finished, and that his Lordship must decline to let any person have unlimited access to the papers (which was not exactly asked), but as soon as they are completely arranged, his Lordship would let me know how far he could contribute to my object. My next application was to the Marquis of Exeter, who was supposed as likely to be in possession of documents connected with Drake or his family; his reply was that he had sent all his papers to Lord Salisbury. Thus then these memorials, whatever they may be, are and have been closed up for two centuries and a half, since the death of this extraordinary man, as it were in a mare clausum, in or out of which he, when living, never suffered himself to be confined or excluded. In speaking of the too common practice of hoarding up manuscripts, and more particularly such as relate to history, where they remain unread and unseen, a writer in a popular journal observes, “ though approaching tender ground, the interests of history, nevertheless, incline us to ask, whether the possessors of important historical documents act wisely in concealing them from the sight, not merely of the curious, but of the learned ? For any useful purpose, these treasures might almost as well be destroyed. To hoard, and neither to enjoy ourselves, nor permit others to enjoy, however odious in the instance of wealth, is far more reprehensible with "* regard to information; and we confess we feel little respect for the mind or disposition of him, who, by placing a seal on the true sources of knowledge, allows error to be perpetuated in the national annals.” In transcribing the autograph letters of the Lord High Admiral and of Sir Francis Drake, I have as much as possible rigidly adhered to the phraseology and the spelling, which can scarcely be called systematic orthography, the same words being frequently written differently, at different times, and in the same letter. I thought it best to give a fac-simile to all of these documents, without any change, with the exception only of the writing, which is inimitably obscure, and so difficult to read, that a good deal of practice is necessary to be able to do even that, as will appear by inspecting the letter, which is a lithographic fac-simile of that of Drake, printed in page 300, and which is a correct specimen of his usual hand-writing, and among the best, that is, the most legible, I could find. CHAPTER I. The parentage and early life of Francis Drake-His sea-edu- cation—Voyage to the West Indies with his friend Captain State of England and Spain--Revised Relation of this Voyage by Drake himself—Arrive at Port Pheasant-Symerons--- Trans- actions at Nombre de Dios—The Treasury and Governor's house-Drake wounded-Return to their ships at the Isle of Pinos-Cartagena—Capture a great ship of Seville-Drake destroys his little ship the Swan-Takes several vessels-Ar- rives at Port Plenty-Drake leaps on shore at Cartagena- Sickness in the crew-Death of Joseph Drake-John Drake slain-Attempt to reach Panama by land-Disappointed- Is led to a great tree-Discovers the South Sea, and makes a and death- Drake's squadron-Its arrival at St. Julian- Mysterious occurrence there—Passage through the Strait of Drake proceeds to the Northward-A North-East Passage round America suggested—Intense cold—Interview with the na- tives of the west coast of North America~Takes possession Drake's kind reception at Plymouth—The reverse in the capital -Neglect of the Queen, who makes ample amends— Visits his ship at Deptford-Confers Knighthood on him-Honours Singular conduct of Sir Philip Sydney—The squadron and troops employed --Land on the island of St. Jago-Attack St. Domingo, and capture it-Attack Cartagena and take it- Sickness in the fleet-Abandon the intention of taking Nombre de Dios, and entering the Isthmus, destroy St. Augustine- Return homewards—Call at Virginia-Bring away the Go- Designs of Spain discovered—Insolence of Philip's Ambassa- dor-The Queen's reply-Her knowledge of languages- Drake appointed to command an expedition-Letter of Sir F. Drake-Arrives at Cadiz; burns, sinks, and carries away about 100 sail of ships-- Dispatches Capt. Cross with letters -Leaves Cadiz-Destroys a number of ships in the Tagus under the Marquis of Santa Cruz-Dismisses Capt. Bur- roughs, whose ship mutinies, and leaves the squadron-Drake stands over to Terceira, and captures a large and rich car- THE SPANISH ARMADA, CALLED THE INVINCIBLE. Pretext of treating for peace-Unworthy conduct of Spain - Predictions of triumph- Appointment of commanding officers-Naval and military forces, and comparison of Lord High Admiral puts to sea- The Queen disapproves- Correspondence of Lord C. Howard and Sir F. Drake with the Queen, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Lords of the Coun- |
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