openly; she should not have thought of imitating the examples of private execution given by her ancestors; nor have attempted to shift the responsibility which belonged to herself upon others. She certainly deceived Davison to his ruin, and would have ruined Paulet and Drury also but for their own sense of religion and honour. Her memory has consequently paid the penalty, and the execution of the Queen of Scots, with all her crimes, remains an indelible stain on the fame of Elizabeth.

CHAPTER XII.

ELIZABETH (CONTINUED).

1587-1603.

Conduct of the Kings of Scotland and France.-Philip prepares to invade England.- Preparations for Defence.-The Invincible Armada.-Death and Character of Leicester.-Affairs of France.-Naval Enterprises.-Taking of Cadiz.-State of Ireland. Essex sent thither. - His Return, Insurrection, and Death.-The Queen's last Illness and Death.-Her Character. -Measures of her Reign.

But

THE King of Scots, when he heard of the execution of his mother, naturally expressed great indignation, and his language breathed revenge. Elizabeth wrote to him with her own hand, exculpating herself. Leicester also wrote to him, and Walsingham to his secretary, Maitland, pointing out the folly and hazard of violent measures; and James at length allowed himself to be convinced and pacified. Nor is this any matter of surprise. He could have had but little affection for a mother whom he had

he been kept in England, and there engaged in conspiracies against the life of the king, he also might, perhaps, have been executed.

1587.]

SUCCESSES OF DRAKE.

105

never known, and who, in her bigotry, had proposed to give him as an hostage to the pope or the King of Spain, and in her will had disinherited him in favour of the latter, unless he should renounce his religion and become a Catholic. He also well knew that his people would not support him in a war with Elizabeth, and that he might thereby lose all chance of the crown of England. The King of France beheld with secret satisfaction this diminution of the power of the house of Guise, and thus Philip of Spain was the only prince who, under the pretence of avenging Mary, might turn his arms against Elizabeth.

The queen having ascertained that Philip was preparing a fleet for the invasion of England, sent out Drake to endeavour to destroy his shipping. He entered the port of Cadiz, where he burned one hundred vessels laden with stores and ammunition; thence he sailed to Cape St. Vincent, and took the castle and three other fortresses; and then proceeding to the Azores, he lay in wait for and captured the St. Philip, a richly-laden carrack.* These losses caused the intended invasion to be deferred for a year; while the successes which they had obtained inspired the English seamen with contempt for the Spaniards and their huge, unwieldy ships. In Holland affairs were less favourable. Sir William Stanley, a Romanist, to whom Leicester had intrusted the defence of Deventer, with a garrison of twelve hundred English, betrayed it to the Spaniards, and he and his men entered their service. His example was followed by an officer named York, who commanded a fort near Zutphen. Leicester himself, on his return, failed in an attempt to relieve Sluys; the ill-feeling between him and the States increased daily; suspecting him of a design on their liberties, they slighted his authority

*The carrack was a large trading-vessel of heavy, clumsy construction, employed by the Spaniards in distant voyages, and principally to their newly-acquired possessions in America; and to which the name of galleon was subsequently given. They were finally built so large as to have four and even five decks, and were armed for defence, and used in war.-Am. Ed.

and thwarted his plans, while he was intolerably imperious and violent. At length the queen deemed it advisable to remove him from a situation for which he was manifestly unfit. The States elected Maurice, son of the late Prince of Orange, governor in his stead; and the command of the English troops was given to Lord Willoughby.

This year the office of chancellor becoming vacant, the queen raised to that high dignity Sir Christopher Hatton, the vice-chamberlain. The lawyers sneered at the appointment, but the court of chancery was not then what it has become since. Hatton had good sense and honesty, and, with the aid of two sergeants-at-law, he discharged the duties of his office in such a manner as gave general satisfaction.

Though there had been no actual declaration of war between Spain and England, each party had for many years been injuring the other. Elizabeth had aided the Dutch, and countenanced the expeditions of Drake and other adventurers; while Philip had excited rebellion in Ireland, promoted conspiracies against the life and authority of Elizabeth in England, and was even preparing to invade it in favour of the Queen of Scots. After the death of that princess, he resolved to put forth for himself a claim to the crown, as the descendant of John of Gaunt; and Pope Sixtus V., at his desire, renewed the bull of his predecessor, Pius V., and raised Allen to the dignity of cardinal, that, like Pole, he might proceed as legate to England when it should be conquered. The new cardinal forthwith published an "Admonition," addressed to the nobility of England, full of the grossest falsehoods and the vilest calumnies concerning the queen, and composed in the vituperative style then familiar to the Romish writers. The wealth of the Indies was devoted by Philip to the building of ships and the purchase of stores; and, in the spring of 1588, a fleet of one hundred and thirty-five ships of war, galleys, galleasses, and galleons,* from the different

*The galley was a vesse. impelled with oars; it carried can

1588.]

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.

107

ports of his Spanish and Italian dominions, rendezvoused in the Tagus. The Prince of Parma, in the mean time, had ships and boats built in the ports of the Netherlands, for transporting a veteran force of thirty thousand men to the coast of England. It had been the advice of this able officer, that Flushing should be first reduced, to assure the fleet of a retreat in case of accident: but Philip would hear of no delay. While these immense preparations for her overthrow were going on, the Prince of Parma was amusing Elizabeth with a negotiation for terminating all differences. But the means of resistance were, in the mean time, not neglected. All the men from sixteen to sixty were enrolled and trained by the lords-lieutenant of counties, who were directed to appoint officers and provide arms; one army of thirty-six thousand men, under Lord Huntsdon, was to be assembled for the guard of the royal person; another of thirty thousand, under Leicester, was to be stationed at Tilbury, to protect the city. The seaports were required to supply shipping according to their means. On this occasion the city of London set a noble example. Being called upon to furnish five thousand men and fifteen ships, the citizens voluntarily pledged themselves to send double the number of each.

seamen.

The

royal navy consisted of but thirty-four ships: but many noblemen fitted out vessels at their own expense, so that the entire fleet numbered one hundred and eighty-one ships of all kinds, manned by 17,472 The chief command was intrusted to Howard of Effingham, lord-high-admiral of England; and the three distinguished seamen, Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, held commands under him. The main fleet was stationed at Plymouth; while a squadron of forty ships, under Lord Henry Seymour, lay off Dunkirk, to watch the motions of the Prince of Parma.

The Protestants of Europe naturally regarded with

non on the poop and stern: the galleasse was a larger galley, with cannon also between the oars; the galleon was a large ship of war, with cannon on the sides, poop, and stern. See Lingard, viii., 272.

intense interest the approach of a contest which was probably to decide the fate of their religion: but the Dutch alone came forward to aid the queen in her struggle. The King of Scotland, though his interests were nearly as much involved in the conflict as those of Elizabeth, kept back till he had extorted most advantageous terms from Ashby, the English resident.* The King of France himself was little inclined to aid the ambitious projects of Philip, though cloaked with the pretence of zeal for religion: but the Guises prepared a body of their adherents to join in the invasion. Her own Catholic subjects caused Elizabeth most apprehension :† her council were well aware of their readiness to rise in favour of Mary when she was living, and it was feared that zeal for their religion might even now prove too strong for their national feeling. Some even advised to seize and put the leading Catholics to death; but the queen rejected this expedient with horror, and contented herself with confining a few of the most suspected at Wisbeach, in the fens of Ely. The Catholics, to their honour, justified her confidence in them: their nobles armed their tenantry in her service, while some fitted out vessels at their own expense, giving the command of them to Protestants.

At length, on the 29th of May, the Invincible Armada, as it was proudly styled, sailed from the Tagus. It consisted of 130 ships, carrying 19,000 soldiers, 8000 seamen, 2000 galley slaves, and 2630 pieces of cannon: its commander was the Duke of Medina Sidonia, aided by Juan de Recalde, a distinguished seaman. It carried also a corps of one hundred and eighty monks and friars of the different orders, for the conversion of the heretics, and a supply of arms for *He made the treaty on the 4th of August. The danger was then over, though he could not have known it.

+ Dr. Lingard says the Catholics were one half of the population; Allen had said two thirds. Cardinal Bentivoglio considered the real Catholics to be but a thirtieth. (Hallam, i., 239.) Those who, like Lingard, exaggerate the number of the Catholics, ought to perceive that they thus, in a great measure, justify the severities of the government towards them.