Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/87

 1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. with the Rhingrave, in which the French lost fourteen hundred men, and the English comparatively few. Unfortunately young Tremayne was among the killed, a special favourite of Elizabeth, who had dis- tinguished himself at Leith, the most gallant of the splendid band of youths who had been driven into exile in her sister's time, and had roved the seas as privateers. The Queen was prepared for war, but not for the cost of war. She had resented the expulsion of the French in- habitants of Havre : she had ' doubted ' if they were driven from their homes ' whether God would be con- tented with the rest that would follow ; ' 1 she was more deeply affected with the death of Tremayne ; and War- wick was obliged to tell her that war was a rough game ; she must not discourage her troops by finding fault with measures indispensable to success ; for Tremayne, he said, 'men came there to venture their lives for her Majesty and their country, and must stand to that which God had appointed either to live or die/ 2 The English had a right to expect that they could hold the town against any force which could be brought against them ; while the priva- teers, like a troop of wolves, were scouring the Channel and chasing French traders from the seas. One uneasy symptom alone betrayed itself : on the yth of June Lord Warwick reported that a strange disease had appeared in the garrison, of which nine men had suddenly died. 3 June. The Queen to Warwick, May 22 : FORBES, vol. ii. 2 Warwick to Cecil, June 9 : Domestic MS. 8 Warwick to Cecil, June 7 : MS. Ibid.