. It was only
by declaring his willingness to be "further instructed" in matters of
faith, in other words by holding out hopes of his conversion, that he
succeeded in retaining the moderate Catholics under his standard. His
desperate bravery alone won a victory at Ivry over the forces of the
League, which enabled him to again form the siege of Paris in 1590. All
recognized Paris as the turning-point in the struggle, and the League
called loudly for Philip's aid. To give it was to break the work which
Parma was doing in the Netherlands, and to allow the United Provinces a
breathing space in their sorest need. But even the Netherlands were of
less moment than the loss of France; and Philip's orders forced Parma
to march to the relief of Paris. The work was done with a skill which
proved the Duke to be a master in the art of war. The siege of Paris was
raised; the efforts of Henry to bring the Spaniards to an engagement
were foiled; and it was only when the king's army broke up from sheer
weariness that Parma withdrew unharmed to the north.

[Sidenote: England and Henry.]

England was watching the struggle of Henry the Fourth with a keen
interest. The failure of the expedition against Lisbon had put an end
for the time to any direct attacks upon Spain, and the exhaustion of the
treasury forced Elizabeth to content herself with issuing commissions to
volunteers. But the war was a national one, and the nation waged it for
itself. Merchants, gentlemen, nobles fitted out privateers. The sea-dogs
in ever-growing numbers scoured the Spanish Main. Their quest had its
ill chances as it had its good, and sometimes the prizes made were far
from paying for the cost of the venture. "Paul might plant, and Apollos
might water," John Hawkins explained after an unsuccessful voyage, "but
it is God only that giveth the increase!" But more often the profit was
enormous. Spanish galleons, Spanish merchant-ships, were brought month
after month to English harbours. The daring of the English seamen faced
any odds. Ten English trading vessels beat off twelve Spanish
war-galleys in the Straits of Gibraltar. Sir Richard Grenville in a
single bark, the Revenge, found himself girt in by fifty men-of-war,
each twice as large as his own. He held out from afternoon to the
following daybreak, beating off attempt after attempt to board him; and
it was not till his powder was spent, more than half his crew killed,
and the rest wounded, that the ship struc