was a witness to all subsequent events up to the 10th of August, on which
day he was sent to London with some other officers, Sir Francis claiming
his ransom as his lawful due.

Here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the Invincible
Armada. On the very first day of their being in presence of the English
fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size
and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the Guipuzcoan and
of the Andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, 450 officers and,
men, and some 100,000 ducats of treasure. They had been out-manoeuvred,
out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had
been unable to inflict a single blow in return. Thus the "small fight"
had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the Inquisition, and the
English were proportionably encouraged.

On Monday, 1st of August, Medina Sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting
of the galeasses, the galleons St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. James, and the
Florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of Don
Antonio de Leyva. He was instructed to entertain the enemy--
so constantly hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and
to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible. The Spaniards
felt confident of sinking every ship in the English navy, if they could
but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour
that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their
foes. Meantime--while the rear was thus protected by Leyva's division--
the vanguard and main body of the Armada, led by the captain-general,
would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until
it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the Duke of Parma.
Moreover, the Duke of Medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline
and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion