LESSON XVI. The Spanish Armada. a-ban'don, give up,relinquish. ca'-bles, ropes or chains by di-vert'-ed, turned from. ex-pe-dit'-ion, enterprise, ex-ter'-min-ate, root out, frus'-trat-ed, rendered useless. DURING the greater part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the English carried on a persistent naval warfare with the Spaniards. Philip, King of Spain, though he had not yet declared war, had long harboured a secret and violent desire of revenge against her. His hatred against England was increased, inasmuch as it was the bulwark of Protestantism; and the point on which Philip rested his highest glory was to exterminate heresy. Under the influence of these combined motives he resolved to invade England, and with this view a fleet was collected such as had never before had its equal in Europe. The Duke of Parma had a large army in readiness at Dunkirk to cross to England as soon as the Spanish fleet had cleared the Channel. News of these alarming proceedings soon reached the Court of London, and immediate preparations were made for resistance. All the commercial towns of England furnished ships for reinforcing the small navy then in existence; the citizens of London voluntarily fitted out thirty vessels. The gentry and nobility hired and armed and manned forty-three ships at their own charge. Lord Howard, of Effingham, a man of courage and capacity, was made admiral; Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, the most renowned seamen in Europe, served under him. An army was disposed in different bodies along the coast, whilst another force was stationed at Tilbury, in order to defend the capital. The Duke of Medina, expecting to destroy the English ships in harbour, made sail directly for Plymouth, where they lay at anchor. The Lizard was the first land made by the Armada, about sunset. They were descried by Fleming, a Scottish pirate, who was roving in those seas, and who immediately set sail to inform the English admiral of their approach. Effingham had just time to get out of port, when he saw the Spanish Armada coming full sail towards him. Effingham gave orders not to come to close fight with the Spaniards; where the size of their ships, he suspected, and the numbers of the soldiers, would be a disadvantage to the English, but to cannonade them at a distance, and to wait the opportunity which winds, currents, or various accidents, must afford him, of intercepting some scattered vessels of the enemy. Nor was it long before the event answered expectation. A great ship of Biscay, on board of which was a considerable part of the Spanish money, took fire by accident; and while all hands were employed in extinguishing the flames, she fell behind the rest of the Armada: the great galleon of Andalusia was detained by the springing of her mast, and both these vessels were taken, after some resistance, by Sir Francis Drake. As the Armada advanced up the Channel, the English hung upon its rear, and still infested it with skirmishes. Each trial abated the confidence of the Spaniards, and added courage to the English; and the latter soon found, that even in close fight the size of the Spanish ships was no advantage to them. Their bulk exposed them the more to the fire of the enemy; while their cannon, placed too high, shot over the heads of the English. The alarm having now reached the coast of England, the nobility and gentry hastened out with their vessels from every harbour, and reinforced the admiral. The Armada had now reached Calais, and cast anchor before that place, in expectation that the Duke of Parma, who had gotten intelligence of their approach, would put to sea and join his forces to them. The English admiral practised here a successful stratagem upon the Spaniards. He took eight of his smaller ships, and, filling them with all combustible materials, sent them one after another into the midst of the enemy. The Spaniards fancied that they were fire-ships of the same contrivance with a famous vessel which had lately done so much execution in the Schelde near Antwerp; and they immediately cut their cables, and took to flight with the greatest disorder and precipitation. The English fell upon them next morning while in confusion; and, be sides doing great damage to other ships, they took or destroyed about twelve of the enemy. By this time it was become apparent, that the intention for which these preparations were made by the Spaniards, was entirely frustrated. The vessels provided by the Duke of Parma were made for transporting soldiers, not for fighting; and that general, when urged to leave the harbour, positively refused to expose his flourishing army to such apparent hazard; while the English not only were able to keep the sea, but seemed even to triumph over their enemy. The Spanish admiral found, in many encounters, that while he lost so considerable a part of his own navy, he had destroyed only one small vessel of the English; and he foresaw, that by continuing so unequal a combat, he must draw inevitable destruction on all the remainder. He prepared therefore to run homewards; but as the wind was contrary to his passage through the Channel, he resolved to sail northwards, and, making the tour of the island, reach the Spanish harbours by the ocean. The English fleet followed him during some time; and had not their ammunition fallen short, by the negligence of the officers in supplying them, they had obliged the whole Armada to surrender at discretion. The Duke of Medina had once taken that resolution; but was diverted from it by the advice of his confessor. This conclusion of the enterprise would have been more glorious to the |