It was an insult Philip still felt himself unable to avenge. Elizabeth had made a fresh treaty with France, and Philip’s best generals knew the difficulties of an attack on England thus strengthened. Besides, the Dutch, whom Elizabeth was helping, were his desperate enemies; for they were fighting for faith and country and freedom, and to do this makes bold soldiers. So Philip the prudent had to content himself with making plans for his great Armada.
Meantime Drake sunned himself in the Court favour, and books and pictures and songs were made in his praise.
The Golden Hind was brought ashore at Deptford, and became a resort for sightseers. But in spite of much patching she became so old that she had to be broken up, and the last of her timbers were made into a chair, which is still kept in a quiet Oxford library. So the ship ends her days far away from the sound of the sea, and of the gay throngs that used to make merry and dance on her decks.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
On the 4th of April the Queen paid a State visit to the ship, and ordered that it should be preserved for ever. A fine banquet was served on board, and there, before the eyes of hundreds of onlookers, Elizabeth knighted the “pirate captain.” She said jestingly that the King of Spain had demanded Drake’s head, and now she had a gold sword to cut it off. Thus Elizabeth openly defied the Spaniards, who were still raging over their stolen treasure.
But there were some not in Spain who also thirsted for revenge upon Drake. Thomas Doughty’s young brother was his unforgiving foe. The case was never brought to Court or indeed to light; but young Doughty wrote a letter in which he said “that when the Queen did knight Drake she did then knight the greatest knave, the vilest villain, the foulest thief, and the crudest murderer that ever was born.” The Spaniards bribed him to try and murder Drake. We hear that he was put in prison, and we never hear of his release.
In 1581 Drake was made Mayor of Plymouth. In 1583 his wife died. He was then a member of Parliament. Two years later he married Mary Sydenham. He never had any children.
The Queen now appointed Drake among others to inquire into the state of the navy; he was to see to the repairing of ships, to the building of new ones, and to the means of furnishing them with stores in case of sudden war. From this time onwards the thought of a Spanish invasion was a constant fear in the minds of the English people. But Philip was unready, and Elizabeth unwilling to be the first to begin a war. Elizabeth changed her mind and her plans in a way that must have been maddening to the men who did her work. One good result of her indecision was that England was better prepared for the invasion. In those long years of private warfare money had been gathering, and the navy made strong and ready for work. But for men of action, who like to make a plan and stick to it, and go through with it at all costs, Elizabeth’s delays and recalls were bewildering and unreasonable.
In 1585 Philip seized a fleet of English corn-ships trading in his own ports. Then, at last, Drake’s long-talked-of expedition against the Spanish settlements was got ready and sent out. He had about thirty ships, commanded by some of the most famous captains of the time, men like Fenner, Frobisher, and Wynter, who afterwards fought against the Armada. His general of the soldiers was Christopher Carleill, “a man of long experience in wars both by sea and land,” and who was afterwards said to direct the service “most like a wise commander.” Drake’s ship was the Elizabeth Bonaventure.