One of these argosies was wrecked off the Isle of Wight about 1575, and it is said that the Venetians refused to bring merchandise into such dangerous seas after this catastrophe. Perhaps this argosy may be the very one which suggested to Shakespeare the shipwreck of the Venetian merchantman. At any rate, this fact obliged individual action on the part of the English merchants of the day, and at once necessitated the formation of a distinct Company, if the trade with the Levant was to be continued. Another point also contributed to the starting of an independent trade with the Levant, namely, a quarrel with Venice concerning the duties on currants (_State Papers, Domestic_, 11th April, 1606). In 1575 Venice had granted a patent to one Acerbo Velutelli, a native of Lucca, which gave him the sole right of importing to England currants and oil from Venetian dominions. Velutelli contrived to get these articles conveyed to England on English ships, and, by exacting an export duty for his own benefit, enriched himself and impoverished the Venetian traders. Venice then imposed a fine of 5_s._ 6_d._ on currants and oil conveyed to England in other than Venetian bottoms. Elizabeth retaliated by a similar fine on their importation, and for a time trade in these commodities was at a standstill. Yet another, and that a political, cause promoted our intercourse with Turkey. Queen Elizabeth was just entering into her vital contest with Philip II of Spain, and to secure the alliance and co-operation of the Sultan was one of her favourite schemes at this critical juncture. Until the reign of Amurath III the English had been altogether strangers to Turkey; but in 1579 three merchants were sent to Constantinople—William Harebone, Edward Ellis, and Richard Staple—to spy out the land, as it were, and, if possible, obtain for English merchants the same social and commercial privileges that other nations enjoyed. Two years later Queen Elizabeth formed a treaty charter with Amurath III for five years, in which he styles himself “the most sacred Mussulman-like Emperor”, and she also granted letters patent to a small Company entitled “The Company of Merchants of the Levant”, consisting of Sir E. Osborne, Thomas Smith, Stephen and William Garret—“because they had found out and opened a trade in Turkey, not known in the memory of any man now living to be frequented by our progenitors.” The first of the Company’s ships to trade with the Levant was sent out in 1582. It was called _The Great Susan_, and William Harebone, the first ambassador from England to the Ottoman Porte, was carried out by her. He established factories at Constantinople, obtained capitulations from the Porte, and regularly inaugurated our trade there. Harebone was considerably assisted by the great Vizier Sokolli and the Sultan’s tutor, the learned historian Seadedin, in his negotiations. (Von Hammer.)