new expedition," set out to try his fortunes again. The design was
against Cadiz; the fleet, under the command of the Earl of Essex,
numbered some 110 sail. There is no need to continue the story, for I
have nothing to add to the facts set forth in the pamphlet and the play.
If _Britannia's Pastorals_ had been written a few years later, we may be
sure that William Browne would have paid a fitting compliment to his
fellow-townsman's bravery. But Pike's famous deeds were not forgotten by
his countymen; for in a broadside of the late seventeenth century,
bearing the title of _A Panegyric Poem; or, Tavestock's Encomium_,[2] he
is thus enthusiastically praised:--

"Search whether can be found again the like
For noble prowess for our Tav'stock Pike,
In whose renowned never-dying name
Live England's honour and the Spaniard's shame."

There is a curious notice of our hero in a private letter, dated May 19,
1626, of Dr. Meddus to the Rev. Joseph Mead:[3]--"Yesterday being Holy
Thursday, one Pyke, a common soldier, left behind the fleet at Cadiz,
delivered a challenge to the Duke of Buckingham from the Marquis of ----,
brother-in-law to the Conde d'Olivares, in defence of the honour of his
sister; affirming, moreover, that he had wronged Olivares, the King of
Spain, and the King of England, and therefore he would fight with him in
any part of France. This Pike, a Devonshire man, being presented
prisoner to the Duke of Medina, he would needs have him fight at rapier
or dagger with a Spaniard, supposing he would not stand him two thrusts:
but Pyke, by a dexterous sleight, presently disarmed the Spaniard of his
rapier without hurting him, and presented it to the Duke," &c.

As to the authorship of the play, though I should be loth to speak with