Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/215

 1581.] VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 199 treasure fleet would not at that moment have been safe in Cadiz harbour. Mendoza knew that Don Antonio had not left Eng- land, and was otherwise irritated at her tone. ' Tt is easier to talk of taking fleets than to take them,' he answered ; ' we Spaniards can hold our own, and those who seek us may have the worst of it ; and as for Don Antonio, Madame, you have certainly given him assistance : you have supplied him with men, arms, and money ; the ships which he bought in the river sailed past your Majesty's windows at Greenwich, with the flag of Portugal at the mast-head ; he received stores out of the Tower, and money upon his jewels out of the City.' Having broken ground thus, he went on with his catalogue of grievances : the meddling in the Low Countries, the plunder of Spanisli merchant- ships, the piracies of Drake, for which he could have no satisfac- ' tion. Retribution, he said, must come at last, and the King of Spain's forbearance be worn out. Elizabeth was brave while she had her Court behind her. She answered, that had she chosen, she and her subjects could have helped Don Antonio to some pur- pose, and she probably would help him. As to the rest of his speech, she knew not what he was talking of. ' She spoke so insolently,' Mendoza said, ' that I re- plied that I had now been in England three years and a half, and for the whole of that time I had been able to obtain no redress, either from her council or from herself, for any wrong that had been done. Your