The whole Counsell approved this Sentence as juste and verye necessarye for avoydinge the like hereafter, Which ells muste needs growe to the utter dissolucion of all her Majestie's service for the sea hereafter.

God save the Quene.*

After the court-martial in the Cæsar Papers follows a long statement-being "the voluntary confession of William Bigatt, Master of the Lion under Capt. William Burrowes"-1587 (containing much the same as is already given).

The Examynacion, &c.

1. ffirst, John Thomas (who came not to divine service during his abode in the ship†), the Chiefe Gunner of the Golden Lion, being then in Cales roade, being commanded by his Captain Mr. Burrowes to shoote, stayed a quarter of an hower by the Glasse before hee shot, and then shot shorter then the least martial ship there, by reason that hee kept back one third part of the powder, which every piece should have had, ffor the which albeit Mr. Burrowes did revile him with hot wordes, yet hee did not displace him, nor otherwise punishe him ; but let him continue in his place in the Service the next day after, which was as ill perfourmed as the former. Whereuppon there grewe mislike between the Generall and Mr. Burrowes.

2. Secondly, About a fortnight before their cominge home, the Ships being then together at Cape St. Vincent, or thereabouts, the Generall displaced Mr. Burrowes, and put Captain Marchaunt in his room.

Cæsar Papers, MSS., British Museum, purchased at Strawberry Hill.

+ This part interlined.

3. Thereuppon the Companie beganne to murmur, and have amongst them severall conferences and namely Peter Bellinger, John Horsley, and Bartholomew Cole, Servants to the said Burrowes, did grudge, and were much grieved thereat.

4. And from that time till theire returne, which was about a fortnight, the said Peter Bellinger was verie much conversant with the Gunners, to wit, John Boswell, George Walker, and Cornelius Adamson, who, together with Terry (one of the Quartermasters), did within a fortnight after the displacing of Mr. Burrowes, beginne to signifie openly that they woulde come home, and goe no further on their voyage.

5. A day or 2 before theire returne one Thomas Davies, Quartermaster, delivered a letter to Captain Marchaunt signifying that they wanted Vitaile, and woulde com home, which letter was written by the said Boswell in the Gunners roome, and signed by 160 of the Companie, or thereabouts, amongst whom it was noysed that they wanted Vitaile, and therefore woulde returne home.

6. Uppon the delivery of this letter, Captain Marchaunt promised them Vitaile enough if they woulde returne to the Generall (from whom nowe they were parted by reason of a prize which they had followed, and were nowe 40 leagues off the Rock)—to whom the Companie replied that they woulde goe home; and albeit hee commanded them not to returne home in her Majestie's name, they notwithstandinge would not.

7. Then Capt. Borowes being thereto earnestly required by Captain Marchaunt, spake this to the Company-Captain Marchaunt requireth you to goe back to the Generall, and I pray you doe so; but they yet refusing, Captain Marchaunt used theise speeches: This is no newe matter, neither can it be without the consent of some of the Chiefest; whereto Bigat the Master replied, I pray Captain suspect not mee,

for I have done what I can to persuade them to returne unto the Generall.

8. One Crowe steering the helme, was commanded by them not to direct the course back to the Generall, but hee refusing it the Master turning away laughed and did not displace him, notwithstanding that hee might yf he had liked.

9. Capt. Marchaunt seeing howe things went, would, his sworde being drawen, have died uppon the companie, but hee was helde, and being once refused to bee set into a pinace not farre from thence, hee would have, as hee protested, rather cast himselfe into the sea then returne home, whereuppon he was set aboard the pinnace.

10. Presently after his departure Capt. Burrowes is restored by the companie to his place, and the Master Bigat directeth his course homewards.

11. During which time, and before (savyng that once the Master used the like wordes as Mr. Burrowes) at the entreatie of one Tippet, master Gonner, placed by the generall (who onely shewed himselfe unwilling to returne home) there was not one worde of persuasion to returne to the generall, used to the companie, either by the Master or by Captain Burrowes, but rather a greate forwardnes in them to returne homewards.

12. The Master likewise, after the displacing of Mr. Burrowes, did greatly mislike the same, and it may bee, as hee saith, that he did impart it to some of the companie at the time of theire murmuring before the mutiny beganne.

13. As for theire want of vitaile, it appeareth by all their examinations that they had no cause of complaint. *

And thus it breaks off.

In such an imperfect and unsatisfactory manner, without any result, concludes this curious and interesting document, the more so as being, in all * Cæsar Papers, 12,505, British Museum.

probability, the first court-martial held in the British navy. Whether the sentence pronounced by Drake was confirmed at home, or the mercy of the Queen interposed (as was probably the case), does not appear. The summing up and the sentence are judicious, and most justly and forcibly expressed; moreover, the charges and finding anticipate, almost in words, the provisions of our present Articles of War,* passed 160 years after the period in question.

Drake, after his return, had little respite on shore.

* ART. 15.-Every person in or belonging to the fleet who shall run away with any of her Majesty's ships or vessels of war, or any stores, &c. belonging thereto, to the weakening of the service, shall suffer death.

ART. 19. Any person making or endeavouring to make any mutinous assembly, &c. shall suffer death.

The two aforesaid cases plainly show the lamentable state in which many of our old and valuable historical documents are found, defective in numerous instances, mutilated in more. The judgment passed by Julius Cæsar must be somewhere, but the question is where? What has here been given was only rescued very recently from a private closet; to trace the remainder would be a hopeless and a fruitless task. To rummage the State Paper Office, the Privy Council Office, the library of Lambeth Palace, the Tower of London, and the other repositories of the Master of the Rolls, would end in disappointment, which would be avoided, if the British Museum was made, as it ought to be made, the General Repository of all public national documents; and then perhaps might be brought forth to public view the hidden treasures that are now so closely closeted at Hatfield House, the accumulation of Queen Elizabeth's Lord High Treasurer Burleigh, and many other valuable records from places where they are excluded from the public eye.

At the very commencement of the following year, 1588, the great exertions of Spain to procure a large naval armament, and the vast preparations by the Duke of Parma in the Netherlands, called for the continuance of the fleet in commission, and for an increase of its numbers. Drake hoisted his flag in the Revenge, and the Lord High Admiral in the Ark Royal; Drake being appointed his Vice-Admiral. To these two, in the first instance, was the charge given by the Queen of putting the fleet into a state of preparation. Of the important part that Drake took in defeating the invasion of England, attempted by the Spaniards, and foiled by the British fleet, in which the choicest officers then in the naval service were employed, it would be a waste of the reader's time to repeat. It is to be found in all our annals, down to the present day; but there is one person, who held the first station in that fleet, and was supreme over the rest, who has certainly not had, at any time, that share of praise which is eminently due to him; not alone for the wise conduct he pursued in his arrangement of, and instructions for, the British fleet when in presence of the enemy, but for the unremitting attention, the anxious watchfulness, the constant and almost daily information given to her Majesty's ministers,—and the manly and straightforward advice offered directly to the Queen herself, previous to the appearance of the enemy, as well as his care and