He  gave  leave  to  two  merchants  to  load  two  cargoes  of  woad,
but  when  they  had  the  cagoes  on  board  he  seized  them  both  for
Don  Antonio.  They  raised  a  great  outcry  at  this  and  took  their
wives  and  children  to  him  to  pray  for  mercy,  whereupon  Silva  made
them  give  a  written  undertaking  that  they  would  deliver  half  of
the  woad  in  Antwerp  to  the  factors  of  Don  Antonio.  When  these
merchants  arrived  in  Plymouth  they  saw  Diego  Botello,  who  had
returned  thither  by  reason  of  foul  weather,  and  on  their  complaining
to  him  of  the  way  in  which  they  had  been  treated  by  de  Silva,
he  made  them  give  bills  on  themselves  and  Manuel  Enriquez,  a*
Portuguese  merchant,  who  he  thought  had  property  in  Antwerp^


838  SJPANISH  STATE  PAPEBS.
1582.  ~~  ~~~

the  bills  being  payable  at  sight,  for  3,000  ducats.  They,  being
cooped  up  in  their  ships,  were  obliged  to  do  this,  and  one  of  them
had  also  to  undertake  to  pay  the  cost  of  three  culverins  in  Antwerp
to  Duarte  de  Castro  (one  of  Don  Antonio's  factors  tliere).
The  merchants  came  hither  and  told  me  what  had  passed,
whereupon,  as  the  ships  were  still  detained  by  contrary  weather,
I  ordered  them  to  be  brought  up  the  Thames,  in  order  to  prevent
Don  Antonio's  factors  from  seizing  the  woad  by  virtue  of  the
documents  they  had  signed,  and  to  prevent  the  3,000  ducats  falling
into  the  hands  of  Don  Antonio.  At  the  same  time  I  sent  word
secretly  to  Antwerp,  ordering  Manuel  Enriquez,  in  your  Majesty's
name,  not  to  accept  bills  coming  from  Terceira,  or  to  acknowledge
that  he  had  any  property  in  the  island.
