fleet was in Cadiz harbour preparing for an attack upon England. He sailed right into the harbour, in spite of shot from the Spanish batteries, and set fire to the store ships, which were laden with provisions for the fleet. He then steered round Cape St. Vincent, and northward along the Portuguese coast, burning every vessel he could catch. When he reached home he boasted that he had singed the King of Spain's beard. He thought that the great fleet would hardly get a fresh store of provisions together in time to enable it to come to England that year.

7. The Sailing of the Armada.—Drake was right. It was not till next year that the great fleet, the Invincible Armada, as the Spaniards called it, was able to sail. It was intended to go up the Channel, and to take on board a Spanish army commanded by Philip's great general, the Duke of Parma, which was waiting on the coast of Flanders. The Spaniards hoped that if it could succeed in landing them in England, Elizabeth would not be able to make a long resistance. Elizabeth did not fear. She had no regular army, and scarcely any regular navy, but she called on every Englishman who could bear arms to come forward to defend his native land. Scarcely a man refused. The Catholics were as forward as the Elizabeth reviewed her troops at Tilbury. My loving people,' she said, 'we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving

Protestants.

6

my

people. Let tyrants fear! I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects; and therefore am I come amongst you, as you see, at this time-to lay down life for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.' Was it strange that when Elizabeth spoke such words as these thousands of her subjects were ready to die in her cause, which was their own as well as hers?

When the news that the Spaniards were indeed on the way, reached England, the warning was carried by lighting up the beacons which then stood on every hill-top to tell by their flames that an enemy was coming, and that every man must gird on his sword to fight for his country.

Night sunk upon the dusky beach, and on the purple sea,
Such night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er again shall be.
From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay,
The time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day;

For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war-flame spread,
High on St. Michael's Mount it shone: it shone on Beachy Head.
Far on the deep the Spaniard saw along each Southern shire,
Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of
fire.

8. The Armada in the Channel.-The commander of the English fleet was Lord Howard of Effingham. He was at Plymouth with a few of the Queen's ships

and a number of small merchant vessels, which were ready to fight as well as the Queen's ships. Drake was there too. When the Spanish ships came in sight, the captains were playing a game of bowls. Drake would not hear of stopping the game. "There is time enough,' he said, 'to finish our game and to beat the Spaniards too.' The huge Spanish ships,

SHIPS OF WAR, TIME OF ELIZABETH.

towering above the waves, swept by in the form of a half moon. When they had passed, the active little English vessels put out, sailing two feet to their one, getting rapidly out of their way, and coming back again as they pleased. The Spanish ships could neither sail away from them nor catch them. Up the Channel sailed the ships of the Armada, firing

and being fired at as they went. So high were they that their shot often passed over the heads of the English sailors. One of the Spanish ships blew up,

and two or three others were taken. The rest sailed on as they best could, unable to shake off their assailants, like a bear pursued by a swarm of wasps. At last the Spaniards reached the friendly French port of Calais. They had found out that the conquest of England was no child's play.

9. The Armada in the North Sea.-Lord Howard and his captains knew that it would not be safe to leave the Armada long at Calais. Parma and his soldiers were waiting for it in Flanders, prevented from stirring by the Dutch ships which were off the coast, but ready to embark in some large boats which they had got ready, as soon as the Armada came to beat off the Dutch. The English captains determined to drive the Armada out to sea again. They took eight of their own vessels, smeared them with pitch, and let them drift with the tide at night time amongst the enemy's fleet. When these vessels were close to the Spaniards, the few men who had been left on board set them on fire, and, jumping into their boats, rowed away. The sudden blaze in the dark night terrified the Spaniards. The Spanish commander, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, gave the signal of flight. His men cut the cables by which they were anchored, and sailed away. The wind now rose to a storm. The English fleet followed, hastening their foemen's pace with showers of shot. The Spaniards found it impossible to stop, and the great ships were soon driven past the long low coast on

6

which Parma's army was waiting for their protection in vain. If the wind had not changed a little, they Iwould have been wrecked on the coast of Holland. Every day one or other of their floating castles was either driven on shore or pierced with English shots. Drake was in high spirits. 'There was never anything pleased me better,' he wrote to a comrade, than seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the northwards. God grant ye have a good eye to the Duke of Parma; for with the grace of God, if we live, I doubt not ere it be long so to handle the matter with the Duke of Sidonia as he shall wish himself at St. Mary Port among his orange-trees.' After a few days more even Drake had had enough. He had shot away all his powder, and as he heard the wind howling through his rigging, he knew that no Spaniard would venture back to try what more English sailors might have to offer them.

10. The Destruction of the Armada.-The Armada perished by a mightier power than that of man. The storm swept it far to the north. Of the hundred and fifty sail which had put out from Spain, a hundred and twenty were still afloat when they were left by their English pursuers. But they were in a bad case. Provisions were running short, and large numbers of the men were sick and dying. Masts were split and sails were torn by shot and storm. At last they rounded the Orkneys, and tried to make their way home round Scotland and Ireland. One great ship was wrecked on the Isle of Mull. savage as they then were, set fire to it and burnt it with its crew. The rest made their way along the

The natives,