far better cheap than either
the Portugal or Spaniard doth or may do. Also we might sail to divers
very rich countries, both civil and others, out of both their
jurisdiction [that of the Portuguese and Spaniards], where there is to
be found great abundance of gold, silver, precious stones, cloth of
gold, silks, all manner of spices, grocery wares, and other kinds of
merchandise of an inestimable price.

Gilbert also speaks of the possibility of colonizing the regions thus
to be discovered. The quaint language in which he describes the
chances of what is now called 'imperial expansion' is not without its
irony:

We might inhabit some part of those countries [he says], and settle
there such needy people of our country which now trouble the
commonwealth, and through want here at home are enforced to commit {10}
outrageous offences whereby they are daily consumed with the gallows.
We shall also have occasion to set poor men's children to learn
handicrafts and thereby to make trifles and such like, which the
Indians and those people do much esteem: by reason whereof there should
be none occasion to have our country cumbered with loiterers,
vagabonds, and such like idle persons.

Undoubtedly Gilbert's way of thinking was also that of many of the
great statesmen and sailors of his day. Especially was this the case
with Sir Martin Frobisher, a man, we are told, 'thoroughly furnished
with knowledge of the sphere and all other skills appertaining to the
art of navigation.' The North-West Passage became the dream of
Frobisher's ambition. Year after year he vainly besought the queen's
councillors to sanction an expedition. But the opposition of the
powerful Muscovy Company was thrown against the project. Frobisher,
although supported by the influence of the Earl of Warwick, agitated
and argued in vain for fifteen years, till at last in 1574 the
necessary licence was granted and the countenance of the queen was
assured to the enterprise. Even then about two years {11} passed
before the preparations could be completed.

Frobisher's first expedition was on a humble scale. His company
numbered in all thirty-five men. They embarked in two small barques,
the _Gabriel_ and the _Michael_, neither of them of more than
twenty-five tons, and a pinnace of ten tons. They carried food for a
year. The ships dropped down the Thames on June 7, 1576, and as they
passed Greenwich, where the queen's court was, the little vessels