"Sir John Hawkins was now an admiral, between seventy-five and eighty
years of age; and as he was, moreover, wealthy, he showed more zeal
than discretion in venturing once more upon the climate of the West
Indies. Even ten years before this period the veteran had given proof
that he was no longer the man he had been. Together with Frobisher, he
had held command of ten of the Queen’s ships to scour the coasts of
Spain; but at the end of seven months they had returned without having
taken a single vessel and without having effected anything.
The Queen was naturally indignant at such waste of force and of time,
and Hawkins deemed it necessary to excuse himself. The old
slave-dealer had been always very pious, and on this occasion he
deemed it fitting to remind her Majesty that Paul planteth and Apollos
watereth, but that God giveth the increase. This quotation from
Scripture was, under the circumstances, a little out of
place. Elizabeth’s comment upon it was, 'God’s death! This fool went
out a soldier and is come home a divine.'"