aining such a crowd of visitors. Being very saving of her own
means, she generally contrived to bring the expense of this magnificence
upon others. The honor was a sufficient equivalent. Or, if it was not,
nobody dared to complain.

To sum up all, Elizabeth was very great, and she was, at the same time,
very little. Littleness and greatness mingled in her character in a
manner which has scarcely ever been paralleled, except by the equally
singular mixture of admiration and contempt with which mankind have
always regarded her.

CHAPTER X.

THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA.

1585-1588

Fierce contests between Catholics and Protestants.--Philip's
cruelty.--Effects of war.--Napoleon and Xerxes.--March of
improvement.--Spanish armadas.--The Low Countries.--Their situation
and condition.--Embassage from the Low Countries.--Their
proposition.--Elizabeth's decision.--Leicester and Drake.--Leicester
sets out for the Low Countries.--His reception.--Leicester's
elation.--Elizabeth's displeasure.--Drake's success.--His deeds of
cruelty.--Drake's expedition in 1577.--Execution of Doughty.--Straits
of Magellan.--Drake plunders the Spaniards.--Chase of the
Cacofogo.--Drake captures her.--Drake's escape by going round the
world.--Character of Drake.--Philip demands the treasure.--Alarming
news.--Elizabeth's navy.--Drake's expedition against the
Spaniards.--His bold stroke.--Exasperation of Philip.--His
preparations.--Elizabeth's preparations.--The army and
navy.--Elizabeth reviews the troops.--Her speech.--Elizabeth's
energy.--Approach of the armada.--A grand spectacle.--A singular
fight.--Defeat of the armada.--A remnant escapes.

Thirty years of Queen Elizabeth's reign passed away. During all this
time the murderous contests between the Catholic governments of France
and Spain and their Protestant subjects went on with terrible energy.
Philip of Spain was the great leader and head of the Catholic powers,
and he prosecuted his work of exterminating heresy with the sternest and
most merciless determination. Obstinate and protracted wars, cruel
tortures, and imprisonments and executions without number, marked his
reign.

Notwithstanding all this, however, strange as it may seem, the country
increased in population, wealth, and prosperity. It is, after all, but a
very small proportion of fifty millions of people which the most cruel
monster of a tyrant can kill, even if he devotes himself fully to the
work. The natural deaths amo