20. But we must now think of what was going on in England. Elizabeth had a cousin, named Mary, who was queen of Scotland, and was next heir to the English crown.
21. She was young and beautiful, and had been married to the king of France, who was now dead; so she had returned to Scotland, and, after a time, married lord Darnley, and had a son, who was our king James the First.
22. Lord Darnley was murdered, and Mary married another lord, who was disliked by the Scots, so that there was a civil war, and she was obliged to resign the crown, and after much ill-treatment, escaped to England, and begged the protection of queen Elizabeth.
23. Now the queen had always been jealous of her, and she was now cruel enough to shut her up in a castle, and, after keeping her a prisoner for eighteen years, in different places, gave orders for her execution, and the unfortunate queen of Scots was beheaded in Fotheringay castle.
24. Soon after this event, news arrived that a large fleet was coming to invade England. The king of Spain, Philip the Second, had been married to our queen Mary; and had offered his hand to queen Elizabeth, but she had resolved not to marry at all, and at any rate, she would not have had Philip, for she did not like him.
25. He was, therefore, offended; and was also angry because the queen had been kind to the Protestants who had fled to England from the Netherlands, for he was king of those countries as well as of Spain; and her admirals having attacked some of his settlements in America, he determined to invade England, and make himself king there too, if he could.
26. He got ready the largest fleet that was ever known, and called it the Invincible Armada; but it did not prove to be invincible, although the English had but a very small navy at that time, not more than fifteen ships of war; but the merchants lent their ships, and manned them at their own expense; and people of all classes gave money to pay soldiers, to defend the country, in case the Spaniards should effect a landing.
27. But they never did land; for the English vessels, though so much smaller than Spanish ships, were lighter, and more manageable, and kept them from coming near the shore; and when they anchored off Calais, the English admiral sent fire ships among them, and burnt some of them, which created such terror, that they sailed away as fast as they could, some one way and some another, and the English ships chased them and disabled a great many; while others were wrecked by a violent storm; and thus the Armada was nearly destroyed.
28. Small handbills were printed and sent about the country, to let the people know that the danger was over.