deputy of Ireland caused to be butchered without remorse the
crews of all the vessels wrecked upon that island in their disastrous
circumnavigation of Great Britain: so that not more than half of this
vaunted _invincible armada_ returned in safety to the ports of Spain.
Never in the records of history was the event of war on one side more
entirely satisfactory, and glorious, on the other more deeply
humiliating and utterly disgraceful. Philip did indeed support the
credit of his personal character by the dignified composure with which
he heard the tidings of this great disaster; but it was out of his power
to throw the slightest veil over the dishonor of the Spanish arms, or
repair the total and final failure of the great popish cause.

By the English nation, this signal discomfiture of its most dreaded and
detested foe was hailed as the victory of protestant principles no less
than of national independence; and the tidings of the national
deliverance were welcomed, by all the reformed churches of Europe, with
an ardor of joy and thankfulness proportioned to the intenseness of
anxiety with which they had watched the event of a conflict where their
own dearest interests were staked along with the existence of their best
ally and firmest protector.

Repeated thanksgivings were observed in London in commemoration of this
great event: on the anniversary of the queen's birth a general festival
was proclaimed and celebrated with "sermons, singing of psalms,
bonfires, &c." and on the following Sunday her majesty went in state to
St. Paul's, magnificently attended by her nobles and great officers, and
borne along on a sumptuous chariot formed like a throne, with four
pillars supporting a canopy, and drawn by a pair of white horses. The
streets through which she passed were hung with blue cloth, in honor
doubtless of the navy, and the colors taken from the enemy were borne in
triumph.

Her majesty rewarded the lord-admiral with a considerable pension, and
settled annuities on the wounded seamen and on some of the more
necessitous among the officers; the rest she honored with much personal
notice and many gracious terms of commendation, which they were expected
to receive in lieu of more substantial remuneration;--for parsimony, the
darling virtue of Elizabeth, was not forgotten even in her gratitude to
the brave defenders of her country.

Two medals were struck on this great occasion; one, representing a fleet
retiring under