66 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41. possession of Havre without force or any other unlaw- ful means, she had good reason to keep it.' * On Bricquemaut's return, Catherine de Medici lost not a moment. The troops of the Rhingrave, which had watched Havre through the spring, were reinforced. The armies of the Prince and of the Cruises, lately in the field against each other, were united under the Constable, and marched for Normandy. In England ships were hurried to sea ; the western counties were allowed to send out privateers to pillage French commerce ; and depots of provisions were estab- lished at Portsmouth, with a daily service of vessels between Spithead and the mouth of the Seine. Recruits for the garrison were raised wherever volunteers could be found. The prisoners in Newgate and the Fleet high- waymen, cutpurses, shoplifters, burglars, horse-stealers, 1 tall fellows ' fit for service were drafted into the army in exchange for the gallows ; 2 and the council deter- mined to maintain in Havre a constant force of six thou- sand men and a thousand pioneers, sufficient, it was hoped, with the help of the fleet and the command of the sea, to defy the utmost which France could do. Every day there was now fighting under the walls of the town, and the first successes were with the English. Fifty of the prisoners taken at Caudebecque, who had since worked in the galleys, killed their captain and carried their vessel into Havre. A sharp action followed 1 ' A conference between the French King's ambassador and certain of her Majesty's Council, June 2.' Conway MSS., Cecil's hand. 2 Domestic MSS , Elizabeth, vol. xxviii.
