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she put her finger to her lips, kissed them again, and bade them pray for her. Then the maid, Kennedy, took a handkerchief, edged with gold, in which the eucharist had formerly been enclosed, and fastened it over her eyes. The executioners led her to the block, and the kneelqueen, ing on the cushion before it, said, with a clear and unquailing voice, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!" But the headsman's nerves were not in such good order; he probably entertained the notions of the times about the sacredness of royal blood, and he was disturbed by the groans and lamentations of Mary's servants; perhaps of all present, except Kent and the dean. He trembled and struck so badly that it cost him three strokes to cut the neck asunder. At last, when the head had fallen on the scaffold, he took it up, and holding it at arms' length, exclaimed officially, God save Queen Elizabeth!" The Dean of Peterborough added, "Thus perish all her enemies!" The Earl of Kent, approaching the headless body, cried in a louder voice, "So perish all the enemies of the queen and gospel!" Everybody else was silent; not a voice said Amen to the dean and the earl. The queen's little lapdog was observed to have crept under her clothes, and would not be removed till force was used, and afterwards it would not leave the body, but went and lay down between the head and shoulders.*

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On the morning after the execution a dispatch arrived at court from the Earl of Shrewsbury. The dispatch was carried by Mr. Henry Talbot, Shrewsbury's son; and Burghley, to whom it was delivered, immediately sent for Davison, and after consulting with Hatton and some other privy counsellors, he agreed not to acquaint the queen suddenly with the execution. But by the hour of noon the report was spread in the city, where the Protestants testified their exceeding great joy by ringing all the church bells and lighting bonfires. It was impossible that Elizabeth could remain ignorant of these things; she learned all the particulars in the evening, but did not then take the least notice of the event, 66 nor showed any alteration at all." On the next morning, when she was officially informed of the execution, she sent for Sir Christopher Hatton, and with an appearance of wonderful grief, declared that she had never commanded or intended that thing, and laid the whole blame on the privy council, but chiefly on Davison, who had abused the trust she had reposed in him by allowing the warrant to go out of his hands. Davison hurried to court fearing no evil, as the whole of the privy council had acted with him in the matter; but the counsellors, who knew that there must be a victim, strongly advised him to absent himself from court for a few days. Poor Davison took their advice, and on the 14th of February he was committed to the Tower. At the same time the queen turned the engines of her pretended wrath against Burghley, who was struck with

Jebb. -- Camden.- Conn. - Saunderson.-Robertson.- Chalmers.-Walter Scott,

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alarm, and withdrew to his own house for many days, whence he wrote the most humiliating letters to his mistress. The day after the arrest of Davison, Walsingham, who had recovered from his illness at the very nick of time, returned to court, where for some weeks he had the principal management of affairs in his own hands. One of his first duties appears to have been to devise a message to the French king, assuring him of her majesty's ignorance of the sending of the warrant, her sorrow at the execution, and her determination to punish her ministers. But soon Burghley and the rest emerged from this artificial mist, and only William Davison was made a scapegoat or sacrifice, being condemned to pay a fine of ten thousand pounds, and be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure. The poor secretary suffered miserably from imprisonment, palsy, and utter poverty, for the treasury seized all his property to pay the fine; and thus he lived through the seventeen long years to which the remainder of Elizabeth's reign was drawn

out.

Some weeks after the execution of Mary, Sir Robert Carey, son of her relative, Lord Hunsdon, was dispatched by Elizabeth to make her excuses to King James for the murder of his mother. Some of the Scots were so infuriated, that they would have torn this messenger to pieces if he had not been protected by troops which James sent him as an escort. On first learning the news, it is said that the royal dastard and pedant burst into tears, and threatened to move heaven and earth for vengeance. In the letter presented by Sir Robert Carey, Elizabeth told James of the unutterable grief which she felt on account of that "unhappy accident" which, without her knowledge, had happened in England. She appealed to the supreme Judge of heaven and earth for her innocence; said she abhorred dissimulation, and deemed nothing more worthy of a prince than a sincere and open conduct that she had never intended to carry the sentence into execution-that she was punishing those who had frustrated her merciful intentions: and she added that, as no one loved him more dearly than herself, or bore a more anxious concern for his welfare, she trusted that he would consider every one as his own enemy who endeavoured, on account of the present accident, to excite any animosity between them. All James's mighty wrath soon evaporated, and he sat down quiet and contented, with an increase of the pension which Elizabeth had long been paying him, and with a hope that his dutiful conduct would clear all obstructions to his succession to the English throne on the death of its present occupant.

Circumstances and her own happy arts went equally in Elizabeth's favour in disarming the resentment of France. She made a public apology to the ambassador L'Aubespine for the harsh treatment he had received, took him by the hand to a corner of the room, told him that the greatest of calamities had befallen her, and swore sundry great oaths that she was innocent of Mary's death.

Four of her council, she said, had played her a trick: they were old and faithful servants, or by God she would have all their heads off! She said that what troubled her most of all was the displeasure of the king his master, whom she honoured above all men, and she assured the ambassador that she was now quite ready to aid him against his enemies with men, money, and ships. L'Aubespine remarked that she had all along given assistance to the enemies and revolted subjects of France. Here she drew a nice distinction, saying, that she had done nothing against Henry, but had only assisted the King of Navarre against the Duke of Guise. The ambassador asked whether it were fair to do this without the king's consentto supply fuel to civil war in his dominions-and whether she would suffer any foreign prince to do the like in her dominions. But the civil war continued to rage in France, and Henry III. was soon glad to have her countenance to the murder of the Guises. If that unhappy family were bigots and persecutors and chief directors of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, they certainly found no faith or mercy themselves. In December, 1588, Henry III. secretly distributed forty-five daggers to as many assassins in the castle of Blois : the Duke of Guise, Queen Mary's cousin, who had been invited as a guest, was set upon and murdered at the door of the king's chamber. On the morrow his brother, the cardinal, was assassinated in a like barbarous manner; and the Protestants were only prevented from making public rejoicings at their fall by the better sense and feeling of their great leader, Du Plessis Mornay. The Catholics became more fierce and formidable than ever, the pope launched the sentence of excommunication, the doctors of the Sorbonne released the subjects from their oath of allegiance, and a few months after, as Henry was laying siege to his own capital, he was assassinated by a fanatic monk of the order of the Jacobins, named Jacques Clement.

King Philip of Spain, who was exasperated to the extreme by the bold and brilliant expeditions of Drake and others to the West Indies, was in a different position from that of the French and Scottish king, and making the most of the recent tragedy at Fotheringay Castle, he branded Elizabeth as a murderer, and animated his people with a desire of vengeance. She on her side made some politic efforts to disarm his resentment. Leicester, who had returned to Holland, soon became an object of contempt. She recalled him, allowed the Hollanders to put Prince Maurice of Orange in his stead, and then seemed very well disposed to give up the Protestant cause in the Netherlands. She kept the precautionary towns, as they were called, and greatly did the Netherlanders fear that she would sell all these keys of their dominions to the Spanish king. Burghley opened negotiations with Spain, and two foreign merchants, an Italian and a Fleming, were intrusted with a secret mission to the Duke of Parma, who still maintained himself in the Netherlands. But Elizabeth and her

ministers soon foresaw that no sacrifices they could make would disarm the animosity of the Spaniards, and every wind brought them news of immense naval and military preparations in Spain and Portugal. While the queen continued to negotiate, Sir Francis Drake was dispatched with a fleet of 30 sail, and ordered to destroy all the Spanish ships he could find in their own harbours. Never perhaps was a commission more ably or more boldly executed. On the 19th of April (1587) he dashed into Cadiz roads, and burnt, sunk, or took 30 ships, some of which were of the largest size. He then turned back along the coast, and between Cadiz bay and Cape St. Vincent, he sunk, took, or burned 100 vessels, besides knocking down four castles on the coast. Drake, who was a humorist, called this "singeing the King of Spain's beard." From Cape St. Vincent he sailed to the Tagus, where he challenged the Marquis Santa Cruz, and took, almost under the shadow of his flag, the St. Philip, a ship of the largest size, loaded with the richest merchandise. These operations materially tended to delay the sailing of the Spanish armada for more than a year, and allowed Elizabeth time to prepare for her defence. They are also said to have had another effect, to have caused the death of Santa Cruz, the best sailor of Spain, whose orders prevented him from accepting Drake's challenge, notwithstanding his superiority of force, and who fell sick, and some months after died of slow fever and vexation at the mischief done by the English. But Philip, whose power on the whole had increased rather than diminished since the first commencement of his enmity with Elizabeth-for if he had lost Holland he had annexed Portugal to his dominions-was not to be put from his purpose of invading England. He obtained from the pope sup plies of money and a renewal of the bull of excommunication against Elizabeth. He levied troops in all directions, he hired ships from the republics of Genoa and Venice, he took up all the proper vessels possessed by his subjects of Naples and Sicily, he pressed the construction of others in Spain, in Portugal, and in that part of Flanders which still belonged to him, where shoals of flatbottomed boats were prepared for the transport of the Duke of Parma and 30,000 men. By the month of November of this year, (1587,) the danger to England seemed so imminent, that Elizabeth summoned a great council of war, in which were included many officers of remarkable genius and bravery, and among others the ambi-dextrous, the all accomplished Walter Raleigh, who took a leading part in the deliberations, and gave the greatest weight to the opinion that the invaders ought to be met at sea, and not waited for on land.† Through parsimony, the whole royal navy of England did not, at this moment, exceed 36 sail, but merchant ships were fitted out by the nobles and people at

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their own expense, and armed for war, and Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, names scarcely eclipsed by all the heroes who have succeeded them-men who had lived their lives on the ocean, and girdled the globe in their daring expeditions-the best seamen of the age, were appointed to the command under the high admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, who is described himself as being of a wise and noble courage, skilful in sea matters, wary and provident, and of great esteem among the sailors. The entire number of ships collected on this critical occasion was 191; the number of seamen was 17,400. Eighteen of these ships were volunteers. There was one ship in the fleet, (the Triumph) of 1,100 tons, one of 1000, one of 900, two of 800 each, three of 600, five of 500, five of 400, six of 300, six of 250, twenty of 200: all the rest were smaller, the total amount of tonnage being 31,985.* The Dutch were applied to for their assistance, "and," says Stowe, "they came roundly in with three score sail, brave ships of war, fierce, and full of spleen, not so much for England's aid as in just occasion for their own defence, foreseeing the greatness of the danger that must ensue if the Spaniards should chance to win the day and get the mastery over them." The fleet was distributed at various points, for it could not be known where the enemy would attempt their landing. The lord admiral, who guarded the

Southey's Naval History-In the Armada there were only three ships of size superior to the Triumph, the largest of the English ships; but there were 45 ships ranging from 600 to 1000 tons; and though the English fleet outnumbered the Armada, its entire tonnage was less than one-half of that of the enemy.

western coast, divided-his force into three squadrons. Drake was detached towards Ushant to keep a look-out; Hawkins cruised between the Land's End and Scilly Islands; Lord Henry Seymour cruised along the coast of Flanders, blocking up the Spanish ports there; and other captains constantly scoured the Channel.

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As it was given out that the Spaniards intended to sail up the river and strike their first blow at London, both sides of the Thames were fortified, under the direction of Federico Giambelli, an Italian deserter from the Spanish service. Gravesend was strongly fortified, and a vast number of barges were collected there, for the double purpose of serving as a bridge for the passage of horse and foot between Kent and Essex, and for blocking up the river to the invaders. At Tilbury Fort, directly opposite to Gravesend, a great camp was formed. Nor was there less stir and activity inland. There was not a corner of England which did not ring with preparation, and muster its armed force. The maritime counties, from Cornwall to Kent, and from Kent to Lincolnshire, were furnished with soldiers, both of themselves and with the auxiliary militia of the neighbouring shires, so that, upon any spot where a landing might be effected, within the space of forty-eight hours an army of twenty thousand men could be assembled." The Catholics vied with the Protestants in activity, in zeal, in patriotism; and as their gentlemen of rank were generally excluded from commands by the jealousies of the Protestants,

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although the lord admiral himself, Lord Howard of Effingham, was a Catholic, they served in the ranks like common soldiers, or they embarked in the ships to do the work of common sailors. This grand fact ought to have proved to the queen how ungrounded had been her fears, how uselessly she had drenched herself in blood;-it ought to have put down from that day forward the persecution which she exercised, or permitted to be exercised, from political motives, against her Catholic subjects; but, alas! it was not so. When the lordlieutenants of the different counties returned their numbers, it was found that there were under arms 130,000 men, exclusive of the levies furnished by the city of London. It is true that not above half of these men had been trained, and that a very small number indeed were veteran soldiers. But if the enemy had effected a landing, they had not in the heart of the country a single forfeited town; they must have kept the field constantly, and one campaign would have converted the rustics and burghers of England into good soldiers. Two thousand foot and two hundred horse were stationed at Milford Haven; 5000 brave men of Cornwall and Devonshire were thrown into Plymouth; the men of Dorsetshire and Wiltshire drew up at Portland; the Isle of Wight was put into a formidable attitude, and every important point was watched and guarded. Moveable columns kept up a communication between the more distant points. The force assembled at Tilbury Fort consisted of 22,000 foot and 2000 horse, and between them and London were 28,000 men levied for the protection of her majesty's person, commanded by her kinsman Lord Hunsdon, and 10,000 Londoners.* A, confident hope was entertained that the fleet would be able to prevent any disembarkation, but it was provided, in case of a landing, that the country should be laid waste, and the invaders harassed by incessant attacks. The queen never shone to more advantage than at this warlike crisis, and though she kept her person between the capital and the near camp at Tilbury Fort, the fame of her brave deportment and her encouraging words were 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 a war-horse, wearing armour on her back, and carry

In the year 1798, when England was threatened with a French invasion, the late John Bruce, Esq., keeper of the State Paper Office, was directed by Henry Dundas, then war secretary, to make a search among the papers under his charge, with the view of discovering the arrangements made for the internal defence of the country in 1588. Mr. Bruce accordingly compiled a report, with an appendix, containing most of the contemporary documents relative to the Armada; the original lists of the army and navy; and the correspondence of Drake and the other heroes with the queen and her ministers. Mr. Bruce's work was never published, only a few copies being printed for the members of the cabinet; but Mr. Tytler has had access to it and derived from it the principal part of his account of the Armada, given in the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh.' Murdin, in his collection of the Burghley Papers, gives lists of the numbers of men and ships prepared for the defence of the kingdom against the Armada, which were communicated to him by Lord Royston, who had caused them to be transcribed from a volume of the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. Several of the letters from Drake and his comrades have been published in the Hardwicke Papers and the collec tions of Ellis and Wright.

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ing a marshal's truncheon in her hand. The Earls of Essex and Leicester held her bridle rein, while she delivered a stirring speech to the men. "My loving people," said the queen, 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 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 amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation and 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, for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour, and my blood, even in the dust. I know that 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 foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms! To which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general,-the 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, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time my licutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded more noble or more worthy subject; nor will I suffer myself to doubt, but that 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 my people."* Everything in this camp speech was exciting and appropriate except the laudation bestowed on the general; for the lieutenant was none other than that carpet-knight and most inefficient commander, the Earl of Leicester! It had been arranged by the Spanish court that the Armada should leave Lisbon in the beginning of May, but the Marquis de Santa Cruz was then sinking under the fever of which he died; and, by a singular fatality, the Duke of Paliano, the vice-admiral, and an excellent officer, fell sick and died nearly at the same time. Philip found a difficulty in replacing these two commanders. After some delay he gave the supreme command to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who, instead of being the best sailor in Spain, was no sailor at all, and wholly ignorant of maritime affairs. Martinez de Recaldo, who was appointed vice-admiral, was, however, a seaman of good experience. At last, the INVINCIBLE ARMADA, as the Spaniards called it in their pride, set sail from the Tagus on the 29th of May. It consisted at this time of about 130 vessels of all sizes; 45 of these were galleons and larger ships; 25 were pink-built ships; 13 were frigates. They mounted altogether 2431 guns of different calibres.

Cabala.

In addition to the mariners, they carried nearly 20,000 land troops, among whom were 2000 volunteers of the noblest families in Spain. But this mighty fleet, when steering towards Coruña, where it was to take on board more troops and stores, was overtaken, off Cape Finisterre, by a great tempest, and dispersed. Four large ships foundered at sea; the rest reached Coruña and other ports on that coast, but considerably damaged by the storm. This occasioned a fresh delay, which, however, might have proved fatal rather than favourable if Elizabeth's advice had been followed by her brave commanders. A report reached London that the enemies' ships had suffered so much that they could not possibly proceed on their expedition this year; and as the cost of the English fleet was great (though the government only bore a part of it), the queen, from motives of economy, made secretary Walsingham write to the admiral to tell him to lay up four of his largest ships, and discharge their crews. But Lord Howard of Effingham nobly replied to this letter, that, rather than dismantle any of his ships, he would take upon him to disobey his mistress, and keep them afloat at his own charge. The admiral now called a council of war, wherein it was determined to sail for the Spanish coast to complete the destruction of the Armada, if so disabled, or to ascertain at all events its real condition. A brisk north wind soon carried him to Coruña, whither he chased before him fourteen Spanish ships which were at sea. Having ascertained the truth, he became anxious to return, lest a part of their fleet might make the western coast of England in his absence. Favoured by a change of wind, he soon reached his station at Plymouth, where he allowed his men a little relaxation on shore. On the 19th of July, one Fleming, a Scottish pirate or privateer,

sailed into Plymouth, with intelligence that he had seen the Spanish fleet off the Lizard. At the moment most of the captains and officers were on shore playing bowls on the Hoe. There was an instant bustle, and a calling for the ships' boats, but Drake insisted that the match should be played out, as there was plenty of time both to win the game and beat the Spaniards. Unfortunately the wind was blowing hard in their teeth, but they contrived to warp out their ships. On the following day, being Saturday, the 20th of July, they got a full sight of the Armada standing majestically on-the vessels being drawn up in the form of a crescent, which, from horn to horn, measured some seven miles. Their great height and bulk, though imposing to the unskilled, gave confidence to the English seamen, who reckoned at once upon having the advantage in tacking and manoeuvring their lighter craft. At first it was expected that the Spaniards might attempt a landing at Plymouth, but the Duke de Medina adhered to the plan which had been prescribed to him, and which was to steer quite through the Channel till he should reach the coast of Flanders, where he was to raise the blockade of the harbours of Nieuport and Dunkirk, maintained by the English and Dutch, make a junction with the Duke of Parma, and bring that prince's forces with him to England. Lord Howard let him pass, and then followed in his rear, avoiding coming to close quarters, and watching with a vigilant eye for any lucky accident that might arise from cross winds or irregular sailing. And soon a part of the Spanish fleet was left considerably astern by the main division, where the Duke of Medina kept up a press of sail, as if he had no other object in view than to get through the Channel as fast as possible. He made signals to the slower ships to

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THE SPANISH ARMADA ATTACKED BY THE ENGLISH FIEET. From the Ancient Tapestry in the House of Lords, destroyed in the late Fire

at the Houses of Parliament.

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