Chap. XXV. during tie Reign

1588. Cheese, and all other Necessaries inProportion.

.Besides the Mariners and Soldiersabove mentioned, with their respectiveOfficers, there were one Hundred andfour and twenty Volunteers, of thechief Quality and Families of Spain ,attended by four Hundred and six andfifty Servants bearing Arms; And twoHundred, eight and thirty Gentlemenmaintained by the King, with one Hun-dred sixty-three Servants. One Hun-dred, seventy-seven Persons, with twoEngineers, one Physician, one Surgeon,and thirty Servants, belonging to theAr-tifiery; Eighty-five Physicians and Sur-geons, for the Hospital-Ships; OneHundred and eighty Church-men, Do-minicans, Franciscans, Flagettans andJesuits. Three and twenty Gentlemenbelonging to the Duke’s Court, and fiftyServants; Seventeen SuperintendantsGeneral of the Army ; And one Hun-dred Servants more, belonging to them,or to the Offices of Justice.

I might now proceed to give a par-ticular Account of the vast Preparationsmade by the Duke of Parma, in thelVf-therlands, which were everyWay pro-portion’d to those made in Spain ; Butas neither his Land-nor Sea-Forces evercame to Action, what I have alreadysaid in general may suffice.

But to return to the Spanish Fleet,the General’s Orders from the Kingwere to repair, as Wind and Weatherwould allow to the Road of Calais, andthere to wait the Arrival of the Duke ofParma, with his Fleet, to joyn him ;And upon their Meeting to have open’da Letter directed to them both with far-ther Orders. He was especially com-manded in the mean Time to sail alongthe Coasts of Britain and Normandy, toavoid being discovered by the English ;And if unexpectedly they should meetwith the English Fleet not to osser Bat-tle ; But to act only upon the Defen-five. 0)

s S Panisli With these Instructions the Spanishhs/ e pa- Fleet set Sail from the River of Lisbon,Vto r and bent it's Course first for the Groyne.

' Authors differ as to the Time of theirDeparture ; Some fay it was the nine-teenth, others the nine and twentiethof May: And others again that it was

(a) A plain Argument that, notwithstandingthey gave their Fleet the arrogant Name of theInvincible Armada-, they themselves did not thinkit so; Another as evident Proof is, that they poli-

os §lyeen Elizabeth. 253

the first or the third of June. They i .-M,departed with the greatest Pride andGlory, and the least Doubt of Success,that their Vanity could suggest to them.

They were decked with all the Orna-ments of Delight, and at the same'Timeattended with all theHorrors of Destru-ction. But they had not been long atSea, before they were separated by aviolent Tempest, off of Cape Finijlerre .

Three of the Gallies, by the Stratagemof David Gwinn, an English Slave, inConjunction with some of the MoorishRowers, were run into a Port of France.

Fourteen of them were discovered be-tween Ushant and Scilly ; But beforethey could be met with by any Part ofthe English Fleet, they had a NortherlyWind, which conveyed them back a-gain, and they, together with the Rest Returns,of the Ships, arrived soon after, in a dis- with coast -abled Condition at the Groyne, and the ^geto the"neighbouring Ports, where they took Groyne,in their Soldiers and warlike Provisions.

This Circumstance had very near prov-ed more fatal to the English then theSpaniards themselves; For it being re-ported all over Europe, that the wholeSpanish Fleet was destroyed, the Mini-sters in England thought, at least, theDamages had been so great, and theShips Ib distressed and weather-beaten,that they would not be able to proceed’till the next Year. Secretary IValjing-ham, who thought his Intelligence cer-tain, signified, therefore, the Queen’sPleasure to the Lord High Admiral, tosend back four of his largest Ships intoPort.

His Lordffiip had, in the mean Time,likewise, Intelligence sundry Ways,that the Enemy’s Fleet was dispersedinto several Ports of Spain, distressed,spoiled, in Want of Provisions, andhaving a great Mortality among theMen. This, however, in the Sequeldid not fall out, as was reported, andthis the Lord High Admiral seemed tohave foreseen : For he, with more Dis-cretion than the Ministers, retained thefour Ships, alledging how dangerous itwas to be too credulous, in a Matter ofso great Importance. He added, that Admiralhe would rather keep the Ships out ^psssshis own Charge, than expose the Nation wards theto so great a Hazard. Taking, there- Coasts ofh fore, Spain '

tickly procured the German and Italian Merchantsto hire our stoutest Ships, tot long Voyages; Atleast so it is said.