1883.] 3Ir. Walter Herries Pollock on Sir Francis Drake. 233 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, February 23, 1883. 



Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart. M.A. Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Walter Herries Pollock, Esq. M.A. 



Sir Francis Drake. 



The speaker, in a brief biographical sketch, included a defence and 

 eulogium of Sir Francis Drake, based upon authentic evidence, manu- 

 script and printed, from which many extracts were given. Mr. JPollock 

 confuted the erroneous opinion that Drake was of mean parentage in 

 the modern sense, a notion due, as Dr. Drake has shown, to Camden's 

 L Latin word " mediocris " being then rightly translated " mean " — i. e. 

 middling. Drake was proved to be not a mere freebooter, but a man 

 who loved his country, and who hated Spain with the Protestant hatred 

 of the time, as well as for his own private wrongs. His first voyage 

 was with Hawkins, in 1568, when he shared in the defeat in the Bay 

 of Mexico. Of his great voyage, known as " the World Encompassed," 

 begun in November, 1577, many interesting details were given. The 

 conspiracy and punishment of Thomas Doughty, one of the captains, 

 was dwelt on at some length on account of its most important relation 

 to Drake's moral character, and because it has served as a convenient 

 handle for those who are disposed to dismiss Drake and his compeers 

 with the words " Pirates all." The evidence, when considered on all 

 sides, led to the inevitable conclusion that the execution was an act of 

 stern but necessary justice. Doughty confessed his crime, and imme- 

 diately before his death took the sacrament with Drake and his other 

 judges. Among many interesting facts respecting Drake, Mr. Pollock 

 referred to his great engineering skill in supplying Plymouth with 

 an abundance of fresh water by a channel locally called " The Leat," 

 brought from the confines of Dartmoor, a distance of twenty-four 

 miles. This was an incalculable benefit to the town and to the fleet, 

 Eemarks were made on Drake's " singeing the King of Spain's beard " 

 at Cadiz, and on the defeat and dispersion of the Spanish Armada. 

 Mr. Pollock quoted as a specimen of Drake's character, as expressed 

 by his style in writing his answer to the false reports as to the 

 ,j Armada, set about by the Spaniards. " They were not ashamed to 

 publish in sundry languages in print great victories in words, which 

 they pretended to have obtained against this realm, and spread the 

 same in a most false sort over all parts of France, Italy, and elsewhere ; 

 ^ when shortly afterwards it was happily manifested in very deed to all 

 ] nations how their navy, which they termed invincible, consisting of 

 , one hundred and forty sail of ships, not only of their own kingdom, 



