again to action. In April 1587 he set sail with
thirty small barks, burned the storeships and galleys in the harbour of
Cadiz, stormed the ports of the Faro, and was only foiled in his aim of
attacking the Armada itself by orders from home. A descent upon Corunna
however completed what Drake called his "singeing of the Spanish king's
beard." Elizabeth used the daring blow to back some negotiations for
peace which she was still conducting in the Netherlands. But on Philip's
side at least these negotiations were simply delusive. The Spanish pride
had been touched to the quick. Amidst the exchange of protocols Parma
gathered seventeen thousand men for the coming invasion, collected a
fleet of flat-bottomed transports at Dunkirk, and waited impatiently for
the Armada to protect his crossing. The attack of Drake however, the
death of its first admiral, and the winter storms delayed the fleet from
sailing. What held it back even more effectually was the balance of
parties in France. But in the spring of 1588 Philip's patience was
rewarded. The League had been baffled till now not so much by the
resistance of the Huguenots as by the attitude of the king. So long as
Henry the Third held aloof from both parties and gave a rallying point
to the party of moderation the victory of the Leaguers was impossible.
The difficulty was solved by the daring of Henry of Guise. The fanatical
populace of Paris rose at his call; the royal troops were beaten off
from the barricades; and on the 12th of May the king found himself a
prisoner in the hands of the Duke. Guise was made lieutenant-general of
the kingdom, and Philip was assured on the side of France.

[Sidenote: The Armada sails.]

The revolution was hardly over when at the end of May the Armada started
from Lisbon. But it had scarcely put to sea when a gale in the Bay of
Biscay drove its scattered vessels into Ferrol, and it was only on the
nineteenth of July 1588 that the sails of the Armada were seen from the
Lizard, and the English beacons flared out their alarm along the coast.
The news found England ready. An army was mustering under Leicester at
Tilbury, the militia of the midland counties were gathering to London,
while those of the south and east were held in readiness to meet a
descent on either shore. The force which Parma hoped to lead consisted
of forty thousand men, for the Armada brought nearly twenty-two thousand
soldiers to be added to the seventeen thousand who were wai