ended. [Note 4.] The speaker, it will be seen, is
supposed to be a young Spanish lady.

"My brother Don John
To England is gone,
To kill the Drake,
And the Queen to take,
And the heretics all to destroy;
And he has promised
To bring to me
A Lutheran boy
With a chain round his neck:
And Grandmamma
From his share shall have
A Lutheran maid
To be her slave."

The prospect was agreeable. One thing was plain--that "the Don" had
acquired a wholesome fear of "the Drake."

Sunday was the 28th: and on that morning it became evident that Medina
meant mischief. The seven-mile crescent was slowly, but surely, closing
in round Dover. The Spaniard was about to land. Lord Howard called a
council of war: and a hasty resolution was taken. Eight gunboats were
cleared out; their holds filled with combustible matter; they were set
on fire, and sent into the advancing Armada. The terror of the
Spaniards was immense. They fancied it Greek fire, such as had wrought
fearful havoc among them at the siege of Antwerp. With shrieks of "The
fire of Antwerp!--The fire of Antwerp!"--the Armada fell into disorder,
and the vessels dispersed on all sides in the wildest confusion. Lord
Howard followed in chase of Medina.

Even yet the Armada might have rallied and renewed the attack. But now
the wind began to blow violently from the south. The galleys could make
no head against it. Row as they would, they were hurried northward, the
English giving chase hotly. The Spanish ships were driven hither and
thither, pursued alike by the winds and the foe. One of the largest
galleons ran ashore at Calais--from which the spoil taken was fifty
thousand ducats--one at Ostend, several in different parts of Holland.
Don Antonio de Matigues escaped from the one which ran aground at
Calais, and carried back to Philip, like the messengers of Job, the news
that he only had escaped to tell the total loss of the Invincible
Armada. But the loss was not quite so complete. Medina was still
driving northward before the gale, with many of his vessels, chased by
the "Ark Royal" and her subordinates. He tried hard to cast anchor at
Gravelines; but Lord Howard forced him away. Past Dunquerque ran the
shattered Armada, with her foe in hot pursuit. There was one danger
left, and until that peril was past, Lord Howard would not turn back.
If Medina had succeeded in landing in Scotland,--which the Admiral fully
expected him to