veterans upon that unprotected and wealthy metropolis. An army had been enrolled,—a force of 86,016 foot, and 13,831 cavalry; but it was an army on paper only. Even of the 86,000 only 48,000 were set down as trained; and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory description. Leicester was to be commander-in-chief; his army was to consist of 27,000 foot and 2,000 horse; yet, at Midsummer (1588) it had not reached half that number. Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon was to protect the queen's person with another army of 36,000; but this force was purely an imaginary one; and the Lord-Lieutenant of each county was to do his best with the militia. Of enthusiasm and

courage there was enough, of drill and discipline, of powder and shot there was a deficiency."

All through this spring, Sir John Norris was doing what he could to exercise the soldiers in London. The captains of the Artillery Garden had been tolerably well drilled for several years, but the rank and file were ignorant enough of this art of war. "There has been a general muster of the men fit to bear arms here," said a London resident in April, and there have not been found ten thousand sufficient men. This will seem strange to you, but it is true as the Gospel of St. John. There is great want of powder, and no hope of supply, except that which can be manufactured in England."

The chief muster of the troops was made at Tilbury-fort, but there the number never exceeded seventeen or eighteen thousand men.

The English fleet consisted in all of 201 vessels, but the majority of these were mere coasters, and totally unfit for real service. The Royal Navy comprised 30 vessels of different sizes, ranging from 1,150 and 1000 to 30 tons. The ships were manned by 6,279 seamen, and carried 837 guns. These vessels were under the immediate command of Lord Howard of Effingham. In addition, there was a squadron of 32 vessels, commanded by Sir Francis Drake, and manned by 2,348 seamen. There were also 10 hired ships, 51 coasters, 38 contributed by the citizens of London, 18 volunteers, 15 victuallers, and 7 miscellaneous. The whole of the crews amounted to 15,785 men. The majority of the vessels were of not more than 100 tons burden.

The Spanish Armada comprised 132 ships, divided into ten squadrons, carrying 3,165 guns, 8766 seamen, 21,855 soldiers, and 2,088 galley slaves. The size of the ships ranged from 1,200 tons to 30. "The galleons, of which there were about sixty, were unwieldy, huge, and round-stemmed vessels, with turrets or towers built up at prow and stern, and bulwarks three or four feet thick. The galeasses, of which there were four, rowed each by three hundred galley-slaves, consisted of an enormous towering fortress at the stern, a castellated structure almost equally massive in front, with seats for the rowers amidships. At stem and stern, and between each of the slaves' benches, were heavy cannon. These galeasses were floating edifices, very wonderful to contemplate. They were gorgeously decorated. There were splendid state apartments, cabins, chapels, and pulpits in each, and they were amply provided with awnings, cushions, streamers, standards, gilded saints, and bands of music. The galleys resembled the galeasses, but were one-third smaller. All the ships were so heavily built, and so over-weighted with top-hamper, that, though well fitted to play their parts in a pageant, they were ill able to manœuvre in battle, or encounter a violent gale."

The captain-general originally appointed to the expedition was the Marquis of Santa Cruz, a man of considerable naval experience and of constant good fortune, who in thirty years had never sustained a defeat. But he was no friend to the Duke of Parma, and when he heard that that prince had been appointed as chief of the enterprize, he lost heart, and became moody and discontented. A course of reproach and perpetual reprimand was the treatment to which he was in consequence subjected ;

he was rated by one, lectured by another, forbidden to write letters to the king, and informed authoritatively that he must accept or decline the post of captain-general, without conditions, and that, if he declined, Duke Parma was prepared to appoint his successor. It must be owned that these circumstances were very discouraging even to the best and bravest man, and the least punctilious in point of honour. As to Santa Cruz, he felt himself deeply aggrieved, but nevertheless resolved to do the best for his master-King Philip. The bustle in all the dockyards went on with renewed activity.

War ships of all dimensions, tenders, transports,

soldiers, sailors, sutlers, provisions, munitions of war, were all rapidly concentrated in Lisbon as the great place of rendezvous; and Philip confidently believed, and as confidently informed the Duke of Parma, that he might be expecting the Armada at any time after the end of January, 1588..

Parma was still in the Netherlands, and there he was to remain until the Armada was ready to assist his progress to England. But he was not idle. He was putting his little army into as good a condition as he could and preparing a number of transports for the passage of his troops

from the Flemish ports into the Thames. His activity, if overlooked by England, was jealously watched by the Dutch. "Holland and Zeland," wrote Alexander to Philip, "have armed with their accustomed promptness; England has made great preparations. I have done my best to

make the impossible possible; but your letter told me to wait for Santa Cruz, and to expect him very shortly. If, on the contrary, you had told me to make the passage without him, I would have made the attempt although we had every one of us perished. Four ships of war would sink every one of my boats. Nevertheless, I beg to be informed of your Majesty's final order. If I am seriously expected to make the passage without Santa Cruz, I am ready to do it although I should go all alone in a cock-boat."

Santa Cruz was dead.

View of Lisbon.

He had been badly used and his heart was broken; and if Duke Parma intended to wait for him, the troops at Tilbury might be dismissed and all the English ships laid up in ordinary. But Santa Cruz was succeeded in his command by a wealthy Hidalgo, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, "a Golden Duke" it was said, very different from the deceased captain-general-"the Iron Marquis." Still Duke Parma was in the Netherlands receiving many missives from Philip, assuring him that the Armada was about to sail; and still King Philip was in his private chamber receiving many missives from Farnese, assuring him that the troops in the Netherlands were daily dwindling from sickness and other causes, and that the main reliance for success in the invasion of England must be on the six thousand Spaniards on board the Spanish fleet.

It was the close of May before the Armada was ready to sail. It was then, in the port of Lisbon, ceremoniously blessed, and weighed anchor. The plan of action was simple. "Medina Sidonia-the captain-generalwas to proceed straight from Lisbon to Calais roads; there he was to wait for the Duke of Parma, who was to come forth from Newport, Sluys, and Dunkirk, bringing with him his seventeen thousand veterans, and to assume the chief command of the whole expedition. They were then to cross the channel to Dover, land the army of Parma, reinforced with six thousand Spaniards from the fleet, and with these twenty-three thousand men Alexander was to march at once upon London. Medina Sidonia was to seize and fortify the Isle of Wight, guard the entrance of the harbours against any interference of the Dutch and English fleets, and, so soon as the conquest of England had been effected, he was to proceed to Ireland. A strange omission had, however, been made from first to last. The commander of the whole expedition was the Duke of Parma: on his head was the whole responsibility. Not a gun was to be fired-if it could be avoided until he had come forth with his veterans to make his junction with the Invincible Armada off Calais. Yet there was no arrangement whatever to enable him to come forth-not the slightest provision to effect that junction. It would almost seem that the letter writer of the Escurial had been quite ignorant of the existence of the Dutch fleets off Dunkirk, Newport, and Flushing, although he had certainly received information enough of this formidable obstacle to his plan."

Sailing from the port of Lisbon-with priestly benison upon it-the Invincible Armada stocd out for Cape Finisterre, where it was overtaken by a tempest, the winds and the waves apparently having no more respect for the Golden Duke, and the priests, than they had for the galley-slaves toiling at the oars. Indeed to some of those miserable beings the storm was a blessing. There was one David Gwynn, a Welsh seaman, who had been captured by the Spaniards many years before, and had sat in the hulks a wretched galley-slave ever since the time of his capture. He was one of the rowers on board the great galley, the Vasana. There were four of these galleys, with low open waists, and enormous turrets at stem and stern. The Diana, the largest of the four, went down during the tempest, with all hands on board. The Vasana was in imminent peril, and the master at his wit's end as to what should be done. In his extremity he consulted the Welshman, on whose experience and seamanship he could rely. Gwynn saw the opportunity for which he had been