alike to England as to Spain. But this was never known until the Venetian archives revealed it. centuries after his death. King Edward's government received him as a valuable acquisition, and granted him a pension.
When the monopoly of the foreign merchants of the Steelyard was withdrawn, the Company of Merchant Adventurers resolved to seek for new outlets for English manufactured goods, and, after much consideration, it was resolved that the vessels should he fitted out, to undertake a voyage to Cathay by the north-east. One of the leading promoters was Lord Howard of Effingham, father of the great admiral; and Sebastian Cabot was chosen as the first governor of the company. The choice of the commander for this expedition fell upon Sir Hugh Willoughby, a younger son of an ancient Nottinghamshire family. His portraits at Wollaton and in the painted hall at Greenwich. show us a tall, handsome man. with a small head and amiable expression of countenance. He had the title of captain-general, with his flag on board the Bona Speranza, of 120 tons. His second in command, on board the Edward Bonaventure, of 160 tons, was Richard Chancellor, an experienced seaman, who had already seen service in the Mediterranean. Stephen Borough was with Chancellor as master, and John Buckland as mate. The third vessel was the Bona Confidentia, of 90 tons. Rather elaborate ordinances and instructions were drawn up for Willoughby's expedition, borrowed from similar documents in the office of the Chief Pilot of Spain. One, as Mr. Harrisse has pointed out, is copied from the instructions which the Council of the Indies prescribed, in 1523, to Cabot himself, for the expedition to the River Plate. In these instructions the captains were enjoined to enter daily in their journals the navigations of every day and night. The journals of the different ships were to be compared periodically, and, after debate and consultation, to be entered in a common ledger.
On the 20th of May, 1553, the three ships forming Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition were towed down the Thames by boats, with the crews dressed in sky-blue cloth. The ships saluted as they passed the royal palace of Greenwich, the roofs and towers of which were crowded with spectators. But the poor young king was too ill even to come to a window. The evidence points to his having been poisoned, probably not through criminal intent, but owing to ignorance and neglect. Five years of terror and mis-
