a river of Babylon (Abydenus); called Fossa Regia, the Royal Trench or Cut (Polybius); the Royal River (Ptolemy); Almarchur (Pliny); Naarmalcha (Ammian); a fictitious channel or cut, made by Nabuchodonosor, and a horn or branch of the Euphrates, (Abydenus). The Euphrates naturally divides into two channels, one passing through Babylon, the other through Selucia, and then falls into the Ti-

No. 29. Hunsdon, was reserved for guarding the Queen's person, and appointed to march whithersoever the enemy should appear. These armies, though all the Spanish forces had been able to land, would possibly have been sufficient to protect the liberties of their country. But as the fate of England, in that event, must depend on the issue of a single battle, all men of serious reflection entertained the most awful apprehensions of the shock of at least 50,000 veterans, commanded by experienced officers, under so consummate a general as the Duke of Parma. The Queen alone was undaunted. She issued all her orders with tranquillity, animated her people to a steady resistance, and employed every resource which either her domestic situation or her foreign alliances could afford her. She even appeared on horseback in the camp at Tilbury; and riding through the lines, discovered the soldiers to remember their duty to their country and their religion, and professed her intention, tho' a woman, to lead them herself into the field against the enemy, and rather perish in battle than survive the ruin and slavery of her people. "I know (said she, intrepidly) I have but the weak and feeble arm of a woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too!" The heroic spirit of Elizabeth communicated itself to the army, and every man resolved to die rather than desert his station.

The Spanish armada was ready in the beginning of May; but its sailing was retarded by the death of the Marquis of Santa Croce—the admiral, and that also of the vice-admiral the Duke of Paliano. The command of the expedition was therefore given to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a man entirely unexperienced in sea affairs. This promotion, in some measure, served to frustrate the design, which was also rendered less successful by some other accidents. Upon leaving the port of Lisbon, the armada next day met with a violent tempest, which sunk some of the smallest of their shipping, and obliged the fleet to put back into the harbour. After some time spent in refitting, they put again to sea. Being deserted by Fleming, a Scottish pirate, who was roving in those seas, he immediately sailed towards the English fleet, and informed the admiral of their approach. Effingham had just time to get out of port when he saw the Spanish armada coming full sail towards him, disposed in the form of a crescent, and stretching the distance of seven miles from the extremity of one division to that of the other. The English admiral, considering that the Spaniards would probably be much inferior to him in close fight, by reason of the size of their ships and the number of their troops, wisely resolved to content himself with harassing them in their voyage, and with watching attentively all the advantages which might be derived from storms, cross winds, and such like fortuitous accidents. It was not long before he discovered a favourable opportunity of attacking the vice-admiral Recalde. This he did in person; and on that occasion displayed so much dexterity in working his ship, and in loading and firing his guns, as greatly alarmed the Spaniards for the fate of the vice-admiral. From that time they kept much closer to one another; notwithstanding which, the English on the same day attacked one of the largest galleasses. Other Spanish ships came up in time to her relief; but in their hurry one of the principal galleons, which had a great part of the treasure on board, ran foul of another ship, and had one of her masts broken. In consequence of this misfortune she fell behind, and was taken by Sir Francis Drake; who on the same day took another capital ship, which had been accidentally set on fire.

Several other encounters happened, and in all of them the English proved victorious, through the great advantage which they derived from the lightness of their ships, and the dexterity of the sailors. The Spaniards in that age did not sufficiently understand nautical mechanics, to be able to avail themselves of the unusual magnitude of their ships. The English sailed round them, approached or retired, with a velocity that filled them with amazement, and did infinitely greater execution with their cannon: for while every shot of theirs proved effectual, their ships suffered very little damage from the enemy, whose guns were planted too high, and generally spent their force in air.

The Spaniards, however, still continued to advance till they came opposite to Calais; there the Duke de Medina having ordered them to cast anchor, he sent information to the Duke of Parma of his arrival, and intreated him to hasten the embarkation of his forces. Farnese accordingly began to put his troops on board. But at the same time he informed Medina, that agreeably to the King's instructions, the vessels which he had prepared were proper only for transporting the troops, but were utterly unfit for fighting; and for this reason, till the armada were brought still nearer, and the coast cleared of the Dutch ships which had blocked up the harbours of Nieuport and Dunkirk, he could not stir from his present station, without exposing his army to certain ruin, the consequence of which would probably be the entire loss of the Netherlands.

In compliance with this request, the armada was ordered to advance; and it had arrived within sight of Dunkirk, between the English fleet on the one hand, and the Dutch on the other, when a sudden calm put a stop to all its motions. In this situation the three fleets remained for one whole day. About the middle of the night a breeze sprung up; and Lord Howard had recourse to an expedient which had been happily devised on the day before. Having filled eight ships with pitch, sulphur, and other combustible materials, he set fire to them, and sent them before the wind against the different divisions of the Spanish fleet.

When the Spaniards beheld these ships in flames approaching towards them, it brought to their remembrance the havoc which had been made by the fireships employed against the Duke of Parma's bridge at the siege of Antwerp. The darkness of the night increased the terror with which their imaginations were overwhelmed, and the panic flew from one end of the fleet to the other. Each crew, anxious only for their own preservation, thought of nothing but how to escape from the present danger. Some of them took time to weigh their anchors, but others cut their cables, and suffered their ships to drive with blind precipitation, without considering whether they did not thereby expose themselves to a greater danger than that which they were so solicitous to avoid. In this confusion the ships... Armada, ships ran foul of one another: the shock was dreadful, and several of them received so much damage as to be rendered unfit for future use.

When day-light returned, Lord Howard had the satisfaction to perceive that his stratagem had fully produced the desired effect. The enemy were still in extreme disorder, and their ships widely separated and dispersed. His fleet had lately received a great augmentation by the ships fitted out by the nobility and gentry, and by those under Lord Seymour, who had left Justin de Nassau as alone sufficient to guard the coast of Flanders. Being bravely seconded by Sir Francis Drake and all the other officers, he made haste to improve the advantage which was now presented to him, and attacked the enemy in different quarters at the same time with the utmost impetuosity and ardour. The engagement began at four in the morning, and lasted till six at night. The Spaniards displayed in every encounter the most intrepid bravery; but, from the causes already mentioned, they did very little execution against the English, while many of their own ships were greatly damaged, and twelve of the largest were either run aground, or sunk, or compelled to surrender.

It was now evident that the purpose of the armada was utterly frustrated. The Spanish admiral, after many unsuccessful encounters, prepared therefore to make his way home; but as the winds were contrary to his return through the Channel, he resolved to take the circuit of the island. The English fleet followed him for some time; and had not their ammunition fallen short, through the negligence of the public offices in supplying them, they had obliged the armada to surrender at discretion. Such a conclusion of that vain-glorious enterprise would have been truly illustrious to the English, but the event was scarce less fatal to the Spaniards. The armada was attacked by a violent storm in passing the Orkneys; and the ships, having already lost their anchors, were obliged to keep at sea, while the mariners, unaccustomed to hardships, and unable to manage such unwieldy vessels, allowed them to drive on the western isles of Scotland, or on the coast of Ireland, where they were miserably wrecked. Not one half of the fleet returned to Spain, and a still smaller proportion of the soldiers and seamen; yet, Philip, whose command of temper was equal to his ambition, received with an air of tranquillity the news of so humbling a disaster. "I sent my fleet (said he) to combat the English, not the elements. God be praised that the calamity is not greater!" This calamity, however, was sensibly felt all over Spain, and there was scarcely a single family of rank in the kingdom that did not go into mourning for the death of some near relation; insomuch that Philip, dreading the effect which this universal face of sorrow might produce upon the minds of the people, imitated the conduct of the Roman senate after the battle of Cannae, and published an edict to abridge the time of public mourning.