[Footnote 386:  See the English account of these events in the immediately preceding section.—­E.]

Sir Richard, after the Revenge yielded, was carried on board the San Paulo, the ship in which was Don Alonso de Bacan, the admiral of the Spanish fleet, where his wounds were dressed by the Spanish surgeons, but Don Alonso would neither see nor speak to him.  All the other captains went to visit and comfort him in his hard fortune, wondering at his courage and constancy, as he shewed no signs of faintness, not even changing colour:  But, feeling his death approaching, he spoke in Spanish to the following purport:  “Here die I Richard Grenville, with a joyous and quiet mind, having ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, fighting for my country, my queen, my religion, and my honour:  so that my soul most joyfully departeth from this body, and shall always leave behind the everlasting fame of a true and valiant soldier, having done my duty as became me.”  When he had finished these, or such like words, he gave up the ghost with great and unshaken courage, no man being able to perceive the least sign of concern.  This sir Richard Grenville was a great and rich gentleman of England, having large yearly revenues, but of a daring and intrepid disposition, and much affected to warlike enterprize; insomuch that he voluntarily offered his services to the queen.  He had performed many valiant deeds, and was greatly feared among the islands, his intrepidity being well known to all.  He was, however, of a severe and rigid character, so that his own people feared and hated him for his fierceness, and spoke very hardly of him.  For, when they in the Revenge first fell in among the Spanish fleet, they had their mainsail in readiness, and might possibly have got away, as it was one of the best sailing ships of the English; and, as the master perceived that the rest of the squadron had left them, and did not follow up to their support, he gave orders to cut the mainsail, that they likewise should make off:  But sir Richard threatened him and all the rest of the crew, that if any man laid hold of the mainsail with that intent, he would cause him to be hung up immediately; so that in fact they were compelled to fight, and in the end were taken.  He was of so hardy a complexion, that, while among the Spanish officers, while at dinner or supper with them, he would swallow three or four bumpers of wine, and then by way of bravado, crush the glasses between his teeth and swallow them, so that the blood ran out of his mouth, yet without any apparent harm to him.  This was told me by several credible persons, who had often stood by and beheld him.