expedition having been suffered to leave the shores of England, and of English merchants h,ving supplied the besieged with provisions, the queen was ahle to disown personal knowledge of Iontgomeri's design. Concerning the other allegation, she very ,ptly said that merchants were men who followed their gain, wheresoever they hoped to find it; and that since they, being Protestants, were ill danger of heing butchered in every other port of Fr,nce, it was no wonder that they carried their goods where they might hope to vend thein ill safety.

A fifth war of religions raged in France from 1574 to 1576. As usual, Elizabeth, while countenancing the _Huguenots, endeavoured to keep on teqns of peace with France; and, at the height of the struggle, she sent the Earl of Worcester on a complimentary mission to the French Court. The Protestnts of La Rochelle had, as on previous occasions of the kind, taken advantage of the civil strife to fit out privateers, which eventually began to commit pir,tical acts against vessels of all nations. Some of these cruisers were so rash as to seize. vessel containing prt of the iEarl's baggage, and in the affr,y they killed three or four people. This was more than the queen could suffer, even froin her p'otg:s. The Lord .High Admiral, who, in 1572 had been created E,rl of Lincoln, was instructed to clear the Narrow Seas of all freebooters, Protestant or Catholic. .He appointed the Controller of the Navy, hViIliam .Holstock, as his vice-admiral, and enhsted hilu with the command of three fast vessels, having three hundred and sixty men on board. hVith these, in about six weeks, Ir. .Holstock took twenty priv,teers, with nine hundred men, and retook fifteen merchantmen. The prizes were sent into Sandwich, ])over, and Portsmouth; and in one of them wer found three of the persons who h,d been concerned in the plundering of the Earl of hh'orcestcr's baggage. These, after trial, were hanged as pirates.

In 1575, s the Prince f Or,nge and the States Gcner,l of the Netherlands offered Elizabeth the possession, or, if not, the protectorate of .Holland and Zeeland. The queen graciously declined the offer, but pr(mised, if possible, to use her influence with ,qpain to procure peace for the United Provinces. .Had she accepted

('areden, ii. 2?0, 275: Daniel, viii. 75); St.we, ;74.

Sype, ii. 171, 172; H,,linshed, ii. 1257.

s In this year John xenham nade a voyage to the "S,:uth Seas." Chap. XVI.