THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



large and loving privileges ? Who ever saw, before this 

 regiment, an English Ligier in the stately porch of the 

 Grand Signor at Constantinople ? Who ever found 

 English consuls and agents at Tripolis in Syria, at 

 Aleppo, at Babylon, at Balsara, and, which is more, who 

 ever heard of Englishmen at Goa before now ? What 

 English ships did heretofore ever anchor in the mighty 

 river of Plate ? ' — and so on, passing in review the un- 

 precedented achievements of the apostles of navigation. 

 Both Spenser and Hakluyt are right in making much 

 of these things. The boast of the Stoic is empty, that 

 the mind is its own place. The mind lives by its 

 takings, and a fresh experience feathers the wings of the 

 human spirit, and lends them scope and power. 

 T^e spirit of The fantastic adventure of the age and its intimate 

 ^T^^^t^kl connection with grave historical events may be well 

 seen in the career of the notorious Tom Stukeley. He 

 was a man of small account, says Camden, * a ruffian, a 

 riotous spend-thrift, and a notable vapourer,' who had 

 been disappointed in his hope of obtaining a small 

 official post in Ireland. He offered his services to the 

 Pope, promising to drive the English troops out of 

 Ireland, and to fire the English fleet. To this end 

 he was put in command of some eight hundred Italian 

 soldiers levied at the charges of Spain. He set sail 

 from Civita Vecchia and arrived at Lisbon, where he 

 was to be joined by Sebastian, King of Portugal. 

 Sebastian induced him, by way of preface to the Irish 

 campaign, to lend his force against the Mahomedan 

 powers of Northern Africa; and in 1578, at the battle 

 of Alcazar, where Sebastian and two Moorish kings 

 fell, Stukeley also was slain. By the death of the King 



