eter Strozzi lost at the Azores, when he fought against the
Marquis of Santa Cruz. In like sort had Lord Charles Howard,
Admiral of England, been lost in the year 1588, if he had not
been better advised than a great many malignant fools were that
found fault with his demeanour. The Spaniards had an army aboard
them, and he had none. They had more ships than he had, and of
higher building and charging; so that, had he entangled himself
with those great and powerful vessels, he had greatly endangered
this kingdom of England.

Raleigh's impression of the whole comedy of the Armada is summed up in
an admirable sentence in his _Report of the Fight in the Azores_, to
which the reader must here merely be referred. His ship was one of those
which pursued the lumbering Spanish galleons furthest in their wild
flight towards the Danish waters. He was back in England, however, in
time to receive orders on August 28 to prepare a fleet for Ireland.
Whether that fleet ever started or no is doubtful, and the latest
incident of Raleigh's connection with the Armada is that on September 5,
1588, he and Sir Francis Drake received an equal number of wealthy
Spanish prisoners, whose ransoms were to be the reward of Drake's and of
Raleigh's achievements. More important to the latter was the fact that
his skill in naval tactics, and his genius for rapid action, had very
favourably impressed the Lord Admiral, who henceforward publicly treated
him as a recognised authority in these matters.

CHAPTER III.

IN DISGRACE.

For one year after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Raleigh resisted
with success, or overlooked with equanimity, the determined attacks
which Essex made upon his position at Court. He was busy with great
schemes in all quarters of the kingdom, engaged in Devonshire, in
Ireland, in Virginia, in the north-western seas, and to his virile
activity the jealousy of Essex must have seemed like the buzzing of a
persistent gnat. The insect could sting, however, and in the early part
of December 1588, Raleigh's attention was forcibly concentrated on his
rival by the fact that 'my Lord of Essex' had sent him a challenge. No
duel was fought, and the Council did its best to bury the incident 'in
silence, that it might not be known to her Majesty, lest it might injure
the Earl,' from which it will appear that Raleigh's hold upon her favour
was still assured.

A week later than this we get a glance