212 A. D. 1597. 



polity within the Highlands and ifles, viz. one in Kentire, one in Loch- 

 aber, and a third in the ifle of Lewis *. [Par/. 15, c. 263 f.] 



At this time the interefi; of the Hanfeatic and imperial cities of Ger- 

 many, coinciding with that which the crown of Spain had at the impe- 

 rial court, produced a mandate from the emperor Rodolph to the town 

 of Staden no longer to entertain the comptoir or company of the Eng- 

 lifli merchant-adventurers. [Fcedera, V. xvi, /». 326.] Being thus forced 

 to leave Staden and all other parts of the German empire, the company 

 was invited to fettle in Groningen. At the fame time the town of Emb- 

 den and the dukes of Holftein and Brunfwick wrote to Queen Elizabeth, 

 profefling, though they were obliged to fubmit to the emperor's order, 

 their readinefs to ferve her in any other refpeft %. Wheeler, the hif- 

 toriographer of the merchant- adventurers company, aflerts, that eleven 

 or twelve other towns in the Netherlands vied witla each other for the 

 refidence of the company. 



The merchants of the Hanfe towns flattered themfelves that Elizabeth 

 would gladly reflore their antient privileges in England, in order to re- 

 cover thofe of the Englilh merchant-adventurers in Germany ; but her 

 intentions were very different ; for, knowing that their privileges were 

 repugnant to the great commercial interefts of England, after demand- 

 ing, for the lake of decorum, a revocation of the imperial edid:, fhe, 

 w'ithout further delay, dired:ed a commilTion to the mayor and fheriffs 

 of London to fhut up the houfe inhabited by the merchants of the Hanfe 

 towns at the Steelyard in London ; and moreover, ordered all the Ger- 

 mans there, and every where elfe throughout England, to quit her do- 

 minions on the very day on which the Englilh were obliged to leave 

 Staden ; whofe expulfion thence was, it feems, deferred till now. From 

 this time the place called the Steelyard was never again applied to that 

 ufe. 



At our final parting with the Steelyard merchants, we may obferve 

 that they had in old times been a kind of a bank for our kings when- 

 ever they wanted money at a pinch ; but they were fure to be v/ell paid 

 in the end for fuch affiftances. 



The capture of fixty of the Hanfe towns ftiips, loaded with corn and 

 naval flores for Spain, in the year 1589, by the Englifli, widened the 



* Notliing appears to have been done in confe- 468, 490.] It wat refervcd for a Dutch colony 



qucnce of this art till the year i6o2 (hnt accord- to introduce fifhing and trade in Lewis, and to 



ing to Moyle 1599), vvhen the ifland of Lewis build the village, or burgh, of Stornoway, which 



was granted (as countries in America were about was till a few years ago the only town in the Weft- 



tliis titne) to fome gentlemen of Fife ; the colony em iilands. M. 



being drawn from that maritime (hire, as fuppofed f Many other laws for the regulation of cotn- 



rxquainted with the fifhery, ' afource from luh'ich merce and police were enafted by tlic Scottifli 



• Scotland ov^ht naluvaUy to derive great luealih.' parliament in this feflion. M. 

 But the refiilance of the iflanders frnftrated the X The duke of Brunfwick appears to have had 



fcheme. A fecond attempt was made in 1605' a penfion of 500 merks a-year from Elizabtth, 

 with no better fucccfs. \_Spotf'Vjood' s htjiory, p^i. 



