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 The impression, therefore, in England was to the effect that Philip was bent not so much upon the settlement of grievances, if he had any, as upon the subjugation of the country; and the prevalence of this impression cannot but have had an important influence upon the attitude of an independent and self-reliant people.

AN ENGLISH SHIP OF WAR, 1588. (After the tapestries in the old House of Lords.)

While, therefore, Spain prepared for the spring, England made ready to receive the shock without flinching.

Early in the year the Lord High Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, had warned Walsyngham that it would be dangerous then to weaken the English fleet. He was of opinion that Parma, at Dunquerque, was hatching something against Scotland, and complained that English prestige had diminished. He wrote that the enemy was aware that the English were like bears tied to stakes, and that the dogs might worry them with impunity. On