y
glory. His early efforts were turned to the suppression of the
partiality which in some places existed for English domination;
and he never allowed himself to be deceived by the hopes of peace
held out by the emperor and the kings of Denmark and Poland. Without
refusing their mediation, he labored incessantly to organize
every possible means for maintaining the war. His efforts were
considerably favored by the measures of Philip for the support
of the league formed by the House of Guise against Henry III. and
Henry IV. of France; but still more by the formidable enterprise
which the Spanish monarch was now preparing against England.

Irritated and mortified by the assistance which Elizabeth had
given to the revolted provinces, Philip resolved to employ his
whole power in attempting the conquest of England itself; hoping
afterward to effect with ease the subjugation of the Netherlands.
He caused to be built, in almost every port of Spain and Portugal,
galleons, carricks, and other ships of war of the largest dimensions;
and at the same time gave orders to the duke of Parma to assemble
in the harbors of Flanders as many vessels as he could collect
together.

The Spanish fleet, consisting of more than one hundred and forty
ships of the line, and manned by twenty thousand sailors, assembled
at Lisbon under the orders of the duke of Medina Sidonia; while
the duke of Parma, uniting his forces, held himself ready on the
coast of Flanders, with an army of thirty thousand men and four
hundred transports. This prodigious force obtained, in Spain,
the ostentatious title of the Invincible Armada. Its destination
was for a while attempted to be concealed, under pretext that
it was meant for India, or for the annihilation of the United
Provinces; but the mystery was soon discovered. At the end of
May, the principal fleet sailed from the port of Lisbon; and
being reinforced off Corunna by a considerable squadron, the
whole armament steered its course, for the shores of England.

The details of the progress and the failure of this celebrated
attempt are so thoroughly the province of English history that they
would be in this place superfluous. But it must not be forgotten
that the glory of the proud result was amply shared by the new
republic, whose existence depended on it. While Howard and Drake
held the British fleet in readiness to oppose the Spanish Armada,
that of Holland, consisting of but twenty-five ships, under the
co