ler,
he could match the Spaniards in audacity. He sent eight fireships
right in among the close-lying vessels. Then, in the confusion which
followed, while they were obstructed and entangled with their own
fleet, he swiftly attacked them with such vigor that ten ships were
sunk or disabled, and the entire fleet was demoralized. Then a storm
overtook the fleeing vessels, and the winds and the waves completed
the victory. As in the Spanish report of the disaster thirty-five is
the number of ships acknowledged to be lost, we may imagine how great
was the destruction. So ended Philip's invasion of England, and the
great Spanish "Armada."

Philip II. died, 1598, in the Palace of the Escurial which he had
built, and with that event ends the story of Spain's greatness. The
period of one hundred and twenty-five years, including the reigns of
Ferdinand and Isabella, of Charles V., and of Philip II., is, in a
way, one of unmatched splendor. Spain had not like England by slow
degrees expanded into great proportions, but through strange and
perfectly fortuitous circumstances, she had, from a proud obscurity,
suddenly leaped into a position of commanding power and magnificence.
Fortune threw into her lap the greatest prize she ever had to bestow,
and at the same time gave her two sovereigns of exceptional qualities
and abilities. The story of this double reign is the romance, the
fairy tale of history. Then came the magnificent reign of Charles V.
with more gifts from fortune--the imperial crown, if not a substantial
benefit to Spain, still bringing dignity and eclat. But under this
glittering surface there had commenced even then a decline. Under
Philip II. she was still magnificent, Europe was bowing down to her,
but the decline was growing more manifest; and with the accession of
his puny son, Philip III., there was little left but a brilliant past,
which a proud and retrospective nation was going to feed upon for over
three centuries. But it takes some time for such dazzling effulgence
to disappear. The glamour of the Spanish name was going to last a
long time and picturesquely veil her decay. The memory of such an
ascendancy in Europe nourished the intense national pride of her
people. The name Castilian took on a new significance.

Nor can we wonder at their pride in the name "Castilian." Its glory
was not the capricious gift of fortune, but won by a devotion, a
constancy, and a fidelity of purpose which are unique in the hi