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 534 ELIZABETH left no room for fear on that side; but the pope and the king of Spain were active ene- mies. Sixtus V. anathematized Elizabeth, and proclaimed a crusade against her. Philip II. laid claim to the English crown, as legitimate heir of the house of Lancaster, in virtue of his descent from two daughters of John of Gaunt, who had been queens of Portugal and Castile. He made open preparations to enforce this claim, and the pope promised large conditional aid. Meantime, Drake ravaged the coasts of Spain, preyed on her commerce, and made a successful attack on the shipping in the harbor of Cadiz. The English were not backward in preparing to meet Philip's attack. All parties, Catholics and Puritans, as well as the rest of the people, showed a patriotic spirit. A fleet of 180 sail was got ready, commanded by Lord Howard of Effingham, Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins. Two armies were raised, number- ing over 60,000 men. The Spanish armada sailed May 29, 1588, but a storm compelled it to return ; and it was not till the end of July that the two fleets met and joined battle near the English coast. After a series of actions that lasted several days the Spaniards were ut- terly routed, the elements greatly assisting the English, whose commanders had been serious- ly hampered by the indecision, perverseness, and avarice of the queen, who would not sup- ply them with provisions or ammunition in any- thing like sufficient quantities. The country was thus delivered from present fear of invasion. In 1589 an expedition was sent to effect the liberation of Portugal; but though the army was landed and marched to the suburbs of Lisbon, the undertaking signally failed. Aid in men and money was sent to Henry IV. of France, then contending with Spain and the league, in 1590-'91. A parliament met in 1593, and the commons after some contention with her submitted to the sovereign. The decision of Henry IV. to abandon the Protestant faith annoyed Elizabeth, and she sought to influence his mind to remain firm, but ineffectually. A plot to poison her was detected, and her phy- sician, Roderigo Lopez, a Spaniard of Jewish extraction, who had been in her service for some years, was executed for his part in it. Religious persecutions were now common, and several noted Puritans were put to death. The ?ar with Spain was carried on with vigor, and Cadiz was taken in 1596, by a fleet and army commanded by Howard of Effingham and Es- sex. The latter was now the principal subject in England, but the infirmities of his temper prevented him from profiting fully by his posi- tion and the queen's regard. The court was full of intrigues, and Essex, the most generous and imprudent of men, was the victim of all who chose to play upon him. Philip II. hav- ing formed a plan to place his daughter on the English throne, Essex was sent to assail the Spaniards at home and on the ocean. He ac- complished nothing, which offended the queen ; but he soon recovered her favor, and was en- abled to beard Burleigh, until the latter dis- covered that he was in correspondence with the king of Scotland. Henry IV., having re- solved upon peace with Spain, to the anger of Elizabeth, offered to mediate a general peace. Burleigh favored this, and Essex took the other side. In a consultation on Irish affairs, in the royal closet, Essex turned his back contemptu- ously on the queen, who struck him on the head, and told him to "go and be hanged! " After a display of rashness and temper the earl left the presence. "While efforts for a recon- ciliation were making, Burleigh died, Aug. 4, 1598. Six weeks later died Philip II. Essex returned to court, and shortly after was ap- pointed lord deputy of Ireland, which was in a miserable state. The office was given less in love than in anger, and was the gift of enemies. A politician rather than a statesman, and a knight rather than a soldier, Essex failed en- tirely in Ireland, whence he returned without permission and entered upon a reckless course of action that ended in his death on the scaf- fold in 1601. Sir Robert Cecil, a son of Bur- leigh, was now Elizabeth's most powerful min- ister, and he was in correspondence with the king of Scotland. The queen sought to have Henry IV. visit her at Dover, he being at Ca- lais, but he contented himself with sending M. de Rosny, later the duke de Sully, as his am- bassador. Their interviews were interesting, and in the first she spoke of the king of Scot- land as her successor, who, she said, would be king of Great Britain. This title originated with her. Another embassy was sent to Eng- land by Henry, and was well received. Eliza- beth's last parliament met in October, 1601. It made great opposition to the oppressive mo- nopolies she had granted, and she gracefully gave way. In the early part of 1603 (N. S.) she suffered from a complication of complaints, but the immediate cause of her death, which took place at Richmond, was a cold. She was buried April 28. Her reign is justly consider- ed one of the most important England has known. "The Elizabethan age" is one of the most brilliant periods of English history, and the numerous statesmen, soldiers, scholars, and other intellectual personages who then existed, achieved for it a place in the world's annals that has never been surpassed. The leading events in the life of Elizabeth are unques- tioned. Of her personal character various and wholly diverse views have been formed. Froude at the close of his elaborate history thus sums up his judgment respecting her: " Her situation from the very first was ex- tremely trying. Her unlucky, it may be almost called culpable, attachment to Leicester made marriage unconquerably distasteful to her, and her disappointment gave an additional twist to her natural eccentricities. Circumstances more than choice threw her originally on the side of the reformation. She found herself compelled against her will to become the patron of here- tics and rebels, in whose objects she had no