signed; this will be seen around Plates I., III., V., VII., IX. Both these borders appear in the six plates here reproduced, although the original border is only shown on one plate (Plate IV.) of the original. It having been found impossible to reproduce the whole of these excellent engravings, we have selected six of the most representative character, together with two of the most interesting charts, from amongst a considerable number which appear in John Pine's work. These celebrated tapestries were, as our readers will doubtless remember, destroyed in the great fire which burnt the Houses of Parliament on the 16th of October, 1834, so that Pine's shrewd prediction was amply verified, and his wisdom in depicting them, as well as the skill with which they have been reproduced in his work, is to be highly commended, and will be fully appreciated by this and succeeding generations. His work is now exceedingly scarce, and can rarely now be found save in some long-established library or the collections of the curious. A writer in the Penny Magazine, Nov., 1834, in describing the old House of Lords, says: "One of the chief and most interesting ornaments of the interior of this apartment consisted of the fine tapestry hangings, representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada. On the occasion to which we have just adverted (some alterations at the time of the Union with Ireland, when provision was made for the accommodation of an additional number of peers), these hangings were taken down, cleaned, and replaced as they lately appeared. The tapestry was judiciously set off with large frames of brown-stained wood, which divided it into compartments respectively containing the several portions of the history or of the events of the destruction contemplated by the Spaniards on that occasion. The heads which formed a border to each design were portraits of the several officers who at that period held command in the English fleet. The destruction of these hangings is perhaps one of the greatest, because perfectly irreparable, losses occasioned by the late fire." Another writer describes "this splendid tapestry as one among many proofs of the strong sensation which the defeat of the Armada made throughout Europe. That great event was represented in various designs exhibiting the first appearance of the Spanish fleet; the several forms in which it lay at different times on the English coast, or in presence of the com paratively small English force which pursued it; the place and disposition of the fleets when engaged; and its partial demolition and final departure." The views of the coast are, in some of the plates, curious, interesting, and generally natural; and more attention than was usually given in the productions of the time has been bestowed upon them in order to convey an idea of the different distances of the fleets from the shore; except when the French and English coasts were exhibited opposite to each other in the same piece, when they are always much too near. In No. 8, part of a town on the French coast is brought into view, with people hastening to the shore to witness the passing of the fleets. In Nos. 9 and 10, a part of Calais is represented in the foreground, with soldiers and citizens upon the walls and other persons outside the walls, mostly engaged in animated conversation, with the exception of one man, who, in both these pieces, is represented as engaged in fishing underneath the walls. In most of the pieces we have dolphins, whales, and other strange monsters of the deep, of extraordinary size. Some of these creatures appear to threaten with fierce and grim looks the progress of the Spanish fleet. The interest which the Netherlands felt in these events is indicated not only by the tapestry which we have described, but by the curious fact that the medals and jettons which were struck on the occasion were entirely Dutch; none were struck in England. Specimens of many of these are preserved in the British Museum, and will be found fully described in Medallic Illustrations of British History (1885), Vol. I. The story of the Armada is so well known that it seems almost superfluous to relate its incidents in detail; we shall therefore content ourselves with telling so much of it as may be necessary to explain the accompanying plates and charts. The first plate (marked I. in the righthand upper corner) represents the Spanish Fleet coming up the Channel, opposite to the Lizard, as it was first discovered. The same day (July 19th) the Lord Admiral was informed by Captain Thomas Flemming, commander of the Golden Hind pinnace, who had been left in the Channel for discovery, that the Spanish Fleet was seen near the Lizard, the wind being then southerly or south-west. Though the wind blew hard into Plymouth Sound, and the intelligence was not received till about four o'clock in the afternoon, yet his lordship, with much diligence and indus try, got out the same evening with six of his ships, and anchored with them alone the whole night without the harbour.1 The second plate in Pine's series, which we do not give, represents the Spanish fleet drawn up in the form of a half-moon, off Fowey, the English fleet pursuing them. The Armada was stated to be so extensive as to cover seven miles of sea from wing to wing. The English ships suffered them to pass by unmolested, in order that they might afterwards give chase with all the advantage of the wind. Our next illustration (Plate III. in the work) depicts the first engagement between the Spanish and English fleets; after which the English give chase to the Spaniards, who draw themselves up into a roundel. The next morning, July 21, all the English ships being come out of Plymouth, and in number near a hundred, had recovered the wind of the Spaniards, two leagues to the westward of the Eddystone. About nine o'clock, the Lord Admiral sent his pinnace, named the Defiance, to announce war against the enemy by the discharge of all her guns. He himself immediately seconded her from his own ship, the Ark-Royal, by thundering furiously on one of the enemy's, commanded by Alphonse de Leva, which he mistook for the St. Martin, the Admiral's ship; but she was, after a smart engagement, rescued by the Spaniards. In the meantime, Sir Francis Drake, Captain John Hawkins, and Captain Martin Frobisher vigorously engaged the enemy's sternmost ships, under the conduct of their Vice-Admiral, Recalde; in one of which Recalde himself was supposed to be. He did all that a gallant officer could do to keep his ships together, but the fight was so briskly maintained that, notwithstanding all his endeavours, they were forced to retreat to the main body of the fleet, and at length, his own ship being very much damaged with shot and grown unserviceable, he retired thither himself, though with much ado. In this first engagement, Recalde's ship lost fifteen men. At the same time the Duke of Medina gathered together his fleet, which was dispersed about, and hoisting more sail, held on his course with all the speed he could make. Nor was it in his power to do otherwise, seeing the wind favoured the English, and their ships were so light and nimble that they would charge, wind, and tack about with incredible swiftness; whereas the Spanish great and heavy Slugs stood 1 See Morant's narrative. like so many butts for the English shot. Although the Spaniards were so briskly charged by the English, they made a running fight of it; and after a smart engagement of two hours, the Lord High-Admiral thought fit to desist, because forty of his ships were not yet come up, being scarce got out of Plymouth Haven. So not proceeding any farther, he gave the signal for a Council of War, wherein his lordship's prudent and considerate advice being very much approved, orders were delivered to each captain in what manner they should pursue the enemy. The next plate to which we would call attention is that marked IV., in which is depicted the loss of the great galleon commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez. She had sprung her foremast and received other damage, having fallen foul of another vessel, and not being able to keep up with the rest of the fleet, was left behind. Early the next day she fell into the hands of Sir Francis Drake, who sent the ship into Dartmouth; but the captain and some other gentlemen who were on board, with the ship's company, were sent prisoners to Plymouth till their ransoms were paid. Don Pedro, who was received with due honour by Drake, and treated with much courtesy, remained on board the Vice-Admiral's flagship, the Revenge, and as the guest of Drake was a witness to all subsequent events up to the 10th of August, on which day he was sent to London with some other officers, Sir Francis claiming his ransom as his lawful due. The next illustration (Plate V.) represents the distressful condition of the ship belonging to Michael de Oquendo, Admiral of the Squadron of Guipuzcoa, which had been set on fire and otherwise ill-used, so much so that she was abandoned by the Spaniards. Lord Thomas Howard boarding her, found a number of wounded men had been left behind. She was taken into Weymouth as the second prize falling to the English fleet. In Plate VII. we see both fleets off the Isle of Wight, where a general engagement took place; and this battle, which continued for many hours, proved to be the sharpest series of encounters which occurred throughout the whole of the campaign. Plate VIII. represents the Spanish fleet sailing up the Channel, intending to stop at Dunkirk or Calais, there to be joined by the Duke of Parma with his land forces, arrangements having been made to transport the army across to Dover, a concerted action for the invasion of England then taking place. But this scheme, as is well known, was frustrated, and the intended combination with Parma never took place. Plate IX. shows the Spaniards as at anchor off Calais, from whence they were dislodged by the English fire-ships sent. among them during the night. The English are represented in this piece as preparing to pursue them; and in the final plate (X.) is depicted the flight to the North Sea and the stranding of one of the galleasses near Calais. The rest of the story needs no telling-how the Spanish ships fled away to the Orkneys, how they were scattered by storms, how many of them were cast away on the inhospitable coast of Ireland, and their crews ruthlessly massacred by the half-savage inhabitants, and how a remnant of that splendid fleet at length reached Spain to tell the direful story which had befallen them. "The cry that went up from the Peninsula was as the cry of the Egyptians when the destroying angel had passed over the land. There was not a house where there was not one dead, and that the best and the bravest." 1 The loss of ships was perhaps unparalleled in the annals of the sea; the loss of life was enor mous. As regards the losses of the English fleet, Drake himself has left the following pithy record :- "It was happily manifested in very deed to all nations how this navy, which they termed invincible, consisting of 140 sail of ships, not only of their own kingdom, but strengthened with the greatest argosies, Portugal carracks, Florentines, and large hulks of other countries, were by thirty of Her Majesty's own ships of war and a few of our merchants', by the wise, valiant, and advantageous conduct of the Lord Charles Howard, High Admiral of England, beaten and shuffled together even from the Lizard in Cornwall first to Portland, where they shamefully left Don Pedro de Valdez, with his mighty ship; from Portland to Calais, where they lost Hugh de Monçada, with the galleys of which he was the captain; and from Calais, driven with squalls from their anchors, were chased out of sight of England, round about Scotland and Ire 1 Froude. land, where, for the sympathy of their religion hoping to find succour and assistance, a great part of them were washed against the rocks, and those other that landed, being very many in number, were, notwithstanding, broken, slain, and taken, and so sent from village to. village, coupled in halters, to be shipped into England, where Her Majesty of her princely and invincible disposition, disdaining to put them to death, and scorning either to retain or entertain them, they were all sent back to their own country to witness and recount the worthy achievement of their invincible and dreaded navy, of which the number of soldiers, the fearful burthen of their ships, the commanders' names of every squadron, with all other, their magazines of provisions, were put in print, as an army and navy irresistible and dreading prevention; with all which their great, terrible ostentation they did not, in all their sailing about England, as much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cockboat of ours, or even burn so much as one sheepcote in this land." We will conclude this very imperfect sketch of a remarkable historical epoch by quoting the words of the learned and pious Beza, one of the first and most active champions of the Reformation, who composed the following ode on the occasion: |