82 Arctic and Aittarctic Exploration [part i 
project of Frobisher, would encourage his enthusiasm, 
and exert his influence to enable him to realise his ardent 
longing. So it was that Sidney's brother-in-law, Ambrose 
Dudley, Earl of Warwick, took the matter in hand, 
brought it before Queen Elizabeth, and secured her 
approval. 
The discourse of Sir Humphrey Gilbert to prove a 
passage to Cataya and the East Indies was printed in 
1576, but it had been written some years before, and its 
powerful advocacy was no small help to the persuasions 
of Frobisher. It is divided into ten chapters. The first 
is to prove the existence of a passage from authority, 
in the second is the proof from reason, and the third 
shows that America must be an island. The next four 
chapters discuss the traditions that the passage had been 
sailed through 1 , and the eighth contests the reasons given 
by Anthony Jenkinson for preferring a north-east passage. 
In the ninth it is argued that a north-west route will 
be more commodious for traffic, and in the tenth the 
manifold advantages of the discovery are set forth. At 
the close of his discourse Sir Humphrey exclaims : "He 
is not worthy to live at all who for fear or danger of 
death shunneth his country's service or his own honor, 
since death is inevitable, and the fame of virtue im- 
mortal." 
The advocacy of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and the 
support of the Queen's ministers and courtiers enabled 
Frobisher to make progress in collecting funds. A diffi- 
culty was raised by the Muscovy Company, represented 
by Mr Michael Lock, who maintained that the voyage 
was contrary to the Company's privileges. But the 
Privy Council ordered the Company either to make the 
attempt itself, or to grant a licence to Frobisher to do 
so, and the latter alternative was preferred. Moreover 
Frobisher won over Michael Lock to his side, a most 
important ally. 
Lock's father was an Alderman of London, and 
Michael was born in 1532. The father, Sir William 
Lock, was a mercer, and was also Agent-beyond-the-seas 
1 Maldonado, a Spaniard, published an account of a navigable strait, 
called the Strait of Anian, from the east side of America to the Pacific, 
coming out north of Cape Mendocino in California. 
