ed the scale in his favor by going,
April 4, 1581, to dine on board his ship at Deptford, on which
occasion she declared her entire approbation of his conduct, and
conferred on him the honor, and such it then was, of knighthood. His
ship she ordered to be preserved as a monument of his glory. Having
fallen to decay, it was at length broken up: a chair, made out of its
planks, was presented to the University of Oxford, and probably is
still to be seen in the Bodleian Library. Cowley wrote a Pindaric ode
upon it.

[Illustration: The admiral of the Spanish Armada surrenders to Drake.]

Drake had now established his reputation as the first seaman of the
day; and in 1585 the queen, having resolved on war, intrusted him with
the command of an expedition against the Spanish colonies. He burnt or
put to ransom the cities of St. Jago, near Cape Verde, St. Domingo,
Carthagena, and others, and returned to England, having fully answered
the high expectations which were entertained of him. He was again
employed with a larger force of thirty ships, in 1587, with which he
entered the port of Cadiz, burnt ten thousand tons of shipping, which
were to form part of the Armada, took the castle of Cape St. Vincent,
and sailing to the Azores, made prize of a large and wealthy ship
on its way from the Indies. Still more eminent were his services
against the Armada in the following year, in which he served as
vice-admiral under Lord Howard of Effingham. But these are well-known
passages of history, and we have shortened our account of them, to
relate at more length the early incidents of Drake's adventurous life.

In 1589 Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris were joined in the
command of an expedition, meant to deliver Portugal from the dominion
of Spain. This failed, as many expeditions have done in which the sea
and land services were meant to act together; and as usual, each party
threw the blame on the other. Drake's plan appears to have been most
judicious: it was at least accordant with his character, downright and
daring. He wished to sail straight for Lisbon and surprise the place;
but Norris was bent on landing at Corunna, where he did indeed some
harm to the Spaniards, but no service toward the real objects of the
expedition. When the land forces did at last besiege Lisbon, Drake was
unwilling or unable to force his way up the Tagus to co-operate with
them, and for this he was afterward warmly blamed by Norris. He
defended himsel