e in arms. In the spring of 1589 therefore an
expedition of fifty vessels and 15,000 men was sent under Drake and Sir
John Norris against Lisbon. Its chances of success hung on a quick
arrival in Portugal, but the fleet touched at Corunna, and after burning
the ships in its harbour the army was tempted to besiege the town. A
Spanish army which advanced to its relief was repulsed by an English
force of half its numbers. Corunna however held stubbornly out, and in
the middle of May Norris was forced to break the siege and to sail to
Lisbon. But the delay had been fatal to his enterprise. The country did
not rise; the English troops were thinned with sickness; want of cannon
hindered a siege; and after a fruitless march up the Tagus Norris fell
back on the fleet. The coast was pillaged, and the expedition returned
baffled to England. Luckless as the campaign had proved, the bold
defiance of Spain and the defeat of a Spanish army on Spanish ground
kindled a new daring in Englishmen while they gave new heart to Philip's
enemies. In the summer of 1589 Henry the Third laid siege to Paris. The
fears of the League were removed by the knife of a priest, Jacques
Clement, who assassinated the king in August; but Henry of Navarre, or,
as he now became, Henry the Fourth, stood next to him in line of blood,
and Philip saw with dismay a Protestant mount the throne of France.

[Sidenote: Henry the Fourth.]

From this moment the thought of attack on England, even his own warfare
in the Netherlands, was subordinated in the mind of the Spanish king to
the need of crushing Henry the Fourth. It was not merely that Henry's
Protestantism threatened to spread heresy over the West. Catholic or
Protestant, the union of France under an active and enterprising ruler
would be equally fatal to Philip's designs. Once gathered round its
king, France was a nearer obstacle to the reconquest of the Netherlands
than ever England could be. On the other hand, the religious strife, to
which Henry's accession gave a fresh life and vigour, opened wide
prospects to Philip's ambition. Far from proving a check upon Spain, it
seemed as if France might be turned into a Spanish dependency. While the
Leaguers proclaimed the Cardinal of Bourbon king, under the name of
Charles the Tenth, they recognized Philip as Protector of France. Their
hope indeed lay in his aid, and their army was virtually his own. On the
other hand Henry the Fourth was environed with difficulties