14. This was a grand exploit, as few people had believed, then, that it was possible, or that the world was really a round body; so you see how these voyages tended to increase knowledge, as well as to improve commerce. 15. When Drake returned, the queen went to dine with him on board his ship, and made him a knight, after which he was called Sir Francis Drake, and he soon became an admiral. 16. In the mean time, several voyages had been made to America, and Sir Walter Raleigh, who was one of the great men of the time, had taken possession of a tract of land for the queen of England, which he called Virginia, and it still bears that name. 17. The Europeans behaved very unjustly about America, for although the natives were savages, they had no right to take away their lands. 18. But they did so in every place they went to; and if they were Spaniards, they set up the Spanish flag, and the commander of the ship said, “I take this country for the king of Spain;” and then would fight with the poor natives, and kill them or drive them away; and, I am sorry to say, the English used to act much in the same manner. 19. The Spaniards who had taken some of the West India Islands, and settled colonies in South America, wanted slaves to work in the gold mines, and their sugar plantations; so an English captain took out some ships to Africa, and carried off a great many negroes, whom he sold in the West Indies, for a large price; and from that time this trade was carried on to a great extent, and was permitted, by government, until the beginning of the present century. 20. But we must now think of what was going on in England. Elizabeth had a cousin, named Mary, who was queen of Scotland, and was next heir to the English crown. 21. She was young and beautiful, and had been married to the king of France, who was now dead; so she had returned to Scotland, and, after a time, married lord Darnley, and had a son, who was our king James the First. 22. Lord Darnley was murdered, and Mary married another lord, who was disliked by the Scots, so that there was a civil war, and she was obliged to resign the crown, and after much ill-treatment, escaped to England, and begged the protection of queen Elizabeth. 23. Now the queen had always been jealous of her, and she was now cruel enough to shut her up in a castle, and, after keeping her a prisoner for eighteen years, in different places, gave orders for her execution, and the unfortunate queen of Scots was beheaded in Fotheringay castle. 24. Soon after this event, news arrived that a large fleet was coming to invade England. The king of Spain, Philip the Second, had been married to our queen Mary; and had offered his hand to queen Elizabeth, but she had resolved not to marry at all, and at any rate, she would not have had Philip, for she did not like him.