e master.' So firm was his devotion that even torture failed to
extort from him a confession that the Marquis and 'the Lady Elizabeth'
had been involved in Wyatt's conspiracy. His 'invincible resolution'
asserted their innocence, even on the rack, and Queen Elizabeth later
recognized this splendid loyalty by making him 'one of the clerks of Her
Majesty's most honourable privy-council.'

Cecil had a high opinion of Tremayne, and in 1569 showed his faith in
Tremayne's judgment by sending him to Ireland, to sift the terrible but
conflicting stories of its miseries and rebellions, and 'to let him
know quietly the real condition of the country.' Tremayne, to begin
with, wrote hopefully of remedies for all that was wrong, but after a
year's study and experience realized that the trouble lay deeper than he
had at first understood. Nevertheless, some notes on the state of
Ireland by Edward Tremayne are endorsed by Lord Burghley 'A good
advice.' The Queen showed her confidence by entrusting to him (in 1580)
a very delicate task. The treasure that Drake brought home in the
_Pelican_ had to be registered; the examination must be made before some
public officer, but the Queen feared that it might be necessary to make
restitution to Spain, and, not objecting to a little crooked dealing,
was very anxious that the total amount of the booty should never be made
known. In obedience to the instructions he received from her, Tremayne
writes to Walsingham: 'I have at no time entered into the account, to
know more of the very value of the treasure than he made me acquainted
with. And to say the truth, I persuaded him to impart to me no more than
need, for so I saw him commanded in her Majesty's behalf, that he should
reveal the certainly to no man living.' Here follows a fine tribute to
Drake's unselfishness: 'And withal, I must say, as I find by apparent
demonstration, he is so inclined to advance the value to be delivered to
her Majesty and seeking in general to recompense all men that have been
in this case dealers with him, as I dare take an oath with him, he will
rather diminish his own portion than leave any of them unsatisfied.'

Edmund Tremayne, of a later generation, faithfully served his King in
the troubled times of the Civil Wars, 'and was several hundred pounds
deep in their books, at Haberdashers' Hall, for his loyalty. He is also
stated to have repaid a considerable portion of the money borrowed for
the necessities of the Que