Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England

Drake's Ship, the Golden Hind

When, therefore, Philip of Spain made ready to seize the crown of England, and re-establish there the Catholic religion, all England was aroused. Philip collected a great fleet, which was called the "Invincible Armada." With this, he intended to send a great army into England, partly from Spain and partly from the Netherlands. Before the expedition was ready, Sir Frances Drake, with thirty small ships, sailed boldly into the Spanish harbor of Cadiz, and destroyed the ships and supplies there. Drake called this "singeing the Spanish King's beard." By this brave deed, the sailing of the Armada was delayed until the next year.

To resist the Spanish attack, the English collected ships from all their coast towns, and mustered an army near London. When the Spanish fleet appeared in the English Channel, the news was flashed by bonfires from hilltop to hilltop, all over the kingdom. The Armada consisted of 132 vessels, many of them great high-decked ships, crowded with men. Some were galleys rowed by oars, such as had been used in the Mediterranean Sea since the ancient days of Greece and Rome. The English fleet, under Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake, numbered 198 vessels, most of them smaller than in the Armada, but swifter, better sailers, and manned by more skilful seamen and better gunners.

The English allowed the Armada to pass by, and then followed it up the Channel. For a whole week, from Plymouth to Calais, the English hung upon the rear of the Spaniards, now advancing, now nimbly retiring, but always fighting, and "plucking the feathers" of the great Armada one by one. The Armada dropped anchor at Calais, to get news of the army which they were to escort from the Netherlands to England. The English, however, sent into the harbor six blazing fire-ships, which they had prepared, and the Spaniards were forced to cut their cables and put out to sea. After another all-day fight, the Spaniards turned northward, sailing before a southerly breeze. They failed to take on the army to invade England, and already the expedition was a failure.

Worse, however, was to follow. Storms came, and scores of the clumsy Spanish vessels were dashed to pieces, while trying to round the northern coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Out of the splendid fleet which set sail with such confidence, only fifty-three vessels returned to Spain. Philip II. did not blame his admiral for this disaster. "I sent you to fight against men," said he, "and not with the winds."

The defeat of the Armada freed the English from their fear of Spain. It did more. The whole nation now shared the spirit of men like Drake, and the foundations were soon laid of the trade, colonial empire, and sea power which make England "the mistress of the seas." The power of Spain now rapidly declined.

Toward the close of Elizabeth's reign, the religious question again came to the front. The trouble was no longer with the Catholics, but with the extreme Protestants, who wanted to go further in reform. They were not satisfied with the moderate Protestant position which Elizabeth had taken, but wished to do away with nearly everything used by the Catholic church in its worship—priestly robes, images, painted windows, incense, candles, and the like. They also wished to end the rule of the bishops in the Church. They were called "Puritans," because they wished to purify the Church. Some Puritans even wished to do away with any united church, established for the whole country, and to form separate congregations, each independent of the others. These are called "Separatists," or "Independents."

Elizabeth was as despotic as her father, and would not permit anything which looked like disobedience to the laws which she had established. Puritans were fined heavily for staying away from church, and when they attempted to hold meeting of their own, these were severely put down. Thus Elizabeth persecuted Puritans on the one hand, while, on the other, Catholics were being fined, imprisoned, and even put to death. There was this difference, however: in the earlier part of her reign Catholics were often plotting for her downfall; but the spirit among the Puritans was shown by one of their number, who was condemned to lose his right hand for writing against the bishops, and who nevertheless, waving his hat with the hand that was left to him, cried, "God save the Queen."

State Carriages of Elizabeth's Time

We must not close the account of the reign of Elizabeth without a few words concerning the great writers which it produced. In no other reign did literature flourish as it did under "good Queen Bess." Poets, playwriters, and essayists abounded; while, in the person of Sir Francis Bacon, England could boast one of the greatest philosophers.

Among all the writers of the Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare stands first. He was born of poor parents, at Stratford on the river Avon, in the year 1564. He received a grammar school education, and went to London, where he became an actor and writer of plays. He died in 1616. He was the greatest play writer of modern times, and one of the greatest poets. His plays have been translated into many languages. They are still acted many times every year, and the books containing them are found in all libraries. His plays include both comedies and tragedies; they picture all kinds of life, and show men and women acting under all kinds of emotions. Sayings taken from his plays are almost as common today as those from the Bible.

Queen Elizabeth did not live to see all of Shakespeare's plays, for when he was at his best she was already old. To the end of her life, she remained England's "Virgin Queen." She had many suitors for her hand, and it gratified her vanity to have them about her; but she could marry neither foreigner nor Englishman, neither Catholic nor Protestant, without offending some of her subjects. Any marriage, moreover, would endanger the exercise of that independent power which was so dear to Elizabeth's heart. So, in the end, she never married at all, although she long talked about it, and was urged again and again by her subjects to do so, in order that the succession to the throne might be settled.

The character of Elizabeth was a mixture of great and little qualities. She was so vain and extravagant that she had 3,000 gowns of strange fashion, and eighty wigs of different colored hair. She used to paint her face to hide the marks of age. She was not truthful, and her conduct in many ways revealed the coarseness of her time. On the other hand, she had the wisdom to chose good advisers; and however vain and selfish she might seem, she always had the interests of England at heart.

"There will never Queen sit in my seat," she once said to Parliament, "with more zeal to my country, or care to my subjects. And though you have had, and may have, many princes more mighty and more wise sitting in this seat, yet you never had, nor shall have, any that will be more careful or loving."

She saw England grow from a divided to a united nation, and from a weak to a great state; and in this growth she had the chief part.

She died at the age of seventy. When asked at the last to settle the succession to the throne, she said:

"I will have no rascal's son in my seat, but one worthy to be a King."

And when further pressed to declare her wishes, she added:

"And who should this be, but our cousin of Scotland."