heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE CLIFFORDS. 279
" your very harbour, and take our prisoners from them ;
your preachers
" insult my master from their pulpits ; and when we apply for justice we
" are answered with threats."
The Armada was the stupendous effort made by Spain to crush at
once and completely the nation whose aggressive acts were becoming
intolerable. At this time there were only thirteen ships above 400 tons,
and in the whole fleet, including cutters and pinnaces, not more than
thirty-eight vessels of all sorts carried the Queen's flag. When Lord
Howard, of Effingham, with two ships of his own, joined Sir Francis
Drake in Plymouth roads, and his squadron (for all the western privateers
had rallied to his flag), Hawkins met them with four or five, London contributed
thirty. At all the seaports from Hull to Bristol, wealthy noblemen
and patriots of all grades fitted out ships at their own cost, the Netherlanders
contributed twenty barques, so that by the middle of July England
had at sea, for the purpose of national defence, a fleet of nearly 200 vessels,
conveying 15,785 mariners and fighting men, being, as compared with the
Spaniards, in the proportion of one to two. They were ill-equipped, and
scantily supplied, but they were Englishmen, determined to defend their
native land.
" Let her Majesty trust no more to Judas-like kisses," wrote
Howard to Walsingham. "Let her defend herself like a noble and mighty
" Princess, and trust to her sword, and not to their word, and she need
" not to fear, for her good God will defend her." And the sequel shewed
that he was " right. Afflavit et dissipantur" "the Lord sent His wind and
"scattered them" were the significant words engraved on the medal struck
to commemorate what has not been inappropriately called " England's
" Salamis."
" What Wolsey and Henry had struggled for," says Mr. J. R. Green,
" Elizabeth had done. France was no longer a danger, Scotland no longer
" a foe. Instead of hanging on the will of Spain, England had fronted
" Spain and conquered her. She now stood on a footing of equality with
" the greatest powers of the world. A new and lasting greatness opened
" before her on the sea. She had sprung at one bound into a great sea
" power."
"Among the naval adventurers who distinguished themselves during
"Queen Elizabeth's reign,"
says Southey, "there was no one who took to
" the sea so much in the spirit of a northern sea-king as the Earl of Cum-
" berland." * He took a prominent part in the destruction of the Spanish
Armada (in 1588), and commanded the Elizabeth Bonaventure, and in
one engagement specially, off Calais, greatly distinguished himself. In
consequence of this he was commissioned by the Queen to sail in the
"Golden Lion" to the South Seas; and, subsequently, he commanded the
* Lives of the British Admirals,
vol. iii.