1587 and demolished 4 castles. The Spanish admiral, though stationed at the mouth of the Tagus with a large squadron, did not dare to risk an action with him; and Drake, sailing towards the Azores, captured the St. Philip, a large galleon, laden with a valuable cargo from the East Indies. These exploits delayed the sailing of the Armada, and gave Elizabeth time to prepare her defence. The militia was enrolled, and two armies were formed Tilbury -one of 36,000 men, under Lord Hunsdon, for the Queen's body guard; and the other of 30,000 men, under Leicester, for the defence of the capital. Both sides of the Thames were fortified. At Tilbury Fort a great camp was formed; The and a bridge of boats, connecting it with Gravesend, Queen at served also to block up the river to the invaders. Nor Fort. was there less stir and activity inland. There was not a corner of the realm which did not ring with preparation, and muster its armed force. The maritime counties, from Cornwall round to Lincolnshire, were furnished with troops, so that 20,000 men could be assembled at any part of the coast within twenty-four hours. The Queen never shone to more advantage than at this great crisis; and the fame of her brave deportment, and of her encouraging words, was spread everywhere. She reviewed the Londoners, whose enthusiasm was boundless; and when the arrival of the Armada was daily expected, she reviewed the army at Tilbury Fort, riding through the ranks on a stately charger, with a marshal's truncheon in her hand, and armour on her back. When the thunders of applause with which she was greeted by the soldiers had a little subsided, she harangued them in the following popular 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 do assure you, I do not desire to live, to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects; and therefore I am come among you as you see at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of battle, to live or die amongst you all-to lay down for my God, and for my kingdoms, and for my people, my honour and my blood even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonor 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, for your forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. For the meantime, my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting, but by CHAP. Y. 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 these enemies of my God, of my kingdoms, and of my people."* Distri. bution of the English The soldiers, many of them volunteers of gentle blood and breeding, loudly cheered this stirring address, and declared their readiness to lay down their lives in defence of their heroic princess.* England, however, was destined to be saved by the skill and intrepidity of her seamen. Owing to the parsimony of the government, the whole royal navy did not exceed 36 men-of-war; and had not the people responded to the appeals of their rulers with that spirit which makes a nation invincible, the land would inevitably have fallen a prey to the Spaniard; for the troops were mostly raw and hasty levies, which would have opposed but a feeble resistance to Parma's veterans. The city of London furnished 33, and private individuals 18 sail; and to these were added 43 hired vessels and 53 coasters. The whole strength of the English fleet was 29,744 tons, 837 guns, and 15,785 seamen. The Dutch sent in a squadron of 60 sail; "brave ships," says Stow, "fierce and full of spleen." As it was altogether unknown where the enemy would attempt to land, the fleet was divided one part under Lord Howard, of Effingham, fleet. high admiral of England, and a Roman Catholic, was destined for the defence of the western coast, and was distributed in three squadrons; the first, under Drake, being detached towards Ushant to keep a look out; the second, under Hawkins, cruised between the Land's End and the Scilly Islands; and the third, under Howard, kept near Plymouth, to engage the Armada in its passage up the channel. The other fleet, under the command of Lord Seymour, son of the protector Somerset, cruised along the coast of Flanders, and blockaded the ports. It would be endless to enumerate all the volunteers who came bravely forward to share in the perils and the glory of this ever-memorable contest, England's great Salamis. The chief of them were, George Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland, one of the most remarkable characters of the age; Thomas Howard, Edmund Sheffield, and Raleigh; and Martin Frobisher, who led into action the Triumph, one of the three first-rates which were all that the English navy could boast. : 43. The running fight up the Channel. Drake's last expedition * Dr. Lingard (VIII., 285) dates this royal visit to Tilbury on the 9th of August, after the defeat and dispersion of the Armada, and appends this note. "I have not noticed the speech said to have been spoken by Elizabeth, at Tilbury. It might have been prepared for her as an address to the soldiers, if it had been necessary. But she certainly could not exhort them to fight after the enemy was gone, and when she had resolved to disband the army immediately." 1588 had been of the greatest service to his country, for it postponed the sailing of the Armada more than a year. During the delay, Santa Cruz, and his vice-admiral, died; the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a man as ignorant of naval affairs as Howard, the English admiral, became the new commander, and he had not set sail from Lisbon many days, when a storm burst upon his fleet off Cape Finisterre, dispersed it along the shores of Galicia, and compelled him to run into the harbour of Corunna, to re-fit (June 9th). When Elizabeth heard of this disaster, with her usual economy, she at once ordered the admiral to dismantle four of his largest ships, and discharge their crews. But Howard's patriotism would not allow him to obey this order, and he offered to retain the ships at his own expense rather than risk the safety of his country by their dismissal. He then steered to the Spanish coast, to ascertain the real state of the Armada; a brisk north wind carried him to Corunna, fourteen Spanish ships, out at sea, flying before him. A south-west wind spinging up, he immediately returned; the whole Armada followed, and the English had only just moored their ships in Plymouth harbour, when the Spaniards were discovered off the Lizard Point (July 19th). The English captains were playing bowls on the Hoe, when they received this intelligence; but they played out their game, and then took to their ships, Drake saying that there was plenty of time both to win the game and beat the Spaniards. The next day (Saturday, July 20th) they got a full sight of the Armada. Contemporary Appearance writers describe its appearance as a magnificent and Armada. imposing spectacle. The magnitude of the ships; the unusual construction of the galeasses; their lofty prows and turrets; their slow and majestic motion, were calculated to strike the beholders with admiration and awe. The whole fleet was formed in the shape of a vast crescent, the horns of which lay seven miles apart. But their great height and bulk, though imposing to the unskilled, gave confidence to the English seamen, who at once perceived the advantage which their lighter craft would have in manœuvering, over such ill-formed and unwieldy vessels. The English admiral, therefore, allowed the Armada to pass up the channel, and then followed in its rear, annoying it for a distance, cutting off the stragglers, and attacking the more sluggish sailers. Before two hours had passed, a considerable portion of the enemy was left far behind; for the Spanish admiral, in obedience to The fight his instructions, pressed all sail to reach Flanders, in Plymouth. order that he might effect a junction with Parma. Then Hawkins, and Drake, Frobisher, Bradbury, Howard, and others, rushing of the off CHAP. V. out from under the 'lee of the land, poured their broadsides into the labouring hulks of the laggards, and escaped the return cannonade by the diminutiveness of their size. Unwieldy, scattered, and disheartened, the Spanish galleons could neither ward off nor escape the assaults of the little English craft, whose fire told with terrific effect on those huge ships, crammed with soldiers and mariners. In this first skirmish, a treasure ship, containing 55,000 ducats, was captured by Drake, and during the night, one of the largest galleons was set on fire by a Flemish gunner on board; a second was dismasted and captured; and a third, which had wandered from the rest, for the night was dark and stormy, was captured off the coast of France. The next day (July 23rd) Howard, having been reinforced by forty sail, came up with the whole Armada, off Portland, when a battle began, Off which continued nearly the whole of that day, and would have been renewed on the following morning, if the English had not consumed all their supply of powder. On the morning of the 25th, Howard again encountered the enemy, off the Isle of Wight, and captured another large galleon; but his supply of powder again fell short, and he was obliged to retreat; and next day he leisurely followed the Armada, resolved to suspend any further attacks till he came up with the squadrons under Lord Seymour and Sir Thomas Winter, in the straits of Dover. As he sailed up the channel, every bay and inlet sent out its pinnace and coble, to join his squadrons, and have a shot at the Spaniard, for the great fight had yet to come, and the fate of England depended upon the transportation of Parma's army. 44. Defeat and dispersion of the Armada in Calais roads. On the 27th of July, the Armada anchored in Calais roads, whence the Spanish admiral would have proceeded to Dunkirk, to which fort, and to Newport, Parma had conveyed his troops, to be ready for immediate embarkation. But the Duke of Medina was advised to remain where he was; and that very night (July 29th) Howard sent eight fire ships into the midst of the enemy; who, remembering the destruction which these terrible engines had caused at the siege of Antwerp, uttered loud cries of horror, cut their cables, ran out to sea, and in their terror and confusion, inflicted upon each other much greater damage than they had suffered in some of the preceding actions. A fierce gale now began to blow from the south-west; the rain fell in torrents; the glare of the lightning confounded the mariners; and the dawn of morning discovered the Armada dispersed along the coast from Ostend to Calais. The English captains made numerous prizes that day; but the 1588 Spaniards rallied, and their fleet, now reduced to about 80 sail, all in a dilapidated condition, collected at Gravelines (July 30th), and it was determined to return home by the north of Scotland and Ireland; that being the only way left open for their retreat. The English captains had now a splendid opportunity before them; and they might have annihilated their enemies, and prevented the return of a single ship to tell the tale of English daring and Spanish defeat. But the want of ammunition compelled them to return to port, and the fugitives, in their northern course met with no enemy but the elements. Their new foe was as terrible as the one they had escaped. As they rounded the Orkneys, a violent tempest arose, which was the more Disasters in perilous, because of their ignorance of those northern the North. seas and inhospitable coasts. Horses, mules, artillery, and baggage, all were thrown overboard; many of the ships were dashed to pieces among the rocks of the Western Isles; others were wrecked on the coasts of Norway; and some foundered at sea, with every soul on board. Seventeen were stranded on the Irish coast, where the popular name of Port-na-Spagna, bestowed on a place near the Giant's Causeway, is an existing memorial of the fearful catastrophe. Those who fell among the Scots were made prisoners by James; those who were wrecked on the coast of Ireland were butchered, or driven off to sea in their shattered vessels, and drowned. A few ships were captured as they passed the mouth of the channel, and the rest, about 60 sail of all kinds, under the Duke of Sidonia, arrived at Santander, towards the end of September, with their crews all worn out with cold, hunger, and sickness. The victorious English fleet anchored safely in the Downs, having lost only one vessel, and very few men (Aug. 8th). 45. English rejoicings after the victory. This signal discomfiture of its most dreaded and detested foe, was hailed by the English nation as the triumph of Protestant principles, and of national independence. The tidings of it were welcomed by all the reformed churches of Europe with an ardour of joy and thankfulness proportioned to the intenseness of anxiety with which they had watched the conflict, and Elizabeth after this was looked up to, not only as the Queen of a victorious nation, but as the representative of progress and liberty, and the champion of religious freedom, and whoever attacked her, made enemies of the free and the enterprising throughout the world. During the awful interval, the breathless pause of suspense which intervened between the sailing of the Spanish fleet after its first dispersion, * White's Landmarks, 102; Aikin's Memoirs, II., 231. |