Octber sent over Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, with squmlron conveying a Colmiderable body of troops, to occupy the place. t Frauce at once declared all English ships good prize, so long as Elizabeth held Le Hi[vre. The queen replied by declaring all French ships good prize also. In this informal war the English privateers made ilmnense gains at sea. One Francis Clarke, for example, by means of three vessels which he had fitted out, captured no fewer than eighteen ships, valued at .ES0,000, within three weeks. s But the English privateers, like the French ones, soon developed piratical tendencies; it became necessary to restrain their operations by proclamation, and an embassy was sent to Fnmce to excuse their practices2 Sir William Woodhouse, with a small squadron, composed of the Lion, Hole, Htrt, ,b'wallow, and Hare, was sent to sea to repress piracy, aud at the stone time to render such aid as might be possible to the Huguenots; and he seems to have cruised with success, lying at intervals at l'orts- mouth, during the winter2

But Elizabeth was soon deserted by her lrot:gs. On March lth, 1563, the French Protestant and Catholic leaders conchded peace at Areboise; and, as the English continued to hold Le Hgvre, formal war between France and England was declared on July 7th, and the re-united parties combined to press with equal energy the siege of the town, under the direction of tim Constable Anne de 5Imtmorenci. Warwick held out until the .28th, a fleet of sixty sail, sent to suceour him, arriving only in time to carry off his forces. The campaign was put an end to on April 11th, lr)ti4, by the Treaty of Troyes.* In virtue of this, the French queen-mother agrd to t)ay 120,000 crowns to England; free trade between the two countries was conceded; and French hostages in English hands were released.

Late in 1566, a little trading expedition, under George Fenner,

a Strype, i. 3;7; F,,rbes's C,,11. $. P. ii.: Burleigh's Diary (Murdin), 753, 754; Leonard. ii. 571. Eleven small French veels were taken in the p-t. a Camden, i. 94; Speed, 835; lhlinshed, ii. s Sty,we, J53. 4 Camden, ' Am.' i. 98.

S. P. (Haynes), 3; S. P. (Forbes), ii. 171; Stowe, 652; Strype, i. 367; tIlin- 

sled, ii. 1197. s This year John llawkyns made his second voyage to the West Indies. Chap. X V I.

' Fdera,' xv. 640.