As he spoke there came a broadside from the galley Royal which killed

nine of his crew. David, nothing daunted; laid his ship close alongside

of the Royal, with such a shock that the timbers quivered again. Then at

the head of his liberated slaves, now thoroughly armed, he dashed on

board the galley, and, after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted

by the slaves of the Royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and

putting all the Spanish soldiers to death. This done, the combined

rowers, welcoming Gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery which

seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. The gale had

meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the experienced

and intrepid Welshman, made their way to the coast of France, and landed

at Bayonne on the 31st, dividing among them the property found on board

the two galleys. Thence, by land, the fugitives, four hundred and

sixty-six in number--Frenchmen, Spaniards, Englishmen, Turks, and Moors,

made their way to Rochelle. Gwynn had an interview with Henry of Navarre,

and received from that chivalrous king a handsome present. Afterwards he

found his way to England, and was well commended by the Queen. The rest

of the liberated slaves dispersed in various directions.

This was the first adventure of the invincible Armada. Of the squadron of

galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had been

conquered by their own slaves. The fourth rode out the gale with

difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately

re-assembled at Coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at

Vivera, Ribadeo, Gijon, and other northern ports of Spain. At the

Groyne--as the English of that day were accustomed to call Coruna--they

remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and on the 22nd of

July 3 (N.S.) the Armada set sail: Six days later, the Spaniards took

soundings, thirty leagues from the Scilly Islands, and on--Friday, the

29th of July, off the Lizard, they had the first glimpse of the land of

promise presented them by Sixtus V., of which they had at last come to

take possession.

[The dates in the narrative will be always given according to the

New Style, then already adopted by Spain, Holland, and France,

although not by England. The dates thus given are, of course, ten

days later than they appear in contemporary English records.]

On the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand

beacon-fires from the Land's End to Margate, and from the Isle of Wight

to Cumberland, gave warning to every Englishman that the enemy was at

last upon them. Almost at that very instant intelligence had been brought

from the court to the Lord-Admiral at Plymouth, that the Armada,

dispersed and shattered by the gales of June, was not likely to make its

appearance that year; and orders had consequently been given to disarm

the four largest ships, and send them into dock. Even Walsingham, as

already stated, had participated in this strange delusion.

Before Howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had he

been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the great

fleet was off the Lizard. Neither he nor Francis Drake were the men to

lose time in such an emergency, and before that Friday, night was spent,

sixty of the best English ships had been warped out of Plymouth harbour.

On Saturday, 30th July, the wind was very light at southwest, with a mist

and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets could

descry and count each other through the haze.

By nine o'clock, 31st July, about two miles from Looe, on the Cornish

coast, the fleets had their first meeting. There were 136 sail of the

Spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the

English. It was a solemn moment. The long-expected Armada presented a

pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. The ships seemed arranged for a

pageant, in honour of a victory already won. Disposed in form of a

crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those gilded,

towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their martial

music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent pomp.

Their captain-general, the golden Duke, stood in his private shot-proof

fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the Saint Martin, surrounded

by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew as little as

he did himself of naval matters. The English vessels, on the other

hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily handled--could sail

round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks, and galleys rowed by

fettered slave-gangs. The superior seamanship of free Englishmen,

commanded by such experienced captains as Drake, Frobisher, and

Hawkins--from infancy at home on blue water--was manifest in the very,

first encounter. They obtained the weather-gage at once, and cannonaded

the enemy at intervals with considerable effect, easily escaping at will

out of range of the sluggish Armada, which was incapable of bearing sail

in pursuit, although provided with an armament which could sink all its

enemies at close quarters. "We had some small fight with them that Sunday

afternoon," said Hawkins.

Medina Sidonia hoisted the royal standard at the fore, and the whole

fleet did its utmost, which was little, to offer general battle. It was

in vain. The English, following at the heels of the enemy, refused all

such invitations, and attacked only the rear-guard of the Armada, where

Recalde commanded. That admiral, steadily maintaining his post, faced his

nimble antagonists, who continued to teaze, to maltreat, and to elude

him, while the rest of the fleet proceeded slowly up the Channel closely,

followed by the enemy. And thus the running fight continued along the

coast, in full view of Plymouth, whence boats with reinforcements and

volunteers were perpetually arriving to the English ships, until the

battle had drifted quite out of reach of the town.

Already in this first "small fight" the Spaniards had learned a lesson,

and might even entertain a doubt of their invincibility. But before the

sun set there were more serious disasters. Much powder and shot had been

expended by the Spaniards to very little purpose, and so a master-gunner

on board Admiral Oquendo's flag-ship was reprimanded for careless

ball-practice. The gunner, who was a Fleming, enraged with his captain,

laid a train to the powder-magazine, fired it, and threw himself into the

sea. Two decks blew up. The into the clouds, carrying with it the

paymaster-general of the fleet, a large portion of treasure, and nearly

two hundred men.' The ship was a wreck, but it was possible to save the

rest of the crew. So Medina Sidonia sent light vessels to remove them,

and wore with his flag-ship, to defend Oquendo, who had already been

fastened upon by his English pursuers. But the Spaniards, not being so

light in hand as their enemies, involved themselves in much embarrassment

by this manoeuvre; and there was much falling foul of each other,

entanglement of rigging, and carrying away of yards. Oquendo's men,

however, were ultimately saved, and taken to other ships.

Meantime Don Pedro de Valdez, commander of the Andalusian squadron,

having got his galleon into collision with two or three Spanish ships

successively, had at last carried away his fore-mast close to the deck,

and the wreck had fallen against his main-mast. He lay crippled and

helpless, the Armada was slowly deserting him, night was coming on, the

sea was running high, and the English, ever hovering near, were ready to

grapple with him. In vain did Don Pedro fire signals of distress. The

captain-general, even as though the unlucky galleon had not been

connected with the Catholic fleet--calmly fired a gun to collect his

scattered ships, and abandoned Valdez to his fate. "He left me

comfortless in sight of the whole fleet," said poor Pedro, "and greater

inhumanity and unthankfulness I think was never heard of among men."

Yet the Spaniard comported himself most gallantly. Frobisher, in the

largest ship of the English fleet, the Triumph, of 1100 tons, and Hawkins

in the Victory, of 800, cannonaded him at a distance, but, night coming

on, he was able to resist; and it was not till the following morning that

he surrendered to the Revenge.

Drake then received the gallant prisoner on board his flagship--much to

the disgust and indignation of Frobisher and Hawkins, thus disappointed

of their prize and ransom-money--treated him with much courtesy, and gave

his word of honour that he and his men should be treated fairly like good

prisoners of war. This pledge was redeemed, for it was not the English,

as it was the Spanish custom, to convert captives into slaves, but only

to hold them for ransom. Valdez responded to Drake's politeness by

kissing his hand, embracing him, and overpowering him with magnificent

compliments. He was then sent on board the Lord-Admiral, who received him

with similar urbanity, and expressed his regret that so distinguished a

personage should have been so coolly deserted by the Duke of Medina. Don

Pedro then returned to the Revenge, where, as the guest of Drake, he was

a witness to all subsequent events up to the 10th of August, on which day

he was sent to London with some other officers, Sir Francis claiming his

ransom as his lawful due.

Here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the Invincible

Armada. On the very first day of their being in presence of the English

fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size

and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the Guipuzcoan and

of the Andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, 450 officers and,

men, and some 100,000 ducats of treasure. They had been out-manoeuvred,

out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had

been unable to inflict a single blow in return. Thus the "small fight"

had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the Inquisition, and the

English were proportionably encouraged.

On Monday, 1st of August, Medina Sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting

of the galeasses, the galleons St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. James, and the

Florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of Don

Antonio de Leyva. He was instructed to entertain the enemy--so constantly

hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and to come to

close quarters whenever it should be possible. The Spaniards felt

confident of sinking every ship in the English navy, if they could but

once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour that

the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their foes.

Meantime--while the rear was thus protected by Leyva's division--the

vanguard and main body of the Armada, led by the captain-general, would

steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until it

arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the Duke of Parma. Moreover,

the Duke of Medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline and of good

seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion to send a

serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each ship in

the Armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without appeal or

consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and the hangmen

were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate attention to these

arrangements. Juan Gil was at the name time sent off in a sloop to the

Duke of Parma, to carry the news of the movements of the Armada, to

request information as to the exact spot and moment of the junction, and

to beg for pilots acquainted with the French and Flemish coasts. "In case

of the slightest gale in the world," said Medina, "I don't know how or

where to shelter such large ships as ours."

Disposed in this manner; the Spaniards sailed leisurely along the English

coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the Queen's fleet,

which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that

day, any obstruction to their course.

By five o'clock on Tuesday morning, 2nd of August, the Armada lay between

Portland Bill and St. Albans' Head, when the wind shifted to the

north-east, and gave the Spaniards the weather-gage. The English did

their beat to get to windward, but the Duke, standing close into the land

with the whole Armada, maintained his advantage. The English then went

about, making a tack seaward, and were soon afterwards assaulted by the

Spaniards. A long and spirited action ensued. Howard in his little

Ark-Royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions"--was engaged at

different times with Bertendona, of the Italian squadron, with Alonzo de

Leyva in the Batta, and with other large vessels. He was hard pressed for

a time, but was gallantly supported by the Nonpareil, Captain Tanner; and

after a long and confused combat, in which the St. Mark, the St. Luke,

the St. Matthew, the St. Philip, the St. John, the St. James, the St.

John Baptist, the St. Martin, and many other great galleons, with saintly

and apostolic names, fought pellmell with the Lion, the Bear, the Bull,

the Tiger, the Dreadnought, the Revenge, the Victory, the Triumph, and

other of the more profanely-baptized English ships, the Spaniards were

again baffled in all their attempts to close with, and to board, their

ever-attacking, ever-flying adversaries. The cannonading was incessant.

"We had a sharp and a long fight," said Hawkins. Boat-loads of men and

munitions were perpetually arriving to the English, and many, high-born

volunteers--like Cumberland, Oxford, Northumberland, Raleigh, Brooke,

Dudley, Willoughby, Noel, William Hatton, Thomas Cecil, and others--could

no longer restrain their impatience, as the roar of battle sounded along

the coasts of Dorset, but flocked merrily on board the ships of

Drake,--Hawkins, Howard, and Frobisher, or came in small vessels which

they had chartered for themselves, in order to have their share in the

delights of the long-expected struggle.

The action, irregular, desultory, but lively, continued nearly all day,

and until the English had fired away most of their powder and shot. The

Spaniards, too, notwithstanding their years of preparation, were already

sort of light metal, and Medina Sidonia had been daily sending to Parma

for a Supply of four, six, and ten pound balls. So much lead and

gunpowder had never before been wasted in a single day; for there was no

great damage inflicted on either side. The artillery-practice was

certainly not much to the credit of either nation.

"If her Majesty's ships had been manned with a full supply of good

gunners," said honest William Thomas, an old artilleryman, "it would have

been the woefullest time ever the Spaniard took in hand, and the most

noble victory ever heard of would have been her Majesty's. But our sins

were the cause that so much powder and shot were spent, so long time in

fight, and in comparison so little harm done. It were greatly to be

wished that her Majesty were no longer deceived in this way."

Yet the English, at any rate, had succeeded in displaying their

seamanship, if not their gunnery, to advantage. In vain the unwieldly

hulks and galleons had attempted to grapple with their light-winged foes,

who pelted them, braved them, damaged their sails and gearing; and then

danced lightly off into the distance; until at last, as night fell, the

wind came out from the west again, and the English regained and kept the

weather-gage.

The Queen's fleet, now divided into four squadrons, under Howard, Drake,

Hawkins, and Frobisher, amounted to near one hundred sail, exclusive of

Lord Henry Seymour's division, which was cruising in the Straits of

Dover. But few of all this number were ships of war however, and the

merchant vessels; although zealous and active enough, were not thought

very effective. "If you had seen the simple service done by the merchants

and coast ships," said Winter, "you would have said we had been little

holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show."

All night the Spaniards, holding their course towards Calais, after the

long but indecisive conflict had terminated, were closely pursued by

their wary antagonists. On Wednesday, 3rd of August, there was some

slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on Thursday, the 4th,

both fleets were off Dunnose, on the Isle of Wight. The great hulk

Santana and a galleon of Portugal having been somewhat damaged the

previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the Armada, and were

vigorously attacked by the Triumph, and a few other vessels. Don Antonio

de Leyva, with some of the galeasses and large galleons, came to the

rescue, and Frobisher, although in much peril, maintained an unequal

conflict, within close range, with great spirit.

Seeing his danger, the Lord Admiral in the Ark-Royal, accompanied by the

Golden Lion; the White Bear, the Elizabeth, the Victory, and the

Leicester, bore boldly down into the very midst of the Spanish fleet, and

laid himself within three or four hundred yards of Medina's flag ship,

the St. Martin, while his comrades were at equally close quarters with

Vice-Admiral Recalde and the galleons of Oquendo, Mexia, and Almanza. It

was the hottest conflict which had yet taken place. Here at last was

thorough English work. The two, great fleets, which were there to

subjugate and to defend the realm of Elizabeth, were nearly yard-arm and

yard-arm together--all England on the lee. Broadside after broadside of

great guns, volley after volley of arquebusry from maintop and rigging,

were warmly exchanged, and much damage was inflicted on the Spaniards,

whose gigantic ships, were so easy a mark to aim at, while from their

turreted heights they themselves fired for the most part harmlessly over

the heads of their adversaries. The leaders of the Armada, however, were

encouraged, for they expected at last to come to even closer quarters,

and there were some among the English who were mad enough to wish to

board.

But so soon as Frobisher, who was the hero of the day, had extricated

himself from his difficulty, the Lord-Admiral--having no intention of

risking the existence of his fleet, and with it perhaps of the English

crown, upon the hazard of a single battle, and having been himself

somewhat damaged in the fight--gave the signal for retreat, and caused

the Ark-Royal to be towed out of action. Thus the Spaniards were

frustrated of their hopes, and the English; having inflicted much.

punishment at comparatively small loss to themselves, again stood off to

windward; and the Armada continued its indolent course along the cliffs

of Freshwater and Blackgang.

On Friday; 5th August, the English, having received men and munitions

from shore, pursued their antagonists at a moderate distance; and the

Lord-Admiral; profiting by the pause--for, it was almost a flat

calm--sent for Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins, Roger Townsend, Lord

Thomas Howard, son of the Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Edmund Sheffield; and

on the deck of the Royal Ark conferred the honour of knighthood on each

for his gallantry in the action of the previous day. Medina Sidonia, on

his part, was again despatching messenger after messenger to the Duke of

Parma, asking for small shot, pilots, and forty fly-boats, with which to

pursue the teasing English clippers. The Catholic Armada, he said, being

so large and heavy, was quite in the power of its adversaries, who could

assault, retreat, fight, or leave off fighting, while he had nothing for

it but to proceed, as expeditiously as might be; to his rendezvous in

Calais roads.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in The Armada

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609

By John Lothrop Motley

History United Netherlands, Volume 58, 1588

Both Fleets off Calais--A Night of Anxiety--Project of Howard and

Winter--Impatience of the Spaniards--Fire-Ships sent against the

Armada--A great Galeasse disabled--Attacked and captured by English

Boats--General Engagement of both Fleets--Loss of several Spanish

Ships--Armada flies, followed by the English--English insufficiently

provided--Are obliged to relinquish the Chase--A great Storm

disperses the Armada--Great Energy of Parma Made fruitless by

Philip's Dulness--England readier at Sea than on Shore--The

Lieutenant--General's Complaints--His Quarrels with Norris and

Williams--Harsh Statements as to the English Troops--Want of

Organization in England--Royal Parsimony and Delay--Quarrels of

English Admirals--England's narrow Escape from great Peril--Various

Rumours as to the Armada's Fate--Philip for a long Time in Doubt--He

believes himself victorious--Is tranquil when undeceived.

CHAPTER XIX. Part 2.

And in Calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in

company with the English, without a shot being fired on either side--at

last dropped anchor on Saturday afternoon, August 6th.

Here then the Invincible Armada had arrived at its appointed

resting-place. Here the great junction--of Medina Sidonia with the Duke

of Parma was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon

the last act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared.

That Saturday afternoon, Lord Henry Seymour and his squadron of sixteen

lay between Dungeness and Folkestone; waiting the approach of the two

fleets. He spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they

could give him no information--strange to say--either of the Spaniards

or, of his own countrymen,--Seymour; having hardly three days' provision

in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and

so bore into the Downs. Hardly had he been there half an hour; when a

pinnace arrived from the Lord-Admiral; with orders for Lord Henry's

squadron to hold itself in readiness. There was no longer time for

victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail

and bear for the French coast. The wind was however so light; that the

whole day was spent before Seymour with his ships could cross the

channel. At last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great Spanish

Armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very

near each other--a little to the eastward of Calais, and very near the

shore. The English, under Howard Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins, were

slowly following, and--so soon as Lord Henry, arriving from the opposite

shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped

anchor likewise very near Calais, and within one mile and a half of the

Spaniards. That invincible force had at last almost reached its

destination. It was now to receive the cooperation of the great Farnese,

at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred

battle-fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they

had been with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant

general in Christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of

England. The long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of

politicians, maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the

intentions of a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly

sovereign. The mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of

Philip's diplomatists and their English dupes, interchanging protocols so

decorously month after month on the sands of Bourbourg, had been drowned

by the peremptory voice of English and Spanish artillery, suddenly

breaking in upon their placid conferences. It had now become

supererogatory to ask for Alexander's word of honour whether he had, ever

heard of Cardinal Allan's pamphlet, or whether his master contemplated

hostilities against Queen Elizabeth.

Never, since England was England, had such a sight been seen as now

revealed itself in those narrow straits between Dover and Calais. Along

that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the Calais

fortifications, one hundred and thirty Spanish ships--the greater number

of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face,

and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty English

sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could

furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world.

Farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post

perilous and vital service, was a squadron of Dutch vessels of all sizes,

lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the Flemish

coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate

and dangerous cruising-ground between Dunkerk and Walcheren. Those fleets

of Holland and Zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty galleons,

sloops, and fly-boats, under Warmond, Nassau, Van der Does, de Moor, and

Rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from Newport,

or Gravelines; or Sluys, or Flushing, or Dunkerk, and longing to grapple

with the Duke of Parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and hoys, packed

with his Spanish and Italian veterans, should venture to set forth upon

the sea for their long-prepared exploit.

It was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas.

The moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of

anxious expectation. Would she not be looking, by the morrow's night,

upon a subjugated England, a re-enslaved Holland--upon the downfall of

civil and religious liberty? Those ships of Spain, which lay there with

their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated

triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they

not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the

conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes?

That English fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the

watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender

vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory

skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the

moment had arrived for the death grapple? Would not Howard, Drake,

Frobisher, Seymour, Winter, and Hawkins, be swept out of the straits at

last, yielding an open passage to Medina, Oquendo, Recalde, and Farnese?

Would those Hollanders and Zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their

treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible

'Holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth?

So soon as he had cast anchor, Howard despatched a pinnace to the

Vanguard, with a message to Winter to come on board the flag-ship. When

Sir William reached the Ark, it was already nine in the evening. He was

anxiously consulted by the Lord-Admiral as to the course now to be taken.

Hitherto the English had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the

retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. Although anxious

to give battle, the Spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast

until after his junction with Parma. So the English had played a

comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating

him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and

slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. But he was now to be met

face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was

upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred.

Winter, standing side by aide with the Lord-Admiral on the deck of the

little Ark-Royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and

galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar.

"Considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove

them but by a device."

Then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four

years before of the fire ships sent by the Antwerpers against Parma's

bridge--the inventor of which, the Italian Gianibelli, was at that very

moment constructing fortifications on the Thames to assist the English

against his old enemy Farnese--Winter suggested that some stratagem of

the same kind should be attempted against the Invincible Armada. There

was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had

been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least

might be sent among the fleet. Some damage would doubtless be thus

inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of

Antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous Mantuan wizard was then a

resident of England, would be still more effective. In Winter's opinion,

the Armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown

into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out.

Howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a

council of war for arranging the details of its execution.

While the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well

nigh been a serious misfortune. The ship, White Bear, of 1000 tons

burthen, and three others of the English fleet, all tangled together,

came drifting with the tide against the Ark. There were many yards

carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger;

in the opinion of Winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet

would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement.

By alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the

ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to

several Spanish vessels--were fortunately averted.

Next day, Sunday, 7th August, the two great fleets were still lying but a

mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and

falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the

only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. Nothing as yet was

heard of Farnese. Thus far, at least, the Hollanders had held him at bay,

and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. So Howard hung

out his signal for council early in the morning, and very soon after

Drake and Hawkins, Seymour, Winter, and the rest, were gravely consulting

in his cabin.

It was decided that Winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and Sir

Henry Palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to Dover, to bring

off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of

light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to

the purpose.' But as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for

Palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of

what could be collected in the fleet itself. Otherwise it was to be

feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. Parma, crushing all

opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the

whole Spanish Armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would

engage the English and Dutch fleets, and cover his passage to Dover. It

would then be too late to think of the burning ships.

On the other hand, upon the decks of the Armada, there was an impatience

that night which increased every hour. The governor of Calais; M. de

Gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of Medina Sidonia,

with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful

refreshments. There was no fear--now that Mucio was for the time in the

ascendency--that the schemes of Philip would be interfered with by

France. The governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the

dangerous position in which the Armada had placed itself. He was quite

right. Calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those of

Spain and Portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they were

exposed were most treacherous. It was calm enough at the moment, but a

westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet hopelessly

among the sand-banks of the dangerous Flemish coast. Moreover, the Duke,

although tolerably well furnished with charts and pilots for the English

coast, was comparatively unprovided against the dangers which might beset

him off Dunkerk, Newport, and Flushing. He had sent messengers, day after

day, to Farnese, begging for assistance of various kinds, but, above all,

imploring his instant presence on the field of action. It was the time

and, place for Alexander to assume the chief command. The Armada was

ready to make front against the English fleet on the left, while on the

right, the Duke, thus protected, might proceed across the channel and

take possession of England.

And the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was

equal to that of their commanders. There was London almost before their

eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those

mines beyond the Atlantic which had so often rewarded Spanish chivalry

with fabulous wealth. And there were men in those galleons who remembered

the sack of Antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, from

personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when once

in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury of

Antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of a

merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and

daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the

number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many

thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by

millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' Those Spaniards,

and Italians, and Walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more

blood; and as the capital of England was even more wealthy and far more

defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the Netherlands had been,

so it was resolved that the London 'fury' should be more thorough and

more productive than the 'fury' of Antwerp, at the memory--of which the

world still shuddered. And these professional soldiers had been taught to

consider the English as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, dependent

on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and

discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were

the excellent burghers of Antwerp.

And so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons

and galeasses upon the English vessels. More than three quarters of them

were merchantmen. There was no comparison whatever between the relative

strength of the fleets. In number they were about equal being each from

one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the Spaniards

had twice the tonnage of the English, four times the artillery, and

nearly three times the number of men.

Where was Farnese? Most impatiently the Golden Duke paced the deck of the

Saint Martin. Most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards the

eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of Parma's flotilla. But the

day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and mysterious

silence prevailed. There was utter solitude on the waters in the

direction of Gravelines and Dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the

quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. The mystery was

profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the Armada that

Alexander could not come out when he chose.

And now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were

curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. For in the horrible

atmosphere of duplicity, in which all Spaniards and Italians of that

epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already Medina Sidonia

suspected Farnese of playing him false. There were whispers of collusion

between the Duke and the English commissioners at Bourbourg. There were

hints that Alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide

the sovereignty of the Netherlands with the heretic Elizabeth, to desert

his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his

master's Armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the

north. Men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which

Alexander might have received information, and in which many believed,

that Medina Sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw Farnese into

bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive

back to Spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the

hand of the Duke of Pastrana, Philip's bastard by the Eboli. Thus, in the

absence of Alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. It seemed possible

that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through the

treachery of the commander-in-chief. Four and twenty hours and more, they

had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather had

been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in the

atmosphere.

As the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark

cloud-masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder

rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible.

Such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those

cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of Flanders under their

lee.

At an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the

most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. But a faint drip of oars

now struck the ears of the Spaniards as they watched from the decks. A

few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six flaming

vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon them

before the wind and tide.

There were men in the Armada who had been at the siege of Antwerp only

three years before. They remembered with horror the devil-ships of

Gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and

ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a

blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of Farnese,

as though they had been toys of glass. They knew, too, that the famous

engineer was at that moment in England.

In a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such

contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the Spaniards.

There was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of Antwerp, the

fire-ships of Antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and

frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what

seemed imminent destruction. The confusion was beyond description. Four

or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. Two others

were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. Medina

Sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from Spain, that

some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had even, early

that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to search for

indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. He gave

orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger should be

passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further orders. But it

was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to issue commands. The

despised Mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs at Philip's court, and

who--owing to official incredulity had been but partially successful in

his magnificent enterprise at Antwerp, had now; by the mere terror of his

name, inflicted more damage on Philip's Armada than had hitherto been

accomplished by Howard and Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher, combined.

So long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued.

When the Monday morning dawned, several of the Spanish vessels lay

disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two

leagues from Calais, driving towards the Flemish coast. The threatened

gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the

W.S.W., which, to such awkward sailers as the Spanish vessels; were

difficult to contend with. On the other hand, the English fleet were all

astir; and ready to pursue the Spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the

North Sea. In the immediate neighbourhood of Calais, the flagship of the

squadron of galeasses, commanded by Don Hugo de Moncada, was discovered

using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. She

had been damaged by collision with the St. John of Sicily and other

ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. She

was the largest and most splendid vessel in the Armada--the show-ship of

the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the Spanish navy," and during the

previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of

Frenchmen from the shore.

Lord Admiral Howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in

shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the

Ark could not follow with safety. So he sent his long-boat to cut her

out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in

courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. The

Margaret and Joan of London, also following in pursuit, ran herself

aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers,

to aid in the capture of the galeasse.

That huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the

bar. There was much dismay on board, but Don Hugo prepared resolutely to

defend himself. The quays of Calais and the line of the French shore were

lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing

steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of

artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred

and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. Of these

daring Englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open

pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. They

soon laid themselves close to the Capitana, far below her lofty sides,

and called on Don Hugo to surrender. The answer was, a smile of derision

from the haughty Spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what seemed

an inaccessible height. Then one Wilton, coxswain of the Delight; of

Winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead the

same instant. Then the English volunteers opened a volley upon the

Spaniards; "They seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold Dick

Tomson, of the Margaret and Joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far

under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." Moreover the numbers

were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. But, the Spaniards, still

quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a

spell. Otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great galeasse

to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of time.

The English pelted the Spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus

shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a

considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves,

Lieutenant Preston of the Ark-Royal, among others, being dangerously

wounded. "We had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said Tomson. At

last Don Hugo de Moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and

leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet

through both eyes. The panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several

other English boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were

seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once

leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming

and wading to the shore. Some of them succeeded, but the greater number

were drowned. The few who remained--not more, than twenty in all--hoisted

two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. The English,

accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great difficulty up

the lofty sides of the Capitana, and, for an hour and a half, occupied

themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in liberating the

slaves.

It was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as

she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. But a serious

obstacle arose to this arrangement. For presently a boat came along-side,

with young M. de Gourdon and another French captain, and hailed the

galeasse. There was nobody on board who could speak French but Richard

Tomson. So Richard returned the hail, and asked their business. They said

they came from the governor.

"And what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked Tomson, when they had come

up the side.

"The governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your

victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood

you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. He requires and commands

you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its

ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and

within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him."

This seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open

boats, had so manfully carried a ship of 1200 tons, 40 guns, and 750 men;

but Richard answered diplomatically.

"We thank M. de Gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners

and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his

good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on

ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. Concerning the ship and

ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my Lord Admiral Howard,

who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an honourable and

friendly answer, which we shall all-obey."

With this--the French officers, being apparently content, were about to

depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained

the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which

Philip II. had made with his excellent friend Henry III. for aid and

comfort to Spanish vessels in French ports. Unluckily, however, the

inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the Englishmen

hustled their French visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels,

as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. They

rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after

their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the English, and

they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder

already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of M. de Gourdon.

This adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the

fleet, the Lord-Admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away

with all his force in pursuit of the Spaniards. The Invincible Armada,

already sorely crippled, was standing N.N.E. directly before a fresh

topsail-breeze from the S.S.W. The English came up with them soon after

nine o'clock A.M. off Gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon,

the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by

the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of Portugal.

Seeing the enemy approaching, Medina Sidonia ordered his whole fleet to

luff to the wind, and prepare for action. The wind shifting a few points,

was now at W.N.W., so that the English had both the weather-gage and the

tide in their favour. A general combat began at about ten, and it was

soon obvious to the Spaniards that their adversaries were intending warm

work. Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge, followed by, Frobisher in the

Triumph, Hawkins in the Victory, and some smaller vessels, made the first

attack upon the Spanish flagships. Lord Henry in the Rainbow, Sir Henry

Palmer in the Antelope, and others, engaged with three of the largest

galleons of the Armada, while Sir William Winter in the Vanguard,

supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard wing.

The portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body.

Four of the ships ran foul of each other, and Winter, driving into their

centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most

formidable' ships.

"I tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there

were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin,

from the Vanguard; and when I was farthest off in firing my pieces, I was

not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of

another."

The battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no

excuse for retreat on the part of the Spaniards, but, on the contrary, it

was the intention of the Captain-General to return to his station off

Calais, if it were within his power. Nevertheless the English still

partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and

resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the Spaniards to lay themselves

along-side. Keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined English

mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of

the Armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the Spaniards, on their

part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder

and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. Throughout the

action, not an English ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were

killed. On the other hand, all the best ships of the Spaniards were

riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails

and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them

towards the fatal sand-batiks of Holland, they, laboured heavily in a

chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the

hands of Howard Drake, Seymour, Winter, and their followers. Not even

master-gunner Thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the

part of the English, with "little harm done" to the enemy. There was

scarcely a ship in the Armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly

all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of Gravelines.

The Captain-General himself, Admiral Recalde, Alonzo de Leyva, Oquendo,

Diego Flores de Valdez, Bertendona, Don Francisco de Toledo, Don Diego de

Pimentel, Telles Enriquez, Alonzo de Luzon, Garibay, with most of the

great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one

after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. Three sank before

the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks

towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at

least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to

five thousand soldiers killed.

["God hath mightily preserved her Majesty's forces with the least

losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so

great volleys of shot, both small and great. I verily believe there

is not threescore men lost of her Majesty's forces." Captain J.

Fenner to Walsingham, 4/14 Aug. 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)]

Nearly all the largest vessels of the Armada, therefore, having, been

disabled or damaged--according to a Spanish eye-witness--and all their

small shot exhausted, Medina Sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat.

The Captain-General was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous Spaniard

of ancient Gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of

his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against

Alexander Farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered.

the great Catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. Crippled,

maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have

still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him

on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would

be inevitable destruction to remain. After a slight and very ineffectual

attempt to rescue Don Diego de Pimentel in the St. Matthew--who refused

to leave his disabled ship--and Don Francisco de Toledo; whose great

galleon, the St. Philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards

Zeeland, the Armada bore away N.N.E. into the open sea, leaving those,

who could not follow, to their fate.

The St. Matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a Dutch fisherman, who

was offered a gold chain to pilot her into Newport. But the fisherman,

being a patriot; steered her close to the Holland fleet, where she was

immediately assaulted by Admiral Van der Does, to whom, after a two

hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. Don Diego, marshal of the camp

to the famous legion of Sicily, brother, of the Marquis of Tavera, nephew

of the Viceroy of Sicily, uncle to the Viceroy of Naples, and numbering

as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a

grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the Hague.

"I was the means," said Captain Borlase, "that the best sort were saved,

and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. He, fought with

us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded."

John Van der Does, his captor; presented the banner; of the Saint Matthew

to the great church of Leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it

hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there

hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the Spanish

flags which had been left behind when Valdez abandoned the siege of that

heroic city fifteen years before.

The galleon St. Philip, one of the four largest ships in the Armada,

dismasted and foundering; drifted towards Newport, where camp-marshal Don

Francisco de Toledo hoped in, vain for succour. La Motte made a feeble

attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the Holland fleet, being much

more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into

Flushing. The captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of

value on board, but there were some casks of Ribadavia wine which was

more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. For

while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the

capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the St. Philip,

which had been bored through and through with English shot, and had been

rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a

moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial

Hollanders.

A large Biscay galleon, too, of Recalde's squadron, much disabled in

action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the Armada, was

summoned by Captain Cross of the Hope, 48 guns, to surrender. Although

foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. One of her

officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body

by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the

officer thus slain. In the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with

all her crew.

Six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted--a

most cruel battle, as the Spaniard declared. There were men in the Armada

who had served in the action of Lepanto, and who declared that famous

encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by this fight

off Gravelines. "Surely every man in our fleet did well," said Winter,

"and the slaughter the enemy received was great." Nor would the Spaniards

have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most unfortunately, the

penurious policy of the Queen's government rendered her ships useless at

last, even in this supreme moment. They never ceased cannonading the

discomfited enemy until the ammunition was exhausted. "When the

cartridges were all spent," said Winter, "and the munitions in some

vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but followed the enemy, who

still kept away." And the enemy--although still numerous, and seeming

strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the whole English

fleet--fled before them. There remained more than fifty Spanish vessels,

above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and other vessels of

less account; while in the whole English navy were but thirteen ships of

or above that burthen. "Their force is wonderful great and strong," said

Howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and little."

For Medina Sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed

in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime,

the horrible panic of Sunday night and the succession of fights

throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers.

Crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely

vanquished, the Armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy

who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside.

"Though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the Lord-Admiral,

"we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had

wanted nothing." And the brag countenance was successful, for that "one

day's service had much appalled the enemy" as Drake observed; and still

the Spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the Monday night.

"A thing greatly to be regarded," said Fenner, of the Nonpariel, "is that

that the Almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. I have hardly,

seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which befell

them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, while

they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can."

On Tuesday morning, 9th August, the English ships were off the isle of

Walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "The wind is hanging

westerly," said Richard Tomson, of the Margaret and Joan, "and we drive

our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct

themselves. Those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that they

could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both rich

and poor."

"In my conscience," said Sir William Winter, "I think the Duke would

give his dukedom to be in Spain again."

The English ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning

half-a-league to windward, the Duke gave orders for the whole Armada to

lay to and, await their approach. But the English had no disposition to

engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their

enemies seemed inevitable. Ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before

their foes, the Spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of

Zeeland. Already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly

shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told Medina that all were

irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them

steadily upon the banks. The English, easily escaping the danger, hauled

their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud Armada accomplished

before their eyes. Nothing but a change of wind at the instant could save

them from perdition. There was a breathless shudder of suspense, and then

there came the change. Just as the foremost ships were about to ground on

the Ooster Zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, and the

Spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, stood out

once more into the open sea.

All that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they

dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze,

and still the Lord-Admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed,

at an easy distance, the retreating foe. At 4 p. m., Howard fired a

signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. Winter could not go, for he had

been wounded in action, but Seymour and Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and

the rest were present, and it was decided that Lord Henry should return,

accompanied by Winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to guard the

Thames mouth against any attempt of the Duke of Parma, while the Lord

Admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of the

Armada.

Very wroth was Lord Henry at being deprived of his share in the chase.

"The Lord-Admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him,"

said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the

venture of my life, and to the distressing of the Spaniards, which was

thoroughly done on the Monday last, I now find his Lordship jealous and

loath to take part of the honour which is to come. So he has used his

authority to command me to look to our English coast, threatened by the

Duke of Parma. I pray God my Lord Admiral do not find the lack of the

Rainbow and her companions, for I protest before God I vowed I would be

as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of

the greatest ships in both armies."

There was no insubordination, however, and Seymour's squadron; at

twilight of Tuesday evening, August 9th--according to orders, so that the

enemy might not see their departure--bore away for Margate. But although

Winter and Seymour were much disappointed at their enforced return, there

was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. Pursuing the

Spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and bread to eat, was

not thought amusing by the English crews. Howard had not three days'

supply of food in his lockers, and Seymour and his squadron had not food

for one day. Accordingly, when Seymour and Winter took their departure,

"they had much ado," so Winter said; "with the staying of many ships that

would have returned with them, besides their own company." Had the

Spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but turned on their pursuers,

what might have been the result of a conflict with starving and unarmed

men?

Howard, Drake, and Frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the

Armada through the North Sea from Tuesday night (9th August) till Friday

(the 12th), and still, the strong southwester swept the Spaniards before

them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair

damages, in the realms of the treacherous King of Scots, or on the

iron-bound coasts of Norway. Medina Sidonia had however quite abandoned

his intention of returning to England, and was only anxious for a safe

return: to Spain. So much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted,

around the grim Hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had

the English overtaken him and once more offered battle. He was on the

point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last

time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board the

Saint Martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear from

England than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that

country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace to

surrender before they had been once more attacked.

On the other hand, the Devonshire skipper, Vice-Admiral Drake, now

thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the

Invincible Armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling

through the German Ocean, in full flight from the country which was to

have been made, that week, a Spanish province. Unprovided as were his

ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that

the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than Howard

thought.

"We have the army of Spain before us," wrote Drake, from the Revenge,

"and hope with the grace of God to wrestle a pull with him. There never

was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a

southerly wind to the northward. God grant you have a good eye to the

Duke of Parma, for with the grace of God, if we live, I doubt not so to

handle the matter with the Duke of Sidonia as he shall wish himself at

St. Mary's Port among his orange trees."

But Howard decided to wrestle no further pull. Having followed the

Spaniards till Friday, 12th of August, as far as the latitude of 56d. 17'

the Lord Admiral called a council. It was then decided, in order to save

English lives and ships, to put into the Firth of Forth for water and

provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be

past the Isles of Scotland." But the next day, as the wind shifted to the

north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, and

bear away for the North Foreland, in order to obtain a supply of powder,

shot, and provisions.

Up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been

moderate. During the week which succeeded the eventful night off. Calais,

neither the 'Armada nor the English ships had been much impeded in their

manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. But on the following Sunday, 14th of

August, there was a change. The wind shifted again to the south-west,

and, during the whole of that day and the Monday, blew a tremendous gale.

"'Twas a more violent storm," said Howard, "than was ever seen before at

this time of the year." The retreating English fleet was, scattered, many

ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands off Norfolk," but

within four or five days all arrived safely in Margate roads.

Far different was the fate of the Spaniards. Over their Invincible

Armada, last seen by the departing English midway between the coasts of

Scotland and Denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend.

A mystery hung for a long time over their fate. Damaged, leaking, without

pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered that

furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of Norway and between

the savage rocks of Faroe and the Hebrides. In those regions of tempest

the insulted North wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent Spaniards.

Disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale after gale

swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or shattering

them against granite cliffs. The coasts of Norway, Scotland, Ireland,

were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed the

dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which

were to have sacked London and made England a Spanish vice-royalty.

Through the remainder of the month of August there, was a succession of

storms. On the 2nd September a fierce southwester drove Admiral Oquendo

in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large

Venetian ships, the Ratty and the Balauzara, and thirty-six other

vessels, upon the Irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished,

while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious

affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or

sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped

to England. A few ships were driven on the English coast; others went

ashore near Rochelle.

Of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to Spain. Of

the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and

thirty-three returned. Of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost.

and eighteen returned. Of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which

sailed from Corona in July, but fifty-three, great and small, made their

escape to Spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless.

The invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated.

Of the 30,000 men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more

than 10,000 ever saw their native land again. Most of the leaders of the

expedition lost their lives. Medina Sidonia reached Santander in October,

and, as Philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of the

Armada," although the King soon discovered his mistake. Recalde, Diego

Flores de Valdez, Oquendo, Maldonado, Bobadilla, Manriquez, either

perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return.

Pedro de Valdez, Vasco de Silva, Alonzo de Sayas, Piemontel, Toledo, with

many other nobles, were prisoners in England and Holland. There was

hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning, so that,

to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the

wearing of mourning at all. On the other hand, a merchant of Lisbon, not

yet reconciled to the Spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself

some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the Armada, and was immediately

hanged by express command of Philip. Thus--as men said--one could neither

cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions.

This was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an

expense almost incalculable. In the year 1588 alone, the cost of Philip's

armaments for the subjugation of England could not have been less than

six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum on board

the Armada itself, although the Pope refused to pay his promised million.

And with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many thousand

lives, nothing had been accomplished, and Spain, in a moment, instead of

seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous.

"Beaten and shuffled together from the Lizard to Calais, from Calais

driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of England

about Scotland and Ireland," as the Devonshire skipper expressed himself,

it must be confessed that the Spaniards presented a sorry sight. "Their

invincible and dreadful navy," said Drake, "with all its great and

terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about England so much

as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even

burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land."

Meanwhile Farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon

him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic

blunders of the invasion.

"As for the Prince of Parma," said Drake, "I take him to be as a bear

robbed of her whelps." The Admiral was quite right. Alexander was beside

himself with rage. Day after day, he had been repeating to Medina Sidonia

and to Philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely live in any

but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could serve a

warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. He had always

counselled the seizing of a place like Flushing, as a basis of operations

against England, but had been overruled; and he had at least reckoned

upon the Invincible Armada to clear the way for him, before he should be

expected to take the sea.

With prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or

improved internal water-communications from Ghent to Sluy's, Newport, and

Dunkerk. He had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions for

the invasion, from all points of the obedient Netherlands to the

sea-coast, without coming within reach of the Hollanders and Zeelanders,

who were keeping close watch on the outside. But those Hollanders and

Zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and

cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of England to scorn, braving

them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the Walloons and

Spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on

the water was as natural as upon dry land. Alexander, upon one occasion,

transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly

Spanish, partly Irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent

boatmen. With his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than

one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then

the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the Hollanders, and

every man of the thousand was slain.

He had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his

men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in

a single day. "But it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long packed

up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about in the

people would sicken, would rot, would die." So soon as he had received

information of the arrival of the fleet before Calais--which was on the

8th August--he had proceeded the same night to Newport and embarked

16,000 men, and before dawn he was at Dunkerk, where the troops stationed

in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. Sir William

Stanley, with his 700 Irish kernes, were among the first shipped for the

enterprise. Two-days long these regiments lay heaped together, like

sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers described it--and

they lay cheerfully hoping that the Dutch fleet would be swept out of the

sea by the Invincible Armada, and patiently expecting the signal for

setting sail to England. Then came the Prince of Ascoli, who had gone

ashore from the Spanish fleet at Calais, accompanied by serjeant-major

Gallinato and other messengers from Medina Sidonia, bringing the news of

the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the Armada.

"God knows," said Alexander, "the distress in which this event has

plunged me, at the very moment when I expected to be sending your Majesty

my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. But these are

the works of the Lord, who can recompense your Majesty by giving you many

victories, and the fulfilment of your Majesty's desires, when He thinks

the proper time arrived. Meantime let Him be praised for all, and let

your Majesty take great care of your health, which is the most important

thing of all."

Evidently the Lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for

fulfilling his Majesty's desires for the subjugation of England, and

meanwhile the King might find what comfort he could in pious commonplaces

and in attention to his health.

But it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, Alexander

Farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of Philips hopes.

No man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made

evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of

the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for

all emergencies. No man could have been more minutely faithful to his

master, more treacherous to all the world beside. Energetic, inventive,

patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered Flanders with

canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid

army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled Comptroller Croft. And not only had

that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but Elizabeth

and Burghley, and, for a moment, even Walsingham, were in the dark,

while Henry III. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent Balafre

a blind instrument in his hands. Nothing could equal Alexander's

fidelity, but his perfidy. Nothing could surpass his ability to command

but his obedience. And it is very possible that had Philip followed his

nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile

schemes; the result far England, Holland, and, all Christendom might have

been very different from the actual one. The blunder against which

Farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which

the King and all his counsellors chose to remain of the Holland and

Zeeland fleet. For them Warmond and Nassau, and Van der Does and Joost de

Moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with

their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation.

To the Queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of

England, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship,

their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the

triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient Hollanders and

Zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held Farneae, the chief of

the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in his

own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of their

fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him and the

Duke of Medina Sidona, an equal share of honour is due. The safety of the

two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible contest was achieved

by the people and the mariners of the two states combined.

Great was the enthusiasm certainly of the English people as the

volunteers marched through London to the place of rendezvous, and

tremendous were the cheers when the brave Queen rode on horseback along

the lines of Tilbury. Glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry little

England, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter the

Spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "It was a pleasant sight," says that

enthusiastic merchant-tailor John Stowe, "to behold the cheerful

countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they

marched to Tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the

news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. And

Bellona-like did the Queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and

resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their

sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the Spaniards might land quickly,

and when they heard they were fled, began to lament."

But if the Spaniards had not fled, if there had been no English navy in

the Channel, no squibs at Calais, no Dutchmen off Dunkerk, there might

have been a different picture to paint. No man who has, studied the

history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic

determination of the English nation to repel the invaders. Catholics and

Protestants felt alike on the great subject. Philip did not flatter,

himself with assistance from any English Papists, save exiles and

renegades like Westmoreland, Paget, Throgmorton, Morgan, Stanley, and the

rest. The bulk of the Catholics, who may have constituted half the

population of England, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and

notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against

them, Elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty.

But loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply

the want of numbers and discipline. According to the generally accepted

statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some 75,000 men under

arms: 20,000 along the southern coast, 23,000 under Leicester, and 33,000

under Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon, for the special defence of the Queen's

person.

But it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring

anything like these numbers into the field. A drilled and disciplined

army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever.

If the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were

thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the

volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine

militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. Magnificent was

the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their Queen.

The Earl of Pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse

and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard

the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "Accept hereof most

excellent sovereign," said the Earl, "from a person desirous to live no

longer than he may see your Highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre

the beards of all confederated leaguers."

The Earl of Shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his

retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "Though I be old," he said,

"yet shall your quarrel make me young again. Though lame in body, yet

lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near

your defence, every way wherein your Highness shall employ me."

But there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. The

lieutenant-general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous

tendency among all the militia-men to escape from the Queen's colours, in

order to enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. This spirit

was not favourable to efficient organization of a national army. Even,

had the commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would

have been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a

splendid army, once landed, and led by Alexander Farnese, but even

Leicester's most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him

in-military ability with that first general of his age. The best soldier

in England was un-questionably Sir John Norris, and Sir John was now

marshal of the camp to Leicester. The ancient quarrel between the two had

been smoothed over, and--as might be expected--the Earl hated Norris more

bitterly than before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had

often done in the Netherlands. Roger William, too, was entrusted with the

important duties of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general,

and Leicester continued to bear the grudge towards that honest Welshman,

which had begun in Holland. These were not promising conditions in a

camp, when an invading army was every day expected; nor was the

completeness or readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the

quarrels of the commanders.

The Armada had arrived in Calais roads on Saturday afternoon; the 6th

August. If it had been joined on that day, or the next--as Philip and

Medina Sidonia fully expected--by the Duke of Parma's flotilla, the

invasion would have been made at once. If a Spanish army had ever landed

in England at all, that event would have occurred on the 7th August. The

weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances

under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night

accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in England. For aught

that Leicester, or Burghley, or Queen Elizabeth, knew at the time, the

army of Farnese might, on Monday, have been marching upon London. Now, on

that Monday morning, the army of Lord Hunsdon was not assembled at all,

and Leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was just

commencing his camp at Tilbury. The "Bellona-like" appearance of the

Queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her

troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been

repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great Armada,

shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself

against the cliffs of Norway and the Faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to

Spain.

Leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not

restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient

spirit had to contend. "Be you assured," said he, on the 3rd August, when

the Armada was off the Isle of Wight, "if the Spanish fleet arrive safely

in the narrow seas, the Duke of Parma will join presently with all his

forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. Therefore I beseech you,

my good Lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your speedy

providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our gate."

For even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to

the intentions of the Spaniards:

Next day he informed Walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived.

"They be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as I ever saw,"

said he. He could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "Some

want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without

one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel of

beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have

discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. I see many causes to

increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all

sudden hurley burleys. In no former time was ever so great a cause, and

albeit her Majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they

land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, I find it

now. If it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it

will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty

miles off."

He had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. "I made

proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, that

victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their

provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. I have

sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. I speak

it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not

deferred till the worst come. Let her Majesty not defer the time, upon

any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about

her. Her Majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had

not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole

realm been in by this time! And what care she will be in if her forces be

not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the mighty

enemy that is to approach her gates."

"God doth know, I speak it not to bring her to charges. I would she had

less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever

they were; but I will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the

realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger."

Thus, on the 5th August, no army had been assembled--not even the

body-guard of the Queen--and Leicester, with four thousand men,

unprovided with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing

his entrenched camp at Tilbury. On the 6th August the Armada was in

Calais roads, expecting Alexander Farnese to lead his troops upon London!

Norris and Williams, on the news of Medina Sidonia's approach, had rushed

to Dover, much to the indignation of Leicester, just as the Earl was

beginning his entrenchments at Tilbury. "I assure you I am angry with Sir

John Norris and Sir Roger Williams," he said. "I am here cook, caterer,

and huntsman. I am left with no one to supply Sir John's place as

marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. I

ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully

promised. Yet, on arriving this morning, I hear nothing of either, and

have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. This manner of

dealing doth much mislike me in them both. I am ill-used. 'Tis now four

o'clock, but here's not one of them. If they come not this night, I

assure you I will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose

careless dealing at their hands. If you saw how weakly I am assisted you

would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the

enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. And seeing her Majesty

hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, I look that respect be used

towards me, such as is due to my place."

Thus the ancient grudge--between Leicester and the Earl of Sussex's son

was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this

eventful season.

Next day the Welshman arrived, and Sir John promised to come back in the

evening. Sir Roger brought word from the coast that Lord Henry Seymour's

fleet was in want both of men and powder. "Good Lord!" exclaimed

Leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my Lord-Admiral

are so weakened of men. I hear they be running away. I beseech you,

assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. Hasten

our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . If the Spanish fleet come to the

narrow seas the Prince of Parma will play another part than is looked

for."

As the Armada approached Calais, Leicester was informed that the soldiers

at Dover began to leave the coast. It seemed that they were dissatisfied

with the penuriousness of the government. "Our soldiers do break away at

Dover, or are not pleased. I assure you, without wages, the people will

not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. Surely I find that her

Majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her

subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve

her." The lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him

to proceed to Dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these

discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid,

undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in

opposing Alexander's march, to London, if he should once succeed in

landing. Leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands

of the metropolis. "For your Londoners," he said, "I see their service

will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, I

look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy." This was not

complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous Artillery Garden,

and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which

the capital was to be approached. But there was much jealousy, both among

citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional soldiers.

"I know what burghers be, well enough," said the Earl, "as brave and

well-entertained as ever the Londoners were. If they should go forth from

the city they should have good leaders. You know the imperfections of the

time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen of the counties are

very loth to have any captains placed with them. So that the beating out

of our best captains is like to be cause of great danger."

Sir John Smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize

some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those

of Leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these

English armies. The Earl was very angry with the knight, however, and

considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. Sir John seemed,

indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render

service to the Queen by leading awkward recruits against Alexander

Farnese. He thought it better to nurse himself.

"You would laugh to see how Sir John Smith has dealt since my coming,"

said Leicester. "He came to me, and told me that his disease so grew upon

him as he must needs go to the baths. I told him I would not be against

his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had taken

with his countrymen, and that I had provided a good place for him. Next

day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed desirous,

for his health, to be gone. I told him what place I did appoint, which

was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. He said his health was

dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, which I yielded unto.

Yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to me to dinner; but such

foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst withal, without any cause

offered, as made all that knew anything smile and answer little, but in

sort rather to satisfy men present than to argue with him."

And the knight went that day to review Leicester's choice troops--the

four thousand men of Essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with

their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. He

became very censorious.

"After the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into

such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the

weapon, as made me think he was not well. God forbid he should have

charge of men that knoweth so little, as I dare pronounce that he doth."

Yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions

were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they

did not materially vary from those which Leicester himself was in the

habit of expressing. And these interior scenes of discord, tumult,

parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops,

were occurring on the very Saturday and Sunday when the Armada lay in

sight of Dover cliffs, and when the approach of the Spaniards on the

Dover road might at any moment be expected.

Leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a

formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. He was already

displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to Lord Hunsdon,

disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the Lord

Chamberlain should accept office under himself. He wished saving clauses

as to his own authority inserted in Hunsdon's patent. "Either it must be

so, or I shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my

patent doth give me power. You may easily conceive what absurd dealings

are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders."

Looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and

file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction

that in this great crisis of England's destiny, there were such men as

Howard, Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, Seymour, Winter, Fenner, and their

gallant brethren, cruising that week in the Channel, and that Nassau and

Warmond; De Moor and Van der Does, were blockading the Flemish coast.

There was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. There

were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon.

There were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance;

but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people,

with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers

more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly

behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they

could scarcely have been avoided.

Remembering that the Invincible Armada was lying in Calais roads on the

6th of August, hoping to cross to Dover the next morning, let us ponder

the words addressed on that very day to Queen Elizabeth by the

Lieutenant-General of England.

"My most dear and gracious Lady," said the Earl, "it is most true that

those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved

foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the

less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most

just God that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. The cause you are

assailed for is His and His Church's, and He never failed any that

faithfully do put their chief trust in His goodness. He hath, to comfort

you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which

means I doubt not but your Majesty will timely and princely use them, and

your good God that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with

victory."

He then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the

Queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and

her desire to place herself at the head of it in person.

On the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the

6th of August. "For your army, it is more than time it were gathered and

about you," said Leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it

at a few hours' warning. The reason is that your mighty enemies are at

hand, and if God suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they

will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. And albeit

your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not

only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. No doubt if

the Prince of Parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be

greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect

whensoever he shall attempt it. Therefore it is most requisite that your

Majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise;

for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. You

shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country,

and must offend your gracious God that gave you these forces and power,

though you will not use them when you should."

It seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the

enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the

land-forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most

fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. Suggestions at this late moment

were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom,

and the life of the great Queen, which would not have seemed premature

had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in August,

excite unbounded amazement. Alexander would have had time to, march from

Dover to Duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all

the air of novelty, could be carried into effect.

"Now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the

memorable Saturday, 6th of August, "no doubt but I think about London

the meetest, and I suppose that others will be of the same mind. And

your Majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special

nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every

man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all

things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead;

for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under God. And

so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, every

man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared in

readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's warning,

especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master of

ordnance."

Certainly, with Alexander of Parma on his way to London, at the head of

his Italian pikemen, his Spanish musketeers, his famous veteran

legion--"that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than

time that every man should know what he should do, that an army of

Englishmen should be-assembled, and that every man should know his

weapon. "By and by" was easily said, and yet, on the 6th of August it was

by and by that an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet

provided with a general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of

ordinance, was to be exercised, "every man to know his weapon."

English courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who

governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was

to be invaded. But meantime every man of those invaders had already

learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon.

It was a magnificent determination on the part of Elizabeth to place

herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude

inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of

diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for

the perils caused by her procrastination. But Leicester could not approve

of this hazardous though heroic resolution.

The danger passed away. The Invincible Armada was driven out of the

Channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of

English sailors and volunteers. The Duke of Parma was kept a close

prisoner by the fleets of Holland and Zeeland; and the great storm of the

14th and 15th of August at last completed the overthrow of the Spaniards.

It was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for

the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known

in England. The sailors, by whom England had been thus defended in her

utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever,

in the latter days of August. Men sickened one day, and died the next, so

that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the English

ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, at a

moment when their services might be imperatively required. Nor had there

been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these brave

defenders of their country. They rotted in their ships, or died in the

streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to receive

them.

"'Tis a most pitiful sight," said the Lord-Admiral, "to see here at

Margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in,

the streets. I am driven of force myself to come on land to see them

bestowed in some lodgings; and the best I can get is barns and such

outhouses, and the relief is small that I can provide for them here. It

would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die

so miserably."

The survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been

eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get

their wages. "Finding it to come thus scantily," said Howard, "it breeds

a marvellous alteration among them."

But more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the

misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals

of the English fleet. Not only was Seymour angry with Howard, but Hawkins

and Frobisher were at daggers drawn with Drake; and Sir Martin--if

contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the most

virulent abuse upon Sir Francis, calling him, in language better fitted

for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, for

appropriating the ransom for Don Pedro Valdez in which both Frobisher and

Hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself.

And anxious enough was the Lord-Admiral with his sailors perishing by

pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as Lord Henry

Seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, and

with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm

depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came,

as they did almost daily, of the return of the Spanish Armada, and of new

demonstrations on the part of Farnese. He was naturally unwilling that

the fruits of English valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the

false economy of the government. He felt that, after all that had been

endured and accomplished, the Queen and her counsellors were still

capable of leaving England at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "I know not

what you think at the court," said he; "but I think, and so do all here,

that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six

weeks. God knoweth whether the Spanish fleet will not, after refreshing

themselves in Norway; Denmark, and the Orkneys, return. I think they dare

not go back to Sprain with this, dishonour, to their King and overthrow

of the Pope's credit. Sir, sure bind, sure find. A kingdom is a grand

wager. Security is dangerous; and, if God had not been our best friend;

we should have found it so."

[Howard to Walsingham, Aug.8/18 1588. (S. P. Office MS.)]

["Some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said Drake, "but

my poor opinion is that I dare not advise her Majesty to hazard a

kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (Drake to Walsingham,

Aug. 8/18 1588.)]

Nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple

advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the Armada;

after it had been lost sight of by the English vessels off the Firth of

Forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in Norway and the

Orkneys. But, Burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he

knew he could always find sympathy in the Queen's breast, and with which

he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "To spend in time

convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without needful

cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without knowledge of

the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is lack of

wisdom;" and so on.

Yet the Spanish fleet might have returned into the Channel for ought the

Lord-Treasurer on the 22nd August knew--or the Dutch fleet might have

relaxed, in its vigilant watching of Farnese's movements. It might have

then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow English sailors to

die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous

for default of pay. To have saved under such circumstances would, perhaps

have brought repentance.

The invasion of England by Spain had been most portentous. That the

danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the

English, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the

little English fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and

volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the Hollanders; and

to the hand of God shattering the Armada at last; but very little credit

can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts

of the Queen's government. Miracles alone, in the opinion of Roger

Williams, had saved England on this occasion from perdition.

Towards the end of August, Admiral de Nassau paid a visit to Dover with

forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." He dined and conferred with

Seymour, Palmer, and other officers--Winter being still laid up with his

wound--and expressed the opinion that Medina Sidonia would hardly return

to the Channel, after the banquet he had received from her Majesty's navy

between Calais and Gravelines. He also gave the information that the

States had sent fifty Dutch vessels in pursuit of the Spaniards, and had

compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of

war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. "I

find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said Seymour of the Dutch

Admiral, "and therefore do I trust him."

Nassau represented the Duke of Parma as evidently discouraged, as having

already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard any

further enterprise against England. "I have left twenty-five

Kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from Sluys, and I am

immediately returning thither myself. The tide will not allow his vessels

at present to leave Dunkerk, and I shall not fail--before the next full

moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their coming out, or

to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea."

But after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those

waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of Farnese to

issue from Sluys and Dunkerk, and England and Holland were thenceforth

saved from all naval enterprises on the part of Spain.

Meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in England as to the

condition and the intentions of the Armada was still more remarkable

elsewhere. There was a systematic deception practised not only upon other

governments; but upon the King of Spain as well. Philip, as he sat at his

writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of England, long after

his Armada had been hopelessly dispersed.

In Paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of August

that England was vanquished, and that the Queen was already on her way to

Rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his

Holiness. Mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into Notre

Dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice,

"Victory, victory!" and on the 10th of August ordered bonfires to be made

before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. He had

been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents

on the coast; and the King of France--better informed by Stafford, but

not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent

ambassador--affected to believe his fables. He even confirmed them by

intelligence, which he pretended to have himself received from other

sources, of the landing of the Spaniards in England without opposition,

and of the entire subjugation of that country without the striking of a

blow.

Hereupon, on the night of August 10th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as

Stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the

great news to Spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and

caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over

Paris! "I will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy which

we must all feel," he wrote to Idiaquez, "at this good news. God be

praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, and

then, like a merciful Father, sends us infinite rewards." And in the same

strain he wrote; day after day, to Moura and Idiaquez, and to Philip

himself.

Stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of

the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of

Mendoza might be contradicted. "That which cometh from me," he said,

"Will be believed; for I have not been used to tell lies, and in very

truth I have not the face to do it."

And the news of the Calais squibs, of the fight off Gravelines, and the

retreat of the Armada towards the north; could not be very long

concealed. So soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the

English envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days

after their--occurrence--Stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer

to that of Mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. It

cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of it;

but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by its

sale. The English ambassador was unwilling to be known as the

author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the

Spaniard"--but the King had no doubt of its origin. Poor Henry, still

smarting under the insults of Mendoza and 'Mucio,--was delighted with

this blow to Philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of Queen

Elizabeth's valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that

what she had just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the

most illustrious men in history.

"So soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said Stafford; "he offered to lay

a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." And there were

malicious pages about the French; court; who also found much amusement in

writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the Duke of Parma

that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in:

England, such as York, Canterbury, London, or the like--till the luckless

Don Bernardino was ashamed to show his face.

A letter, from Farnese, however, of 10th August, apprized Philip before

the end of August of the Calais disasters and caused him great

uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "At the very moment," wrote

the King to Medina Sidonia; "when I was expecting news of the effect

hoped for from my Armada, I have learned the retreat from before Calais,

to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and I have received a very

great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated.

Nevertheless I hope in our Lord that he will have provided a remedy; and

that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come back to

the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great stroke; you

will have done as the case required; and so I am expecting with

solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please God it may be that

which is so suitable for his service."

His Spanish children the sacking of London, and the butchering of the

English nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad

formerly enjoyed in the Netherlands.

And in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters

despatched on that day to the Duke of Parma. "The satisfaction caused by

your advices on the 8th August of the arrival of the Armada near Calais,

and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a

sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the 10th. The anxiety

thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause

being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. Perhaps the Armada,

keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good account

of itself, with the help of the Lord. So I still promise myself that you

will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as that the

service intended to the Lord may have been executed, and repairs made to

the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised."

And the King's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which

reached him in September, by way of France. He now learned that the

Armada had taken captive four Dutch men-of-war and many English ships;

that, after the Spaniards had been followed from Calais roads by the

enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the English had attempted

in vain to avoid; off Newcastle; that Medina Sidonia had charged upon

them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture

twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition,

had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all

hands perishing; that the Armada had taken a port in Scotland, where it

was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of Lord-admiral

Howard, of Drake; and of that "distinguished mariner Hawkins," had all

been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except Drake, who

had escaped in a cock-boat. "This is good news," added the writer; "and

it is most certain."

The King pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained

very much in the dark. Half, the month of September went by, and he had

heard nothing--official since the news of the Calais catastrophe. It may

be easily understood that Medina Sidonia, while flying round the Orkneys

had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to Spain, and as

Farnese had not written since the 10th August, Philip was quite at a loss

whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. From the reports by

way of Calais, Dunkerk, and Rouen, he supposed that the Armada, had

inflicted much damage on the enemy. He suggested accordingly, on the 3rd

September, to the Duke of Parma, that he might now make the passage to

England, while the English fleet, if anything was left of it was

repairing its damages. "'Twill be easy enough to conquer the country,"

said Philip, "so soon as you set foot on the soil. Then perhaps our

Armada can come back and station itself in the Thames to support you."

Nothing could be simpler. Nevertheless the King felt a pang of doubt lest

affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he dipped his

pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, "But if this

hope must be given up, you must take the Isle of Walcheren: something

must be done to console me."

And on the 15th September he was still no wiser. "This business of the

Armada leaves me no repose," he said; "I can think of nothing else. I

don't content myself with what I have written, but write again and again,

although in great want of light. I hear that the Armada has sunk and

captured many English ships, and is refitting in a Scotch pert. If this

is in the territory, of Lord Huntley, I hope he will stir up the

Catholics of that country."

And so, in letter after letter, Philip clung to the delusion that

Alexander could yet, cross to England, and that the Armada might sail up

the Thames. The Duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that

effect with Medina Sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed

grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the Bay of Biscay, with what

remained of his invincible fleet.

Sanguine and pertinacious, the King refused to believe in, the downfall

of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning

upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which

had long amused him had been broken. If the Armada were really very much

damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the Duke of Parma to make

him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "In case the Armada is

too much shattered to come out," said Philip, "and winter compels it to

stay in that port, you must cause another Armada to be constructed at

Emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together,

you will certainly be able to conquer England."

And he wrote to Medina Sidonia in similar terms. That naval commander was

instructed to enter the Thames at once, if strong enough. If not, he was

to winter in the Scotch port which he was supposed to have captured.

Meantime Farnese would build a new fleet at Emden, and in the spring the

two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose.

But at last the arrival of Medina Sidonia at Santander dispelled these

visions, and now the King appeared in another attitude. A messenger,

coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of

October at the Escorial. Entering the palace he found Idiaquez and Moura

pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of Philip's cabinet, and

was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, of

course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, of the

Armada. The entire overthrow of the great project was now, for the first

time, fully revealed in Spain; the fabulous victories over the English,

and the annihilation of Howard and all his ships, were dispersed in air.

Broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible Armada--so far as it still

existed--had reached a Spanish port. Great was the consternation of

Idiaquez and Moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous was

each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the

unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the King.

At last Moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet,

he found Philip seated at his desk. Of course he was writing letters.

Being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down

his pen, and inquired the news. The secretary replied that the accounts,

concerning the Armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished.

The courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. The King did

not change countenance. "Great thanks," he observed, "do I render to

Almighty God, by whose generous hand I am gifted with such power, that I

could easily, if I chose, place another fleet upon the seas. Nor is it of

very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes

intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains

inexhaustible."

So saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters.

Christopher Moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, thus

tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then

retired to confer with his colleague.

"And how did his Majesty receive the blow?" asked Idiaquez.

"His Majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered Moura, "nor do I,

consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his Majesty."

So the King--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his

virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed

themselves in the same garment. Thus draped, they were all prepared to

bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on

their heads, while it had been dashing the King's mighty galleons on the

rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition.

Soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were

thoroughly known, Philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to

all the bishops of Spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty

for the safety of that portion of the invincible Armada which it had

pleased Him to preserve.

And thus, with the sound of mourning throughout Spain--for there was

scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the

great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all England and

Holland, and with a solemn 'Te Deum' resounding in every church, the

curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the Armada.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all

Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning

Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated

Nothing could equal Alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy

One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions

Security is dangerous

Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed

Sure bind, sure find

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609

By John Lothrop Motley

History United Netherlands, Volume 59, 1588-1589