ple
of every rank and condition, Catholics as well as Protestants
uniting in the defense of the country; while in every port round,
the din of preparation was heard. The army was destined to combat
the thirty thousand Spanish soldiers commanded by the Duke of Parma
in the Netherlands, where a fleet of transports had been prepared
to bring them across, when the great armada should have cleared the
sea of English ships. By dint of great efforts, 191 English ships
of various sizes, these mostly being small merchantmen--mere
pygmies in comparison with the great Spanish galleons--were
collected, while the Dutch dispatched sixty others to aid in the
struggle against Spain.

On the 29th of May the Spanish armada sailed from the Tagus but,
being delayed by a storm, it was not till the 19th of June that its
advance was first signaled by the lookout near Plymouth. Then from
every hill throughout England beacon fires blazed to carry the
tidings, and every Englishman betook himself to his arms, and
prepared to repel the invaders.

Instead, however, of attempting to land at once, as had been
expected, the Spanish fleet kept up channel; the orders of the king
being that it should make first for Flanders, there form junction
with the fleet of the Duke of Parma, and so effect a landing upon
the English coast. As the great fleet, numbering a hundred and
thirty large war vessels, and extending in the form of a crescent
nine miles in length from horn to horn, sailed up channel, the
spectacle, although terrible, was magnificent indeed.

The ships at Plymouth at once slipped anchor and set out in
pursuit. Sir Francis Drake led, and close by him were the vessels
commanded by the four friends. Paltry, indeed, did the squadron
appear by the side of the great fleet, but from every port as they
passed along came reinforcements, until in numbers they equaled
those of the great ships of Spain. These reinforcements were
commanded by Admirals Hawkins, Frobisher, and other gallant seamen;
while Lord Howard, lord high admiral of England, was in chief
command.

There was no general action attempted, for the floating Spanish
castles could have ridden over the light ships of England; but each
commander fell upon the enemy, like dogs upon the flank of an array
of lions. Sir Francis threw himself into the center of the Spanish
lines, followed by many other English ships, and thus separated
several of the great galleons from their consorts, and then