fleet of ships, and this occupied him nearly three years, so that it was not until 1588 that the attempt was really made. In all that time, in the great rivers and harbours of Spain, there was such a bustle of ship-building and rigging and fitting out, as was scarcely ever before known. Certainly, there had never been seen, by any one then living, so many ships together, and of so large a size as, in process of time, were got ready for the invasion. Altogether, there were a hundred and thirty, and many of these were so large that they looked like floating castles; and on board this great fleet were more than twenty thousand soldiers, besides ten thousand sailors and galley-slaves. And to add to their terrors, they carried more than two thousand brass cannon, which, as gunpowder had not very long been invented or used in warfare, were expected to strike the poor English with dismay.

I should tell you that, besides soldiers and sailors, and slaves, there were some scores and perhaps hundreds of priests and monks and friars, with abundance of wooden crosses, and beads, and miracleworking relics of dead saints (according to their notions, I mean), with which they intended to convert Englishmen and women back to the church of Rome, that is to say, when they had taken possession of the country.

And if they would not be converted, what then?

Why, then, there was wood enough, no doubt, left in England, after the martyr-fire of Queen Mary's reign, to light up more fires, to consume the obstinate heretics. That this is what the monks and friars and

priests would have done if they had obtained the power they aimed at, there is no doubt at all.

Well, the Spaniards were so proud of their great ships, that when they were ready to sail, they must needs give the fleet a name; and what should they call it but THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA: Armada meaning a naval force, and Invincible implying unconquerable. Indeed, they were so sure of conquering England, and of easily destroying all that opposed them, that a large number of the grandees of Spain,dukes and other noblemen, and sons of noble families, -accompanied the Armada, making sure of getting possession of some of the fine estates of the conquered country.

On the 29th of May, 1588, the wonderful Armada set sail. The plan of the invasion was this:—the fleet was first of all to proceed to Dunkirk, a seaport of Flanders (which belonged at that time to Spain), where it was to be joined by nearly thirty thousand more Spanish soldiers. Then it was to sail across the sea to England; enter the river Thames ; find a convenient place for landing the army, which was to march straight on to London, doing all the mischief it could on its way, of course. The army, having then taken possession of London, was to make a speedy and entire conquest of the whole country. This really seemed such an easy scheme, that it scarcely entered into the mind of the invaders that it could fail. For among them were men who could tell from personal experience how helpless was a commercial country when once in the clutch of disciplined troops-men who had, in former guilty invasions of

P

other countries, enriched themselves, in an hour, with the accumulations of a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each other's eyes, until the number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing street of a single city amounted to many thousands, and the plunder from its palaces and warehouses was counted by millions of money-worth before the sun had set on the great fury. And these men looked forward with greedy, gloating, tigerish anticipations, to enacting the same scenes on English soil and in English cities. Already they had looked upon London, especially, as given to them as a prey. It was almost before their eyes-a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those mines beyond the Atlantic which had so often rewarded Spanish chivalry with fabulous wealth."

Having told you a little of what Spain did and intended to do, let us see what the people of England thought and did.

CHAPTER III.

HOW THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND PREPARED FOR THE

INVASION.

You are not to suppose that all the preparations of

You

Spain were made so secretly as to take England by surprise. All the time the Spaniards were building and fitting out their ships the government and people of England were preparing to resist the intended in

vasion; for they did not choose to be conquered as easily as their enemies thought. The first thing was to count up how many ships they had to meet the Invincible Armada. This, indeed, did not take long to do; for there were only thirty-six of all sorts in the Royal Navy, and these were mostly small vessels, especially when compared with the monstrously large Spanish ships. This looked badly for England; what could such a small number do against so many? The people were not frightened, however; for as soon as it was known how badly off the queen was for ships, and for sailors as well, English nobles and English merchants, and all classes of Englishmen united together, and collected all the merchant vessels that could be got, and prepared them for war; while hundreds of men came forward and offered to serve in them. Besides this, the people of Holland were good enough to send sixty-five ships of war to help their good friends and fellow Protestants in England; so that before the invasion commenced, there were altogether about a hundred and ninety vessels of all sorts ready for the defence of the country. The number of sailors was about seventeen thousand.

This was what was done at sea; now for the land. As soon as it was known what the intentions of King Philip were, as to the landing of his troops, and their march to London, the government had both sides of the Thames protected. "Gravesend was strongly fortified; and a vast number of barges were collected there for the double purpose of serving as a bridge for the passage of horse and foot between Kent and Essex, and for blocking up the river against the invaders.

At Tilbury Fort, directly opposite Gravesend, a great camp was formed;" and it was a pleasant sight, an old chronicler tells us, "to behold the soldiers, as they marched towards Tilbury, their cheerful countenances, courageous words and gestures, dancing and leaping wheresoever they came. And, in the camp, their most felicity was hope of fight with the enemy; where ofttimes divers rumours rose of their foe's approach, and that present battles would be given them. Then were they joyful at such news, as if lusty giants were to run a race."

These poor fellows had, very few of them, probably, known anything of real fighting in battle, or they would not have been so very anxious to meet the enemy. Yet we cannot blame them for their patriotism. Let us only consider the wickedness of the threatened invasion; and the sufferings and horrible cruelty which would have accompanied it if it had taken place and been successful; and we may feel proud that there were such numbers of Englishmen who were ready and willing to risk their lives in defence of their country and their liberties and religious privileges.

About twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand horse soldiers were collected at this great camp, besides many other thousands in other parts of the country, so that the King of Spain had not quite so easy a conquest before him as he imagined.

While these exceedingly ardent soldiers were waiting at Tilbury for the enemy, a visit was paid to their camp which mightily increased their enthusiasm. The visitor was no other than Queen Elizabeth herself, who