ught his fleet unbroken, though sorely distressed, to anchor in
Calais roads. But the King of Spain had calculated ill the number and
the activity of the English and Dutch fleets. As the old historian
expresses it: "It seemeth that the Duke of Parma and the Spaniards
grounded upon a vain and presumptuous expectation that all the ships of
England and of the Low Countreys would at the first sight of the Spanish
and Dunkerk navie have betaken themselves to flight, yeelding them
sea-room, and endeavoring only to defend themselues, their havens, and
sea-coasts from invasion.

"Wherefore their intent and purpose was, that the Duke of Parma, in his
small and flat-bottomed ships, should, as it were under the shadow and
wings of the Spanish fleet, convey ouer all his troupes, armor, and
war-like provisions, and with their forces so united, should invade
England; or while the English fleet were busied in fight against the
Spanish, should enter upon any part of the coast, which he thought to
be most convenient. Which invasion--as the captives afterward
confessed--the Duke of Parma thought first to have attempted by the
river of Thames; upon the bankes whereof having at the first arrivall
landed twenty or thirty thousand of his principall souldiers, he
supposed that he might easily have wonne the citie of London; both
because his small shippes should have followed and assisted his land
forces and also for that the citie it-selfe was but meanely fortified
and easie to ouercome, by reason of the citizens' delicacie and
discontinuance from the warres, who, with continuall and constant labor,
might be vanquished, if they yielded not at the first assault."[4]

[4] Hakluyt: _Voyages_.

But the English and Dutch found ships and mariners enough to keep the
armada itself in check, and at the same time to block up Parma's
flotilla. The greater part of Seymour's squadron left its cruising-ground
off Dunkirk to join the English admiral off Calais; but the Dutch manned
about five-and-thirty sail of good ships, with a strong force of soldiers
on board, all well seasoned to the sea-service, and with these they
blockaded the Flemish ports that were in Parma's power. Still it was
resolved by the Spanish admiral and the Prince to endeavor to effect a
junction, which the English seamen were equally resolute to prevent; and
bolder measures on our side now became necessary.

The armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships ranged outside, "li