razilians as a hostage for one of the 'Savage
Kings' Hawkins brought back with him--but, as Mr Norway says, 'Plymouth
has too many heroes; in the crowd the faces of all but one or two are
blurred.'

For three generations the Hawkinses were 'the master spirits' of
Plymouth, and of them all Sir John Hawkins was the most famous. His
character was a curious medley of incongruous features, bluff
straightforwardness and crooked diplomacy, faithful affection--such as
his bold schemes to help his captured comrades proved--balanced by a
hard indifference that ignored the misery of the wretched negroes he
sold to West Indian planters. Pluck and daring were the only qualities
he showed consistently from first to last. His zeal in slave-hunting,
repulsive to us, is excused by Froude on the ground that 'negro slavery
in theory was an invention of philanthropy.' Labourers were a necessity
for the Spanish colonist, 'the proud and melancholy Indian pined like an
eagle in captivity, refused to accept his servitude, and died; the more
tractable negro would domesticate like the horse or the ass.' Though
Hawkins met with much good as well as bad luck, he was one of those who
have need to remember that fate does not shower favours on all men, but
'if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though
she be blind, yet she is not invisible,' and his success was to a very
great extent due to his stout heart and quick discernment. These
qualities stood him in good stead at San Juan de Ulloa, when his few
ships were overwhelmed by a much larger fleet. 'The name of Hawkins was
so terrible that the Spaniards dared not give him warning that he was to
be attacked;' but mounted their batteries in the dark, and from land and
sea 'every gun which could be brought to bear' opened upon the
unprepared English. After sinking two Spanish ships and setting a third
on fire, Hawkins saw that flight was their only chance, and, gathering
his men together in two small tenders, he 'crawled out under the fire of
the mole and gained the open sea.' The position of affairs was
dispiriting in the extreme. Many men and three good ships were lost,
besides treasure worth more than a million pounds, that had been won, by
running innumerable dangers, during the past year. His ships were
overcrowded, the store of food and water was scanty, and no harbour west
of the Atlantic was open to them. Under the weight of adversity, Hawkins
offered 'a lesson for all