and store-ships, Drake sailed thither. Though the entrance to the harbour was narrow and defended by 14 batteries, he ran in. He sank the only war ship in the 15 roads, and sent the 16 galleys that came against him flying. Then placing his vessels where they would be sheltered from the forts on shore, he proceeded to plunder and destroy. He burned the storeships and set them adrift, after he had transferred their cargoes to his own 17 holds.

Then he sailed away from Cadiz, and when he had spread terror half round the Spanish coast, his squadron appeared in the mouth of the 18 Tagus. He had intended going up as far as Lisbon, where many war-ships were being fitted out; but orders which had followed him from England, compelled him to turn back. He, however, went to 19 Corunna, and there repeated the 20 exploit of Cadiz. Thus, in two months, half the stores which Philip had 21 accumulated were destroyed or carried away.

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Dexterity, skill. 2 the Pope, Pius V. 3 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. 4 lavishly, very freely. 5 ammunition, powder and shot. 6 vie, to try to out-do. 7 patriotic, feeling great love for one's country. 9 8 Effingham, east of Guildford, in Surrey. ration, allowance of food. dysentery, a dangerous disease of the bowels. 11 adventurer, a ship joining the expedition on the chance of making a profit. 12 Cadiz, a port on the Atlantic, north of Gibraltar. 13 transport, a ship for carrying troops. 14 battery, a place where cannon are placed for the purpose of battering. 15 roads, a place where ships may ride, a harbour. 16 galley, a large vessel, moved by oars and sails. 17 hold, the part of a ship where the cargo is carried. 18 the Tagus is in Portugal; that country had belonged to Philip since 1580. 19 Corunna, a seaport in the north-west of Spain. 20 exploit, a deed or act. 21 асситиlate, to collect into a great mass.

"THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA."

THE damage done by Drake delayed the threatened invasion for a year, but at last everything was again ready, and on the 119th of May, 1588, the

"Invincible Armada" (as the Spaniards vainly called it) sailed from the Tagus.

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Philip might well be proud of his fleet. It contained sixty-five galleons; the largest was of thirteen hundred tons, seven were over a thousand, and the smallest was over seven hundred. It also contained four 4 galleasses, each rowed by three hundred slaves, four large galleys, and fifty-six armed 5 merchantmen. It carried. eight thousand sailors and twenty thousand soldiers.

Awaiting this great fleet at Plymouth were twentynine ships belonging to Elizabeth, ten belonging to Lord Howard and his family, and forty-three "privateers under Drake. The English vessels were much smaller than the Spanish; only five of the queen's own were larger than the smallest of the galleons.

Three weeks after it had left the Tagus the armada was off 7 Cape Finisterre. There it encountered a gale which scattered the ships in all directions. They came together again in the Bay of Ferrol, and all repairs having been completed, final leave was taken of Spain on the 12th of July. The admiral, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, was instructed to sail with all speed to the Straits of Dover. A great army of invasion, under the Duke of Parma, was lying in the south of Flanders, waiting for the fleet to protect its passage across the

sea.

Early on Saturday, July 20th, the armada was off the Lizard. Watchers from the hill-tops had seen the long lines of ships the night before, and the news had

been flashed from beacon to beacon till all the country was aware the hour of trial had at length arrived.

From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lyun to Milford Bay, That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day.*

By dusk on Saturday evening the Spaniards were off Plymouth. In the dim twilight their commander could 9 discern English ships passing and repassing between him and the land, but confident in his own overpowering force, he ordered the fleet to lie to for the night and be ready for fighting at daybreak.

On Sunday morning he saw that about sixty English vessels had come out from the Sound and were lying on his rear. He attempted to close with them, but found he could not get near them. The Spanish ships were slow and unwieldy, while the English ships, though small, were swift and easily managed. Howard soon showed what they were capable of. His own vessel and three others ran along the whole of the last line of the armada, firing into each galleon as they passed; then they turned round and came back in the same way. Meanwhile the rest of the English ships had been pouring a steady shower of shot upon the enemy, doing a good deal of harm and receiving hardly any. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, seeing it impossible to destroy a fleet that he could not approach, resolved to move on without loss of time. The result of the first day's fighting had been to inspire the English with confidence and to make the Spaniards feel some doubts of their own invincibility.

Lord Howard followed his mighty 10 opponent up the Channel, avoiding a general engagement, and especially avoiding a contest at close quarters, but injuring as many ships as possible.

* Macaulay.

On Friday the English bore up towards Dover for the supplies of which they stood in terrible need, while the Spaniards inclined towards the French coast. On Saturday the armada anchored in Calais roads, and the English moored outside. They had only food enough for two days, and powder enough for one. Delay would therefore be dangerous, and the leaders resolved to send down fire-ships among the Spanish fleet. Lord Howard had been joined during the week by a number of small vessels that were almost useless for fighting purposes. Eight of these were taken, smeared with pitch, and filled with 11 combustible rubbish. On Sunday, at dead of night, they were drifted in upon the tide and set alight. The Spaniards, roused suddenly from sleep, beheld them with terror. The cables were cut and wild attempts were made to escape the danger. The confusion was unspeakable; four or five of the galleons became entangled, and two others were burnt.

The next day decided the fate of the armada. The English fell upon the Spanish ships while they were still dispersed, drove them into a confused mass, and poured into them at short range one continuous rain of shot. The work of destruction went on from eight in the morning till sunset, "when almost the last cartridge was spent, and every man was weary with labour."

The slaughter of the Spaniards had been awful. Four thousand men had fallen in the day's fight. Invasion was now out of the question; all they thought of was getting home again. They durst not return through the Straits of Dover, for there they would have to face the terrible English fleet, so they resolved to sail round the north of Britain. Tempests finished the work which Howard and Drake and Frobisher had

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begun; vessel after vessel was cast away upon the Scotch and Irish coasts. Spain had sent out one hundred and twenty-nine splendid ships, bearing the bravest and noblest of her sons; only fifty-three shattered 12 hulks, with sick and hopeless crews ever came back.

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119th, Old Style, 29th New. All the other dates in this chapter are given according to the Old Style. 2 Invincible Armada, a fleet of armed ships that cannot be conquered. 3 galleon, a Spanish war-ship with several decks. galleass, a kind of large galley. 5 merchantman, a merchant-ship. 6 privateer, an armed ship fitted out by a private individual, and allowed by the sovereign to wage war. 7 Cape Finisterre, in the north-west of Spain. 10 Ferrol, a port near Corunna. 9discern, to make out. opponent, enemy. 11 combustible, which will easily burn. 12 hulk, the body of a ship, especially of an old ship.

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AFTER THE ARMADA.

PHILIP II. made no further attempt to invade England, although the war continued till his death, ten years after the failure of the armada. On the other hand, the English, emboldened by their success, attacked Spanish ships and Spanish towns with more reckless daring than ever. The last fight of the Revenge 1 illustrates the confidence with which they faced the most terrible odds.

1

In the autumn of 1591, six ships, under Lord Thomas Howard, lay at anchor off Flores, in the Azores, when word was brought that Philip's West Indian armada was at hand. The English vessels had but little ballast, and half their crews were ill; so the admiral thought it would be madness to risk a battle with the fifty-three well-ordered and well-manned vessels of the enemy. He therefore commanded his little fleet to set sail with the best speed possible.