‘Make much of me, dear husband,’ she did say.
‘I’ll make much more of thee,’ said he,
‘Than any one shall, verily:’
And so he sold her clothes, and went his way.
His magnificent patronage had been extended to travellers, one of whom dedicated to him a description of the countries bordering on the Baltic, and, like other Devon men, he looked to the sea as to his native element. The Queen licensed him to found a colony in Florida, and he promised in his usual vein of braggadocio to write to her ‘in the style of princes, to our dearest sister.’
Stukeley’s adventures. He goes to Spain.
The Queen directed Sussex to give his flotilla shelter in the Irish ports, and from that time he is connected more or less closely with the history of Ireland. He had made friends with Shane O’Neill during his residence in London. Stukeley never went to Florida, but with a ship of 400 tons, containing 100 tall soldiers besides mariners, he appeared upon the coast of Munster in his true character of pirate. ‘I fear,’ said Sir Thomas Wrothe, ‘he will make the sea his Florida. He hath been reached at to be catched, but it will not be yet.’ Caught he was at last, and in great danger of hanging, for Elizabeth was very angry at his piracies; but Shane O’Neill wrote on behalf of his old acquaintance, professing to believe it quite impossible that he could have done anything against Queen or laws. Even Arnold was captivated, or perhaps was determined to see things in the same light as Shane. At all events, Stukeley found some favour, for he was allowed to enter into recognisances as to the charges of piracy, and to go back to Ireland with recommendations from Cecil, Leicester, and Pembroke. Sidney not only showed him favour, but at Shane’s own request employed the desperate adventurer as a go-between, and the success of the negotiations was such as might have been expected from the diplomatist’s character. Stukeley next persuaded Sir N. Bagenal to sell him his office of Marshal and his lands in Ireland for 3,000l. Irish. Sidney was inclined to sanction the bargain, but the notion of Stukeley being employed in such an office was much disliked in England. Cecil did not approve of it, and the Lord Deputy had gently to remind him that he had himself written in Stukeley’s favour. Elizabeth, who seems to have correctly judged the adventurer’s character, railed at him in good set terms, would not hear of his appointment, and ordered him to be sent home to answer the charges made against him in the Admiralty Court. Those who love to depreciate Elizabeth should remember how well she saw through the specious villain who deceived Burghley, Sidney, and Philip. It is likely enough that Stukeley would never have paid Bagenal. Had he found the 3,000l. it would probably have been either the profits of piracy or a bribe from Shane O’Neill. He neither returned to England nor gave up his evil courses, being soon afterwards in trouble for buying stolen goods from pirates. Sidney remained his friend, and placed him in temporary possession of the seneschalship of Wexford, vacant first by the absence and then by the death of Sir Nicholas Heron; but the Queen was obdurate, and the coveted office was given to Nicholas White, against whom Stukeley immediately began to intrigue, representing the successful candidate as a creature of Ormonde and an enemy to the Lord Deputy. He was rash enough to say that he did not care a straw for the Queen or her office, and finding his powers for mischief too limited in Ireland, and himself in danger of arrest, he went to Spain and offered his services to Philip. Mendoza assured Cecil that he knew nothing about this journey, but of course his statement was not believed.[201]
Stukeley and Fitzgibbon in Spain.
Knowing Stukeley’s antecedents, it is extraordinary that Sidney should have taken no pains to stop him, and should have believed that he and his motley following were going to London to see the Queen. Stukeley had already been some time in communication with Spain, and it is impossible to believe that Sidney was privy to his designs; but it is hard to understand the treatment he received.
English and Irish parties there.
He was allowed to purchase the ‘Trinity,’ of Bridgewater, and to spend five weeks at Waterford waiting for a wind and lading a cargo of malt, wheat, beans, and fourteen horses. The crew consisted of twenty-eight men, English and Irish except one Italian named Alessandro Fideli: only Fideli and the pilot knew the ship’s destination. A run of five days brought them to Vivero, in Galicia, whence Stukeley sent Fideli and Raymond Digby to the King at Seville. Archbishop Fitzgibbon afterwards informed Philip that many of Stukeley’s company were in despair when they found themselves in Spain, not daring to go back to England or Ireland, and destitute of resources. ‘He threatens them in case they attempt to return to their country or go elsewhere to put them in prison or something worse—that is, to throw them into the sea, for they are in his ship, as he treated others on a former occasion. Your Majesty can be well informed of all this by the same Irishmen who are here or in Galicia on this condition, that the same Thomas Stukeley be never told who gave the information; for on other terms they will never tell the truth, fearing this man, who has always been most singularly revengeful in his wickedness.’ Stukeley’s messengers returned with 200 ducats, and Philip afterwards sent a pursuivant with 1,000 more to bring their leader to Madrid, where he or his son received a further sum of 3,000 ducats. Stukeley was lodged at the King’s cost, a Catalonian knight of Calatrava, Don Francis de Merles, being assigned to him as companion. An emissary of Cecil’s was from the first at work to sow dissension between Stukeley and Archbishop Fitzgibbon, who was already disliked by the Duke of Feria. De Silva, the late ambassador in England, was consulted as to the nature of the Irish and Scotch, and he reported that both nations were beggarly, proud, and traitorous. Whatever value Philip may have attached to this opinion, he lavished favours on Stukeley, knighted him, and gave him sums amounting to 21,000 ducats within a few months; 500 reals a day were allowed him for table money, and the King sent his son to Alcala to be educated in the Prince of Orange’s company. Stukeley now called himself Duke of Ireland, and made more show than any two dukes at the Spanish Court. The Duke of Feria gave him horses and armour, he lived splendidly in his village near Madrid, and he was allowed to hope for a force of 10,000 men and the twenty-six ships which had brought Philip’s queen to Spain. Some said that an expedition under the Duke of Medina Celi was intended for Ireland, and that the whole island would rise as soon as his flag appeared on the coast.[202]
Rumours of invasion.