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shedding of Christian blood, but the saving of poor afflicted souls. Come down, therefore, come down, and deliver thy people by her. To vanquish is all one with thee, by few or by many, by want or by wealth, by weakness or by strength. O! possess the hearts of our enemies with a fear of thy servants. The cause is thine, the enemies thine, the afflicted thine: the honour, victory, and triumph shall be thine. Consider, Lord, the end of our enterprises. Be present with us in our armies, and make a joyful peace for thy Christians. And now, since in this extreme necessity, thou hast put into the heart of thy servant Deborah, to provide strength to withstand the pride of Sisera and his adherents, bless thou all her forces by sea and land. Grant all her people one heart, one mind, and one strength, to defend her person, her kingdom, and thy true religion. Give unto all her council and captains wisdom, wariness, and courage, that they may speedily prevent the devices, and valiantly withstand the forces of all our enemies; that the fame of thy Gospel may be spread unto the ends of the world. We crave this in thy mercy, O heavenly Father, for the precious death of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ. Amen."

In this faith, with these preparations, and with a national spirit thus roused, the queen and the English people awaited the coming of the enemy. It was towards the latter end of May† that the then called Invincible Armada sailed from the Tagus for Coruña, there to take on board the remainder of the land forces and stores. Cardinal Albert of Austria, then viceroy of Portugal, gave it his solemn blessing before it departed, and it set forth with all the confidence ‡ that could be derived from military and naval strength, and an entire belief that all the saints in the Romish Litany would

Strype, book ii. App. no. 54.

Most of the old accounts say the 19th. One which Mr. Turner follows makes it the 25th. The Dutch writers the 29th or 30th, and with this Camden agrees; but the earliest date accords with the account given to Drake by the hulk from S. Lucar.

+ "With the greatest pride and glory," says sir W. Monsey, "and least doubt of victory that ever any nation did." P. 156.

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DRAKE'S FIRST DESPATCH.

347

befriend it. On the 30th, the lord admiral and sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth: their fleet "amounted to 100 sail, whereof 15 were victuallers, and 9 voluntaries of Devonshire gentlemen, many a serviceable man returning back for lack of employment or place." The easterly wind with which they set forth" continued but a short time; yet, nevertheless," says Drake, all men were so willing of service, and none more than my lord admiral himself, that we endured a great storm (considering the time of the year), with the wind southerly and at south-west, for seven days; and longer we had, had not the wind come westwardly, and that so much, as in keeping sea, we should have been put to leeward of Plymouth, either for Portland or Wight, which places had not been so meet, either for the meeting of the enemy, or relieving ourselves of those wants which daily will be in so great an army of ships." He had met with intelligence that the enemy were at sea, and he inferred that either they would very shortly be heard of, or else go to Coruña, and there "make their full rendezvous." assure your good lordship," said he in his letter to Burleigh, "and protest it before God, that I find my lord admiral so well affected for all honourable services in this action, as it doth assure all his followers of good success and hope of victory. Thus humbly taking my leave of your good lordship, I daily pray to God to bless her majesty, and to give us grace to fear him. So shall we not need to doubt the enemy, although they be many. From aboard her majesty's good ship the Revenge, riding in Plymouth Sound, this 6th of June, 1588. Your good lordship's very ready to be commanded, Francis Drake." This was the first despatch relating to the operations of this great campaign.

"I

The storm which the English encountered dismasted some of the enemy's ships, dispersed others, and occasioned the loss of four Portugueze galleys. One sunk; a Welshman, David Gwynne* by name, who had been a

* Hakluyt, 596. Speed, 859. Bor. 321, 322. In the latter author the details are given.

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galley-slave among these merciless people eleven years, took the opportunity of regaining his liberty, and made himself master of another, captured one galley with it, was joined by a third, in which the slaves were encouraged to rise by his example, and carried the three into a French port. The Armada, after this ominous commencement of the voyage, put back to Coruña; the lord admiral having received intelligence that it was broken in the storm, concluded rightly that its stormshaken" ships would return thither, and he set sail with the first fair wind, hoping to attack them in the harbour. But when he was not far from the coast of Spain, the wind came suddenly about into the south; and he, lest they should effect their passage with that wind, unperceived, returned to the entrance of the Channel. “I myself,” he wrote, "do lie in the midst of the Channel, with the greatest force; sir Francis Drake hath twenty ships, and four or five pinnaces, which lie towards Ushant; and Mr. Hawkins, with as many more, lieth towards Scilly. Thus we are fain to do, or else with this wind they might pass us by, and we never the wiser.-The Sleeve is another manner of thing than it was taken for: we find it by experience and daily observation to be 100 miles over a large room for me to look unto!"* Yet the delay of the enemy, and the report of what they had suffered, not from the storm alone, but also from sickness, deceived both the admiral and the government; the ships withdrew, some to the coast of Ireland, the admiral, with the greater part of the fleet, to Plymouth, where the men were allowed to come ashore. Many of them were discharged †, and the officers amused themselves with revels, dancing, bowling, and making merry." The queen was verily persuaded that the invasion was not to be looked for this year; and in that rash confidence the secretary Walsingham wrote to the admiral to send back four of the tallest ships-royal, as if the war for that season were surely at an end. Happily for England, and most † Monson, 157.

* Turner, 675. n.

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honourably for himself, the lord Effingham, though he had relaxed his vigilance, saw how perilous it was to act as if all were safe. He humbly entreated that nothing might be lightly credited in so weighty a matter, and that he might retain these ships, though it should be at his own cost. This was no empty show of disinterested zeal; for if the service of those ships had not been called for, there can be little doubt, that in the rigid parsimony of Elizabeth's government, he would have been called upon to pay the costs. *

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Meantime the Armada, having completely refitted, sailed from Coruña on the 12th of July. The duque de Medina Sidonia † had been ordered to keep along the coasts of Bretagne and Normandy; and if he met with the English fleet, to keep on the defensive, and avoid an action; and to repair to the road of Calais, there to wait for the prince of Parma: when their junction should have been effected, he was then to open the sealed instructions, which were directed to both. But as the news of the damage which he had sustained misled the English government, so did the information which he received that the English were off their guard induce him to depart from his orders; yet this was not done without some difficulty, for the council was divided in opinion; some held it best to observe the king's commands, others not to lose the opportunity of surprising our fleet in harbour, and burning and destroying it. This course was strongly advised by Diego Flores de Valdez, on whom the duke most relied, because of his experience; and with that determination they steered their course for England. The first land with which they fell in was the Lizard: they mistook it for the Ram's-head; and "night being at hand, they tacked off to sea, making account in the morning to attempt the ships in Plymouth." One Thomas Fleming, a

"A man employed rather for his birth than experience; for so many dukes, marquisses, and earls voluntarily going, would have repined to have been commanded by a man of less quality than themselves.". -Monson. + Camden, 410.

Monson. In a discourse of sir Robert Slingsby's it is said, "had it not been for the English privateer Fleming, Valdez his counsel to burn our fleet

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lucky pirate, had got sight of them off the Lizard, and hastened to Plymouth with the intelligence; - it was of such importance, that he obtained his pardon for it, and a pension during life. It had been little looked for, and the wind at that time "blew stiffly into the harbour." All hands were got on board with all speed; the ships were warped out with great difficulty, “but indeed with singular diligence and industry, and with admirable alacrity of the seamen, whom the lord admiral encouraged at their halser-work, towing at a cable with his own hands. "I dare boldly say," says Fuller, "that he drew more, though not by his person, by his presence and example, than any ten in the place." He got out himself that night, with only six ships; some four and twenty came out on the morrow, and with these, though they were some of the smallest of the fleet, he stood out to meet the enemy, resolving to impede their progress at all hazards.

" with lofty

July The next day the Armada was seen, 20. turrets like castles, in front like a half-moon; the wings thereof spreading out about the length of seven miles, sailing very slowly, though with full sails, the winds," says Camden, “ being as it were weary with wafting them, and the ocean groaning under their weight." The intent of surprising the fleet in harbour being frustrated, they passed Plymouth, the English willingly suffering them to pass, that they might chace them in the rear, July with a foreright wind. And on the morrow, the lord 21. admiral sending the Defiance pinnace forward, denounced

war* by discharging her ordnance, and presently his own ship, the Ark Royal, thundered thick and furiously

as they lay in harbour without men, had taken effect. The Spaniards' ignorance in sea affairs, taking the Lizard for the Ramshead, and tacking off that night, lost their opportunity of destroying our fleet in Plymouth sound. And although king Philip's counsel for his fleet to sail along the coast of France was great and good, yet being to be put in practice by gentlemen ignorant in sea affairs, and preferred only for their birth, it lost the effect it might have had, and totally overthrew all their design." Charnock, Preface, lxxvi.

"Fire, smoke, and echoing cannons," says Speed," began the parley; and bullets, most freely interchanged between them, were messengers of each other's mind."

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