generosity, caused all his baggage to be thrown out, and
the carriages to be filled with the sick and weary. Instead of the
troops of nobility and gentry by whom don Antonio had flattered himself
and his companions that he should be joined and recognised, there only
appeared upon their march a band of miserable peasants without shoes or
stockings, and one gentleman who presented him with a basket of plums
and cherries. The English however proceeded, and made themselves masters
without difficulty of the suburbs of Lisbon, in which they found great
riches; but the entreaties of don Antonio, and his anxiety to preserve
the good will of the people, caused the general, to restrain his men
from plunder. Essex distinguished himself in every skirmish; and,
knocking at the gates of Lisbon itself, challenged the governor, or any
other of equal rank, to single combat: but this romantic proposal was
prudently declined; and though the city was known to be weakly guarded,
the total want of battering cannon in the English army precluded the
general from making an assault.

In the meantime Drake, who was to have co-operated with the land forces
by an attack upon the city from the water side, found his progress
effectually barred by the forts at the mouth of the Tagus, and was thus
compelled to relinquish all share in the enterprise. This
disappointment, joined to the want of ammunition and other necessaries,
and the rapid progress of sickness among the men, rendered necessary a
speedy retreat and re-embarkation. About sixty vessels lying at the
mouth of the Tagus, laden with corn and other articles of commerce, were
seized by the English, though the property of the Hanse Towns, and Drake
and Norris in their return burned Vigo: but various disasters overtook
the fleet on its homeward voyage, subsequently to its dispersion by a
violent storm. On the whole, it was computed that not less than eleven
thousand persons perished in this unfortunate and ill-planned
expedition, by which no one important object had been attained; and that
of eleven hundred gentlemen who accompanied it, not more than three
hundred and fifty escaped the united ravages of famine, sickness, and
the sword.

The queen, on discovering that Essex had without permission absented
himself from her court and from the duties of his office of master of
the horse, to embark in the voyage to Portugal, had instantly
dispatched a peremptory order for his return, enforced by mena