FOR
GOD AND GOLD

BY

JULIAN CORBETT

AUTHOR OF 'THE FALL OF ASGARD'

London
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1900

All rights reserved

First Edition 1887

Reprinted 1900

FOR GOD AND GOLD

CALLING ON THIS AILING AGE TO ESCHEW THE SINS AND IMITATE
THE VIRTUES OF

MR. JASPER FESTING

SOMETIME FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE, AND LATE AN OFFICER
IN HER MAJESTY'S SEA-SERVICE

BY THIS SHOWING FORTH OF

Certain noteworthy passages from his Life in the said University and
elsewhere, and especially his connection with the beginning of

The Puritan Party

Together with a particular relation of his Voyage to

Nombre de Dios

Under that renowned Navigator

THE LATE

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, KNIGHT

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF
AND NOW FIRST SET FORTH

PREFACE

It is not to be denied that the usual practice in usheringinto the world a long-hidden manuscript has been togive some account of its existence in its former state,and of the manner in which it came to light. Forsufficient reasons that course will not be followed in thepresent case.

Should any one in consequence be brought to doubtthe genuineness of these memoirs, it is hoped that it willbe sufficient to refer him to a curious little work entitledSir Francis Drake Revived, which contains a very sprightlyaccount of that renowned navigator's so-called ThirdVoyage to the Indies, being that in which he attemptedNombre de Dios, and which, as the title-leaf recites, is'faithfully taken out of the report of Master ChristopherCeely, Ellis Hixom, and others who were in the samevoyage with him, by Philip Nichols, Preacher; Reviewedalso by Sir Francis Drake himself before his death, andmuch holpen and enlarged by divers notes with hisown hand here and there inserted, and set forth by SirFrancis Drake (his nephew), now living, 1626.'

So closely do the present memoirs follow that accountthat it cannot reasonably be doubted that Mr. Festingwas one of those 'others' who had a hand in PreacherNichols's book, although neither he nor Mr. Waldyve arementioned as being of the expedition. When we considerthe circumstances under which they sailed, it is onlynatural to suppose that they made it a condition of theirassistance that their names should be suppressed in thepublished narrative; and, in view of this supposition, itis not unworthy to be noted that Nichols makes nomention of a 'captain of the land-soldiers' or a'merchant' as sailing with Drake, although it is knownthat these officials formed part of all well-orderedexpeditions to the Spanish Main.

Of course some small discrepancies will be foundbetween the two accounts, but they are unimportant,and seem rather to confirm the general accuracy ofMr. Festing's memoirs than to cast any suspicion uponthem. For instance, Nichols gives the name of the manwho 'spoiled all' in the first attempt on the recuas as Pike,but there can be no doubt that, by an obvious word-playwhich would commend itself to an Elizabethan punster, thename of the infantry weapon was substituted for that ofCulverin out of tenderness for the old Sergeant's memory.