Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/524

504 a project for the occupation of Canada. He was supplied with ships and stores, and had been allowed to empty the prisons to provide colonists for his intended settlement. When he found himself in command of a fleet manned by these promising crews, he hung about the English coasts, pillaging every vessel that came in his way. Part of the gang haunted the Isle of Wight; others seized Lundy Island and waylaid the Bristol traders. The party at Lundy were accounted for by the Clovelly fishermen, who, after sufficient experience of the character of the party, went off in their boats, burnt a pirate ship, and made some end or other of the crew. But this just and necessary exercise of justice was seized upon as a fresh pretext for dispute. It was represented to Francis that his innocent subjects had been causelessly attacked and destroyed by the English. The