Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/419

1554.] Prince in their power. Howard's own conduct, too, was far from reassuring. A few small vessels had been sent from Antwerp to join the English fleet, under the Flemish admiral Chappelle. Chappelle complained that Howard treated him with indifference, and insulted his ships by 'calling them cockle-shells.' If the crews of the two fleets were on land anywhere together, the English lost no opportunity of making a quarrel, 'hustling and pushing' the Flemish sailors; and, as if finally to complete the Queen's vexation, Lord Bedford wrote that the Prince declined the protection of her subjects on his voyage, and that his departure was postponed for a few weeks longer.

The fleet had to remain in the Channel; it could not be trusted elsewhere; and the necessity of releasing Elizabeth from the Tower was another annoyance to the Queen. A confinement at Woodstock was the furthest stretch of severity that the country would, for the present, permit. On the 19th of May, Elizabeth was taken up the river. The Princess believed herself that she was being carried off tanqnam ovis, as she said—as a sheep for the slaughter. But the world thought that she was set at liberty, and as her barge passed under the Bridge Mary heard, with indignation, from the palace windows, three salvoes of artillery fired from the Steelyard, as a sign of the joy of the people. A letter