pains-taking; on which part, the greatest resistance was made, within; where the dispute was most difficult, without; where they wanted ground to retreat unto; where the enemy used their utmost power; and where, at last, the town was surrendered. The Archduke saw the great platform, the great dike, and whatsoever else, fit to excite curiosity, might be suggested by the unusual character of that siege; but not without the Infanta's great compassion, and even tears, by looking upon the horror of those parts where the sword, fire, sea, and earth, may be said to have conspired together, in making so long and so miserable a destruction of Christians. They both did very much commend Spinola, and also thanked the rest of the commanders, who had deserved well in that enterprise. Nor did they less congratulate the inferior officers and soldiers, who had exposed themselves, most, to those dangers."

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA, IN 1588.

ses.

BY JOHN STOWE.

THE Contest between the Protestants and Roman Catholics had divided all Europe into two great hostile masAn active counter-reformation, as it has been called by a distinguished historian, had begun, on the part of the Roman Catholics. Many eminent men, and whole corporate societies, within the Roman Catholic Church, were actively engaged in reforming abuses, and bringing back to its folds those who had been separated by the Reformation; while several princes strove to accomplish the same object, by forcible and violent measures. The most prominent among these was Philip the Second, King of Spain, a morose bigot, both in religion and politics; cruel, and without faith, whenever he conceived it to be necessary, and apparently shut out, by cold selfishness, from any friendly fellow-feeling for his kind. The Netherlands, dependent upon his crown, had risen against him. It was partly his wanton tyranny, and partly the Protestant spirit which was fast spreading in those countries, and his denial of any liberty of conscience, which had brought about this memorable and great event, of vast importance in the history of civilized man. Elizabeth of England, a princess of great wisdom, and who rested her power, in a great measure, upon Protestantism, had aided the Protestant insurgents of the Low Countries. This circumstance, as well as the fact that England was the most powerful of the united Protestant states, and therefore the greatest political prop of the Protestant religion, or that it might easily become such, made her an object of peculiar attention to Philip and the Pope. They considered, indeed, that nothing would be more conducive to the general reestablishment of the Roman Catholic religion, than the reduction of that Queen to a state of dependence, or her dethronement, which, probably, was no less passionately desired, on account of the severe laws against Roman Catholics, in England. Elizabeth, on her part, feared

the increase of the power of Spain. For this reason, she had aided the Netherlanders. She doubtless considered an open war, between England and Spain, as unavoidable, and had suffered Sir Francis Drake, in April, 1587, to destroy, in the port of Cadiz, a considerable fleet of the Spaniards. Philip of Spain, after serious deliberations in his council, had resolved to reduce the power of England; and, if possible, to conquer her. For this purpose, a fleet was armed, of such magnitude, that it was believed to be sure of success, and was called the Invincible Armada. In the port of Lisbon, alone, were collected about one hundred and fifty sail of vessels, with two thousand six hundred and twenty cannons, eight thousand sailors, and twenty thousand soldiers, not reckoning the smaller vessels and their crews. The fleet was well provided with all necessary equipments; and monks and priests were not wanting on board, to preach the Roman Catholic faith in the conquered country. Other armaments took place to join this. Pope Sixtus the Fifth had once more ordered the dethronement of Elizabeth, and anathematized her ; he had charged Philip to conquer her kingdom; and had called upon every one to deliver her, alive or dead, into

his hands.

Elizabeth was well aware of the greatness of her danger; but never did she rise higher, or show herself more worthy of her throne, than at this period. Her Roman Catholic subjects too, forgetting all religious animosities, and considering the conquest of their native country the greatest of all disgraces, flocked to her standards, as eagerly as the Protestants. From the highest to the lowest ranks, they manifested a truly English spirit, and promptly offered their means toward defraying the expenses of the war. Thus the hope of Philip, that England would be torn by religious factions, while he was attacking her from without, was happily foiled. A British army, of great number, was kept ready to receive the enemy, upon his landing on the English shore. A large body of troops was encamped at Tilbury, a place at the estuary of the river Thames, to protect the capital of the Kingdom. Thither, Elizabeth. proceeded, and harangued the troops, in a speech, which Sir James Mackintosh calls "one of the most stirring specimens in existence, of the rhetoric of the camp. The interesting nature of the occasion, and the importance of this branch of rhetoric, which is necessarily more national

than any other, because it aims at producing, upon a large mass of the effective force of the nation, a direct and powerful impression, with a view to immediate action, induce me to give the address of Queen Elizabeth. I shall insert it in Stowe's account, in its proper place.

What would have become of England, if she had been conquered, and how this calamitous event would have affected Europe, no human mind, of course, is able to see; but it would seem certain, that England could never have been kept, for any length of time, under the Spanish sway. It is impossible to retain in subjection a distant dependency, if it be populous, and if the people are animated by a manly spirit, love of independence, and devotion to their endangered or persecuted religion. But the fearful struggles, necessary to expel such an enemy from the country, or perhaps to extirpate him within it, could not have passed, it may be safely said, without leaving a deep impression upon the national character of the English, or perhaps changing it, in some essential traits. Nor can it be doubted, that, had England been conquered, the fate of the Netherlands would have been far different from that which history now records; and that the all-important relation in which those two countries were placed, at the later period of William the Third, could never have subsisted. No human eye can see, how England should have been able, under these different supposed circumstances, to form that nucleus of constitutional law and civil liberty, which was to outlast the period of concentrated and absolute royal power upon the continent of Europe, and from which the European race was to receive again its renewed impulse in the career of constitutional liberty. Every one, therefore, who values civil liberty, will attribute the great victory achieved over the Spaniards, to Him, to whom the Dutch attributed it, when they ordered a medal to be struck, commemorating this great event, with this scroll

"AFFLAVIT DEUS ET DISSIPATI SUNT."

God breathed, and they were dispersed.*

We ought not to pass, in silence, the elevated manner

*This inscription is not unfrequently cited, as that of an English medal. Van Campen, in his History of the Netherlands, says, that the Dutch medal is to be found, with several others, in Van Loon, Nederlandsche Historiepenningen. It matters little, to whom the device belongs, so that both were animated with the spirit which it

expresses.

in which Philip received the news of this disaster and the commanders of this unfortunate expedition. He remained collected, gave orders for the relief of the sick, the wounded, and the orphans, and said: "I armed the fleet against England, not against the fury of the sea; and I bow to the decrees of God."*

JOHN STOWE, or Srow, an annalist at the time of Elizabeth, and from whom the following account is taken, was the son of a merchant-tailor, in London, and born in 1525. About the year 1560, he formed the design of composing annals of the English history; and to this object sacrificed his trade, travelling about, on foot, to collect materials. After having experienced many difficulties, in maintaining himself, while pursuing his favorite studies, he was suspected of Roman Catholicism; and a number of Roman Catholic books being found in his house, when it was searched by the order of the Bishop of London, the character of a disaffected person was fixed upon him. His own brother made use of this suspicion, for the purpose of taking away his life, by preferring one hundred and forty articles against him, before the ecclesiastical commission; but the infamous character of the witnesses saved Stowe. His first book, 'A Summarie of Englishe Chronicles,' had then already been printed. His Survey of London,' &c., appeared in 1598, and has been several times reprinted, forming, as Rees says, the basis of all the subsequent histories of the metropolis. He never was able to publish his large Chronicle, or History of England, for which he had been collecting materials for forty years. He only lived to print an abstract of it, in the year 1600, entitled 'Flores Historiarum, or Annals of England.' Edmund Howes published, from his papers, a folio volume, entitled 'Stow's Chronicle.' Stowe, after the death of his patron, Archbishop Parker, in 1575, was reduced to extreme poverty, and finally sunk into a state of wretched destitution. He petitioned the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London for a pittance, stating, that, for twentyfive years, he had been employed in compiling and publish ing divers summaries, recording the memorable acts of famous citizens, but he received nothing. At a later period, when poor Stowe, now in his seventy-eighth year, applied

* Khevenhiller iii. 640. Strada ii. 565.

+ First printed in 1565.