Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/608

588 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 62. sprang on the wall, waved a handkerchief, and demanded a parley. The firing ceased, and two officers, an Italian and a Spaniard, oame over to the English lines. On being asked who they were, and for what purpose they had landed in Ireland, they said that they had been brought over ' upon fair speeches and great promises, which they had found vain and false/ and their only desire was to be allowed to depart as they had come. Lord Grey asked the Spaniard if he had a commission from his King. He confessed that he had not. He said that Don Martinez de Recalde, the Governor of Bilbao, had told him to raise a company of soldiers and join the Italians at Santander. He had obeyed ' as a blind man/ not knowing where he was going. The Italians, to a similar question, replied frankly that ' they were sent by the Pope for the defence of the Catholic faith. 7 The right of the Pope to levy war was what the English could not recognize. Grey said that it was Nov. 9. not uncommon ior men to take in hand unjust actions at the command of their natural princes, but that gentlemen of birth and breeding should allow them- selves to be sent on such an enterprise, by a person who had no authority from God or man, but was ' a detest- able shaveling, the right antichrist and patron of the doctrine of devils/ did indeed surprise him. He declared that he could regard them only as pirates. He could promise them no terms. They must surrender at dis- cretion and take their chance. They begged hard for a promise of their lives, but the Deputy was inexorable. They carried his answer back to the fort, and the General,