DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

duplicity, she awed him with the reply that if he dared to say another word she would fling him into prison. If she was avaricious and sold her help to the French and Dutch Protestants at the highest rate she could; if when her life-long favourite, Leicester, died, she seized his property in payment of some money she pretended to have lent to him ; if she stood in partnership with freebooters, accepted a share of their spoils and profits, and wore in her crown the jewels they had plundered from Spanish shrines, her thrift, which she extended to the manage- ment of the public purse, won her general eratitude, and enabled her to consolidate the power of the country. It may be not out of place to devote a few words to these freebooters who played so large a part in enriching the throne of Elizabeth, as well as in building up the fortunes of England. Some years before Elizabeth’s accession, the two Cabots foundland, started the American fisheries, which under Elizabeth were greatly extended. Chancellor, in discovering Archangel, created the trade with father and son—had, in discovering New- Russia. The wealthiest merchants of England had pre- viously formed themselves into companies, under the name of ‘Merchant Adventurers,’ and had conveyed their goods to the Netherlands. They even received