place, and submyt my selfe to Her Majesties mercye, though I lyvyd in pryson all the dayes of my lyffe. man. The matters in th' office growe infenyte and chargeabell beyond all measure, and soche as hardly any man can gyve a reason of the innumerable busynesses that dayly grow, yet the mystrust ys more trobelsome, and grevous, then all the rest, for with the answerynge of th' one, and towle of th' other, ther ys hardly any time left to serve God, or to sattysfye The greater sort that serve in this office be growen so prowd, obstynate, and insolent, that nothynge can sattysfye them, and the commen sort very dysobedient, so as a man that must answere the immoderate desyre of all these, were better to chuse to dye then to lyve. The paynfull place which your Lordship dothe hold, & the imoderate demaunds that comes before you, havyng with the favour of Her Majestie the hellp of an absolute power to bynd & lose, may esilye demonstrate the borden that so meane a man as I ame dothe bere (which must passe every thynge by petycion and mystrust) to sattysfye the multytude of demaunds that are in this offiyce; and although they be many, and as well sattysfyed as in any office in all Inglond, yet few are contentyd, but go away with grudgyng and mourmoure. It were a great vanytye for me to comend myne owne service, neyther do I go abowt to accumylatte to my sellf any comendacion, for that I thowght I never performyd my dewtye sufficyently, but yf th' estate of th' office be consyderyd, what yt was when I came into yt, and what yt ys now, ther wylbe fownd great odds wherin I haue traveyled as carefully as I cold, and as my creddytt cold obtayne meane, to reduce the state of the shipes, and theire fornyture, into good and perfytt order. In Recompence wherof my onely desyre ys that yt may please Her Majestie some course may be taken wherin Her Majestie may be sattysfyed that a playne and honest course hathe byne taken, and caryed, in th' office, and then to dyspose of my place to whome yt shall please Her Heighnes, & I shal be reddy to serve Her Majestie any other way that I shalbe appoyntyd, wherin my skyll or abyllytye wyll extend, & so I humbly take my leve from deptford the 16 of Aprill 1590. Your lordships ever bownden, JOHN HAWKYNS.* When Hawkins found that the partial paying off the Armada fleet did not release him from the intolerable annoyance of receiving, keeping, and paying money, and, which was still worse, of making out such accounts as would satisfy the scrutinizing eye of the Lord High Treasurer Burleigh, he took the first occasion that presented itself of offering his services afloat. The dolorous terms in which his letters were couched show a mind ill at ease and ready, on any terms, to get rid of the distressing occupation that appears to have overwhelmed him. An opportunity offered this year (1590), which afforded him a present but not a permanent relief. From the good effects experienced by the ruin of the Spanish Armada, the Queen was resolved to follow up the blow by increasing her naval force, and to this end to appropriate an annual sum of money to keep her ships in repair; being well convinced that her navy alone must be the surest force for preventing her inveterate enemy of Spain from making further attempts to insult the coasts of England or Ireland; and the successful exploits of Drake, on two *MS. State Paper Office. occasions, had fully satisfied her mind that the most effectual mode of harassing and crippling the Spaniard was, to attack him at home in his own ports, and to intercept his treasure-ships on their return. A fleet, therefore, was fitted out in the year 1590 to proceed upon the coast of Spain, to effect there all the mischief it could do, and on the same occasion to proceed into the track of the Plate ships. For this purpose the Queen assigned ten of her own ships, which were to be divided into two squadrons, the one to be commanded by Sir John Hawkins, the other by Sir Martin Frobisher, two officers of her own choice, and well known by their great and tried experience. The ships selected were the Revenge, the Mary Rose, the Lion, the Bonaventure, the Rainbow, the Hope, the Crane, the Acquittance, the Foresight, and the Swiftsure. The officers appointed to serve under the two commanders were most of them experienced in the service-Captain Fenner, who made a part of almost every expedition, Sir Edward York, Captain George Bristow, Captain Bostock, Captain Burnell, and Captain Hawkins, son of the Admiral. This fleet first proceeded down the coast of Spain, where they soon discovered, that intelligence had been received in Madrid, detailing the number and names of the English ships, and of the two commanders; as also what were the objects under which they were to act. They discovered, more over, that the King had ordered twenty sail of his ships to proceed to sea, under the command of Don Alonzo de Bassano, with instructions to afford protection and security to their homeward-bound India ships. They also understood that Don Alonzo had actually been at sea, and had returned, not liking, it was supposed, to hazard an engagement with his twenty ships against ten of ours; but there might have been another reason. An order, it seems, had been despatched to the Indies, directing the Plate fleet to winter there, rather than to hazard their returning to Spain that summer.* Our commanders were in ignorance of these orders till long after they were acted upon; and the little fleet, therefore, was condemned to spend seven months in looking for the appearance of Don Alonzo, and for the return carracks, in the line of the track they usually pursued. This voyage may, therefore, be considered as a failure, except in so far as it caused great distress among the Spanish merchants, by being kept out of their returns for twelvemonths, and was not less inconvenient to the King of Spain. But the disappointment was so annoying to Hawkins, that he thought it due to write an apologetical letter to the Queen, reminding Her Majesty of that sage of Scripture which says, "Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the increase.” This allusion to Scripture either ruffled or amused * Monson's Tracts. pas Her Majesty so that, on reading it, she burst forth in a manner not unusual with her-" God's death! this fool went out a soldier, and is come home a divine!" Sir John was now doomed once again to resume his obnoxious labours, after a voyage which, from the following deplorable letter, would not appear to have afforded him any mitigation of his troubles:SIR JOHN HAWKINS TO THE LORD TREASURER. July 8th, 1592. - My bownden dewty in Humble manner Remembryd unto your good Lordship. When the Swyftsure was lanched at deptford, the shyp syttynge very hard, we were forcyd to use great violence upon the takells, wherof one gave way and brake, so as one end of a cable rann by my leggs, and hurt me in 6 places, wherby I have not byne able to attend upon your Lordship my sellfe. The spookes that are usyde in a whelle, as your Lordship sayd, do not stond styll, so yt fallethe out, for as sone as your Lordship hathe gyven order for one demaund to be sattysfyed in this office, ther rysethe tow more, and hathe no end. I accompt my sellf most unhappye that yt ys my lott to follow so unpleasant a service, as ys the callynge uppon soche excessyve payments as do daylye grow, for yf yt had pleasyd God to have appoynted me to have servyd Her Majestie in any other callynge, I ame sure I shold have made my service very acceptable to Her Majestie, and ever have stode in your Lordshipes good lykynge and good opynyon. But this endlesse and unsavery occupacion in callyng for mony ys allwayes unpleasant. I protest unto your Lordship, before God, in whose presence I stond with a clere concyence, that nothynge dothe more myslyke me then when any service ys comaundyd; the necessytye ys souche that I |