[Sidenote: Stukeley's adventures. He goes to Spain.] The Queen directed Sussex to give his flotilla shelter in the Irish ports, and from that time he is connected more or less closely with the history of Ireland. He had made friends with Shane O'Neill during his residence in London. Stukeley never went to Florida, but with a ship of 400 tons, containing 100 tall soldiers besides mariners, he appeared upon the coast of Munster in his true character of pirate. 'I fear,' said Sir Thomas Wrothe, 'he will make the sea his Florida. He hath been reached at to be catched, but it will not be yet.' Caught he was at last, and in great danger of hanging, for Elizabeth was very angry at his piracies; but Shane O'Neill wrote on behalf of his old acquaintance, professing to believe it quite impossible that he could have done anything against Queen or laws. Even Arnold was captivated, or perhaps was determined to see things in the same light as Shane. At all events, Stukeley found some favour, for he was allowed to enter into recognisances as to the charges of piracy, and to go back to Ireland with recommendations from Cecil, Leicester, and Pembroke. Sidney not only showed him favour, but at Shane's own request employed the desperate adventurer as a go-between, and the success of the negotiations was such as might have been expected from the diplomatist's character. Stukeley next persuaded Sir N. Bagenal to sell him his office of Marshal and his lands in Ireland for 3,000_l._ Irish. Sidney was inclined to sanction the bargain, but the notion of Stukeley being employed in such an office was much disliked in England. Cecil did not approve of it, and the Lord Deputy had gently to remind him that he had himself written in Stukeley's favour. Elizabeth, who seems to have correctly judged the adventurer's character, railed at him in good set terms, would not hear of his appointment, and ordered him to be sent home to answer the charges made against him in the Admiralty Court. Those who love to depreciate Elizabeth should remember how well she saw through the specious villain who deceived Burghley, Sidney, and Philip. It is likely enough that Stukeley would never have paid Bagenal. Had he found the 3,000_l._ it would probably have been either the profits of piracy or a bribe from Shane O'Neill. He neither returned to England nor gave up his evil courses, being soon afterwards in trouble for buying stolen goods from pirates. Sidney remained his friend, and placed him in temporary possession of the seneschalship of Wexford, vacant first by the absence and then by the death of Sir Nicholas Heron; but the Queen was obdurate, and the coveted office was given to Nicholas White, against whom Stukeley immediately began to intrigue, representing the successful candidate as a creature of Ormonde and an enemy to the Lord Deputy. He was rash enough to say that he did not care a straw for the Queen or her office, and finding his powers for mischief too limited in Ireland, and