4 86 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. Alva sent an armed squadron from Ant] out this nest of hornets. Brederode risked an engage- ment, but getting the worst of it, he drew in under the cliffs, and the English shore batteries opened upon the Spaniards, cut them up and drove them off to sea. 1 Don Guerau complained, and demanded the punishment of the officers in command. He was referred in answer to the example of Don Alvarez at Gibraltar, and was told that the English waters were a sanctuary. 2 The Spanish ships had suffered too severely to lie at sea upon the watch. They retired, with Brederode and La Mark hanging in their rear, cutting off the stragglers which had been lamed by the English shot ; and the next' news which came to London were that, not content with selling their cargoes, they were selling their pri- soners, like the Algerine corsairs, for the chance of the ransom which they would fetch. The extraordinary spectacle was actually witnessed, of Spanish gentlemen being disposed of openly in Dover market at a hundred pounds a piece, and being kept in irons at the court- house till their friends could purchase their liberty. 3 of Spain, April 15, 1571 ; DoA Guerau to Alva, April 23 : MSS. Simancas. 1 ' Navi jam una ex piraticis capta, reliquis consternatis, subito prseter spem ex Doverensi arce m imitionibusque vicinis magna pi- larum procella tormentis continenter emissa nostram classem dissipavit magno accepto incommodo. ' Don Guerau to Burghley, August 19. MSS. Spain. 2 Don Guerau to Philip, August 23 : MSS. Simancas. 3 This remarkable story rests on the apparently sufficient authority of a complaint addressed by the Span- ish ambassador to Burghley. The charge was openly brought and was never, so far as I can learn, denied. It will be seen that I have not over- stated the purport of Don Guerau's words : 'Mitto ad Dominationem tuam
