because it was directly opposed to the cold and cautious policy of his enemies, the Cecils. He prevailed, and a fleet of 130 sail was fitted out to carry over an army of 14,000 land forces. The fleet was confided to the command of Lord Howard, the army to Essex; but to put some check on his fiery enthusiasm he was required to take the advice of a council of war on all great occasions, consisting of the lord admiral, Lord Thomas Howard, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Coniers Clifford.
Sir Walter Raleigh had been for some years in disgrace. He had seduced Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the queen's maids of honour, and had been banished from the Court, suspended from his commission of captain of the Royal guard, and put into confinement in charge of Sir George Carew. In this eclipse he had sought by out-Heroding all the rest of the courtiers in their preposterous and barefaced flattery of the queen, to recover his position. Seeing Elizabeth pass on one occasion in her barge on the Thames, he affected to become frantic, and endeavoured to force his way out to approach the adorable queen of sixty-three. Whilst attempting to restrain him, he pulled off Sir George Carew's new wig, and they drew their daggers, and were with difficulty parted. On another occasion he heard that the queen was setting out on one of her favourite progresses, and he broke out in loud lamentations mixed with praises of the old lady in this style:—"How can I live alone in prison whilst she is far off? I who was wont to behold her riding like Alexander, hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks like a nymph, sometimes sitting in the shade like a goddess, sometimes singing like an angel, sometimes playing like Orpheus. But one amiss hath bereaved me of all! All those past times, the loves, the sighs, the sorrows, the desires, can they not weigh down one frail misfortune? Cannot one drop of gall be hidden under such heaps of sweetness?"
But this wild and impudent sycophancy was so much the staple of the Court address, that it failed to soften the obdurate Royal Venus and female Orpheus, and well had it been for Essex had Raleigh not at length been allowed to accompany the expedition. The Cecils secretly opposed the enterprise, and threw the queen into a very undetermined state of mind, a state into which she fell on the eve of almost all serious undertakings. At length consenting to the sailing of the fleet, she composed two prayers, one to be daily used in the fleet during the expedition, the other for herself. The letter for the fleet was sent to Essex by Sir Robert Cecil, who took the opportunity of adding this piece of almost blasphemous flattery, making himself sure that from Essex it would soon reach the queen:—"No prayer is so fruitful as that which proceedeth from those who nearest in nature and power approach the Almighty. None so near approach his place and essence as a celestial mind in a princely body. Put forth, therefore, my lord, with comfort and confidence, having your sail filled with her heavenly breath for your forewind." On the 1st of June the fleet issued from Plymouth water, and being joined by twenty-two ships from Holland, it amounted to 150 sail, carrying 14,000 men. On the 20th the fleet cast anchor at the mouth of the harbour of Cadiz, and there discovered fifteen men-of-war, and about forty merchantmen. The next morning a fierce battle took place, which lasted from seven in the morning till one o'clock at noon. The English sailed right into the harbour, spite of the fire from the ships and the forts, and the Spaniards, finding the contest going against them, attempted to run their vessels ashore and burn them. The galleons got out to sea, the merchantmen having reached Puerto Real, discharged their cargo, and were burnt by order of the Duke of Medina. Two large ships with an argosy were taken, and much booty fell to the captors. The Earl of Essex displayed the utmost gallantry. Instead of remaining with the army, he went on board and fought in the thick of the danger. The sea-fight over, he landed 3,000 men and marched into Cadiz. A body of horse and foot was posted to oppose his progress, but fled at his approach; and, finding that the inhabitants in their terror had closed the gates, they made their way over a ruinous wall, and the English without delay followed them. Spite of the fire kept up from the tops of the houses, Essex led his men to the market-place, where they were speedily joined by the lord admiral, who had found his way through a portal. The city capitulated, paying 120,000 crowns for the lives of the people, the town and all its wealth being abandoned to the plunder of the troops.
Through the whole of the conquest Essex was the real hero. He not only led the way regardless of danger, but when the place was won, whilst others were engrossed only by the accumulation of booty, he was busy exerting himself to check the cruelties of the invaders—to save the lives and the honour of the inhabitants. He succeeded so well that never was a city taken with so little insult or injury to the people. The soldiers were restrained from shedding blood wantonly—from treating the women with contumely; and so far was the moderation of the conquerors carried, that about 3,000 men were sent away to the fort of St. Mary under guard, being permitted to carry with them all their jewels and apparel. The conduct of Essex in all this drew applause from the very enemy, the king and the infanta, his daughter, joining in it.
Essex proposed to strike a great blow whilst the panic of their victory paralysed the country. He recommended that they should march into the heart of Andalusia; and such was the destitution of disciplined troops from the great drain which the wars of France and the Netherlands had occasioned, such the discontent of the nobles and the disaffection of the Moriscoes, that much mischief might have been done before they could have been successfully opposed. The plan, however, was resisted by the other commanders, and Essex then offered to remain in the Isle de Leon with 4,000 men, and defend it against the whole force of the enemy. But the other leaders would hear of nothing but hastening home. They had laid the town in ruins, with the exception of two or three churches; they had nearly annihilated the fleet, had collected a vast booty, and inflicted on the Spaniards a loss of 20,000,000 ducats.
The conquerors returned home, having dealt the severest blow on Spain that it had received for generations. They had raised the prestige of the English arms, amply avenged the attempt at the invasion of their country, and sunk the reputation of Spain in no ordinary degree. Foreigners regarded the exploit with wonder, and the
