Rumor of a less Fleet than this was made ready in England No Ship or Carvel escaped from us which I hold a second Happiness to our Voyage For you shall understand hereafter the Inconvenience that might have happened upon our Discovery The 10th of June the said three Ships took three Fly-Boats that came from Cadiz 14 days before by them we understood the State of the Town and that they had no suspition of us which we looked on as a third Omen of our good Fortune to come The 12th of June the Swan a Ship of London being commanded as the other three to keep a good way off the Fleet to prevent discovery she met with a Fly-boat which made Resistance and escaped from her This Fly-boat came from the Streights bound Home who discovering our Fleet and thinking to gain Reputation and Reward from the Spaniards shhaped her Course for Lisbon but she was luckily prevented by the John and Francis another Ship of London commanded by Sir Marmaduke Darrel who took her within a League of the Shore and this we may account a fourth Happiness to our Voyage The first as hath been said was for the Wind to take us so suddainly and to continue so long For our Souldiers being Shipped and in Harbor would have consumed their Victuals and have been so pester'd that it would have endangered a Sickness amongst them The Second was the taking all Ships that were seen which kept the Enemy from Intelligence The Third was the intercepting of the Fly-Boats from Cadiz whither we were bound who assured us our coming was not suspected which made us more careful to hail from the Coast than otherwise we should have been They told us likewise of the daily expectation of the Gallions to come from St. Jacar to Cadiz and of the Merchant-men that lay there and were ready bound for the Indies These Intelligences were of great moment and made the Generals presently to contrive their business both by Sea and Land which otherwise would have taken up a longer time after their coming thither and whether all men would have consented to attempt their Ships in Harbor if they had not known the most part of them to consist of Merchants I hold very doubtful The Fourth and fortunatest of all was the taking of the Fly-boat by the John and Francis which the Swan let go For if she had reached Lisbon she had been able to make report of the number and greatness of our Ships and might have endangered the loss of the whole Design she seeing the course we bore and that we had passed Lisbon which was the place the Enemy most suspected and made there his greatest preparation for Defence But had the Enemy been freed of that doubt he had then no place to fear but Andulozia and Cadiz above the rest which upon the lest warning might have been strengthened and we put to great Hazard he might also have secured his Ships by towing them out with Gallies and howsoever the Wind had been might have sent them into the Streights where it had been in vain to have pursued them or over the Bar of St. Lucar where it had been in vain to have attempted them And indeed of the good and ill of Intelligence we had had sufficient experience formerly Of the good in 1588. For how suddainly had we been taken and surprized when it we lest suspected had it not been for Captain Flemming Of the ill in the year before this by the Spaniards taking a Barque of Sir Francis Drake's Fleet which was the Occasion of the Overthrow of himself and the whole Action The 20th of June we came to Cadiz earlier in the morning than the Masters made reckoning of Before our coming thither it was determined in Council that we should land at St. Sebastians the Westermost part of the Land and thither came all the Ships to an Anchor every man preparing to land as he was formerly directed but the Wind being so great and the Sea so grown and four Gallies lying too to intercept our Boats there was no attempting to land there without the hazard of all This day was spent in vain in returning Messengers from one General to another and in the end they were forced to resolve upon a Course which Sir William Monson Captain under my Lord of Essex advised him to the same morning he discovered the Town which was to surprize the Ships and to be possessors of the Harbor before
Royal Sir Walter Rawleigh The Triumph Sir Fulke Grivel The Mere-honor Sir Henry Palmer The Repulse Sir Tho. Vavasor The Garland Sir Will. Harvey The Defiance Sir Will. Monson The Nonperil Sir Robert Cross The Lyon Sir Richard Lewson The Rainbow Sir Alexander Clifford The Hope Sir John Gilbert The Foresight Sir Tho. Sherley The Mary Rose Mr. Fortescue The Bonaventure Capt. Troughton The Crane Capt. Jonas The Swiftsuer Capt. Bradgate The Tremontary Capt. Slingsby The Advantage Capt. Hoer The Quittance Capt. Reynolds I Cannot write of any thing done in this Year of 1599. For there was never greater Expectation of War with less Performance Whether it was a Mistrust the one Nation had of the other or a Policy held on both sides to make Peace with Sword in Hand a Treaty being entertained by consent of each Prince I am not to examine but sure I am the Preparation was on both sides very great as if the one expected an Invasion from the other and yet it was generally conceived not to be intended by either but that ours had only relation to my Lord of Essex who was then in Ireland and had a Design to try his Friends in England and to be revenged of his Enemies as he pretended and as it proved afterwards by his Fall Howsoever it was the Charge was not so great as necessary For it was commonly known that the Adalantada had drawn both his Ships and Gallies to the Groyne which was not usually done but for some Action intended upon England or Ireland though he converted them after to another use as you shall hear The Gallies were sent into the Low Countreys and pass'd the Narrow Seas while our Ships lay there and with the Fleet the Atalantada pursued the Hollanders to the Islands whither he suspected they were gone This Fleet of Hollanders which consisted of 73 Sail were the first Ships that ever displayed their Colors in War-like sort against the Spaniards in any Action of their own For how cruel soever the War seemed to be in Holland they maintained a peaceable Trade in Spain and abused us This first Action of the Hollanders at Sea proved not very successful For after the Spoil of a Town in the Canary's and some Hurt done at the Island of St. Ome they kept the Sea for some seven or eight months in which time their General and most of their Men sickned and died and the rest returned with Loss and Shame Another Benefit which we received by this Preparation was that our Men were now taught suddainly to Arme every man knowing his Command and how to be commanded which before they were ignorant of and who knows not that sudden and false Alarms in an Army are sometimes necessary To say truth the Expedition which was then used in drawing together so great an Army by Land and rigging so great and Royal a Navy to Sea in so little a space of Time was so admirable in other Coutreys that they received a Terror by it and many that came from beyond Sea said the Queen was never more dreaded abroad for any thing she ever did French-men that came Aboard our Ships did wonder as at a thing incredible that her Majesty had rigged victualled and furnished her Royal Ships to Sea in 12 days time And Spain as an Enemy had reason to fear and grieve to see this suddain Preparation but more when they understood how the Hearts of Her Majesty's Subjects joyned with their Hands being all ready to spend their dearest Blood for her and her Service Holland might likewise see that if they became insolent we could be assoon provided as they not did they expect to find such celerity in any Nation but themselves It is probable too that the King of Spain and the Arch-Duke were hereby drawn to entertain Thoughts of Peace For as soon as our Fleet was at Sea a Gentleman was sent from Brussells with some Overtures although for that time they succeeded not However whether it was that the intended Invasion from Spain was diverted or that her Majesty was fully satisfied of my Lord of Essex I know not but so it was that she commanded the suddain Return of her Ships from Sea after they had layn three weeks or a month in the Downs Sir Richard Lewson to the Islands Anno Dom. 1600. Ships Commanders The Repulse Sir Richard Lewson The Warspight Capt. Troughton The Vauntguard Capt. Sommers THE last Year as you have heard put all men in expectation of War which yet came to nothing This Summer gave us great hope of Peace but with the like effect For by consent of the Queen the King of Spain and the Arch-Duke their Commissioners met at Bulloign in Piccardie to treat of Peace a place chosen indifferently the French King being in League and Friendship with them all Whether this Treaty were intended but in shew only or that they were out of hopes to come to any conclusion or what else was the true and real cause of its breaking off so suddenly I know not but the pretence was but slender for there grew a difference about Precedency betwixt the two Crowns though it was ever due to England and so the hopes of Peace were frustrated though had it been really intended matters might easily have been accommodated The Queen suspecting the Event hereof before their meeting and the rather because the Spaniards entertained with the like Treaty in 1588 when at the same instant his Navy appeared upon her Coast to Invade her therefore least she should be guilty of too great security in relying upon the success of this doubtful Treaty she furnished the Three Ships before named under pretence to guard the Western Coast which at that time was infested by the Dunkirkers And because there should be the less notice taken part of the Victuals was provided at Plymouth and Sir Richard Lewson who was then Admiral of the Narrow Seas was appointed General for the more secret carriage of the business so as it could not be conjectured either by their Victualling or by their Captain being Admiral of the Narrow Seas that it was a Service from home As they were in a readiness at Plymouth expecting Orders the Queen beingfully satisfied that the Treaty of Bulloign would break off without effect she commanded Sir Richard Lawson to hasten to the Islands there to expect the Carrecks and Mexico Fleet. The Spaniards on the other side being as circumspect to prevent a mischief as we were subtil to contrive it and believing as we did that the Treaty of Peace would prove a vain hopeless shew of what was never meant they furnished Eighteen tall Ships to the Islands as they had usually done since the Year 1591. The General of this Fleet was Don Diego de Borachero Our Ships coming to the Islands they and the Spaniards had intelligence of one another but not the sight for that Sir Richard Lewson hailed Sixty Leagues Westward not only to avoid them but in hopes to meet with
I mean I protest said his Honour I know not what thou meanest thou dost not well to use such dark Speeches unless thou wouldst plainly utter what thou meanest thereby But he said he cared not for Death and that he would lay his Bloud amongst them Then spake the Lord Chief-Justice of England being required to give the Judgment and said Parry you have been much heard and what you mean by being settled I know not but I see you are so settled in Popery that you cannot settle your self to be a good Subject But touching that you should say to stay Judgment from being given against you your Speeches must be of one of these kinds either to prove the Indictment which you have confessed to be true to be insufficient in Law or else to plead somewhat touching her Majesties Mercy why Justice should not be done of you All other Speeches wherein you have used great Liberty is more than by Law you can ask These be the matters you must look to what say you to them Whereto he said nothing Then said the Lord Chief-Justice Parry thou hast been before this time Indicted of divers most horrible and hateful Treasons committed against thy most gracious Soveraign and Native Country the matter most detestable the manner most subtle and dangerous and the occasions and means that led thee thereunto most ungodly and villanous That thou didst intend it it is most evident by thy self The matter was the destruction of a most Sacred and an Anointed Queen thy Sovereign and Mistriss who hath shewed thee such Favour as some thy betters have not obtained Yea the Overthrow of thy Country wherein thou wert born and of a most happy Commonwealth whereof of thou art a Member and of such a Queen as hath bestowed on thee the Benefit of all benefits in this world that is thy Life heretofore granted thee by her Mercy when thou hadst lost it by Justice and Desert Yet thou her Servant sworn to defend her meant'st with thy bloudy hand to have taken away her Life that mercifully gave thee thine when it was yielded into her hands This is the matter wherein thou hast offended The manner was most subtle and dangerous beyond all that before thee have committed any Wickedness against her Majesty For thou making shew as if thou wouldest simply have uttered for her safety the Evil that others had contrived didst but seek thereby credit and access that thou mightest take the apter opportunity for her Destruction And for the occasions and means that drew thee on they were most ungodly and villanous as the perswasions of the Pope of Papists and Popish Books The Pope pretendeth that he is a Pastor when as in truth he is far from feeding of the Flock of Christ but rather as a Wolf seeketh but to feed on and to suck out the blood of true Christians and as it were thirsteth after the bloud of our most Gracious and Christian Queen And these Papists and Popish Books while they pretend to set forth Divinity they do indeed most ungodly teach and perswade that which is quite contrary both to God and his Word For the Word teaches Obedience of Subjects towards Princes and forbideth any private man to kill But they teach Subjects to disobey Princes and that a private wicked person may kill yea and whom A most godly Queen and their own natural and most gracious Soveraign Let all men therefore take heed how they receive any thing from him hear or read any of their Books and how they confer with any Papists God grant her Majesty that she may know by thee how ever she trust such like to come so near her Person But see the end and why thou didst it and it will appear to be a most miserable fearful and foolish thing For thou didst imagine that it was to relieve those that thou callest Catholicks who were most likely amongst all others to have felt the worst of it if thy devilish practice had taken effect But sith thou hast been Indicted of the Treasons comprised in the Indictment and thereupon Arraigned and hast confessed thy self Guilty of them the Court doth award that thou shalt be had from hence to the place whence thou didst come and so drawn through the open City of London upon an Hurdle to the place of Execution and there to be hanged and let down alive and thy privy parts cut off and thy entrals taken out and burnt in thy sight then thy Head to be cut off and thy Body to be divided in four parts and to be disposed at her Majesties pleasure And God have mercy on thy Soul Parry nevertheless persisted still in his rage and fond Speech and ragingly there said he there summoned Queen Elizabeth to answer for his Blood before God wherewith the Lieutenant of the Tower was commanded to take him from the Bar and so he did And upon his departure the people stricken as it were at heart with the horror of his intended Enterprise ceased not but pursued him with out-cryes as Away with the Traitor away with him and such like whereupon he was conveyed to the Barge to pass to the Tower again by water and the Court was adjorned After which upon the second day of this instant March William Parry was by vertue of process in that behalf awarded from the same Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer delivered by the Lieutenant of the Tower early in the morning unto the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex who received him at the Tower-hill and thereupon according to the judgment caused him there to be forthwith set on the Hurdel From whence he was drawn thereupon threw the midst of the City of London unto the place for his Execution in the Pallace at Westminster where having long time of stay admitted unto him before his Execution he most maliciously and impudently after some other vain discourses eftsoons and often delivered in Speech that he was never guilty of any intention to kill Queen Elizabeth and so without any request made by him to the people to pray to God for him or prayer publickly used by himself for ought that appeared but such as he used if he used any was private to himself he was executed according to the judgment And now for his intent howsoever he pretended the contrary in words yet by these his own Writings Confessions Letters and many other proofs afore here expressed it is most manifest to all persons how horrible his intentions and Treasons were and how justly he suffered for the same and thereby greatly to be doubted that as he had lived a long time vainly and ungodly and like an Atheist and godless man so he continued the same course till his death to the outward sight of men Here endeth the true and plain course and process of the Treasons Arrest Arraignment and Execution of William Parry the Traitor An addition not unnecessary for this purpose FOr as much as Parry in the abundance of
yet they were forc'd to quit them and to retire into the Castle My Lord at last in despite of the Enemy gained the Market place where he found greatest Resistance from the Houses thereabouts and where it was that that Worthy Gentleman Sir John Wingfield was unluckily slain The Lord General Essex caused it to be proclaimed by Beat of Drum through the Town that all that would yield should repair to the Town-House where they should have promise of Mercy and those that would not to expect no Favor The Castle desired Respite to consider untill the morning following and then by one general Consent they surrend'red themselves to the two Lord Generals Mercies The Chief Prisoners Men and Women were brought into the Castle where they remained a little space and were sent away with Honorable Usage The noble treating of the Prisoners hath gained an everlasting Honor to our Nation and the General 's in particular It cannot be supposed the Lord Generals had leisure to be idle the day following having so great business to consider of as the securing the Town and enjoying the Merchants Ships Wherefore for the speedier dispatch they had Speech with the best men of the City about the Ransom to be given for their Town and Liberties 120000 Duckets was the Summ concluded on and for Security thereof many of them became Hostages There was likewise an Overture for the Ransom of their Ships and Goods which the Duke of Medina hearing of rather than we should reap any profit by them he caused them to be fired We found by Experience that the destroying of this Fleet which did amount to the value of six or seven Millions was the general impoverishing of the whole Country For when the Pledges sent to Sevil to take up money for their Redemption they were answered that all the Town was not able to raise such a Summ their Loss was so great by the loss of their Fleet. And to speak truth Spain never received so great an Overthrow so great a Spoil so great an Indignity at our Hands as this For our Attempt was at his own Home in his Port that he thought as safe as his Chamber where we took and destroy'd his Ships of War burnt and consumed the Wealth of his Merchants sack'd his City ransomed his Subjects and entred his Country without Impeachment To write all Accidents of this Voyage wete too tedious and would weary the Reader but he that would desire to know the Behavior of the Spaniards as well as of us many confer with divers English men that were redeemed out the Gallies in exchange for others and brought into England After we had enjoyed the Town of Cadiz a Fortnight and our men were grown rich by the Spoil of it the Generals imbarqued their Army with an intent to perform greater Services before their Return but such was the Covetousness of the better Sort who were inriched there and the fear of Hunger in others who complained for want of Victuals as they could not willingly be drawn to any farther Action to gain more Reputation The only thing that was afterwards attempted was Pharoah a Town of Algarula in Portugal a place of no Resistance or Wealth only famous by the Library of Osorius who was Bishop of that place which Library was brought into England by us and many of the Books bestowed upon the new erected Library of Oxford Some Prisoners were taken but of small account who told us that the greatest Strength of the Country was in Lawgust the chief Town of Argarula twelve miles distant from thence because most part of the Gentlemen thereabouts were gone thither to make it good expecting our coming This News was acceptable to my Lord of Essex who preferred Honor before Wealth And having had his Will and the Spoil of the Town of Pharoah and Country thereabouts He Shipped his Army and took Council of the Lord Admiral how to proceed My Lord Admiral diverted his course for Lawgust alleadging the place was strong of no Wealth always held in the nature of a Fisher-Town belonging to the Portugals who in their Hearts were our Friends that the winning of it after so eminent a place as Cadiz could add no Honor though it should be carried yet it would be the Loss of his best Troops and Gentlemen who would rather to die than receive Indignity of a Repulse My Lord of Essex much against his Will was forc'd to yield unto these Reasons and desist from that Enterprise About this time there was a general Complaint for want of Victuals which proceeded rather out of a desire that some had to be at home than out of any necessity For Sir William Monson and Mr. Darrel were appointed to examine the Condition of every Ship and found seven weeks Victuals Drink excepted which might have been supplied from the Shore in Water and this put the Generals in great hope to perform something more than they had done The only Service that was now to be thought on was to lie in wait for the Carrecks which in all probability could not escape us though there were many Doubts to the contrary but easily answered by men of Experience But in truth some mens desire homeward were so great that no Reason could prevail with or persuade them Coming into the height of the Rock the Generals took Council once again and then the Earl of Essex and the Lord Thomas Howard offered with great earnestness to stay out the time our Victuals lasted and desired to have but 12 Ships furnished out of the rest to stay with them but this would not be granted though the Squadron of the Hollanders offered voluntarily to stay Sir Walter Rawleigh alleadged the scarcity of Victuals and the Infection of his Men. My Lord General Essex offered in the Greatness of his Mind and the Desire he had to stay to supply his want of Men and Victuals and to exchange Ships but all Proposals were in vain For the Riches kept them that got much from attempting more as if it had been otherwise pure want though not Honour would have enforced them to greater Enterprises This being the last Hopes of the Voyage and being generally withstood it was concluded to steer away for the North Cape and afterwards to view and search the Harbors of the Groyn and Ferrol and if any of the King of Spain's Ships chanced to be there to give an Attempt upon them The Lord Admiral sent a Carvel of our Fleet into these two Harbors and aparrelled the men in Spanish Cloaths to avoid Suspicion This Carvel returned the next day with a true Relation that there were no Ships in the Harbors And now passing all places where there was any hope of doing good our Return for England was resolved upon and the 8th of August the Lord Admiral arrived in Plymouth with the greatest part of the Army And the Lord General Essex who staid to accompany the St. Andrew which was under his Charge and reputed of his