impatience, by interrupting the preacher; and the dean, finding that
he had profited nothing by his lecture, at last bade her change her
opinion, repent her of her former wickedness, and settle her faith upon
this ground, that only in Christ Jesus could she hope to be saved. She
answered, again and again, with great earnestness, “Trouble not yourself
any more about the matter; for I was born in this religion, I have lived
in this religion, and in this religion I am resolved to die.” Even the
two earls perceived that it was fruitless to harass her any further
with theological disputes; and they ordered the dean to desist from his
unseasonable exhortations, and to pray for her conversion. During the
dean’s prayer, she employed herself in private devotion from the office
of the Virgin; and after he had finished, she pronounced aloud some
petitions in English, for the afflicted church, for an end of her own
troubles, for her son, and for Queen Elizabeth; and prayed God, that
that princess might long prosper, and be employed in his service. The
earl of Kent, observing that in her devotions she made frequent use of
the crucifix, could not forbear reproving her for her attachment to that
Popish trumpery, as he termed it; and he exhorted her to have Christ in
her heart, not in her hand.[**] She replied, with presence of mind, that
it was difficult to hold such an object in her hand without feeling her
heart touched with some compunction.[***]
* MS. p 8, 9, 10, 11. Strype vol. iii. p. 385.
** MS. p. 15. Jebb, vol. ii. p 307, 191, 637.
*** Jebb, vol. ii. p. 307, 491, 637.
She now began, with the aid of her two women, to disrobe herself; and
the executioner also lent his hand to assist them. She smiled, and
said that she was not accustomed to undress herself before so large a
company, nor to be served by such valets. Her servants, seeing her in
this condition, ready to lay her head upon the block, burst into tears
and lamentations: she turned about to them; put her finger upon her
lips, as a sign of imposing silence upon them;[*] and having given them
her blessing, desired them to pray for her.
* Jebb, p. 307, 492.
One of her maids, whom she had appointed for that purpose, covered her
eyes with a handkerchief; she laid herself down without any sign of fear
or trepidation, and her head was severed from her body at two strokes
by the executioner. He instantly held it up to the spectators, streaming
with blood, and agitated with the convulsions of death: the dean of
Peterborough alone exclaimed, “So perish all Queen Elizabeth’s enemies:”
the earl of Kent alone replied, “Amen:” the attention of all the other
spectators was fixed on the melancholy scene before them; and zeal and
flattery alike gave place to present pity and admiration of the expiring
princess.
Thus perished, in the forty-fifth year of her age, and nineteenth of
her captivity in England, Mary, queen of Scots; a woman of great
accomplishments both of body and mind, natural as well as acquired;
but unfortunate in her life, and during one period very unhappy in her
conduct. The beauties of her person and graces of her air combined to
make her the most amiable of women; and the charms of her address and
conversation aided the impression which her lovely figure made on
the hearts of all beholders. Ambitious and active in her temper, yet
inclined to cheerfulness and society; of a lofty spirit, constant and
even vehement in her purpose, yet polite, and gentle, and affable in her
demeanor; she seemed to partake only so much of the male virtues as
to render her estimable, without relinquishing those soft graces which
compose the proper ornament of her sex. In order to form a just idea
of her character, we must set aside one part of her conduct, while she
abandoned herself to the guidance of a profligate man; and must consider
these faults, whether we admit them to be imprudences or crimes, as the
result of an inexplicable, though not uncommon inconstancy in the human
mind of the frailty of our nature, of the violence of passion, and of
the influence which situations, and sometimes momentary incidents, have
on persons whose principles are not thoroughly confirmed by experience
and reflection. Enraged by the ungrateful conduct of her husband,
seduced by the treacherous counsels of one in whom she reposed
confidence, transported by the violence of her own temper, which never
lay sufficiently under the guidance of discretion; she was betrayed into
actions which may with some difficulty be accounted for, but which admit
of no apology, nor even of alleviation. An enumeration of her qualities
might carry the appearance of a panegyric; an account of her conduct
must, in some parts, wear the aspect of severe satire and invective.
* Jebb, p. 307, 492.
Her numerous misfortunes, the solitude of her long and tedious
captivity, and the persecutions to which she had been exposed on account
of her religion, had wrought her up to a degree of bigotry during her
later years; and such were the prevalent spirit and principles of the
age, that it is the less wonder, if her zeal, her resentment, and
her interest uniting, induced her to give consent to a design which
conspirators, actuated only by the first of these motives, had formed
against the life of Elizabeth.
When the queen was informed of Mary’s execution, she affected the utmost
surprise and indignation. Her countenance changed; her speech faltered
and failed her; for a long time, her sorrow was so deep that she could
not express it, but stood fixed, like a statue, in silence and mute
astonishment. After her grief was able to find vent, it burst out in
loud wailings and lamentations; she put herself in deep mourning for
this deplorable event; and she was seen perpetually bathed in tears,
and surrounded only by her maids and women. None of her ministers or
counsellors dared to approach her; or if any had such temerity, she
chased them from her, with the most violent expressions of rage and
resentment; they had all of them been guilty of an unpardonable crime,
in putting to death her dear sister and kinswoman, contrary to her fixed
purpose,[*] of which they were sufficiently apprised and acquainted.
* Camden, p. 586. Strype, vol. iii. Append. p. 146. Jebb.
vol. ii p. 608
No sooner was her sorrow so much abated as to leave room for reflection,
than she wrote a letter of apology to the king of Scots, and sent it
by Sir Robert Cary, son of Lord Hunsdon. She there told him, that she
wished he knew but not felt, the unutterable grief which she experienced
on account of that lamentable accident which, without her knowledge,
much less concurrence, had happened in England: that as her pen trembled
when she attempted to write it, she found herself obliged to commit the
relation of it to the messenger her kinsman; who would likewise inform
his majesty of every circumstance attending this dismal and unlooked-for
misfortune: that she appealed to the supreme Judge of heaven and earth
for her innocence; and was also so happy amidst her other afflictions,
as to find, that many persons in her court could bear witness to her
veracity in this protestation: that she abhorred dissimulation; deemed
nothing more worthy of a prince than a sincere and open conduct; and
could never surely be esteemed so base and poor-spirited as that, if
she had really given orders for this fatal execution, she could on any
consideration be induced to deny them: that, though sensible of the
justice of the sentence pronounced against the unhappy prisoner, she
determined from clemency never to carry it into execution; and could not
but resent the temerity of those who on this occasion had disappointed
her intention: and that as no one loved him more dearly than herself,
or bore a more anxious concern for his welfare, she hoped that he
would consider every one as his enemy who endeavored, on account of the
present incident, to excite any animosity between them.[*]
In order the better to appease James, she committed Davison to prison,
and ordered him to be tried in the star chamber for his misdemeanor. The
secretary was confounded; and being sensible of the danger which
must attend his entering into a contest with the queen, he expressed
penitence for his error, and submitted very patiently to be railed at
by those very counsellors whose persuasion had induced him to incur
the guilt, and who had promised to countenance and protect him. He was
condemned to imprisonment during the queen’s pleasure, and to pay a
fine of ten thousand pounds. He remained a long time in custody; and the
fine, though it reduced him to beggary, was rigorously levied upon him.
All the favor which he could obtain from the queen, was sending
him small supplies from time to time, to keep him from perishing in
necessity.[**]
* Camden, p. 536. Spotswood, p. 358.
** Camden, p. 538.
He privately wrote an apology to his friend Walsingham, which contains
many curious particulars. The French and Scotch ambassadors, he said,
had been remonstrating with the queen in Mary’s behalf; and immediately
after their departure, she commanded him, of her own accord to deliver
her the warrant for the execution of that princess. She signed it
readily, and ordered it to be sealed with the great seal of England. She
appeared in such good humour on the occasion, that she said to him in
a jocular manner, “Go, tell all this to Walsingham, who is now sick;
though I fear he will die of sorrow when he hears of it.” She added,
that though she had so long delayed the execution, lest she should seem
to be actuated by malice or cruelty, she was all along sensible of the
necessity of it. In the same conversation, she blamed Drury and Paulet
that they had not before eased her of this trouble; and she expressed
her desire that Walsingham would bring them to compliance in that
particular. She was so bent on this purpose, that some time after she
asked Davison whether any letter had come from Paulet with regard to the
service expected of him. Davison showed her Paulet’s letter, in which
that gentleman positively refused to act any thing inconsistent with
the principles of honor and justice. The queen fell into a passion, and
accused Paulet as well as Drury of perjury; because, having taken the
oath of association, in which they had bound themselves to avenge her
wrongs, they had yet refused to lend their hand on this occasion. “But
others,” she said, “will be found less scrupulous.” Davison adds, that
nothing but the consent and exhortations of the whole council could have
engaged him to send off the warrant: he was well aware of his danger;
and remembered that the queen, after having ordered the execution of the
duke of Norfolk, had endeavored, in a like manner, to throw the whole
blame and odium of that action upon Lord Burleigh.[*]
* Camden, p. 538. Strype, vol. iii. p. 375, 376. MS. in the
Advocates’ Library, A. 3. 28, p. 17, from the Cott. Lib.
Calig. c. 9. Biog. Brit. p. 1625, 1627.
Elizabeth’s dissimulation was so gross, that it could deceive nobody who
was not previously resolved to be blinded; but as James’s concern for
his mother was certainly more sincere and cordial, he discovered the
highest resentment, and refused to admit Cary into his presence. He
recalled his ambassadors from England, and seemed to breathe nothing but
war and vengeance. The states of Scotland, being assembled, took part in
his anger; and professed that they were ready to spend their lives and
fortunes in revenge of his mother’s death, and in defence of his title
to the crown of England. Many of his nobility instigated him to take
arms: Lord Sinclair, when the courtiers appeared in deep mourning,
presented himself to the king arrayed in complete armor and said, that
this was the proper mourning for the queen. The Catholics took the
opportunity of exhorting James to make an alliance with the king of
Spain, to lay immediate claim to the crown of England, and to prevent
the ruin which, from his mother’s example, he might conclude would
certainly, if Elizabeth’s power prevailed, overwhelm his person and his
kingdom. The queen was sensible of the danger attending these counsels;
and after allowing James some decent interval to vent his grief and
anger, she employed her emissaries to pacify him, and to set before him
every motive of hope or fear which might induce him to live in amity
with her.
Walsingham wrote to Lord Thirlstone, James’s secretary, a judicious
letter to the same purpose. He said that he was much surprised to
hear of the violent resolutions taken in Scotland, and of the passion
discovered by a prince of so much judgment and temper as James: that
a war, founded merely on the principle of revenge, and that, too, on
account of an act of justice which necessity had extorted, would for
ever be exposed to censure, and could not be excused by any principles
of equity or reason: that if these views were deemed less momentous
among princes, policy and interest ought certainly to be attended to;
and these motives did still more evidently oppose all thoughts of
a rupture with Elizabeth, and all revival of exploded claims to the
English throne: that the inequality between the two kingdoms deprived
James of any hopes of success, if he trusted merely to the force of his
own state, and had no recourse to foreign powers for assistance: that
the objections attending the introduction of succors from a more potent
monarch, appeared so evident from all the transactions of history, that
they could not escape a person of the king’s extensive knowledge; but
there were in the present case several peculiar circumstances, which
ought forever to deter him from having recourse to so dangerous an
expedient: that the French monarch, the ancient ally of Scotland, might
willingly use the assistance of that kingdom against England, but would
be displeased to see the union of these two kingdoms in the person of
James; a union which would ever after exclude him from practising that
policy, formerly so useful to the French, and so pernicious to the
Scottish nation: that Henry, besides, infested with faction and domestic
war, was not in a condition of supporting distant allies, much less
would he expose himself to any hazard or expense, in order to aggrandize
a near kinsman of the house of Guise, the most determined enemies of his
repose and authority: that the extensive power and exorbitant ambition
of the Spanish monarch rendered him a still more dangerous ally to
Scotland; and as he evidently aspired to a universal monarchy in the
west, and had in particular advanced some claims to England as if he
were descended from the house of Lancaster, he was at the same time the
common enemy of all princes who wished to maintain their independence,
and the immediate rival and competitor of the king of Scots: that the
queen by her own naval power and her alliance with the Hollanders, would
probably intercept all succors which might be sent to James from abroad,
and be enabled to decide the controversy in this island, with the
superior forces of her own kingdom, opposed to those of Scotland: that
if the king revived his mother’s pretensions to the crown of England, he
must also embrace her religion, by which alone they could be justified;
and must thereby undergo the infamy of abandoning those principles
in which he had been strictly educated; and to which he had hitherto
religiously adhered: that as he would, by such an apostasy, totally
alienate all the Protestants in Scotland and England, he could never
gain the confidence of the Catholics, who would still entertain
reasonable doubts of his sincerity: that by advancing a present claim
to the crown, he forfeited the certain prospect of his succession;
and revived that national animosity which the late peace and alliance
between the kingdoms had happily extinguished: that the whole gentry and
nobility of England had openly declared themselves for the execution of
the queen of Scots; and if James showed such violent resentment against
that act of justice, they would be obliged, for their own security, to
prevent forever so implacable a prince from ruling over them: and
that, however some persons might represent his honor as engaged to seek
vengeance for the present affront and injury, the true honor of a prince
consisted in wisdom, and moderation, and justice, not in following the
dictates of blind passion, or in pursuing revenge at the expense of
every motive and every interest.[*]
* Strype, vol. iii. p. 377. Spotswood.
These considerations, joined to the peaceable, unambitious temper of the
young prince, prevailed over his resentment, and he fell gradually into
a good correspondence with the court of England. It is probable that the
queen’s chief object in her dissimulation with regard to the execution
of Mary, was, that she might thereby afford James a decent pretence for
renewing his amity with her, on which their mutual interests so much
depended.
While Elizabeth insured tranquillity from the attempts of her nearest
neighbor, she was not negligent of more distant dangers. Hearing that
Philip, though he seemed to dissemble the daily insults and injuries
which he received from the English, was secretly preparing a great navy
to attack her, she sent Sir Francis Drake with a fleet to intercept
his supplies, to pillage his coast, and to destroy his shipping. Drake
carried out four capital ships of the queen’s, and twenty-six, great
and small, with which the London merchants, in hopes of sharing in the
plunder, had supplied him. Having learned from two Dutch ships which he
met with in his passage, that a Spanish fleet, richly laden, was lying
at Cadiz, ready to sail for Lisbon, the rendezvous of the intended
armada, he bent his course to the former harbor, and boldly, as well as
fortunately, made an attack on the enemy. He obliged six galleys, which
made head against him, to take shelter under the forts: he burned
about a hundred vessels laden with ammunition and naval stores; and he
destroyed a great ship of the marquis of Santa Croce. Thence he set sail
for Cape St. Vincent, and took by assault the castle situated on that
promontory, with three other fortresses. He next insulted Lisbon; and
finding that the merchants, who had engaged entirely in expectation of
profit, were discontented at these military enterprises, he set sail
for the Terceras, with an intention of lying in wait for a rich carrack,
which was expected in those parts. He was so fortunate as to meet with
his prize; and by this short expedition, in which the public bore
so small a share, the adventurers were encouraged to attempt further
enterprises, the English seamen learned to despise the great unwieldy
ships of the enemy, the naval preparations of Spain were destroyed, the
intended expedition against England was retarded a twelvemonth, and
the queen thereby had leisure to take more secure measures against that
formidable invasion.[*]
* Camden, p. 540. Sir William Monson’s Naval Tracts in
Churchill’s Voyages, vol. iii. p. 156.
This year, Thomas Cavendish, a gentleman of Devonshire, who had
dissipated a good estate by living at court, being resolved to repair
his fortune at the expense of the Spaniards fitted out three ships at
Plymouth one of a hundred and twenty tons, another of sixty, and a third
of forty; and with these small vessels he ventured into the South Sea,
and committed great depredations on the Spaniards. He took nineteen
vessels, some of which were richly laden; and returning by the Cape
of Good Hope, he came to London, and entered the river in a kind of
triumph. His mariners and soldiers were clothed in silk, his sails were
of damask, his topsail cloth of gold; and his prizes were esteemed the
richest that ever had been brought into England.[*]
* Birch’s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 57.
The land enterprises of the English were not, during this campaign, so
advantageous or honorable to the nation. The important place of Deventer
was intrusted by Leicester to William Stanley, with a garrison of twelve
hundred English; and this gentleman, being a Catholic, was alarmed at
the discovery of Babington’s conspiracy, and became apprehensive lest
every one of his religion should thenceforth be treated with distrust in
England. He entered into a correspondence with the Spaniards, betrayed
the city to them for a sum of money, and engaged the whole garrison to
desert with him to the Spanish service. Roland York, who commanded a
fort near Zutphen, imitated his example; and the Hollanders, formerly
disgusted with Leicester, and suspicious of the English, broke out into
loud complaints against the improvidence, if not the treachery, of his
administration. Soon after, he himself arrived in the Low Countries;
but his conduct was nowise calculated to give them satisfaction, or to
remove the suspicions which they had entertained against him. The prince
of Parma having besieged Sluys, Leicester attempted to relieve the
place, first by sea, then by land; but failed in both enterprises; and
as he ascribed his bad success to the ill behavior of the Hollanders,
they were equally free in reflections upon his conduct. The breach
between them became wider every day: they slighted his authority,
opposed his measures, and neglected his counsels; while he endeavored by
an imperious behavior, and by violence, to recover that influence which
he had lost by his imprudent and ill-concerted measures. He was even
suspected by the Dutch of a design to usurp upon their liberties; and
the jealousy entertained against him began to extend towards the queen
herself. That princess had made some advances towards a peace with
Spain: a congress had been opened at Bourbourg, a village near
Graveline: and though the two courts, especially that of Spain, had no
other intention than to amuse each of them its enemy by negotiation, and
mutually relax the preparations for defence or attack, the Dutch, who
were determined on no terms to return under the Spanish yoke, became
apprehensive lest their liberty should be sacrificed to the political
interests of England.[*] But the queen, who knew the importance of her
alliance with the states during the present conjuncture, was resolved
to give them entire satisfaction, by recalling Leicester, and commanding
him to resign his government. Maurice son of the late prince of Orange,
a youth of twenty years of age, was elected by the states governor in
his place; and Peregrine Lord Willoughby was appointed by the queen
commander of the English forces. The measures of these two generals were
much embarrassed by the malignity of Leicester, who had left a faction
behind him, and who still attempted, by means of his emissaries, to
disturb all the operations of the states. As soon as Elizabeth received
intelligence of these disorders, she took care to redress them; and she
obliged all the partisans of England to fall into unanimity with
Prince Maurice.[**] But though her good sense so far prevailed over her
partiality to Leicester, she never could be made fully sensible of his
vices and incapacity: the submissions which he made her restored him to
her wonted favor; and Lord Buckhurst, who had accused him of misconduct
in Holland, lost her confidence for some time, and was even committed to
custody.
* Bentivoglio, part ii. lib. iv. Strype, vol. iv. No. 246.
* Rymer, tom. xv. p. 66.
Sir Christopher Hatton was another favorite who at this time received
some marks of her partiality. Though he had never followed the
profession of the law, he was made chancellor, in the place of Bromley,
deceased; but, notwithstanding all the expectations, and perhaps
wishes of the lawyers, he behaved in a manner not unworthy of that high
station: his good natural capacity supplied the place of experience and
study; and his decisions were not found deficient, either in point of
equity or judgment. His enemies had contributed to this promotion, in
hopes that his absence from court, while he attended the business of
chancery, would gradually estrange the queen from him, and give them an
opportunity of undermining him in her favor.
{1568.} These little intrigues and cabals of the court were silenced by
the account which came from all quarters, of the vast preparations
made by the Spaniards for the invasion of England, and for the entire
conquest of that kingdom. Philip, though he had not yet declared war on
account of the hostilities which Elizabeth every where committed upon
him, had long harbored a secret and violent desire of revenge against
her. His ambition also, and the hopes of extending his empire, were
much encouraged by the present prosperous state of his affairs; by the
conquest of Portugal, the acquisition of the East Indian commerce and
settlements, and the yearly importation of vast treasures from America.
The point on which he rested, his highest glory, the perpetual object of
his policy, was to support orthodoxy and exterminate heresy; and as the
power and credit of Elizabeth were the chief bulwark of the Protestants,
he hoped, if he could subdue that princess, to acquire the eternal
renown of reuniting the whole Christian world in the Catholic communion.
Above all, his indignation against his revolted subjects in the
Netherlands instigated him to attack the English, who had encouraged
that insurrection; and who, by their vicinity, were so well enabled to
support the Hollanders, that he could never hope to reduce these rebels,
while the power of that kingdom remained entire and unbroken. To subdue
England seemed a necessary preparative to the reestablishment of his
authority in the Netherlands; and notwithstanding appearances, the
former was in itself, as a more important, so a more easy undertaking
than the latter. That kingdom lay nearer Spain than the Low Countries,
and was more exposed to invasions from that quarter; after an enemy
had once obtained entrance, the difficulty seemed to be over, as it was
neither fortified by an or nature; a long peace had deprived it of all
military discipline and experience; and the Catholics, in which it still
abounded, would be ready, it was hoped, to join any invader who should
free them from those persecutions under which they labored, and should
revenge the death of the queen of Scots, on whom they had fixed all
their affections. The fate of England must be decided in one battle at
sea, and another at land; and what comparison between the English and
Spaniards, either in point of naval force, or in the numbers,
reputation, and veteran bravery of their armies? Besides the acquisition
of so great a kingdom, success against England insured the immediate
subjection of the Hollanders, who, attacked on every hand, and deprived
of all support, must yield their stubborn necks to that yoke which they
had so long resisted. Happily, this conquest, as it was of the utmost
importance to the grandeur of Spain, would not at present be opposed by
the jealousy of other powers, naturally so much interested to prevent
the success of the enterprise. A truce was lately concluded with the
Turks; the empire was in the hands of a friend and near ally; and
France, the perpetual rival of Spain, was so torn with intestine
commotions, that she had no leisure to pay attention to her foreign
interests. This favorable opportunity, therefore, which might never
again present itself, must be seized; and one bold effort made for
acquiring that ascendant in Europe, to which the present greatness and
prosperity of the Spaniards seemed so fully to entitle them.[*]
These hopes and motives engaged Philip, notwithstanding his cautious
temper, to undertake this hazardous enterprise; and though the prince,
now created by the pope duke of Parma, when consulted, opposed the
attempt, at least represented the necessity of previously getting
possession of some seaport town in the Netherlands, which might afford
a retreat to the Spanish navy,[**] it was determined by the Catholic
monarch to proceed immediately to the execution of his ambitious
project.
* Camden. Strype, vol. iii. p. 512.
** Bentivoglio, part ii. lib. iv.
During some time, he had been secretly making preparations, out as
soon as the resolution was fully taken, every part of his vast empire
resounded with the noise of armaments, and all his ministers, generals,
and admirals were employed in forwarding the design. The marquis of
Santa Croce, a sea officer of great reputation and experience, was
destined to command the fleet; and by his counsels were the naval
equipments conducted. In all the ports of Sicily, Naples, Spain, and
Portugal, artisans were employed in building vessels of uncommon size
and force; naval stores were bought at a great expense; provisions
amassed; armies levied and quartered in the maritime towns of Spain;
and plans laid for fitting out such a fleet and embarkation as had never
before had its equal in Europe. The military preparations in Flanders
were no less formidable. Troops from all quarters were every moment
assembling to reënforce the duke of Parma. Capizuchi and Spinelli
conducted forces from Italy: the marquis of Borgaut, a prince of the
house of Austria, levied troops in Germany; the Walloon and Burgundian
regiments were completed or augmented: the Spanish infantry was supplied
with recruits and an army of thirty-four thousand men was assembled in
the Netherlands, and kept in readiness to be transported into England.
The duke of Parma employed all the carpenters whom he could procure,
either in Flanders or in Lower Germany and the coasts of the Baltic;
and he built at Dunkirk and Newport, but especially at Antwerp, a great
number of boats and flat-bottomed vessels, for the transporting of his
infantry and cavalry. The most renowned nobility and princes of
Italy and Spain were ambitious of sharing in the honor of this great
enterprise. Don Amadseus of Savoy, Don John of Medicis, Vespasian
Gonzaga, duke of Sabionetta, and the duke of Pastrana, hastened to
join the army under the duke of Parma. About two thousand volunteers
in Spain, many of them men of family, had enlisted in the service.
No doubts were entertained but such vast preparations, conducted by
officers of such consummate skill, must finally be successful. And the
Spaniards, ostentatious of their power, and elated with vain hopes, had
already denominated their navy the Invincible Armada.
News of these extraordinary preparations soon reached the court of
London; and notwithstanding the secrecy of the Spanish council, and
their pretending to employ this force in the Indies, it was easily
concluded that they meant to make some effort against England. The queen
had foreseen the invasion; and finding that she must now contend for
her crown with the whole force of Spain, she made preparations for
resistance; nor was she dismayed with that power, by which all Europe
apprehended she must of necessity be overwhelmed. Her force, indeed,
seemed very unequal to resist so potent an enemy. All the sailors in
England amounted at that time to about fourteen thousand men.[*] The
size of the English shipping was in general so small, that except a few
of the queen’s ships of war, there were not four vessels belonging
to the merchants which exceeded four hundred tons.[**] The royal navy
consisted of only twenty-eight sail,[***] many of which were of small
size; none of them exceeded the bulk of our largest frigates, and most
of them deserved rather the name of pinnaces than of ships.
* Monson, p. 256.
** Monson, p. 268.
*** Monson p. 157
The only advantage of the English fleet consisted in the dexterity and
courage of the seamen, who, being accustomed to sail in tempestuous
seas and expose themselves to all dangers, as much exceeded in this
particular the Spanish mariners, as their vessels were inferior in
size and force to those of that nation.[*] All the commercial towns of
England were required to furnish ships for reenforcing this small
navy; and they discovered, on the present occasion, great alacrity in
defending their liberty and religion against those imminent perils with
which they were menaced. The citizens of London, in order to show their
zeal in the common cause, instead of fifteen vessels, which they were
commanded to equip, voluntarily fitted out double the number.[**] The
gentry and nobility hired, and armed, and manned forty-three ships
at their own charge;[***] and all the loans of money which the queen
demanded were frankly granted by the persons applied to. Lord Howard of
Effingham, a man of courage and capacity, was admiral, and took on
him the command of the navy: Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, the most
renowned seamen in Europe, served under him. The principal fleet was
stationed at Plymouth. A smaller squadron, consisting of forty vessels,
English and Flemish, was commanded by Lord Seymour, second son of
Protector Somerset; and lay off Dunkirk, in order to intercept the duke
of Parma.
* Monson, p. 321.
** Monsm, p. 267
*** Lives of the Admirals, vol. i. p. 451.
The land forces of England, compared to those of Spain, possessed
contrary qualities to its naval power: they were more numerous than the
enemy, but much inferior in discipline, reputation, and experience. An
army of twenty thousand men was disposed in different bodies along the
south coast; and orders were given them, if they could not prevent the
landing of the Spaniards, to retire backwards, to waste the country
around, and to wait for reenforcement from the neighboring counties,
before they approached the enemy. 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 defend the capital. The principal army
consisted of thirty-four thousand foot and two thousand horse, and was
commanded by Lord Hunsdon. These forces were reserved for guarding the
queen’s person, and were appointed to march whithersoever the enemy
should appear. The fate of England, if all the Spanish armies should be
able to land, seemed to depend on the issue of a single battle; and
men of reflection entertained the most dismal apprehensions, when they
considered the force of fifty thousand veteran Spaniards, commanded
by experienced officers, under the duke of Parma, the most consummate
general of the age; and compared this formidable armament with the
military power which England, not enervated by peace, but long disused
to war, could muster up against it.
The chief support of the kingdom seemed to consist in the vigor and
prudence of the queen’s conduct; who, undismayed by the present dangers,
issued all her orders with tranquillity, animated her people to a
steady resistance, and employed every resource which either her domestic
situation or her foreign alliances could afford her. She sent Sir Robert
Sidney into Scotland; and exhorted the king to remain attached to her,
and to consider the danger which at present menaced his sovereignty
no less than her own, from the ambition of the Spanish tyrant:[*] the
ambassador found James well disposed to cultivate a union with England;
and that prince even kept himself prepared to march with the force of
his whole kingdom to the assistance of Elizabeth. Her authority with
the king of Denmark, and the tie of their common religion, engaged this
monarch, upon her application, to seize a squadron of ships which Philip
had bought or hired in the Danish harbors:[**] the Hanse Towns, though
not at that time on good terms with Elizabeth, were induced, by the same
motives, to retard so long the equipment of some vessels in their ports,
that they became useless to the purpose of invading England. All the
Protestants throughout Europe regarded this enterprise as the critical
event which was to decide forever the fate of their religion; and though
unable, by reason of their distance, to join their force to that of
Elizabeth, they kept their eyes fixed on her conduct and fortune, and
beheld with anxiety, mixed with admiration, the intrepid countenance
with which she encountered that dreadful tempest which was every moment
advancing towards her.
* She made him some promises which she never fulfilled, to
give him a dukedom in England, with suitable lands and
revenue, to settle five thousand pounds a year on him, and
pay him a guard, for the safety of his person. From a MS. of
Lord Hoyston’s.
** Strype, vol. iii. p. 524.
The queen also was sensible that, next to the general popularity which
she enjoyed, and the confidence which her subjects reposed in her
prudent government, the firmest support of her throne consisted in the
general zeal of the people for the Protestant religion, and the strong
prejudices which they had imbibed against Popery. She took care, on the
present occasion, to revive in the nation this attachment to their own
sect, and this abhorrence of the opposite. The English were reminded
of their former danger from the tyranny of Spain: all the barbarities
exercised by Mary against the Protestants were ascribed to the counsels
of that bigoted and imperious nation: the bloody massacres in the
Indies, the unrelenting executions in the Low Countries, the horrid
cruelties and iniquities of the inquisition, were set before men’s eyes:
a list and description was published, and pictures dispersed, of the
several instruments of torture with which, it was pretended, the Spanish
armada was loaded: and every artifice, as well as reason, was employed,
to animate the people to a vigorous defence of their religion, their
laws, and their liberties.
But while the queen, in this critical emergence, roused the animosity of
the nation against Popery, she treated the partisans of that sect with
moderation, and gave not way to an undistinguishing fury against them.
Though she knew that Sixtus Quintus, the present pope, famous for his
capacity and his tyranny, had fulminated a new bull of excommunication
against her, had deposed her, had absolved her subjects from their oaths
of allegiance, had published a crusade against England, and had granted
plenary indulgences to every one engaged in the present invasion, she
would not believe that all her Catholic subjects could be so blinded as
to sacrifice to bigotry their duty to their sovereign, and the liberty
and independence of their native country. She rejected all violent
counsels, by which she was urged to seek pretences for despatching
the leaders of that party: she would not even confine any considerable
number of them: and the Catholics, sensible of this good usage,
generally expressed great zeal for the public service. Some gentlemen
of that sect, conscious that they could not justly expect any trust or
authority, entered themselves as volunteers in the fleet or army:[*]
some equipped ships at their own charge, and gave the command of them to
Protestants: others were active in animating their tenants, and vassals,
and neighbors, to the defence of their country: and every rank of
men, burying for the present all party distinctions, seemed to prepare
themselves, with order as well as vigor, to resist the violence of these
invaders.
* Stowe, p. 747.
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,
discovered a cheerful and animated countenance, exhorted the soldiers to
remember their duty to their country and their religion, and professed
her intention, though a woman, to lead them herself into the field
against the enemy, and rather to perish in battle than survive the ruin
and slavery of her people.[*] [28]
* See note BB, at the end of the volume.
By this spirited behavior she revived the tenderness and admiration of
the soldiery: an attachment to her person became a kind of enthusiasm
among them: and they asked one another, whether it were possible
that Englishmen could abandon this glorious cause, could display
less fortitude than appeared in the female sex, or could ever, by any
dangers, be induced to relinquish the defence of their heroic princess.
The Spanish armada was ready in the beginning of May; but the moment
it was preparing to sail, the marquis of Santa Croce, the admiral, was
seized with a fever, of which he soon after died. The vice-admiral, the
duke of Paliano, by a strange concurrence of accidents, at the very same
time suffered the same fate; and the king appointed for admiral the
duke of Medina Sidonia, a nobleman of great family, but unexperienced
in action, and entirely unacquainted with sea affairs. Alcarede was
appointed vice-admiral. This misfortune, besides the loss of so great an
officer as Santa Croce, retarded the sailing of the armada, and gave
the English more time for their preparations to oppose them. At last
the Spanish fleet, full of hopes and alacrity, set sail from Lisbon;
but next day met with a violent tempest, which scattered the ships, sunk
some of the smallest, and forced the rest to take shelter in the Groine,
where they waited till they could be refitted. When news of this event
was carried to England, the queen concluded that the design of an
invasion was disappointed for this summer; and being always ready to lay
hold on every pretence for saving money, she made Walsingham write to
the admiral, directing him to lay up some of the larger ships, and to
discharge the seamen: but Lord Effingham, who was not so sanguine in his
hopes, used the freedom to disobey these orders; and he begged leave
to retain all the ships in service, though it should be at his own
expense.[*] He took advantage of a north wind, and sailed towards
the coast of Spain, with an intention of attacking the enemy in their
harbors; but the wind changing to the south, he became apprehensive lest
they might have set sail, and by passing him at sea, invade England, now
exposed by the absence of the fleet. He returned, therefore, with the
utmost expedition to Plymouth, and lay at anchor in that harbor.
Meanwhile all the damages of the armada were repaired; and the
Spaniards with fresh hopes set out again to sea, in prosecution of their
enterprise. The fleet consisted of a hundred and thirty vessels, of
which near a hundred were galleons, and were of greater size than any
ever before used in Europe. It carried on board nineteen thousand
two hundred and ninety-five soldiers, eight thousand four hundred and
fifty-six mariners, two thousand and eighty-eight galley slaves, and two
thousand six hundred and thirty great pieces of brass ordnance. It was
victualled for six months; and was attended by twenty lesser ships,
called caravals, and ten salves with six oars apiece.[**]
The plan formed by the king of Spain was, that the armada should sail
to the coast opposite to Dunkirk and Newport; and having chased away all
English or Flemish vessels which might obstruct the passage, (for it was
never supposed they could make opposition,) should join themselves with
the duke of Parma, should thence make sail to the Thames, and having
landed the whole Spanish army, thus complete at one blow the entire
conquest of England. In prosecution of this scheme, Philip gave orders
to the duke of Medina, that in passing along the Channel, he should sail
as near the coast of France as he could with safety; that he should by
this policy avoid meeting with the English fleet; and, keeping in view
the main enterprise, should neglect all smaller successes which might
prove an obstacle, or even interpose a delay, to the acquisition of a
kingdom.[***]
* Camden, p. 545.
** Strype, vol. iii. Append. p. 221.
*** Monson, p. 1.
After the armada was under sail, they took a fisherman, who informed
them that the English admiral had been lately at sea, had heard of the
tempest which scattered the armada, had retired back into Plymouth and
no longer expecting an invasion this season, had laid up his ships, and
discharged most of the seamen. From this false intelligence the duke
of Medina conceived the great facility of attacking and destroying
the English ships in harbor; and he was tempted, by the prospect of so
decisive an advantage, to break his orders, and make sail directly for
Plymouth; a resolution which proved the safety of England. The Lizard
was the first land made by the armada, about sunset; and as the
Spaniards took it for the Ram Head near Plymouth, they bore out to sea
with an intention of returning next day, and attacking the English navy.
They were descried by Fleming, a Scottish pirate, who was roving in
those seas, and who immediately set sail, to inform the English admiral
of their approach;[*] another fortunate event, which contributed
extremely to the safety of the fleet. Effingham had just time to get out
of port, when he saw the Spanish armada coming full sail towards him,
disposed in the form of a crescent, and stretching the distance of seven
miles from the extremity of one division to that of the other.
The writers of that age raise their style by a pompous description of
this spectacle; the most magnificent that had ever appeared upon the
ocean, infusing equal terror and admiration into the minds of all
beholders. The lofty masts, the swelling sails, and the towering prows
of the Spanish galleons, seem impossible to be justly painted, but by
assuming the colors of poetry; and an eloquent historian of Italy, in
imitation of Camden, has asserted, that the armada, though the ships
bore every sail, yet advanced with a slow motion; as if the ocean
groaned with supporting, and the winds were tired with impelling, so
enormous a weight.[**] The truth, however, is, that the largest of the
Spanish vessels would scarcely pass for third-rates in the present navy
of England; yet were they so ill framed, or so ill governed, that
they were quite unwieldy, and could not sail upon a wind, nor tack on
occasion, nor be managed in stormy weather by the seamen. Neither the
mechanics of ship-building, nor the experience of mariners, had attained
so great perfection as could serve for the security and government of
such bulky vessels; and the English, who had already had experience how
unserviceable they commonly were, beheld without dismay their tremendous
appearance.
* Monson, p. 158.
** Bentivoglio, part ii. lib. iv.
Effingham gave orders not to come to close fight with the Spaniards;
where the size of the ships, he suspected, and the numbers of the
soldiers, would be a disadvantage to the English; but to cannonade them
at a distance, and to wait the opportunity which winds, currents, or
various accidents must afford him of intercepting some scattered vessels
of the enemy. Nor was it long before the event answered expectation A
great ship of Biscay, on board of which was a considerable part of the
Spanish money, took fire by accident; and while all hands were employed
in extinguishing the flames, she fell behind the rest of the armada: the
great galleon of Andalusia was detained by the springing of her mast:
and both these vessels were taken, after some resistance, by Sir Francis
Drake. As the armada advanced up the Channel, the English hung upon
its rear, and still infested it with skirmishes. Each trial abated the
confidence of the Spaniards, and added courage to the English; and the
latter soon found, that even in close fight the size 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, shot over
the heads of the English. The alarm having now reached, the coast of
England, the nobility and gentry hastened out, with their vessels
from every harbor, and reënforced the admiral. The earls of Oxford,
Northumberland, and Cumberland, Sir Thomas Cecil, Sir Robert Cecil,
Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Thomas Vavasor, Sir Thomas Gerrard, Sir Charles
Blount, with many others, distinguished themselves by this generous and
disinterested service of their country. The English fleet, after the
conjunction of those ships, amounted to a hundred and forty sail.
The armada had now reached Calais, and cast anchor before that place, in
expectation that the duke of Parma, who had gotten intelligence of their
approach, would put to sea and join his forces to them. The English
admiral practised here a successful stratagem upon the Spaniards. He
took eight of his smaller ships, and filling them with all combustible
materials, sent them, one after another, into the midst of the enemy.
The Spaniards fancied that they were fireships of the same contrivance
with a famous vessel which had lately done so much execution in the
Schelde near Antwerp; and they immediately cut their cables, and took
to flight with the greatest disorder and precipitation. The English
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.
By this time, it was become apparent, that the intention for which these
preparations were made by the Spaniards was entirely frustrated.
The vessels provided by the duke of Parma were made for transporting
soldiers, not for fighting; and that general, when urged to leave
the harbor, positively refused to expose his flourishing army to such
apparent hazard; while the English not only were able to keep the sea,
but seemed even to triumph over their enemy. The Spanish admiral found,
in many rencounters, that while he lost so considerable a part of his
own navy, he had destroyed only one small vessel of the English; and he
foresaw, that by continuing so unequal a combat, he must draw inevitable
destruction on all the remainder. He prepared, therefore, to return
homewards; but as the wind was contrary to his passage through the
Channel, he resolved to sail northwards, and making the tour of the
island, reach the Spanish harbors by the ocean. The English fleet
followed him during some time; and had not their ammunition fallen
short, by the negligence of the offices in supplying them, they had
obliged the whole armada to surrender at discretion. The duke of Medina
had once taken that resolution, but was diverted from it by the advice
of his confessor. This conclusion of the enterprise would have been more
glorious to the English; but the event proved almost equally fatal to
the Spaniards. A violent tempest overtook the armada after it passed the
Orkneys; the ships had already lost their anchors, and were obliged to
keep to sea: the mariners, unaccustomed to such hardships, and not able
to govern such unwieldy vessels, yielded to the fury of the storm, and
allowed their ships to drive either on the western isles of Scotland, or
on the coast of Ireland, where they were miserably wrecked. Not a half
of the navy returned to Spain; and the seamen as well as soldiers who
remained, were so overcome with hardships and fatigue, and so dispirited
by their discomfiture, that they filled all Spain with accounts of the
desperate valor of the English and of the tempestuous violence of that
ocean which surrounds them.
Such was the miserable and dishonorable conclusion of an enterprise
which had been preparing for three years, which had exhausted the
revenue and force of Spain, and which had long filled all Europe with
anxiety or expectation. Philip, who was a slave to his ambition, but
had an entire command over his countenance, no sooner heard of the
mortifying event which blasted all his hopes, than he fell on his
knees, and rendering thanks for that gracious dispensation of Providence
expressed his joy that the calamity was not greater. The Spanish
priests, who had so often blessed this holy crusade and foretold its
infallible success, were somewhat at a loss to account for the victory
gained over the Catholic monarch by excommunicated heretics and an
execrable usurper: but they at last discovered, that all the calamities
of the Spaniards had proceeded from their allowing the infidel Moors to
live among them.[*] [29]
{1589.} Soon after the defeat and dispersion of the Spanish armada, the
queen summoned a new parliament, and received from them a supply of two
subsidies and four fifteenths, payable in four years. This is the first
instance that subsidies were doubled in one supply; and so unusual a
concession was probably obtained from the joy of the present success,
and from the general sense of the queen’s necessities. Some members
objected to this heavy charge, on account of the great burden of loans
which had lately been imposed upon the nation.[**] [30]
Elizabeth foresaw that this house of commons, like all the foregoing,
would be governed by the Puritans; and therefore, to obviate their
enterprises, she renewed, at the beginning of the session, her usual
injunction, that the parliament should not on any account presume to
treat of matters ecclesiastical. Notwithstanding this strict inhibition,
the zeal of one Damport moved him to present a bill to the commons for
remedying spiritual grievances, and for restraining the tyranny of the
ecclesiastical commission, which were certainly great: but when Mr.
Secretary Woley reminded the house of her majesty’s commands, no one
durst second the motion; the bill was not so much as read; and the
speaker returned it to Damport without taking the least notice of
it.[***] Some members of the house, notwithstanding the general
submission were even committed to custody on account of this
attempt.[****]
* See note CC, at the end of the volume.
** See note DD, at the end of the volume.
*** D’Ewes, p. 438.
**** Strype’s Life of Whitgift, p. 280. Neal, vol. i. p.
500.
The imperious conduct of Elizabeth appeared still more clearly in
another parliamentary transaction. The right of purveyance was an
ancient prerogative, by which the officers of the crown could at
pleasure take provisions for the household from all the neighboring
counties, and could make use of the carts and carriages of the farmers;
and the price of these commodities and services was fixed and stated.
The payment of the money was often distant and uncertain; and the rates,
being fixed before the discovery of the West Indies, were much inferior
to the present market price; so that purveyance, besides the slavery
of it, was always regarded as a great burden, and being arbitrary and
casual, was liable to great abuses. We may fairly presume, that the
hungry courtiers of Elizabeth, supported by her unlimited power, would
be sure to render this prerogative very oppressive to the people; and
the commons had, last session, found it necessary to pass a bill for
regulating these exactions: but the bill was lost in the house of
peers.[*] The continuance of the abuses begat a new attempt for redress;
and the same bill was now revived, and again sent up to the house of
peers, together with a bill for some new regulations in the court of
exchequer. Soon after, the commons received a message from the upper
house, desiring them to appoint a committee for a conference. At this
conference, the peers informed them, that the queen, by a message
delivered by Lord Burleigh, had expressed her displeasure that the
commons should presume to touch on her prerogative. If there were any
abuses, she said, either in imposing purveyance, or in the practice of
the court of exchequer, her majesty was both able and willing to provide
due reformation; but would not permit the parliament to intermeddle in
these matters.[**]
* D’Ewes, p. 434.
** D’Ewes, p. 440.
The commons, alarmed at this intelligence, appointed another committee
to attend the queen, and endeavor to satisfy her of their humble
and dutiful intentions. Elizabeth gave a gracious reception to the
committee: she expressed her great “inestimable loving care” towards her
loving subjects; which, she said, was greater than of her own self, or
even than any of them could have of themselves. She told them, that
she had already given orders for an inquiry into the abuses attending
purveyance, but the dangers of the Spanish invasion had retarded the
progress of the design; that she had as much skill, will, and power
to rule her household as any subjects whatsoever to govern theirs, and
needed as little the assistance of her neighbors; that the exchequer was
her chamber, consequently more near to her than even her house’ bold,
and therefore the less proper for them to intermeddle with; and that
she would of herself, with advice of her council and the judges, redress
every grievance in these matters, but would not permit the commons, by
laws moved without her privity, to bereave her of the honor attending
these regulations.[*] The issue of this matter was the same that
attended all contests between Elizabeth and her parliaments.[**] She
seems even to have been more imperious, in this particular, than her
predecessors; at least her more remote ones: for they often permitted
the abuses of purveyance[***] [31]to be redressed by law.[****] Edward
III., a very arbitrary prince, allowed ten several statutes to be
enacted for that purpose.
* D’Ewes, p. 444.
** Si rixa est, ubi tu pulsus, ego vapulo tantum. Juv.
*** See note EE, at the end of the volume.
**** See the statutes under the head of Purveyance.
In so great awe did the commons stand of every courtier, as well as of
the crown, that they durst use no freedom of speech which they thought
would give the least offence to any of them. Sir Edward Hobby showed in
the house his extreme grief, that by some great personage, not a member
of the house, he had been sharply rebuked for speeches delivered in
parliament: he craved the favor of the house, and desired that some of
the members might inform that great personage of his true meaning
and intention in these speeches.[*] The commons, to obviate these
inconveniencies, passed a vote that no one should reveal the secrets of
the house.[**]
* D’Ewes, p. 432, 433.
** An act was passed this session, enforcing the former
statute, which imposed twenty pounds a month on everyone
absent from public worship: but the penalty was restricted
to two thirds of the income of the recusant. 29 Eliz. c. 6.
The discomfiture of the armada had begotten in the nation a kind of
enthusiastic passion for enterprises against Spain; and nothing seemed
now impossible to be achieved by the valor and fortune of the English.
Don Antonio, prior of Crato, a natural son of the royal family of
Portugal, trusting to the aversion of his countrymen against the
Castilians, had advanced a claim to the crown; and flying first to
France, thence to England, had been encouraged both by Henry and
Elizabeth in his pretensions. A design was formed by the people, not the
court of England, to conquer the kingdom for Don Antonio: Sir Francis
Drake and Sir John Norris were the leaders in this romantic enterprise:
near twenty thousand volunteers[*] enlisted themselves in the service:
and ships were hired, as well as arms provided, at the charge of the
adventurers. The queen’s frugality kept her from contributing more than
sixty thousand pounds to the expense; and she only allowed six of her
ships of war to attend the expedition.[**] There was more spirit and
bravery than foresight or prudence in the conduct of this enterprise.
The small stock of the adventurers did not enable them to buy either
provisions or ammunition sufficient for such an undertaking; they even
wanted vessels to stow the numerous volunteers who crowded to them;
and they were obliged to seize by force some ships of the Hanse Towns,
which they met with at sea; an expedient which set them somewhat at ease
in point of room for their men, but remedied not the deficiency of their
provisions.[***]
* Birch’s Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 61. Monson
(p. 267) says that there were only fourteen thousand
soldiers and four thousand seamen in the whole on this
expedition: but the account contained in Dr. Birch is given
by one of the most considerable of the adventurers.
** Monson, p. 267.
*** Monson, p. 159.
Had they sailed directly to Portugal, it is believed that the good will
of the people, joined to the defenceless state of the country, might
have insured them of success: but hearing that great preparations were
making at the Groine for the invasion of England, they were induced to
go thither, and destroy this new armament of Spain. They broke into the
harbor; burned some ships of war, particularly one commanded by Recalde,
vice-admiral of Spain; they defeated an army of four or five thousand
men, which was assembled to oppose them; they assaulted the Groine, and
took the lower town, which they pillaged; and they would have taken the
higher, though well fortified, had they not found their ammunition and
provisions beginning to fail them. The young earl of Essex, a nobleman
of promising hopes, who, fired with the thirst of military honor, had
secretly, unknown to the queen, stolen from England, here joined the
adventurers; and it was then agreed by common consent to make sail for
Portugal, the main object of their enterprise.
The English landed at Paniche, a seaport town twelve leagues from
Lisbon, and Norris led the army to that capital, while Drake undertook
to sail up the river, and attack the city with united forces. By this
time, the court of Spain had gotten leisure to prepare against the
invasion. Forces were thrown into Lisbon: the Portuguese were disarmed:
all suspected persons were taken into custody: and thus, though the
inhabitants bore great affection to Don Antonio, none of them durst
declare in favor of the invaders. The English army, however, made
themselves masters of the suburbs, which abounded with riches of
all kinds; but as they desired to conciliate the affections of the
Portuguese, and were more intent on honor than profit, they observed a
strict discipline, and abstained from all plunder. Meanwhile they found
their ammunition and provisions much exhausted; they had not a single
cannon to make a breach in the walls; the admiral had not been able to
pass some fortresses which guarded the river; there was no appearance
of an insurrection in their favor; sickness, from fatigue, hunger, and
intemperance in wine and fruits, had seized the army; so that it was
found necessary to make all possible haste to reëmbark. They were not
pursued by the enemy, and finding at the mouth of the river sixty ships
laden with naval stores, they seized them as lawful prize; though they
belonged to the Hanse Towns, a neutral power. They sailed thence to
Vigo, which they took and burned; and having ravaged the country around,
they set sail and arrived in England. Above half of these gallant
adventurers perished by sickness, famine, fatigue, and the sword;[*]
and England reaped more honor than profit from this extraordinary
enterprise. It is computed, that eleven hundred gentlemen embarked on
board the fleet, and that only three hundred and fifty survived those
multiplied disasters.[**]
* Birch’s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 61.
** Birch’s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 61.
When these ships were on their voyage homewards, they met with the earl
of Cumberland, who was outward bound, with a fleet of seven sail, all
equipped at his own charge, except one ship of war which the queen had
lent him. That nobleman supplied Sir Francis Drake with some provisions;
a generosity which saved the lives of many of Drake’s men, but for which
the others afterwards suffered severely. Cumberland sailed towards
the Terceras, and took several prizes from the enemy; but the richest,
valued at a hundred thousand pounds, perished in her return, with
all her cargo, near St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall. Many of these
adventurers were killed in a rash attempt at the Terceras: a great
mortality seized the rest; and it was with difficulty that the few hands
which remained were able to steer the ships back into harbor.[*]
Though the signal advantages gained over the Spaniards, and the spirit
thence infused into the English, gave Elizabeth great security during
the rest of her reign, she could not forbear keeping an anxious eye on
Scotland, whose situation rendered its revolutions always of importance
to her. It might have been expected that this high-spirited princess,
who knew so well to brave danger, would not have retained that malignant
jealousy towards her heir, with which, during the lifetime of Mary, she
had been so much agitated. James had indeed succeeded to all the claims
of his mother; but he had not succeeded to the favor of the Catholics,
which could alone render these claims dangerous:[**] and as the queen
was now well advanced in years, and enjoyed an uncontrolled authority
over her subjects, it was not likely that the king of Scots, who was of
an indolent, unambitious temper, would ever give her any disturbance
in her possession of the throne. Yet all these circumstances could not
remove her timorous suspicions; and so far from satisfying the nation by
a settlement of the succession, or a declaration of James’s title, she
was as anxious to prevent every incident which might anywise raise his
credit, or procure him the regard of the English, as if he had been her
immediate rival and competitor. Most of his ministers and favorites were
her pensioners; and as she was desirous to hinder him from marrying and
having children, she obliged them to throw obstacles in the way of
every alliance, even the most reasonable which could be offered him; and
during some years she succeeded in this malignant policy.[***]
* Monson, p. 161.
** Winwood, vol. i. p. 41.
*** Melvil, p. 166, 177.
He had fixed on the elder daughter of the king of Denmark, who, being a
remote prince and not powerful, could give her no umbrage; yet did she
so artfully cross this negotiation, that the Danish monarch, impatient
of delay, married his daughter to the duke of Brunswick. James then
renewed his suit to the younger princess, and still found obstacles
from the intrigues of Elizabeth, who, merely with a view of interposing
delay, proposed to him the sister of the king of Navarre, a princess
much older than himself, and entirely destitute of fortune. The young
king, besides the desire of securing himself, by the prospect of issue,
from those traitorous attempts too frequent among his subjects had been
so watched by the rigid austerity of the ecclesiastics, that he had
another inducement to marry, which is not so usual with monarchs. His
impatience, therefore, broke through all the politics of Elizabeth: the
articles of marriage were settled; the ceremony was performed by proxy;
and the princess embarked for Scotland; but was driven by a storm into
a port of Norway. This tempest, and some others which happened near the
same time, were universally believed in Scotland and Denmark to have
proceeded from a combination of the Scottish and Danish witches; and
the dying confession of the criminals was supposed to put the accusation
beyond all controversy.[*] James, however, though a great believer in
sorcery, was not deterred by this incident from taking a voyage in
order to conduct his bride home: he arrived in Norway; carried the queen
thence to Copenhagen: and having passed the winter in that city, he
brought her next spring to Scotland, where they were joyfully received
by the people. The clergy alone, who never neglected an opportunity
of vexing their prince, made opposition to the queen’s coronation,
on account of the ceremony of anointing her, which, they alleged, was
either a Jewish or a Popish rite, and therefore utterly antichristian
and unlawful. But James was as much bent on the ceremony as they
were averse to it: and after much controversy and many intrigues, his
authority, which had not often happened, at last prevailed over their
opposition.[**]
* Melvil, p. 180.
** Spotswood, p. 381.