Elizabeth, finding that she must contend for her crown with the whole force of Spain, made preparations for resistance; and though her force seemed very inadequate to oppose so powerful an enemy, every place in the kingdom discovered the greatest readiness in defending their liberty and religion, by contributing ships, men, and money. The gentry and nobility vied with each other in the same generous career; and all the loans which the queen demanded were immediately granted.

Lord Howard, of Effingham, a man of distinguished abilities, was appointed admiral of the fleet; and Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, the most renowned seamen in Europe, served under him. A small squadron, commanded by lord Seymour, second son of the protector Somerset, lay off Dunkirk, in order to intercept the duke of Parma.

The troops were disposed along the south coast; and a body of twenty-two thousand foot, and a thousand horse, under the command of the earl of Leicester, was stationed at Tilbury, in order to cover the capital. The principal army consisted of thirty-four thousand foot, and two thousand horse, commanded by lord Hunsdon; and these were reserved for guarding the queen's person, and marching whithersoever the enemy should appear. Men of reflection, however, entertained the greatest apprehensions, when they considered the force of fifty thousand veteran Spaniards, under the duke of Parma, the most consum mate general of the age.

The queen was sensible that next to her popularity, the firmest support of her throne consisted in the zeal of the people for the protestant religion, and their abhorrence of popery. She reminded the English of their former danger from the tyranny of Spain; and of the bloody massacres in the Indies, and the unrelenting executions in the Low Countries; and a list was published of the several instruments of torture, with which, it was pretended, the Spanish armada was loaded. The more to excite the martial spirit of the nation, the queen appeared on horseback in the camp at Tilbury; and riding through the lines, she exhorted the soldiers to remember their duty to their country and their God, declaring that she would rather perish in battle than survive the ruin and slavery of her people. By this spirited conduct she excited the admiration of the soldiery; the attachment to her became enthusiastic; and

all swore to defend the glorious cause in which they were engaged.

The armada, after sailing from Lisbon, suffered considerably from storm; but the damages being repaired, the Spaniards again put to sea. The fleet consisted of one hundred and thirty vessels, of which one hundred were galleons, and of larger size than any before seen in Europe. On board were upwards of thirty thousand men, and two thousand six hundred and thirty great pieces of brass ordnance. Effingham, who was stationed at Plymouth, had just time to get out of port, when he saw the armada advancing towards him, disposed in the form of a crescent, and stretching the distance of seven miles from one extremity to the other. As the armada advanced up the channel, the English hung on its rear, and soon found that the largeness of the Spanish ships was no advantage to them. Their bulk exposed them the more to the fire of the enemy; while their cannon, placed too high, passed over the heads of the English.

The armada had now reached Calais, and cast anchor, in expectation that the duke of Parma would put to sea and join them. The English admiral, however, filling eight of his smaller ships with combustible materials, sent them one after another into the midst of the enemy. The Spaniards were so much alarmed, that they immediately cut their cables, and fled with the greatest precipitation. The English, whose fleet now amounted to one hundred and forty sail, fell upon them next morning while in confusion; and, besides doing great damage to other ships, they took or destroyed about twelve of the enemy.

The Spanish admiral, defeated in many rencounters, and perceiving the inevitable destruction of his fleet, prepared to return homewards; but conducting his shattered ships by the circuitous route of Scotland and Ireland, a violent tempest overtook them near the Orkneys. Many of the vessels were wrecked on the western isles of Scotland, and on the coast of Ireland; and not one half of this mighty armament returned to Spain.

The discomfiture of the armada begat in the nation a kind of enthusiastic passion for enterprises against A. D. Spain; and ships were hired, as well as arms pro1588 vided, at the expense of the adventurers. Among those who signalized themselves in these expeditions, were

Drake and Norris, Grenville, Howard, and the earls of Essex and Cumberland.

The war in the Netherlands still continued; and the king of Navarre, a protestant, ascending the throne of France by the title of Henry IV., a great part of the nobility immediately deserted him, and the king of Spain entertained views either of dismembering the French monarchy, or of annexing the whole to his own dominions, In this emergency, Henry addressed himself to Elizabeth, who sent him aid both in men and money; and the English auxiliaries acquired a great reputation in several enterprises, and revived in France the fame of their ancient valour.

The war did great injury to Spain; but it was attended with considerable expense to England; and the queen summoned a parliament in order to obtain a supply. However, it is evident that Elizabeth either thought her authority so established as to need no concessions in return, or she rated her prerogative above money. When sir Edward Coke, the speaker, made to her the then three usual requests of freedom from arrests, access to her person, and liberty of speech, she declared that she would not impeach the freedom of their persons, nor refuse them access to her, provided it were upon urgent occasions, and when she was at leisure from other important affairs; but that they were not to speak every one what he listeth, and that the privilege of speech extended no farther than a liberty of ay or no.

Henry IV. renounced the protestant religion, and was received by the prelates of his party into the catholic church; and Elizabeth assisted that monarch to break the league which had been formed against him, and which, after his conversion to popery, gradually dissolved.

A. D.

Though the queen made war against Philip in France and the Low Countries, yet the severest blows which he received from England, proceeded from naval enterprises. James Lancaster, with three ships and a pinnace, took thirty-nine Spanish ships, sacked Fernambouc on the coast of Brazil, and brought home a great quan- 1594 tity of treasure. Sir Walter Raleigh was less successful in an expedition to Guiana, a country which he undertook to explore at his own expense. Sir Francis Drake engaged in an enterprise against Panama; and the Spaniards obliged the English to return without effecting