off from the Church of God for cowardice of the chaplain, Mr Fletcher,
and the chaining of his leg to a ringbolt in the deck until he repented
of his sin. And she is so much interested in all these things that a
royal banquet is held aboard the _Pelican_. Her Majesty attends and
knights Drake. Mendoza demands for his master the stolen treasure.
Leicester wants to share it with his friends; but Elizabeth puts her
foot down and maintains it to be a legal capture which must be held.
She conceives this to be a part of the game. Subsequent events cause
Drake to plead with her to grant supplies, and she rebukes him for his
extravagance. The Armada is close at our shores. Lord Howard reminds
her that food is exhausted and that her sailors are having to catch
fish to make up their mess, and yet they are praying for the quick
arrival of the enemy. Their commander says English sailors will do what
they can to vanquish the invaders, but they cannot fight with famine.
"Awake, Madam," writes the poor distracted Lord admiral; "awake, for
the love of Christ, and realize the danger that confronts the nation."
He managed this time to squeeze one month's rations out of her, but
when asked if any more should be provided, this lovely virgin monarch
replied peremptorily, "No!" And when the great Armada came in sight
there was but two days' food remaining. "Let tyrants fear," she says;
"I have always so behaved myself that under God I have placed my
chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my
subjects"!! She knows that she has the body of a weak and feeble woman,
but she is assured she has the heart of a king, and rather than any
dishonour should grow by her, "I myself will take up arms and be your
general, judge and rewarder of all your virtues." That is all very
pretty, and sounds pre-Napoleonic, but we cannot all swallow sweet,
cantish little nothings in place of food and wages. Better would it
have been had Elizabeth shown some practical evidence of "devotion" to
her "people" by granting supplies and food to her starving sailors who
fought and won in the most deadly naval encounter that the world has
ever known. Their stomachs were empty but their hearts were big, though
many of them went under with sickness brought on by famine, while she
held tight that seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds which Drake
brought home for her. It is amazing that a historian should be found to
regard that speech of hers as being