: general's truncheon in her hand, a corselet of polished steel laced over her magnificent apparel; and a page in attendance, bearing her white plumed helmet; she rode bare-headed from rank to rank, with a courageous deportment and smiling countenance; and, amidst the loyal plaudits and shouts of military ardour, which burst from the animated and admiring troops, she harangued them in the following spirited speech: "My loving people: we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving subjects. Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safe-guard in the loyal hearts and good will of my people. And, therefore, I am come amongst you at this time; not as for my recreation or sport; but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a King; and of a King of England too! and think it foul scorn that the King of Spain, the Duke of Parma, or any Prince of Europe, should dare invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms; I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, by your forwardness, that you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, on the word of a Prince, so they shall be duly paid you. In the meantime, my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom never Prince commanded a more noble and worthy subject! not doubting, by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God. of my kingdom, and of my people." Elizabeth was delighted on this, as on all other occasions, to exalt the character of her favourite Leicester. Fortunately, his valour was not needed in the approaching contest with the Spaniards. CHAPTER XII. Defeat of the Spanish Armada-Details of the various actions-Joy of Elizabeth on the occasion-Death of the Earl of Leicester-Elizabeth's new favourite, the Earl of Essex-The rival favourites-Duel between Essex and Blount-Death of Walsingham-Essex intercedes with Elizabeth for Davison-Private marriage of Essex, and rage of Elizabeth-Rigid Parsimony of the Queen-Sir Christopher HattonThe Queen and the Bishop of Ely-Sir John Perrot. HE celebrated Span- thousand two hundred and ninety solish Armada, arro-diers, eight thousand three hundred and gantly named "The fifty marines, two thousand and eighty Invincible," now ap- galley slaves, chained; and two thousand proached the coast six hundred and thirty pieces of great ordof England; and the nance. The general was Alphonso Guzthunder of its ord- man, Duke of Medina Sidonia, and under nance was heard from him was John Martinus Ricaldus, a most the sea. It consisted of one hundred skilful navigator. On the twenty-eighth and thirty ships, filled with nineteen of May, they sailed from the Tagus, and bending their course towards Gallicia, they were dispersed by a strong tempest: so distressed and weather-beaten was the fleet, that Elizabeth was led not to expect it that year and Secretary Walsing. ham wrote to the Lord High Admiral to send back four of the largest ships. But the Admiral entreated Walsingham not to believe the report, and expressed an earnest desire to retain the whole fleet, even at his own private expense-a proper rebuke of the parsimony of that period. Having a prosperous wind, the English Admiral sailed towards Spain, with the hope of surprising the weatherbeaten ships in the harbour: when he was almost on the coast of Spain, the wind veered south; and he, who was commanded to defend the English shores, fearing that the same wind might waft the enemy's fleet towards England, quickly returned to Plymouth. On the twelfth of July, the wind continuing favourable, the Duke of Medina, with his whole fleet, weighed anchor. He dispatched a vessel to announce to the Duke of Parma the approach of the Armada, and to inform him of other needful matters; for he had orders to join the forces and fleet of the Prince of Parma, and to waft them over to England, under the protection of his Armada, and to set on shore his land forces at the mouth of the Thames. On the sixteenth day, there was a great calm, and a thick fog covered the sea till noon, and then a strong north-wind blew, then a south-wind till midnight, and then an easterly; so that the Armada, being much scattered, could hardly be collected together, till it came within sight of England, which was on the nineteenth of the month: on which day the Admiral of England, being previously apprized by Captain Fleming that the Spanish fleet had arrived in the Channel, and was descried not far from the Lizard, the wind then keeping the English navy in port, he, with great difficulty, and no less industry and alacrity on the part of the sailors, himself not disdaining to pull at the hawser amongst the private seamen, at length brought his ships into the open sea. The next day, the English fleet came within sight of the Spanish Armada, which, in the form of a crescent, whose horns were at least some miles distant, was slowly approaching under full sail. The English purposely suffered them to pass by, that they might pursue them with a favourable gale of wind. On the twenty-first of July, the Lord High Admiral sent before him a pinnace, called the Defiance, and, by discharging a piece of ordnance out of her, provoked the Spaniards to the fight: and presently out of his own ship, The Royal Ark, the Admiral thundered upon a huge vessel, which he took to be that of the Spanish Admiral, but which proved to be the ship of Alphonso Leva. At the same instant, Drake, Hawkins, and Furbisher, pealed terribly on the rear, commanded by Ricaldus, who performed all the duties of a valiant and discreet commander, in endeavouring to stay the ships under his command from flying, until his own ship, extremely battered with shot, became so unmanageable, that with much difficulty he kept his station. The Duke of Medina now reformed his dispersed ships, and with full sail held on his course. Nor could he do otherwise, as the wind was favourable for the English, and their ships attacked, retired, and re-attacked them upon every quarter, with incredible celerity. When they had continued the fight sharply for the space of two hours, the English Admiral thought it prudent to retire, as he hourly expected a reinforcement of forty sail. The night following, a Spanish ship, the St. Katherine, being much shattered in the conflict, was received into the midst of the fleet to be repaired: and a large Catalonian ship, the Oquenda, in which was the treasurer of the fleet, was partly blown up with gunpowder, by the device of a Flemish gunner. But the fire was seasonably quenched by ships sent in for the purpose; one of these, a galleon of Peter Valdes, had the misfortune to fall foul of another ship, and the wind being stormy and the night dark, she was abandoned, and became a prey to Sir Francis Drake, who sent Valdes to Dartmouth, and gave his ship to be plundered by the marines. The Spaniards were hotly pursued by the Admiral, with the ships Mary and Rose. The Duke of Medina was busied in putting his fleet in array of battle. He then sent Ensign Gliche to the Duke of Parnia, to inform him of the state of the fleet, and committed the ship Oquenda, having first removed into other vessels her treasure and the marines, to the mercy of the seas. The same day, this splendid galleon, with fifty seamen, miserably maimed and half-burnt, fell into the hands of the English, and was sent into Weymouth. On the twenty-third, at break of day, the Spaniards, having a prosperous north wind, turned sail towards the English, who, in order to get advantage of the wind, turned towards the west, and both fleets, after contending for the favour of the wind, prepared for action, and fought confusedly and with various success; while, in one place, the English valiantly brought out the ships dangerously hemmed in by the Spaniards; in another, Ricaldus, then in danger, with no less resolution disengaged his vessels. The lightning and thunder of the artillery was great on both sides, most of which, notwithstanding, came in vain from the Spanish ships-the shot flying clear over the English. Only one, Cock, an Englishman, in a small bark of his own, died gloriously in the midst of his enemies. The English ships being infinitely smaller than the Spanish, the British sailors dexterously evaded the enemy, discharged their shot with a sure and successful aim against the great sluggish ships of the foe, and then retired into the open sea. The Lord Admiral, however, was in no haste to grapple and fight hand-to-hand, for the enemy had a strong and well-appointed army on board; their ships were far more numerous, of greater burden, stronger, and higher in bulk: and they, fighting from above, threatened certain destruction to those that fought against them upon the lower ships: he also foresaw that the loss of his men would be much more prejudicial to him than the victory could be profitable. For, to be vanquished, was to bring the Queen into inevitable danger; and to be victor, was only to win a blaze of glory, at the great sacrifice of human life. On the twenty-fourth, there was a mutual cessation of hostilities. The Lord Admiral dispatched several small barques to the adjoining ports of England for ammunition, and divided his whole fleet into four squadrons; the first he himself commanded, the second Drake, the third Hawkins, and the fourth Furbisher; and he appointed certain pinnaces, out of each squadron, to make impressions on the enemy in several quarters at the dead of night; but a calm following, that plan was abandoned. The twentyfifth, which was St. James' day, a Portuguese galleon, the St. Anne, which could not keep company with the rest of the fleet, was attacked by several small English barques. Leva and Diego Enriquez, with three galleasses, now made their appearance, but the Lord Admiral, and Lord Howard in the Golden Lion (who, on account of the great calm, were fain to be towed by fishing-boats), so battered them with cannon, that not without great difficulty, and great loss of men, they sheered off, and afterwards the galleasses never offered to fight. The Spaniards report that, on that day, the English, at a nearer distance than ever, with their great ordnance, extremely distressed the Spanish admiral, slew many of his men, and shot down his mainmast; but that Mexia and Ricaldus came opportunely, and repelled the English. That then the Spanish Armada, accompanied by Ricaldus and others, attacked the English admiral, who escaped by the sudden changing of the wind; that thereupon the Spaniards left the pursuit, and holding on their course, sent a second messenger to the Duke of Parma, directing him, with all speed, to join his fleet with the King's Armada, and to send a supply of bullets. Of this the English were ignorant, who write that they shot off the lanthorn from one of the Spanish ships, the beak-head from another, and terribly raked a third; that the Nonsuch, Mary, and the Rose, having had only a short conflict with the Spaniards, left them, and, with other ships, went to the rescue of the Triumph, then in danger. On the following day, the Lord Ad- | prevented, by insurmountable obstacles, miral, for their valour and fortitude, from acceding to their wishes.. knighted Thomas Howard, the Lord Sheffield, Roger Townsend, John Hawkins, and Martin Furbisher. And it was determined thenceforth not to attack the enemy till they came to the straits of Calais, where Henry Seymour and William Winter awaited their arrival. So the Spanish fleet made sail, with a full south-west wind, the English fleet following them. But so far was the title of "Invincible," or the once terrible aspect of the Spanish Armada, able to frighten our wooden walls, that the youth of England, leaving their parents, wives, children, kindred, and friends, out of their dearer love of their country, with ships hired at their own expense, joined the fleet in great numbers, with that noble ardour, generous alacrity, and courage which distinguish Englishmen. Amongst others who thus rendered their able assistance, were the Earls of Oxford, Northumberland, and Cumberland; Sir Thomas and Sir Robert Cecil, Sir Henry Brooke, Sir Charles Blunt, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir William Hatton, Sir Robert Carey, Sir Ambrose Willoughby, Sir Thomas Gerard, Sir Arthur Gorge, and other worthy knights of great credit and re nown. On the twenty-seventh, towards evening, the Armada cast anchor near Calais, and within cannon-shot of them lay the Admiral and the English fleet at anchor, whom Seymour and Winter soon joined. The number of the English ships amounted by this time to one hundred and forty, all able and ready for action, and yet there were not above fifteen of them which bore the weight and burden of the war, and repelled it. The Spaniards, by frequent messengers, urged the Duke of Parma to send forty flyboats, without which they could not fitly fight with the English, on account of the magnitude and sluggishness of their ships, and the great dexterity and agility of the English; and they earnestly begged him to put instantly to sea with his fleet, whom the Armada would protect as it were with wings, till their arrival in England; but the Duke was By the command of Elizabeth, after the Spaniards had cast anchor, in the dead of night, the Admiral sent eight of his worst ships, daubed on the outsides with Greek pitch and rosin, and filled full of sulphur, and other materials quickly combustible, under the conduct of Young and Prouse, having a full gale of wind, directly upon the Spanish Armada; which, as the Spaniards saw approach nearer and nearer to them, (the flames shining and illuminating the ocean), thinking these terrific burning ships were filled with some deadly engines of destructien, set up such a howling and fearful outcry as rent the air, immediately weighed anchor, cut their cables, raised their sails, cried out to their rowers, and, struck with a horrible and panic fear, with impetuous haste betook themselves to a disastrous flight. In the confusion the Spanish Admiral's galliasse had her rudder broken, ran upon the sands on the following day, and, after a doubtful fight with Amias Preston, Thomas Gerard, and Harvey, was taken; Hugh Moncada, the captain, being slain, and the soldiers and marines either drowned or killed. In the meantime, a portion of the Spanish fleet rallied before Gravelin, and were fiercely attacked by Drake and Fenner, who shortly afterwards were joined by Fenton, Southwell, Beatson, Cross, Raymond, the Lord Admiral himself, Howard, and Sheffield. The Duke, Leva, Oquenda, Ricauld, and other Spaniards bravely sustained the charge; which was such that most of their ships were disabled, and the galleon, St. Matthew, commanded by Diego Pymental, and appointed to assist Toleda in the San Philip, was broken by the continual batteries of Seymour and Winter; and being driven towards Ostend, was taken by the Zealanders, off Flushing. Another galleon was sunk, and several ran aground on the sand-banks near the mouth of the Scheldt. The last day of this month, at daybreak, the wind veered to the northwest; and the Spaniards, striving to get into the straits again, were driven towards Zealand. The English, as the | selves in this memorable conflict, she Spaniards believe, ceased their firing, would call them familiarly by their perceiving some of their ships in great names, to acknowledge their services; danger, and ready to run on the sands she also rewarded the wounded and and shoals on the coast of Zealand. The poorer sort with honourable pensions. next morning, however, with the aid of a favourable breeze, the Spaniards extricated themselves from danger, and the same evening, by common consent, they resolved to return to Spain by the Northern Ocean, as they wanted bullets and other necessaries; their ships were dismantled, and they had little hope of the Duke of Parma putting to sea. In fact, the prowess and cool daring of the English had completely frustrated their designs, and filled them with terror: seeking only their own safety, they fairly fled before their daring pursuers; but the English, at the moment when they might have annihilated their invaders, were forced by the want of ammunition to return to port. The fugitives pursued their way unmolested by man, but they met with a more terrible enemy in the violent wind and waves of the Northern Sea. The shores of Scotland and Ireland were strewn with their wrecks, and when they terminated their unfortunate voyage, they had lost thirty of their largest ships, and upwards of ten thousand men. In commemoration of this signal defeat, the Queen caused public prayers and thanksgiving to be made in all the churches of England, and went herself in triumph amongst the companies and corporations of London, who marched on each side of her Majesty, with their banners, and rode through the streets, which were richly hung with blue hangings. Thus attended, and in a chariot drawn by two horses, Elizabeth proceeded to St. Paul's, where she gave humble thanks to God, heard the sermon, which ascribed all the glory to God alone, and caused the ensigns taken to be there set up and shewn to the people. Then she assigned some revenues to the Admiral for the service he had performed with such happy success; praised highly her naval captains, as men born for the preservation of their country; and, as often as she saw any of those who had distinguished them This public rejoicing was increased by the arrival of Sir Robert Sidney from Scotland, with letters for her Majesty, which assured her, that the King of Scots embraced most affectionately the Queen's friendship, made sincere profession of true religion, and would defend the same with all his might. Sir Robert had been sent to James the Sixth, when Great Britain was first threatened with the Spanish fleet, to acknowledge by his rejoicings and thanksgivings the good will which he before bore to the Queen, to praise his forwardness, to defend the common cause, to promise him reciprocal succour, if the Spaniards attempted any invasion in Scotland; and, to give him to understand with what ambition the Spaniards gaped after the whole monarchy of Great Britain, soliciting the Pope to excommunicate his royal person, and to exclude him out of the succession of the kingdom of England, to all which the King answered gaily and merrily: : "I expect no other courtesy of the Spaniard, than such as Poliphemus promised to Ulysses; to wit, that he would devour him-the last of all his fellows." In August, 1588, Leicester, whilst proceeding from Tilbury to his Own castle of Kenilworth, was arrested in his progress by a severe illness, and after lingering for a few days, expired at Cornbury Park, in Oxfordshire; the cause of his death was a mystery, and such was the superstition of the age of Elizabeth, that it was judged necessary to take an examination before the privy council respecting certain magical prac tices, said to have been employed against his life. The son of Sir James Croft, Comptroller of the Household, made no scruple to confess, that he had consulted a magician, of the name of Smith, to learn who were his father's enemies in the council. The magician immediately mentioned the Earl of Leicester; and then, a little while after, he began flirt |