ven her shelter and who was at
last obliged to follow the advice of her trusted councilors "to cutte
off the Scottish Queen's heade."

The head was duly "cutte off" in the year 1587 and caused a war with
Spain. But the combined navies of England and Holland defeated Philip's
Invincible Armada, as we have already seen, and the blow which had been
meant to destroy the power of the two great anti-Catholic leaders was
turned into a profitable business adventure.

For now at last, after many years of hesitation, the English as well as
the Dutch thought it their good right to invade the Indies and America
and avenge the ills which their Protestant brethren had suffered at
the hands of the Spaniards. The English had been among the earliest
successors of Columbus. British ships, commanded by the Venetian pilot
Giovanni Caboto (or Cabot), had been the first to discover and explore
the northern American continent in 1496. Labrador and Newfoundland were
of little importance as a possible colony. But the banks of Newfoundland
offered a rich reward to the English fishing fleet. A year later, in
1497, the same Cabot had explored the coast of Florida.

Then had come the busy years of Henry VII and Henry VIII when there had
been no money for foreign explorations. But under Elizabeth, with the
country at peace and Mary Stuart in prison, the sailors could leave
their harbour without fear for the fate of those whom they left behind.
While Elizabeth was still a child, Willoughby had ventured to sail past
the North Cape and one of his captains, Richard Chancellor, pushing
further eastward in his quest of a possible road to the Indies, had
reached Archangel, Russia, where he had established diplomatic and
commercial relations with the mysterious rulers of this distant
Muscovite Empire. During the first years of Elizabeth's rule this voyage
had been followed up by many others. Merchant adventurers, working
for the benefit of a "joint stock Company" had laid the foundations of
trading companies which in later centuries were to become colonies. Half
pirate, half diplomat, willing to stake everything on a single lucky
voyage, smugglers of everything that could be loaded into the hold of
a vessel, dealers in men and merchandise with equal indifference to
everything except their profit, the sailors of Elizabeth had carried the
English flag and the fame of their Virgin Queen to the four corners of
the Seven Seas. Meanwhile William Shakespeare kep