h the mightiest empire that had risen
since the fall of Rome. And an armament was preparing for the invasion
of Britain, of an extent that seemed to render resistance hopeless, by a
monarch whose resources appeared inexhaustible, while Ireland was in
open rebellion and ready to receive the Spanish fleets into her ports.

From all these difficulties and impending calamities, the nation
gathered a harvest of glory that alone would make her name famous
forever. It is with a feeling of joy and exultation that we trace the
history of England during these years of terror and of triumph. We
behold her extricating herself from embarrassments that seemed endless,
and turning them into the means of safety; encouraging and supporting
her allies without exhausting her own resources, and finally crushing
the vast engines which were put into operation for her destruction.

The blood quickens in our veins, as we read of the wisdom and the
sublime moral courage, of the daring adventure, the romantic enterprise,
the chivalrous bravery, and the brilliant triumphs of that age of great
men. We see Cecil and Wotton negotiating with Scotland so wisely as to
win the confidence and affection of that nation, and to destroy the
influence of France in that country forever; Walsingham, fathoming the
secrets of the French court, or watching in silence, but certainty, the
progress of conspiracies at home, and crushing them on the eve of
maturity; the Queen, with a prudence which seems almost sublime,
rejecting a second time the proffer of the sovereignty of Holland;
Drake, circumnavigating the earth, and returning laden with the spoils
of conquered fleets and provinces; Cavendish, coming up the Thames to
London, with sails of damask and cloth of gold, and his men arrayed in
costly silks; Lancaster, dashing his boats to pieces on the strand of
Pernambuco, that he might leave his men no alternative but death or
victory; Raleigh, plunging into the fire of the Spanish galleots, and
fighting his way through overwhelming numbers, with a courage that
rivalled the incredible tales of chivalry, planting colonies in the
pleasantest vales of the New World, or ascending the Orinoco in search
of the fabled Dorado; Sidney, gallantly returning from battle on his
war-horse, though struggling with the agony of his death-wound, and
giving the cup of cold water to the wounded soldier, with those noble
words which would alone be enough to preserve his memory forever; E