others upon Sabbath the twenty fourth of September came from her Palace of White-Hall in Westminster through the streets of London which were hung with blew Cloth the Companies of the City standing in their Liveries on both sides with their Banners in goodly order being carried in a Chariot drawn with two Horses to St. Pauls Church where dismounting from her Chariot at the West door she humbled her self upon her knees and with great devotion in an audible voice She praised God as her only Defender who had delivered Her self and People from the bloody designes of so cruel an enemy The Sermon then preached tended wholly wholly to give all the glory to God as the Author of this wonderful deliverance and when that was ended Her Majesty Herself with most Princely and Christian speeches exhorted all the people to a due performance of those religious services of thankfulness which the Lord expected and required of them About the same time the Fair being kept in Southwark the Spanish Flags were hung up at London Bridge to the great joy of the beholders and eternal infamy of the Spaniards proud attempts as irreligious as unsuccessful But the solemn day appointed for Thanksgiving throughout the Land was the nineteenth of November being Tuesday which accordingly was observed with great joy and praising of God and well it were if it had so continued still being no less a Deliverance than was that of Purim amongst the Jews which they instituted to be kept holy throughout their Generations The Zelanders also to leave a memorial of their thnakfulness to God and their faithfulness to our Queen caused Medals of Silver to be stamped having engraven on the one side the Armes of their Countrey with this inscription Glory to God alone and on the reverse the pourtracture of great Ships under written the Spanish Fleet and in the circumference It came It went It was Anno 1588. In other medals also were stamped ships floating and sinking and in the reverse Supplicants upon their knees with this Motto man proposeth God disposeth 1588. The Hollanders also stamped some medals with Spanish ships and this Motto Impius fugit nemine sequente the wicked fly when none pursues Our Queen to shew her gratitude as well to the instruments as to the Author of this great Deliverance assigned certain yearly Rents to the Lord Admiral for his gallant service and many times commended him and the other Captains of Her Ships as men born for the Preservation of their Country The rest she graciously saluted by name as oft as she saw them as men of notable deserts wherewith they held themselves well apaid and those which were wounded maimed or poor She rewarded with competent pensions The Lord of Hosts having thus dispelled this storm the Queen dissolved her Camp at Tilbury and not long after the Earl of Leicester ended his dayes having been a Peer of great estate and honour but liable to the common destiny of Great ones whom all men magnifie in their life time but few speak well of after their death THis Admirable Deliverance was congratulated by almost all other Nations especially by all the reformed Churches and many Learned Men celebrated the same in Verse amongst which I shall onely mention two The first was that Poem made by Reverend Mr. Beza Translated into all the chief Languages in Christendom to be perpetuated to all ensuing Posterity It was this STraverat innumeris Hispanus classibus aequor Regnis juncturus Sceptra Britana suis Tanti hujus rogitas quae motus causa superbos Impulit Ambitio vexat avaritia Quam bene te Ambitio mersit vanissima ventus Et tumidae tumidos Vos superastis aquae Quam bene Raptores Orbis totius Iberos Mersit inexhausti justa vorago Maris At tu cui venti cui totum militat Aequor Regina O mundi totius una decus Sic regnare Deo perge Ambitione remota Prodiga sic opibus perge juvare pios Vt te Angli longum longùm Anglis ipsa fruaris Quam dilecta bonis tam metuenda malis SPaines King with Navies great the Seas bestrew'd T' augment with English Crown his Spanish sway Ask ye what caus'd this proud attempt 't was lewd Ambition drove and Avarice led the way It 's well Ambitions windy pufflies drown'd By winds and swelling hearts by swelling waves It 's well those Spaniards who the Worlds vast round Devour'd devouring Sea most justly craves But thou O Queen for whom Winds Seas do war O thou the Glory of this Worlds wide Mass So reign to God still from Ambition far So still with bounteous aids the Good imbrace That Thou maist England long long England Thee enjoy Thou terror of all Bad Thou Good mens joy The other is that made by Mr Samuel Ward of Ipswich OCtogesimus Octavus Mirabilis annus Clade Papistarum Faustus ubique piis IN Eighty eight Spain arm'd with potent might Against our peaceful Land came on to fight The Winds and Waves and Fire in one conspire To help the English frustrate Spains desire FINIS THE Gun-Powder Treason Being A Remembrance to England OF THAT Ancient Deliverance From that Horrid PLOT Hatched by the Bloody PAPISTS 1605. Tending to revive the Memory of the FIFTH OF NOVEMBER to every Family in this NATION That all sorts may be stirred up to real Thankfulness and transmit the same to their Posterities that their Children may know the reason why the Fifth of November is Celebrated that GOD may have Glory and the PAPISTS perpetual Infamy The LORD is known by the judgement that he executeh but the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands HIGGAION SELAH Psal. 9.16 By Sam. Clark Pastor of Bennet Fink London London Printed for J. Hancock and are to be sold at the three Bibles being the first Shop in Popes-Head Alley next to Cornhill 1671. TO THE READER Christian Reader LEast the Remembrance of so signal a Mercy and Deliverance vouchsafed by God both to our Church and State should be buried in Oblivion I have at the request of the Book-seller presented thee here with a true and faithful Narrative of that Grand Work of Darkness forged in Hell and by Satan suggested to some Popish Instruments who envying the peace and prosperity of our Church and progress of the Gospel had designed at one blow to overthrow both And that nothing might be wanting to compleat that horrid wickedness their purpose was to have charged it upon the Puritans thereby hoping to free themselves and their Religion from the imputation of so hainous a crime Now that the memorial of a Mercy of such publick and general concernment should not be forgotten we have the Word of the Eternal God to be our Guide therein when the Lord had by his Angel destroyed the first born of Egypt and spared Israel He instituted the Feast of the Passover to continue the memorial thereof through their Generations Exod. 12.11 12 14 26 27. saith Moses to them when
your Children shall say unto you What mean you by this service Ye shall say It is the Sacrifice of the Lords Passover who passed over the houses the Children of Israel when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses And how careful good Mordecai was to continue the remembrance of that great Deliverance of the people of God from Destruction plotted and contrived by that wicked Haman appears Esther 9.20 c. where they did not only celebrate those present dayes of their Deliverance with Feasting and Gladness but he together with the rest of the Jewes ordained and took upon them and their Seed and upon all such as joyned themselves unto them so as it should not fail that they would keep those days in their appointed time every year and that those days should be remembred and kept through their Generations every Family every Province and every City and that those days of Purim should not fail from amongst the Jews nor the memorial of them perish from their Seed c. And truly the remembrance of this great Mercy hath the more need to be revived at this time when some noted persons amongst us begin to lessen and decry it and wholly to lay aside the observation of that day though enjoyned by Act of Parliament and made Conscience of by most of the Godly People of the Nation I have also been induced the rather to make this brief Collection of the Story because though it be published by others yet it is in larger Volumes which are not every ones mony whereas for a small matter every family may get and keep this by them for the benefit and satisfaction both of themselves and children that so the Lord may not lose of his Glory nor they for want of information fail of their duty I shall conclude with that of the Psalmist Psal. 107.8 O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men which is the hearty desire of Thine for thy spiritual Good Sam. Clarke Octob. 1657. THE DELIVERANCE OF OUR CHVRCH and STATE FROM THE Hellish Powder-Plot 1605. THe Plot was to undermine the Parliament House and with Powder to blow up the King Prince Clergy Nobles Knights and Burgesses the very confluence of all the flower of Glory Piety Learning Prudence and Authority in the Land Fathers Sons Brothers Allies Friends Foes Papists and Protestants 〈…〉 blast Their intent when that irreligious atchievement had been performed was to surprize the remainder of the Kings Issue to alter Religion and Government and to bring in a forreign Power Sir Edmond Baynam an attainted person who stiled himself Prince of the damned Crew was sent unto the Pope as he was a temporal Prince to acquaint him with the Gunpowder Plot and now to the Plot it self The Sessions of Parliament being dissolved July the 7th Anno Christi 1605. and prorogued to the seventh of February following Catesby being at Lambeth sent for Thâ—mas Winter who before had been imployed into Spain and acquainted him with the design of blowing up the Parliament House who readily apprehending it said This indeed strikes at the root only these helps were wanting a House for residence and a skilful man to carry on the Mine But the first Catesby assured him was easie to be got and for the man he commended Guy Fawkes a sufficient Souldier and a forward Catholick Thus Robert Catesby John Wright Thomas Winter and Guy Fawkes had many meetings and conferences about this business till at last Thomas Percy came puffing in to Catesby's Lodging at Lambeth saying What Gentlemen shall we alwaies be talking and never do any thing You cannot be ignorant how things proceed To whom Catesby answered that something was resolved on but first an Oath for secresie was to be administred for which purpose they appointed to meet some three days after behind Saint Clements Church beyond Temple-Bar where being met Percy professed that for the Catholick cause himself would be the man to advance it were it with the slaughter of the King which he was there ready to undertake and and do No Tom said Catesby thou shalt not adventure thy self to so small purpose if thou wilt be a Traytor there is a Plot to greater advantage and such an one as can never be discovered Hereupon all of them took the Oath of Secresie heard a Mass and received the Sacrament after which Catesby told them his Devillish Devise by mine and Gunpowder to blow up the Parliament House and so by one stroke with the destruction of many to effect that at once which had been many years attempting And for case of conscience to kill the innocent with the nocent he told them that it was warrantable by the Authority of Garnet himself the superiour of the English Jesuites and of Garrard and Tresmond Jesuitical Priests likewise who by their Apostolical Power did commend the fact and absolve the actors The Oath was given them by the said Garrard in these words You shall swear by the blessed Trinity and by the Sacrament you now purpose to receive never to disclose directly nor indirectly by word or circumstance the matter that shall be proposed to you to keep secret nor desist from the execution thereof until the rest shall give you leave The Project being thus far carried on in the next place the first thing they sought after was an house wherein they might begin their work for which purpose no place was held fitter than a certain edifice adjoyning to the wall of the Parliament House which served for a withdrawing room to the Assembled Lords and out of Parliament time was at the dispose of the Keeper of the place and Wardrobe thereto belonging these did Percy hire for his Lodgings entertaining Guy Fawkes as his man who changing his name into Johnson had the Keyes and keeping of the Rooms Besides this they hired another house to lay in Provision of Powder and to frame and fit wood in for the carrying on the Mine which Catesby provided at Lambeth and sware Robert Keâ—es into their Conspiracy whom he made the Keeper of those Provisions who by night conveyed the same unto Fawkes The appointed day for the Parliament being the seventh day of February It was thought fit to begin their work in October before But Fawkes returning out of the Country found Percys Rooms appointed for the Scottish Lords to meet in who were to treat about the union of the two Kingdomes whereupon they forbore to begin their work But that Assembly being dissolved upon the eleventh of December late in the night they entred upon the work of darkness beginning their Mine having tools afore-hand prepared and baked meats provided the better to avoid suspition in case they should send abroad for them They which first began the Mine were Robert Catesby Espuire the Arch-Contriver and Traytor and ruine of his name Thomas Percy Esquire akin to the Earl of Northumberland Thomas Winter John Wright and Guy
the Syllies and thence also were forced by the Tempest to return into their former harbour to refresh their Ships and Companies only some of their Scouts at Sea descried some of the Spanish Ships which likewise had been dispersed with the storm but before the English could come near them the wind vereing about carryed them back to the Groine where there rest of their Fleet lay in harbour Intelligence being brought that the Saaniards were in want their great Ships dispersed and the rest sorely shaken with the storm and their men dying by multitudes of the Pestilence the Lord Admiral Howard intended with the first Northerly wind to take advantage which coming about upon the eighth of July he lanched forth and bore his sails almost within the sight of Spain purposing to surprise their weather-beaten Ships and to fight them upon their own Coast. But then the wind suddenly changing into the South and he wisely foreseeing that the enemy might pass by without his discovery that the Seas might be stormy or his Fleet wind-bound and that whilst he thus lay abroad his service might be more necessary at home and that his work was to defend the Coasts of England he therefore presently returned and anchored his Fleet in the Haven at Plimouth suffering his men to refresh themselves upon the Land At the same time there came more confident advertisement though false not only to the Lord Admiral but to the Court that the Spanish Fleet could not possibly come forth again that year upon which reports a dangerous matter in State affairs so confident was our Queen that she sent for four of her biggest royal Ships to be brought back to Chattam But the Lord Admiral suspecting the worst by a mild and moderate answer retarded it desiring that nothing might be lightly believed in so weighty a matter and that he might retain them though at his own charge Wherein indeed a special providence of God did appear for just at that time news was brought to the Lord Admiral by one Captain Thomas Flemming that the Spanish Fleet was entred into the British Seas commonly called the Channel and was seen near unto the Lizard point which came thus to pass The Spanish ships being new rigged and their wants supplyed their King still hot on his former resolutions instantly urged and hastened his Commanders to put forth again to Sea which accordingly they did upon the eleventh of July with the same South wind which as was said before brought back our Navy into Plimouth and so having a more favourable Gale with brave shews and full Sails they entred our Channel where casting Anchor they dispatched certain smal Pinnaces to the Prince of Parma to signifie their arrival and readiness and to command him in the name of their King to forward his charge for that service July the twentieth about noon this terrible Fleet was descried by the English coming forward amain with a South-west wind It was a kind of surprise For that as was said many of our men were gone to land and our ships ready to depart Nevertheless our undaunted Admiral towed forth such ships as he could get in readiness into the deep Sea not without great difficulty certainly with singular diligence and admirable alacrity of our Mariners cheered up with the Admirals own presence and assistance among them at their halserwork the wind blowing strongly into the Haven When they were forth they saw the Spanish ships with lofty Towers like Castles in front like an half-moon the horns whereof stretched forth in breadth about seven miles sayling as it were with labour to the winds the Ocean groaning under them so that though with full sails yet they came but slowly forward They seemed as it were to make for Plymouth but whether their Commission was otherwise or because contrary to their expectation they saw the English ships out of the Harbour they steered by towards Calice hoping to meet with the Prince of Parma The English willingly suffered them to pass by that they might the more commodiously chase them in the Reer with a fore-right wind Iuly the twenty first the Lord Admiral of England sent before him a Pinnace called the Defiance to denounce war by discharging her Ordnance himself following in the Ark-Royal set upon the Admiral as he thought of the Spaniards but it proved to be Alonzo de Leva's ship where fire smoke and loud thundring Cannons began the parley and rending Bullets most freely enterchanged betwixt them were fiery messengers of each others minds Soon after came up Drake Hawkins and Forbusher playing with their Ordnance upon the hindmost Squadron of the Enemies which was commanded by Rechalde who laboured all he could to stay his Men from flying for shelter to the Fleet till his own ship being much battered with shot and now grown unserviceable was with much difficulty drawn into the main Fleet. At which time the Duke of Medina gathered together his whole Fleet scattered here and there by the English and hoising more sail kept on his intended course toward Callice neither indeed could he do otherwise the wind favouring the English and himself finding the inconvenience of their great and high built ships powerful to defend but not to offend to stand but not to move whereas on the contrary their enemies were nimble and ready on all sides to annoy them and as apt to escape harms themselves being low built and so easily shot over Hereupon he caused them to gather themselves up close in the form of an half-moon and to slacken their sails that their whole Fleet might keep together But our English Admiral having maintained an hot fight for the space of two hours thought nor good to continue it any longer thirty of his ships scarce coming to the work the rest being as yet scarce gotten out of the Harbour In this first days fight the Saint Katherine a Spanish Ship having been sorely battered and much torn was taken into the middest of their Fleet to be repaired And an huge Ship of Biscaie of Don Oquendoes in which was a great part of the Kings treasure began to be all in a Flame by force of Gunpowder which was fired on purpose by a Flemish Gunner for being misused by them But the fire was soon quenched by the assistance of some other ships sent in to her help All this while the Spaniards for want of courage which they called Commission did what they could to decline the fight casting themselves continually into Roundels their strongest ships walling in the rest in which posture they made a flying march towards Callis yet in the former medly a great Gallion wherein was Don Pedro de Valdez Vasques de Silva Alenzo de Saias with other Noble men being sore battered with the English shot in avoyding whereof she fell foul upon another ship and ere she could be cleared had her fore-mast broken off which so hundred her sailing that she was unable to keep way with the rest of the
Fleet nor were their friends of courage to succour these distressed Lords but left both ship and them in this sudden and unexpected danger But the night coming on our Lord Admiral supposing that they had left neither men nor Mariners aboard within her and fearing to lose sight of the Spaniards past by her and followed the Lanthorn which he supposed to be carried by Sir Francis Drake as it was appointed but that brave Knight was eagerly pursuing five great Hulks which he took to be of the Spaniards but when he came up and haled them they proved Easterlings and friends and so were dismissed yet by this mistake of his the greatest part of our Fleet wanting the direction of his light was forced to lye still so that he and the rest of the Fleet till towards night the next day could not recover sight of the Lord Admiral who all the night before with two other ships the Bear and the Mary-Rose followed the Spanish Lanthorn July the twenty second Sir Francis Drake espied the aforementioned lagging Gallion whereupon he sent forth a Pinnace to command them to yield otherwise his bullets without any delay should force them to it Valdes to seem valorous answered that they were four hundred and fifty strong that himself was Don Pedro and stood on his honour and thereupon propounded certain conditions But the Knight returned this reply that he had no leisure to parley if he would immediately yield so otherwise be should soon prove that Drake was no dastard Pedro hearing that it was the fiery Drake whose name was very terrible to the Spaniards that had him in chase presently yielded and with forty of his companions came on board Sir Francis his Ship where first giving him the Conge he protested that he and all his were resolved to have dyed fighting had they not fallen into his hands whose valour and felicity was so great that Mars and Neptune seemed to wait on him in all his attempts and whose noble and generous mind towards the vanquished had often been experienced even of his greatest foes Sir Francis to requite his Spanish Complements with English Courtesie placed him at his own table and lodged him in his own Cabin the residue of that company he sent to Plimouth where they remained prisoners for the space of eighteen months till by payment of their ransoms they obtained their liberty But Drakes Souldiers had well paid themselves by the plunder of the ship wherein they found 55000 Ducats of â—old which they merrily shared amongst them The same day Michael de Oquendo Admiral of the Squadron Guypusco and Vice-Admiral of the whole Fleet suffered no less a disaster whose ship being one of the greatest Gallions fell on fire and all the upper part of the ship being burnt most also of the persons therein were consumed howbeit the Gunpowder in the hold not taking fire the ship fell into the hands of the English which together with the scorched Spaniards therein was brought into Plimouth a joyful spectacle to the beholders All this day the Duke of Medina laboured securely to set his Fleet in order To Alphonso de Leva he gave in charge to joyne the first and last squadron together To every ship he assigned his quarter to ride in according to the form prescribed in Spain commanding them upon pain of death not to desert their stations Glitch an Ensign-bearer he sent to the Prince of Parma to acquaint him with his condition July the twenty third early in the morning the Spaniards taking the benefit of a Northerly wind when they approached right against Portland turned about against the English but the English nimble and foreseeing all advantages soon turned aside to the VVestward each striving to get the wind of the other which at last the English got and so they prepared themselves on each side to fight and the English continued all day from morning till night to batter those wooden Castles with great and small shot The fight was very confused and variable whilst on the one side the English bravely rescued the London ships that were hemmed in by the Spaniards and on the other side the Spaniards as stoutly delivered Rechalde being in danger Never was there heard greater thundring of Ordnance on both sides the chiefest fight being performed on this day yet notwithstanding the shot from the Spanish ships for the most part flew over the English without hurting them only Cock an Englishman dyed with honour in the midst of his enemies in a little ship of his The English ships being far the lesser charged that Sea-Gyant with marvellous agility and having given them their broad sides flew off again presently and then coming up levelled their shot directly without missing those heavy an unweildy ships of the Spaniards But the Lord Admiral would not hazzard a fight by grappling with them as some unadvised persons would have perswaded him For he considered that the enemy had a strong Army in the Fleet whereas he had none that their ships were more in number of bigger burden stronger and huger built so that they could not be boarded but with extreme disadvantage He foresaw also that the overthrow would turn to a greater dammage than the victory would avail him For being vanquished he should have brought England into extreme hazzard and being conqueror he should only have gained a little glory to himself for overthrowing the Fleet and beating the enemy On this day the sorest fight was performed wherein besides other remarkable harms which the enemy sustained a great Venetian ship with some other smaller were surprized and taken by the English and the Spaniards were forced for their further safety to gather themselves close into a Roundel their best and greatest ships standing without that they might secure those that were battered and less July the twenty fourth the fight was only between the four great Galliasses and some of the English ships the Spaniards having great advantage theirs being rowed with oars and ours by reason of the calm having no use of their sails notwithstanding which they sorely galled the enemy with their great and chain shot wherewith they cut in sunder their tacklings cables and cordage to their no little prejudice But wanting powder which they had spent so freely and other provision to maintain the fight the Lord Admiral sent some of his smaller ships to the next Ports of England to fetch supply which stirred up jealousies in the heads of many that we should thus want upon our own Coasts In which Interim a Council was called wherein it was resolved that the English Fleet should be divided into four squadrons and those committed to four brave Captains and skilful Seamen whereof the Lord Admiral in the Ark-Royal was chief Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge led the second Captain Hawkins the third and Captain Forbusher the fourth Other most valiant Captains there were in others of Her Majesties Ships as the Lord Thomas Howard in the Lion the Lord
Sheffield in the Bear Sir Robert Southwel in the Elizabeth Captain Baker in the Victory and Captain George Fenner in the Gallion-Leicester It was also further appoined that out of every squadron certain small vessels should give you a charge from diverse parts in the dead time of the night but the calm continuing this designe could not be effected July the twenty fifth being Saint James day the Spaniards were arrived against the Isle of Wight where was a most terrible encounter each shooting off their whole broad sides and not above sixscore yards the one from the other There the Saint Anne a Gallion of Portugal which could not hold course with the rest was set upon by certain small English Vessels to whose rescue came Leva and Don Diego Telles Enriques with three Galliasses which the Lord Admiral himself and the Lord Thomas Howard in the Golden Lion rowing their ships with their boats so great was the calm charged in such sort with their roaring Canons that they had much ado and that not without loss to save the Gallion from which time forward none of the Galliasses would undertake the fight The Spaniards reported that the English the same day beat the Spanish Admiral in the utter squadron rending her sore with their Great Ordnance and having slain many of her men shot down her main Mast and would have much endanger'd her but that Mexiâ— and Rechalde came in good time to her rescue That the Spanish Admiral assisted by Rechalde and others set upon the English Admiral which happily escaped by the sudden turning of the wind That thereupon the Spaniards gave over the pursuit and holding on their Course dispatched again a Messenger to the Prince of Parma to joyn his Fleet with all speed to the Kings Armado and withal to send them a supply of great shot But these things were unknown to the English who wrote that from one of the Spanish ships they had shot down their Lanthorn and from another the Beak-head and that they had done much hurt to the third that the Non-parrella and the Mary Rose had fought a while with the Spaniards and that other ships had rescued the Tryumph which was in danger The truth is they had so sorely battered those huge wooden Castles that once more they forced them for their further safety to gather themselves into a Roundel July the twenty sixth the Lord Admiral to encourage and reward the Noble Attempts of his gallant Captains bestowed the Order of Knighthood upon the Lords Howard and Sheffield Roger Townsend John Hawkings Martin Forbusher and others And yet the vain glorious and boasting Spaniards caused a report to be spread in France that England was wholly conquered by them It was resolved by our men that from thenceforth they should assail the enemy no more till they came to the British Frith or strait of Callis where the Lord Henry Seimore and Sir William Winter with the ships which they had for the guard of the narrow Seas waited their coming and so with a fair gale from the South West and by South the Spanish Fleet sailed forward the English Fleet following it close at the heels And so far was it from terrifying our English Coasts with the name of Invincible or with its huge and terrible spectacle that our brave English youth with an incredible alacrity leaving parents wives children kinsfolk and friends out of their entire love to their native country hired ships from all parts at their own proper charges and joyned with the Fleet in great numbers amongst whom were the Earls of Oxford Northumberland and Cumberland Thomas and Robert Cecil Henry Brook Charles Blunt Walter Raleigh William Hatton Robert Carey Ambrose Willoughby Thomas Gerard Arthur Gorges and many others of great note July the twenty seventh the Spanish Fleet making forward towards evening came over against Dover and anchored before Callis intending for Dunkerk there to joyn with the Prince of Parma's forces well perceiving that without their assistance they could do nothing They were also warned by the Pilots that if they proceeded any farther it was to be feared lest they should be driven by the force of the tide into the Northern Ocean The English Fleet following up hard upon them cast Anchor so neer that they lay within Culvering shot at which time the Lord Henry Seimore and Winter joyned their ships to them so that now the English Fleet consisted of one hundred and forty sail all able ships to fight sail and turn about which way soever they pleased Yet were they not above fifteen that sustained the greatest burden of the fight From hence once more the Duke of Medina sent to the Prince of Parma to hasten forth his long expected and much desired forces with which messengers many of the Spanish Noble men went to land having had enough of the Sea amongst whom was the Prince of Ascoli the Kings base son who returned to his ship no more and indeed well it was for him for that his Gallion was afterwards cast away upon the Irish Coast and never returned to salute Spain These messengers earnestly prayed the Prince of Parma to put forth to Sea with his Army which the Spanish Fleet should protect as it were under her wings till it was landed in England And indeed the Prince of Parma hearing the best and not the worst of this voyage made all things ready that lay in his charge whose hopes were so fixed upon Englands Conquest and the glittering Diadem upon Queen Elizabeths head did so dazel his ambitious eyes being assured by Cardinal Allen that he was the man designed to be crowned therewith that neglecting the Coronet of the Low-Country Government he transferred the charge thereof upon Count Mansfield the Elder and having made his vows to the Lady of Hall in Heinault he was already in conceit no less than a King But the date of his reign was soon expired and his swelling tide fallen into a low shallow ebb For the day following in his march to Dunkirk he heard the thundring Ordnance ringing the passing peal of his hopes and title and the same evening had news of the hard success of the Spaniards the hoped advancers of his dreamed felicity and indeed do what he could he could not be ready at the Spaniards call His flat-bottomed boats for the shallow Channels leaked his provision of victuals proved unready and his mariners having hitherto been detained against their wills had withdarwn themselves there lay also watching before the Havens of Dunkirk and Newport whence he was to put forth to Sea the men of War of the Hollanders and Zelanders so well provided with great Ordnance and Musketiers that he could not put from the shore unless he would wilfully cast himself and his men upon eminent perils and dangers of destruction and yet he being a skilful and experienced Commander omitted no means being inflamed with a desire to conquer England But Queen Elizabeths foresight prevented both his diligence and
the credulous hope of the Spaniards For by Her command the next day after the Spaniards had cast Anchor the Lord Admiral made ready eight of his worst ships filled with wild-fire pitch rosin brimstone and other combustible matter their Ordnance were charged with bullets stones chains and such like things fit instruments of death and all the men being taken out upon the Sabbath day July the twenty eighth at two of the clock after midnight were they let drive with wind and tide under the guidance of Young and Prowse amongst the Spanish Fleet. And so the Pilots returning and their trains taking fire such a sudden thunderclap was given by them that the affrighted Spaniards it being the dead time of the night were amazed and stricken with an horrible fear lest all their ships should have been fired by them And to avoid this present mischief being in great perplexity they had no other remedy to avoid these deadly engines and murthering inventions then by cutting their cables in sunder the time being too short to weigh up their Anchors and so hoising up their sails to drive at random into the Seas in which hast and confusion the greatest of their Galliastes fell foul upon another ship and lost her rudder and so floted up and down and the next day fearfully making towards Callis ran aground upon the sands where she was set upon by the English This Galliass was of Naples Her General was Hough de Moncado who fought the more valiantly because he expected present help from the Prince of Parma But Sir Amias Preston gave such a fierce assault upon her that Moncado was shot dead with a bullet and the Galliass boarded wherein many of the Spaniards were slain and a great many others leaping into the Sea were drowned only Don Antonio de Matiques a principal Officer had the good hap to escape and was the first man that carried the unwelcome news into Spain that their Invincible Navy proved vincible This huge bottom manned with four hundred Souldiers and three hundred slaves that had in her fifty thousand Ducats of the Spanish Kings treasure fell into the English mens hands a reward well befitting their valour who sharing it merrily amongst them and freeing the miserable slaves from their fetters would have fired the empty vessel but Monsieur Gourden Governour of Callis fearing that the fire might endanger the Town would not permit them to do it bending his Ordnance against those which attempted it Had not this politick Stratagem of the fire-ships been found out it would have been very difficult for the English to have dislodged them for those huge ships had their bulks so strengthened with thick planks and massie beams that our bullets might strike and stick and yet never pass through them So that the greatest hurt which our English Canon did was only by rending their Masts and tacklings The Spaniards report that the Duke of Medina when these burning ships approached commanded the whole Fleet to weigh Anchor to avoid them yet so as having shunned the danger presently every ship to return to her former station which accordingly he did himself giving a signal to the rest to do the like by discharging one of his great Guns but in this general consternation the warning was heard but of a few the rest being scattered all about which for fear were driven some into the' wide Ocean and other upon the shallows of Flanders July the twenty ninth after this miserable disaster the Spaniards ranging themselves into the best order they could approaching over against Graveling where once again the English getting the wind of them deprived them of the conveniency of Callis road and kept them from supply out of Dunkirk from whence rested their full hope of support In the mean while Drake aad Fenner played incessantly with their great Ordnance upon the Spanish Fleet and with them presently joyned Fenton Southwel Beâ—â—â—on Cross Riman and lastly the Lord Admiral himself with the Lords Thomas Howard and Sheffield On the other hand the Duke of Medina Leva Oquenda Richalde and others of them with much ado got clear off the shallows and sustained the charge as well as they could yet were most of their ships pitifully torn and shot through the fight continuing from morning till night which indeed proved very dismal to the Spaniards for therein a great Gallion of Biscay perished the Captains whereof to avoid ignominy or to be reputed valorous desparately slew each other â—n which distress also two other great ships presently sunk The Gallion Saint Matthew under the command of Don Diego Piementelli coming to rescue Don Francisco de Toledo who was in the Saint Philip was together with the other miserably torn with shot their tacklings spent and their bulks rent so that the water entred in on all sides which sight was maintained against them by Seimore and Winter In which distress they were driven near Ostend where again they were shot through and through by the Zelanders Their desparate condition being known the Duke of Medina sent his own skiff for Don Diego Piementelli Camp-master and Colonel over thirty two Bands But he in a Spanish Bravado refused to leave his ship and like a Souldier assayed every way to free himself But being unable to do it he forthwith made towards the coast of Flanders where being again set upon by five Dutchmen of War was required to yield which finally he did unto Captain Peter Banderdness who carried him into Zeland and for a Trophy of his victory hung up his Banner in the Church of Leiden whose length reached from the very roof to the ground Another also of the Spanish ships coasting for Flanders was cast away upon the sands Francisco de Toledo also being likewise a Colonel over thirty two Bands in the other Gallion taking his course for the coast of Flanders his ship proved so leak that himself with some others of the chief betook themselves to their skiff and arrived at Ostend the ship with the residue being taken by the Flushingers The Spaniards now finding their welcome into England far worse than they expected were content to couch their Fleet as close together as they could not seeking to offend their enemies but only to defend themselves and the wind coming to the South-west in the same order they passed by Dunkirk the English still following them at the heels But left the Prince of Parma should take this advantage to put forth to Sea the Lord Admiral dispatched the Lord Henry Seimore with his squaron of small ships to the Coast of Flanders to joyn with those Hollanders which there kept watch under Justin of Nassau their Admiral This Holland Fleet consisted of thirty five ships furnished with most skilful Mariners and twelve hundred Muskiteers old experienced Souldiers whom the States had culled out of several Garisons Their charge was to stop up the Flemish Havens and to prevent entercourse with Dunkirk whither the Prince of Parma was come and would
Naples but one of the four Oallions of Portugal but one of the ninety one Callions and great Hulks from divers Provinces only thirty three returned fifty eight being lost In brief they lost in this voyage eighty one vessels thirteen thousand five hundred and odd Souldiers Prisoners taken in England Ireland and the Low-Countries were above two thousand Amongst those in England Don Pedro de Valdez Don Vasques de Silva and Don Alonzo de Saies and others were kept for their ransome In Ireland Don Alonzo de Luzon Roderigo de Lasse and others of great account In Zeland was Don Diego Piementelli To be brief there was no famous or noble family in all Spain which in this expedition lost not a son brother or kinsman And thus this Armado which had been so many years in preparing and rigging with such vast expence was in one month many times assaulted and at length wholly defeated with the slaughter of so many of her men not one hundred of the English being lacking nor one small ship of theirs taken or lost save only that of Cocks and having traversed round about all Britain by Scotland the Orcades and Ireland most grievously tossed and very much distressed and wasted by stormes wracks and all kinds of misery at length came lamely home with perpetual dishonour whereupon Medals were stamped in memory thereof A Fleet flying with full sailes with this inscription Venit vidit fugit It came it saw it fled Others in honour of our Queen with flaming ships and a Fleet in a great confusion and this Motto Dux faemina facti A woman was conductor of the fact In the aforementioned wracks above seven hundred Souldiers and Sailors were cast on land in Scotland who upon the intercession of the Prince of Parma to the King of Scots and by the permission of Queen Elizabeth were after a years time sent over into the Low-Countries But more unmercifully were those miserable wretches dealt withal whose hap was to be driven by tempest into Ireland Some of them being slain by the wild Irish their old friends and others of them being put to death by the command of the Lord Deputy For he fearing lest they might joyn with the Irish to disturb the peace of the Nation commanded Bingham Governour of Connaught to destroy them but he refusing to deal so rigorously with those that had yielded themselves He sent Fowle Deputy-Marshall who drew them out of their lurking holes and cut off the heads of above two hundred of them which fact the Queen from her heart condemned and abhorred as a fact of too great cruelty The remainder of them being terrified herewith sick and starven as they were committed themselves to Sea in their shattered vessels and were many of them swallowed up by the waves The Spaniards charged the whole fault of their overthrow upon the Prince of Parma as if in favour to our Queen he had wilfully and artificially delayed his coming to them But this was but an invention and pretention given out by them partly upon a Spanish envy against that Prince he being an Italian and his Son a Competitor to the Kingdom of Portugal But chiefly to save the scorn and monstous disreputation which they and their Nation received by the success of that enterprise Therefore their colours and excuses forsooth were That their General by Sea had a limited Commission not to fight till the Land Forces were come in to them and that the Prince of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own to cross the designe But it was both a strange Commission and a strange Obedience to a Commission for men in the midst of their own blood and being so furiously assailed to hold their hands contrary to the Laws of Nature and necessity And as for the Prince of Parma he was reasonably well tempted to be true to that enterprise by no less promise than to be made a Feudatory or Beneficiary King of England under the Seignory in chief of the Pope and the protection of the King of Spain Besides it appeared that the Prince of Parma held his place long after of the Govenment of the Netherlands in the favour and trust of the King of Spain and by the great imployments and services that he performed in France It is also manifest that this Prince did his best to come down and put to Sea The truth was that the Spanish Navy upon those proofs of Fight which they had with the English finding how much hurt they received and how little hurt they did by reason of the activity and low building of our ships and skill of Sea-men and being also commanded by a General of small courage and experience and having lost at first two of their bravest Commanders at Sea Pedro de Valdez and Michael de Oquenda durst not put it to a Battel at Sea but set up their rest wholly upon the Land enterprise On the other side the transportation of the Land Forces failed in the very foundation For whereas the Council of Spain made full account that their Navy should be Master of the Sea and therefore able to guard and protect the Vessels of Transportation When it fell out to the contrary that the great Navy was distressed and had enough to do to save it self and that their Land Forces were impounded by the Hollanders Things I say being in this state it came to pass that the Prince of Parma must have flown if he would have come into England for he could get neither Bark nor Mariner to put to Sea Yet certain it is that the Prince looked for the comming back of the Armado even at that time when they were wandring and making their perambulation upon the Northern Seas Thus we see the curse of God and his threatning in Scripture accomplished They came out against us one way and they fled seven wayes before us making good even to the astonishment of all Posterity the wonderful Judgments of God poured out commonly upon such vast and proud aspirings After this Glorious Deliverance of our Land by the Power of the Omnipotent and the wild Boar repelled that sought to lay waste Englands fair and fruitful Vineyard our Gracious and Godly Queen who ever held Ingratitude a Capital sin especially towards her Almighty Protector as she had begun with Prayer so she ended with Praise commanding solemn Thanksgiving to be celebrated to the Lord of Hosts at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in her chief City of London which accordingly was done upon Sabbath day the eighth of September at which time eleven of the Spanish Ensignes the once badges of their bravery but now of their vanity and ignominy were hung upon the lower battlements of that Church as Palmes of Praise for Englands Deliverance a shew no doubt more pleasing to God than when their spread colours did set out the pride of the Spaniards threatning the blood of so many innocent and faithful Christians Queen Elizabeth her self to be an example unto
Fawks Gentlemen and Thomas Bates Catesby's man all of them well grounded in the Romish School and earnest labourers in this vault of Villany so that by Christmas-eve they had brought the Mine under an entry adjoyning to the wall of the Parliament House underpropping the earth as they went with their framed timber nor till that day were they seen abroad of any man During this undermining much consultation was had how to order the rest of the business when the deed should be accomplished the first was how to surprise the next heir to the Crown for though they doubted not but that Prince Henry would accompany his Father and perish with him yet they suspected that Duke Charles as too young to attend the Parliament would escape the train and perchance be so carefully guarded and attended at Court that he would be gotten into their hands hardly but Percy offered to be the remover of this rub resolving with some other Gentlemen to enter the Dukes Chamber which by reason of his acqaintance he might well do and others of his like acquaintance should be placed at several doors of the Court so that when the blow was given and all men in a maze then would he carry away the Duke which he presumed would be easily done the most of the Court being then absent and for such as were present they would be altogether unprovided for resistance For the surprize of the Lady Elizabeth it was held a matter of far less difficulty She remaining at Comb Abby in Warwickshire with the Lord Harrington and Ashbey Catesby's house being not far from the same whither under a pretence of hunting upon Dunsmore Heath many Catholicks should be assembled who knowing for what purpose they were met had the full liberty in that distracted time to provide Money Horses Armour and other necessaries for War under pretence of strengthening and guarding the heir apparent to the Crown Then it was debated what Lords they should save from the Parliament and it was agreed that they should keep as many as they could that were Catholicks or favourers of them but that all others should feel the smart and that the Treason should be charged upon the Puritans to make them more odious to the World Next it was controverted what forreign Princes they should make privy to this Plot seeing they could not enjoyn them to secresie nor oblige them by Oath and this much troubled them For though Spain was held fittest to second their Plot yet he was slow in his preparations and France was too near and too dangerous to be dealt with and how the Hollanders stood affected to England they knew very well But while they were thus busying themselves and tormenting their brains the Parliament was adjourned to the fifth day of October ensuing whereupon they brake off both discourse and work till Candlemass and then they laid in powder and other provisions beginning their work again and having in the mean time taken into their company Christopher Wright and Robert Winter being first sworn and receiving the Sacrament for secresie the Foundation Wall of the Parliament House being very hard and nine Foot thick with great difficulty they Wrought half through Fawkes being their Centinel to give warning when any came near that the Noise in Digging might not be heard The Labourers thus working into the Wall were surprized with a great fear and casting away their digging Tools betook themselves to their Weapons having sufficient shot and powder in the house and fully resolving rather to dye in the place than to yield or be taken The cause of this their fear was a noise that they heard in a Room under the Parliament House under which they meant to have Mined which was directly under the Chair of State but now all on a sudden they were at a stand and their countenances cast each upon other as doubtful what would be the issue of this their Enterprize Fawkes scouted out to see what he could discover abroad and finding all safe and free from suspition he returned and told them that the noise was only occasioned by the removal of Coals that were now upon Sale and that the Cellar was to be let which would be more commodious for their purpose and also would save their labour for the Mine Hereupon Thomas Porcy under pretence of stowage for his Winter Provision and Coals went and hired the Cellar which done they began a new conference wherein Catesby found the weight of the whole work too heavy for himself alone to support for besides the maintenance of so many persons and the several houses for the several uses hired and paid for by him the Gunpowder and other Provisions would rise to a very great sum and indeed too much for one mans Purse He desired therefore that himself Percy and one more might call in such persons as they thought fit to help to maintain the charge alledging that they knew men of worth and wealth that would willingly assist but were not willing that their names should be known to the rest This request as necessary was approved and therefore ceasing to dig any further in the Vault knowing that the Cellar would be fitter for their purpose they removed into it twenty Barrels of Gunpowder which they covered with a Thousand Billets and five hundred Faggots so that now their Lodging Rooms were cleared of all suspicious Provision and might be freely entered into without danger of discovery But the Parliament being again prorogued to the Fifth of November following these persons thought fit that for a while they should again disperse themselves all things being already in so good a forwardness and that Guy Fawkes should go over to acquaint Sir William Stanley and Master Hugh Owen with these their proceedings yet so as the Oath of Secresie should be first taken by them For their design was to have Sir William Stanleys presence so soon as the fatal blow should be given to be a leader to their intended Stratagems whereof as they thought they should have great need and that Owen should remain where he was to hold correspondency with forreign Princes to allay the odiousness of the fact and to impute the Treason to the discontented Puritans Fawkes coming into Flanders found Owen unto whom after the Oath he declared the Plot which he very well approved of but Sir William Stanley being now in Spain Owen said that he would hardly be drawn into the business having Suits at this time in the English Court yet he promised to engage him all that he could and to send into England with the first so soon as their Plot had taken effect Upon this Fawkes to avoid further suspicion kept still in Flanders till the beginning of September and then returning received the Keys of the Cellar and laid in more Powder Billets and Faggots which done he retired into the Countrey and there kept till the end of October In the mean time Catesby and Percy meeting at the Bath
it was there concluded that because thâ—ir number was but few Catesby himself should have power to call in whom he would to assist their design by which authority he took in Sir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esquire of Northamptonshire both of them of sufficient state and wealth For Sir Everard offered fifteen hundred pounds to forward the Action and Tresham two thousand But Percy disdaining that any should out-run him in evil promised four thousand pounds out of the Earl of Northumberlands Rents and ten swift horses to be used when the blow was past Against which time to provide Ammunition Catesby also took in Ambrose Rookwood and John Grant two Recusant Gentlemen and without doubt others were acquainted also with it had these two grand Electors been aprehended alive whose own tongues only could have given an account of it The business being thus forwarded abroad by their complices they at home were no less active For Percy Winter and Fawkes had stored the Cellar with thirty six Barrels of Gunpowder and instead of shot had laid upon them barrs of Iron logs of timber massie stones Iron Crowes Pick-axes and all their working tools and to cover all great store of Billets and Faggots so that nothing was wanting against that great and terrible day Neither were the Priests and Jesuits slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with prayers for the good success of their expected hopes about which Garnet made these Verses Gentem aufert perfidam credentium de finibus Vt Christo laudes debitas persolvamus alacriter And others thus Prosper Lord their pains that labour in thy cause day and night Let Heresie vanish away like smoke Let their memory perish with a crack like the ruine and fall of a broken house Upon Thursday in the evening ten days before the Parliament was to begin a Letter directed to the Lord Monteagle was delivered by an unknown person to his footman in the street with a strait charge to give it into his Lords own hands whâ—ch accordingly he did The Letter had neither date nor subscription and was somewhat unlegible so that the Nobleman called for one of his servants to assist him in reading it the strange contents whereof much perplexed him he not knowing whether it was writ as a Pasquil to scare him from attendance at the Parliament or as a matter of consequence and advice from some friend Howsoever though it were now supper-time and the night very dark yet to shew his loyalty to his Soveraign he immediately repaired to White-Hall and imparted the Letter to the Earl of Salisbury then principal Secretary and they both presently acquainted the Lord â—hamberlain therewith who deemed the matter not a little to concern himself his Office requiring him to oversee all the places to which his Majesty was to repair Hereupon these two Counsellors shewed the Letter to the Earls of Worcester and Northampton and all concluded how slight soever the contents seemed to appear to acquaint the King himself with the same which accordingly was done and the Letwas as followeth My Lord OVt of the Love I bear to some of your friends I have a care of your preservation Therefore I would advise you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift off your attendance at this Parliament For God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time And think not slightly of this Advertisement but retire your self into your Country where you may expect the event in safety For though there be no appearance of any stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them This Counsel is not to be contemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm For the danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter and I hope God will give you the grace to make a good use of it to whose holy protection I commend you His Majesty after reading this Letter pausing a while and then reading it again delivered his judgment that the stile of it was too quick and pithy to be a Libel proceeding from the superfluities of an idle brain and by these words That they should receive a terrible blow at this Parliament and yet not see who hurt them he presently apprehended that a sudden danger by a blast of Gunpowder was intended by some base villain in a corner though no Insurrection Rebellion or desperate attempt appeared and therefore wished that the Rooms under the Parliament House should be throughly searched before himself or Peers should sit therein Hereupon it was concluded that the Lord Chamberlain according to his Office should view all the Rooms above and below but yet to prevent idle rumours and to let things ripen further it was resolved that this search should be deferred till Munday the day immediately before the Parliament and that then it should be done with a seeming slight eye to avoid suspect According to this conclusion the Earl of Suffolk Lord Chamberlain upon Munday in the afternoon accompanied with the Lord Monteagle repaired into those under Romes and finding the Cellar so fully stored with Wood and Coals demanded of Fawkes the counterfeit Johnson who stood there attending as a servant of small repute Who owed the place He answered that the Lodgings belonged to Master Thomas Percy and the Cellar also to lay in his Winter Provision himself being the Keeper of it and Master Percy 's servant whereunto the Earl as void of any suspicion told him that his Master was well provided against Winter blasts But when they were come forth the Lord Monteagle told him that he did much suspect Percy to be the Inditer of the Letter knowing his affection in Religion and the friendship betwixt them professed so that his heart gave him as he said when he heard Percy named that his hand was in the Act. The Lord Chamberlain returning related to the King and Council what he had seen and the suspition that the Lord Monteagle had of Percy and himself of Johnson his man all which increased his Majesties jealousie so that he insisted contrary to the opinion of some that a narrower search should be made and the Billets and Coals turned up to the bottom and accordingly the search was concluded to be made but under colour of searching for certain Hangings belonging to the house which were missing and conveyed away Sir Thomas Knevet a Gentleman of His Majesties Privy Chamber was employed herein who about midnight before the Parliament was to begin went to the place with a small but trusty number of persons And at the door of the entrance to the Cellar finding one who was Guy Fawkes at so unseasonable an hour cloked and booted he apprehended him and ransacking the Billet he found the Serpents nest stored with thirty six barrels of Powder and then searching the Villain he found about him a dark Lanthorn three Matches and other