would never believe any ill of her subjects, which
a parent would not believe of her own children--rejected the advice, and
only confined a few of those who were the most suspected, in the fens in
Lincolnshire. The great body of Catholics deserved this confidence; for
they behaved most loyally, nobly, and bravely.

So, with all England firing up like one strong, angry man, and with both
sides of the Thames fortified, and with the soldiers under arms, and with
the sailors in their ships, the country waited for the coming of the
proud Spanish fleet, which was called THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. The Queen
herself, riding in armour on a white horse, and the Earl of Essex and the
Earl of Leicester holding her bridal rein, made a brave speech to the
troops at Tilbury Fort opposite Gravesend, which was received with such
enthusiasm as is seldom known. Then came the Spanish Armada into the
English Channel, sailing along in the form of a half moon, of such great
size that it was seven miles broad. But the English were quickly upon
it, and woe then to all the Spanish ships that dropped a little out of
the half moon, for the English took them instantly! And it soon appeared
that the great Armada was anything but invincible, for on a summer night,
bold Drake sent eight blazing fire-ships right into the midst of it. In
terrible consternation the Spaniards tried to get out to sea, and so
became dispersed; the English pursued them at a great advantage; a storm
came on, and drove the Spaniards among rocks and shoals; and the swift
end of the Invincible fleet was, that it lost thirty great ships and ten
thousand men, and, defeated and disgraced, sailed home again. Being
afraid to go by the English Channel, it sailed all round Scotland and
Ireland; some of the ships getting cast away on the latter coast in bad
weather, the Irish, who were a kind of savages, plundered those vessels
and killed their crews. So ended this great attempt to invade and
conquer England. And I think it will be a long time before any other
invincible fleet coming to England with the same object, will fare much
better than the Spanish Armada.

Though the Spanish king had had this bitter taste of English bravery, he
was so little the wiser for it, as still to entertain his old designs,
and even to conceive the absurd idea of placing his daughter on the
English throne. But the Earl of Essex, SIR WALTER RALEIGH, SIR THOMAS
HOWARD, and some other distinguished lea