Spain's rod, Rome's ruin, Netherland's relief,

Heaven's gem, Earth's joy, World's wonder, Nature's chief,

Britain's blessing, England's splendor,

Religion's nurse, and Faith's defender.

Monument to Elizabeth in the Church of Allhallows the Great.

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

DURING the reign of Elizabeth the Catholic powers became impatient at the spread of Protestantism, and regarding England as the refuge, and Elizabeth as the protectress of that faith, the conquest of England and the subjection of the queen was determined upon, and the famous naval armament, or expedition, known as the Invincible Armada, was collected by Philip II. of Spain, and by him sent against England in 1588. The Armada, consisting of one hundred and thirty ships, about two thousand five hundred great guns, nearly five thousand quintals of powder, about twenty thousand soldiers, besides volunteers, and more than eight thousand sailors, arrived in the Channel on the 19th of July, and in the first engagement was defeated by the English fleet, which was commanded by Howard, Drake, Frobisher, and others. Several of the Spanish vessels were captured and others destroyed. Afterwards fire-ships were sent into the Spanish fleet, which caused so much alarm that the Armada put to sea in disorder, closely pursued by the English fleet, which attacked it so vigorously and kept up so persistent an engagement that the immense armament was fairly routed. A number of the Spanish ships were destroyed, many were injured, a large number of men were killed; and the Spanish commanders received such a fright that they did not dare return home the way they had come, but resolved to sail through the North Sea and round Scotland to avoid risking another engagement. In this passage they suffered from storms and disasters; many of the vessels were wrecked, and of the whole fleet but fifty-three shattered vessels and a little more than one third of the army reached Spain. The attack of the Armada cost the English only one ship.

Attend all ye who list to hear

Our noble England's praise!

I tell of the thrice-famous deeds
She wrote in ancient days,

When that great fleet invincible

Against her bore in vain
The richest spoils of Mexico,
The stoutest hearts of Spain.

MACAULAY, The Spanish Armada.

That memorable year, when the dark cloud gathered round our coasts, when Europe stood by in fearful suspense to behold what should be the result of that great cast in the game of human politics, what the craft of Rome, the power of Philip, the genius of Farnese, could achieve against the island queen, with her Drakes and Cecils, — in that agony of the Protestant faith and English name. - HALLAM.

But just then began that proud and vast intention of Spain to conquer this kingdom, by little and little to show itself. Of this the principal part was to stir up by all means a party, within the kingdom, of such as were ill-affected to the state, and desirous of innovation, that might adhere to the foreigner at his landing. For this they had no other hopes than the difference in religion. BACON.

The unfortunate armament against England, on which, like a desperate gamester, he [Philip II.] had staked the whole strength of his kingdom, completed his ruin; with the Armada sank the wealth of the two Indies and the flower of Spanish chivalry. — SCHILLER.

For whereas she [Elizabeth] herself was not without manifest danger from an ill-affected party at home for the cause of religion, and that the strength and forces of this kingdom were in the place of a bulwark to all Europe against the then dreadful and overflowing ambition and power of the King of Spain, she might have apprehended just cause of a war; but as she was still ready with her counsel, so she was not behindhand with her forces. And this we are taught by an event the most memorable of any in our time, if we look upon the felicity thereof. For when as the Spanish navy (set forth with such wonderful preparation in all kinds, the terror and amazement of all Europe, carried on with almost assurance of victory) came braving upon our seas, it took not so much as one poor cock-boat of ours, nor fired any one village, nor landed one man upon English ground; but was utterly defeated, and after a shameful flight and many shipwrecks quite dispersed, so as the peace of this kingdom was never more firm and solid. - LORD BACON.

When all the pride of Spain, in one dread fleet,
Swelled o'er the laboring surge; like a whole heaven
Of clouds, wide rolled before the boundless breeze.
Gayly the splendid armament along

Exultant ploughed, reflecting a red gleam,
As sunk the sun, o'er all the flaming vast;
Tall, gorgeous, and elate; drunk with the dream
Of easy conquest; while their bloated war,
Stretched out from sky to sky, the gathered force
Of ages held in its capacious womb.

But soon, regardless of the cumbrous pomp,
My dauntless Britons came, a gloomy few,
With tempests black, the goodly scene deformed,
And laid their glory waste. The bolts of fate
Resistless thundered through their yielding sides;
Fierce o'er their beauty blazed the lurid flame,
And seized in horrid grasp, or shatter'd wide,
Amid the mighty waters, deep they sunk.
Then too from every promontory chill,

Rank fen, and cavern where the wild wave works,
I swept confederate winds, and swelled a storm.
Round the glad isle, snatched by the vengeful blast,
The scattered remnants drove; on the blind shelve,
And pointed rock, that marks the indented shore,
Relentless dashed, where loud the northern main
Lowls through the fractured Caledonian isles.

THOMSON.

And it soon appeared that the great Armada was anything but invincible; for, on a summer night, bold Drake sent eight blazing fire-ships right into the midst of it. In terrible consternation, the Spaniards tried to get out to sea, and so became dispersed; the English pursued them at a great advantage. A storm came on, and drove the Spaniards among rocks and shoals; and the swift end of the invincible fleet was, that it lost thirty great ships and ten thousand men, and, defeated and disgraced, sailed home again. Being afraid to go by the English Channel, it sailed all round Scotland and Ireland; some of the ships getting cast away on the latter coast in bad weather, the Irish, who were a kind of savages, plundered those vessels, and killed their crews. So ended this great attempt to invade and conquer England. — DICKENS.

The victory over the Armada, the deliverance from Spain, the rolling away of the Catholic terror which had hung like a cloud over the hopes of the new people, was like a passing from death into life. The whole aspect of England suddenly changed. As yet the interest of Elizabeth's reign had been political and material; the stage had been crowded with statesmen and warriors, — with Cecils, and Walsinghams, and Drakes. Literature had hardly found a place in the glories of the time. But from the moment when the Armada drifted back broken to Ferrol, the figures of warriors and statesmen were dwarfed by the grander figures of poets and philosophers.-J. R. GREEN.

The years which followed the defeat of the Armada were rich in events of profound national importance. They were years of splendor and triumph. The flag of England became supreme on the seas; English commerce penetrated to the farthest corners of the Old World, and English colonies rooted themselves on the shores of the New. The national intellect, strung by the excitement of sixty years, took shape in a literature which is an eternal possession to mankind, while the incipient struggles of the two parties in the Anglican Church prepared the way for the conflicts of the coming century, and the second act of the Reformation. - FROUDE.

The Age of Elizabeth, particularly as a literary era, cannot be regarded as ending with the century, and it must be remembered that part of the matters treated of above relate as well to the early years of the seventeenth century.

THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.

THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC.

The revolt of the Netherlands, and the independence they subsequently achieved by force of arms, was in its results one of the most important events of history. SCHLEGEL.

THE historical importance of the Netherlands begins in the reign of Philip II. of Spain, the son and successor of Charles V.

These states had passed by inheritance to the Emperor Charles V., from whom they descended to Philip II. The people of the Netherlands were distinguished for their industry, thrift, and mechanical skill. They were daring sailors, and had pushed their commercial adventures and maritime explorations into the most distant regions. They were warmly devoted to civil liberty, and earnest converts to the doctrines and principles of the Reformation.

The people of the Netherlands, "with the Italians, were the first in Europe to attain prosperity, wealth, security, liberty, comfort, and all other benefits which seem to us. the paraphernalia of modern times. In the thirteenth century, Bruges was equal to Venice; in the sixteenth century, Antwerp was the industrial and commercial capital of the North." (TAINE. Tr. Durand.)

The bigotry and intolerance of the narrow-minded Philip provoked the resistance of his spirited subjects in the Low Countries. Philip sent his general, the Duke of Alva, to quell the insurrections of these Protestants, but the latter revolted against the cruelties of his administration.