lordship may do well to increase your number, if you shall provide able men with petronels upon horses of smaller stature." ""*

A contemporary relates, that "all the noblemen in the realm, from east to west, from north to south, excepting such only as could not be absent from their charge in the country, and some few that were not able to make forces according to their desire, came to the queen, bringing with them, according to their degrees, and to the uttermost of their power, goodly bands of horsemen, both lances, light horsemen, and such other as are termed carbines or argelatiers, lodging their bands round about London, and maintaining them in pay at their own charges. And of these noblemen, many showed the bands of their horsemen before the queen, in the fields afore her own gate, to the great marvel of men; for that the number of them was so great, and so well armed and horsed, that, knowing they were no parcel of the horsemen limited in every country, it was thought there had not been so many spare horses of such valour in the whole realm, except the north part towards Scotland, whose forces consist chiefly of horse." The first who presented himself and his retainers to the queen was a Roman catholic peer, the viscount Mountague, who at this time professed his resolution, "though he was very sickly, and in age, to live and die in defence of the queen and of his country, against all invaders, whether it were pope, king, or potentate whatsoever; and in that quarrel to hazard his life, his children, his lands, and goods. And to show his mind agreeably thereto, he came personally himself before the queen with his band of horsemen, being almost 200, the same being led by his own sons; and with them a young child, very comely, seated on horseback, being the heir of his house, that is, the eldest son to his son and heir: a matter much noted of many, to see a grandfather, father, and son at one time on horseback, afore a queen, for her service."+

Strype, iii. part ii. pp. 13, 14.

+ Copy of a letter, &c. Harl. Muse. (Svo. ed.) ii. p. 76.

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The clergy also were called upon by the primate, archbishop Whitgift. "Being members," he said, "of one and the self-same commonweal, and embarked in the like common danger with others, if not more, in respect of our calling and public profession of religion, whereby we are also bound to go before others, as well in word as good example; we are, therefore, to remember, and advisedly to weigh with ourselves, what dutiful forwardness against these extraordinary imminent dangers, of very congruence, is expected at our hands, for the defence of our gracious sovereign, our selves, our families, and country. And, beside the very good expectation of the best, the stirring up of those which otherwise are but slow to further such service, and the discouraging of the common enemy, our willing readiness herein will be a good means also to stop the mouths of such as do think those temporal blessings, which God hath in mercy bestowed upon us, to be too much; and, therefore, spare not in grudging manner to say that themselves are forced, to their great charges, to fight for us, while we live quietly at home, without providing any munition in these public perils." He required the bishops, therefore, as the letter of the council required him, "effectually to deal with those of their cathedral churches, and other beneficed men in their dioceses, but especially such as were of better ability, for the furnishing of themselves with lances, light horses, petronels on horseback, muskets, calivers, pikes, halberds, bills, or bows and arrows, as in regard of their several abilities might be thought most convenient: and he desired them, by all good persuasions, to move such ecclesiastical persons to be ready with all free and voluntary provision of man, horse, and furniture. present necessary service," he said, "being no great charge, and so expedient for every one to have in readiness, for the defence of his own person, house, and family, upon any sudden occasion."*

This

The appeal from such a queen to such a nation was * Strype's Whitgift, book iii. App. no. 38.

answered with just and enthusiastic loyalty.

The city of London set an example worthy of London, such as the metropolis then was. When its aid was asked, the lord mayor requested that the council would state what would be deemed requisite. Accordingly, 5000 men and fifteen ships were required. The lord mayor asked two days for deliberation, and then, in the name of the city, prayed that the queen would accept of twice those numbers. Six thousand were immediately trained and regimented, being armed with musquets, pikes, calivers, and bills the other 4000 were armed and put in readiness, and 10,000 more were reported as able men. The artillery company, which had originated about three years before, proved singularly useful now. At that time "certain gallant, active, and forward citizens," says the old historian of London, "having had experience, both abroad and at home, voluntarily exercised themselves and trained others, for the ready use of war; so that there were almost 300 merchants, and others of the like quality, very sufficient and skilful to train and teach common soldiers the managing of their pieces, pikes, and halberds, and to march, countermarch, and ring. These merchants met every Tuesday to practise all points of war. Every man by turn bore orderly office, from the corporal to the captain. Some of them had now charge of men in the great camp, and were generally called captains of the artillery garden." Most erroneously had cardinal Allen, and the king of Spain, and the pope judged, when they thought that Elizabeth and the English nation were to be intimidated by a display of overpowering force, and denunciations "that the realm should be invaded and conquered, that the queen should be destroyed, and all the nobility and men of reputation, of honour, and wealth, who should obey her, and defend her, and would withstand the invasion, should, with all their families, be rooted out, and their places, their honours, their houses, and their lands bestowed upon the conquerors!" For "these things were universally so odiously taken, that the hearts of all sorts of people were inflamed,

some with

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ire, some with fear; but all sorts, almost without exception, resolved to venture their lives for the withstanding of all manner of conquest." The people,

firmly devoted as they were to their magnanimous and excellent queen, were, by such insolent threats, "thoroughly irritated," says a contemporary, "to stir up their whole forces for their defence against such prognosticated conquests; so that, in a very short time, all her whole realm, and every corner, were furnished with armed men, on horseback and on foot; and those continually trained, exercised, and put into bands, in warlike manner, as in no age ever was before in this realm. There was no sparing of money to provide horse, armour, weapons, powder, and all necessaries; no, nor want of provision of pioneers, carriages, and victuals, in every county of the realm, without exception, to attend upon the armies. And to this general furniture every man voluntarily offered, very many their services personally without wages, others money for armour and weapons, and to wage soldiers: a matter strange, and never the like heard of in this realm or elsewhere. And this general reason moved all men to large contributions, that when a conquest was to be withstood wherein all should be lost, it was no time to spare a portion."

There were some who advised the queen to place no reliance upon any means of maritime defence, but to expect the enemy's coming, and "welcome him with a land battle," as her father had resolved to do when he was threatened with invasion by a superior fleet; and as was intended in the time of the French Armada, in Richard II.'s reign. But Elizabeth, though her reliance was not upon any human strength, knew the worth of her seamen, and omitted none of those means of defence with

*Copy of a letter sent out of England (Harl. Muse. 8vo. edition, vol. ii 63, 64.) The editor of this collection must have cast a careless eye over this letter, or he would not have supposed that it had really been written by a papist in the Spanish interest."

"One strange speech," says the writer, "that I heard spoken, may be marvelled at, but it was avowed to me for a truth, that one gentleman in Kent had a band of 150 footmen which were worth in goods above 150,0007. sterling, besides their lands. Such men would fight stoutly before they would lose their goods." p. 65.

which God and nature had provided her. The command of the whole fleet she gave to Charles lord Howard of Effingham, who had been appointed lord high admiral three years before, on the death of the earl of Lincoln, Edward Clinton.* That office "seemed to have become almost hereditary in the Howard family. The queen had a great persuasion of his fortunate conduct, and knew him to be of a moderate and noble courage, skilful in sea matters, wary and provident, valiant and courageous, industrious and active, and of great authority and esteem among the sailors." Him she sent early in the year to the western coast with the main body of the fleet; Drake, who was her vice-admiral, joined him here, and Hawkins and Frobisher (great names in naval history) were in this division. Lord Henry Seymour, second son of the duke of Somerset, was ordered to lie off the coast of Flanders with 40 ships, Dutch and English; blockade the enemy's ports there; and prevent the prince of Parma from forming a junction with the Armada from Spain. Ten years before this time the royal navy consisted of no more than 24 ships of all sizes, the largest being of 1000 tons, the smallest under 60; all the ships throughout England of 100 tons and upwards were but 135, and all under 100 and above 40 tons were 656.+ But if the ten years which had elapsed had done little toward the augmentation of the royal navy, it had added more than any preceding century to the maritime strength of the country in that race of sailors which had been trained up in adventurous expeditions to the new world. The whole number of ships collected for the defence of the country on this great occasion was 191, the number of seamen 17,472, the amount of tonnage 31,985. Eighteen of these ships were volunteers. There was one ship in the fleet (the Triumph) of 1100 tons, one of 1000, one of 900, two of 800 each, three of 600, and five of 500, five of 400, six of 300, six of 250, twenty of 200: all the rest were smaller. But, in the Armada, though there were only three ships that + Campbell, i. 334.

* Camden, 325.