succeeded; and the zeal
of the people hastening to give full effect to the designs of her
majesty, a formidable armament was fitted out in all diligence, which in
June 1596 set sail for Cadiz.

Lord Howard of Effingham, as lord admiral, commanded the fleet; Essex
himself received with transport the appointment of general of all the
land-forces, and spared neither pains nor cost in his preparations for
the enterprise. Besides his constant eagerness for action, his spirit
was on this occasion inflamed by an indignation against the tyrant
Philip, "which rose," according to the happy expression of one of his
biographers, "to the dignity of a personal aversion[118]." In his
letters he was wont to employ the expression, "I will make that proud
king know" &c.: a phrase, it seems, which gave high offence to
Elizabeth, who could not tolerate what she regarded as arrogance against
a crowned head, though her bitterest foe.

[Note 118: See A Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, by lord
Orford.]

Subordinate commands were given to lord Thomas Howard, second son of the
late duke of Norfolk, who was at this time inclined to the party of
Essex; to Raleigh, who now affected an extraordinary deference for the
earl, his secret enemy and rival; to that very able officer sir Francis
Vere of the family of the earls of Oxford, who had highly distinguished
himself during several years in the wars of the Low Countries; to sir
George Carew, an intimate friend of sir Robert Cecil; and to some
others, who formed together a council of war.

The queen herself composed on this occasion a prayer for the use of the
fleet, and she sent to her land and her sea commander jointly "a letter
of license to depart; besides comfortable encouragement." "But ours in
particular," adds a follower of Essex, "had one fraught with all kind of
promises and loving offers, as the like, since he was a favorite, he
never had."

Enterprise was certainly not the characteristic of the lord admiral as a
commander; and when on the arrival of the armament off Cadiz, it was
proposed that an attack should be made by the fleet on the ships in the
harbour, he remonstrated against the rashness of such an attempt, and
prevailed on several members of the council of war to concur in his
objections. In the end, however, the arguments or importunities of the
more daring party prevailed; and Essex threw his hat into the sea in a
wild transport of joy on learning that the admiral co