certain pages of adverse faction unto Spain, in bitter scoffing manner, humbly prayed his lordships letters unto the Duke of Parma, in favor of their good fortune, to bestow on them some odde wast cast townes or villages, as London, Canterbury, or York, or so, whereat Mendoza, being much dismayed, obscured himself, not daring to show his face.

"France, Italy, and Germany, were very doubtful of the English state, and in those places the English mer chants well perceived their double eye, one while smyl ing on Spaines behalf, and then upon the English casting a fleering looke.

"The Queenes navy having well observed the martiall order and invincible strength of the Spaniards, and that it was not possible to remove them by force of fight, and therewithall considered the present purpose of the Duke of Parma, and their owne imminent daunger, omitted no time, but according to the present necessity, the Generall, with his councell of warre, concluded to make their first strategem by fire, and thereupon, the twentyeighth of July, they emptied eight of their basest barkes, and put therein much combustible matter, which, in the evening, were subtilly set on fire, and with advantage both of wind and tyde, guided within the reach of canon shotte, before the Spaniards could discern the same; and then, the flame grew fierce, with sudden terror to the enemie, who thought these floates to have been like the sundry workes of wildfire lately made to break the bridge at Antwerpe, in which feare, they all amazed, with shrikes and loud outcries, to the great astonishment of the neere inhabitants, crying, The fire of Antwerpe, the fire of Antwerpe;' some cut cables, others let the hawsers slippe, and happiest they who could first bee gone, though few could telle what course to take.

"The first whereof, that ran aground, was a galliasse, hard by Callis walls, where the English freely tooke the common spoyle, until they began to take the ordinance and to fire the shippe, whereat the governor being sore displeased, knowing the royalty thereof to be appropriate to himselfe, discharged his canons from the citadel, and

The next was a

Divers othThe rest en

drove the English from their benefite. galleon, which ranne ashoore in Flanders. ers fell into the hands of the Hollanders. deavored, by all meanes possible, to cast anchor before Gravelyn or Dunkerke, hoping still to have supply from Parma.

"But the English forces being now wholly united, prevented their enemies conjoyning together, and followed their fortunes to the uttermost, continuing four dayes fight in more deadly manner than at any time before, and, having incessant cause of fresh encouragement, chased the Spaniards, from place to place, until they hadde driven them into a desperate estate; so as of necessity, as well for that the wind was westerly, as that their enemies increased, and their own provision of sayles, anchors, and cables greatly wasted, resolved to shape their course by the Orcades and the north of Ireland. In whose pursuit, if the English had been but meanly furnished with victuall and munition, they would have brought them all unto their mercy; but when they saw them past the Orcades and the Scottish seas, they made retreat. And, if the Spaniards had but two days longer continued fight, the English must have made a retreat, for want of shot and powder, and left the Spaniards to their most advantage.

"About the end of September, the Duke of Medina arrived in Spaine, being as much discountenanced at court, as discouraged in his journey; and, of all his royall navy which he carried foorth, there returned only threescore sayle, sore distressed; the rest whereof, some were taken and spoyled by the English, in the narrow seas, and some taken by the Hollanders, and some made a fayre escape by landing in Scotland: but the most perished upon the Irish coast, and slaine by Gallowglasses, whose generall losse was much lamented through Spaine, for that every noted family had lost a kinsman or a neere ally.

66

Shippes under the command of the Lord High Admirall of England, this yeere, 1588:

Of shippes Royal,

Attended by other warlike ships,

And of lusty pinnaces,

From London there were sent, of brave, warlike ships,

And of pinnaces,

From Bristow there were sent, of serviceable ships,

From Barstaple there were sent, in this expedition, of ships, 3 From Excester there were sent, of ships,

And one pinnace,

From Plimmouth there were sent, of ships well appointed,

And one flye boat,

2

7

1

"There was sent a pinnace of the Lord Admiralls; also, a pinnace of the Lord Sheffields, and a pinnace of Sir William Winters.*

"The merchant adventurers of England set foorth, at their own proper charges, of lusty ships,—10.

"Ships under the Lord Henry Seymour, in the narrow seas:Of ships royall, accompanied with other very warlike ships, well appointed, being in number,—16.

"Besides all these, there were many other barkes, ships, and pinnaces, sent out of the north parts and west parts, as also particularly by divers persons, as by the Lord Admirall, by divers other lordes, knights, and gentlemen, and some others his followers, and by sundry other noble and vallerous gentlemen and gallant marchants, whereof I could never attaine the certaine knowledge, though I greatly sought it."

The partisans of the two contending nations differ widely, as is to be expected, in their estimates of the loss sustained. The victors said, that eighty vessels and eighteen thousand men had perished: Strada rates it at thirty-two captured and wrecked, and ten thousand men : but he acknowledges that the result of the expedition filled all Spain with mourning.

* A pinnace is a small vessel navigated with oars and sails.

THE SIEGE OF ZARAGOZA, IN 1808.

*

BY SOUTHEY AND NAPIER.

IN general, it may be said, that modern sieges have lost much of their interest, except for the scientific soldier ; because the art of the engineer has reduced them, placing external relief out of consideration, almost to certainty. Still, there have been sieges, in modern times, in which was displayed all the heroic perseverance that has distinguished the defenders of fortified places, at any previous period. We find a number of them in the history of the war, termed the Peninsular War, which was carried on in Spain and Portugal, in the beginning of the present century, between the English, Spaniards, and Portuguese, on the one side, and the French, on the other. In most of them, we find remarkable instances, both of military resolution and of popular energy; and it is not easy to make a selection of the most interesting of them. For several reasons, however, the Siege of Zaragoza† has been selected, and is here given.

The two authors, from whose works the following accounts are taken, are both living in England. Colonel Napier shared in the perils of the war which he has described; and Mr. Southey is so renowned an author, that most readers are, no doubt, in possession of more information respecting him, than could be given here.

Zaragoza is situated on the right bank of the Ebro. Before its first siege, in 1808, it contained fifty thousand inhabitants. It possessed no regular defences, and few guns, fit for service, but was surrounded by a low brick

* At the beginning of the year 1840, a violent attack, made by several thousand Arabs, upon about one hundred and sixty French soldiers, at a place called Mazagran, in Algiria, was sustained for several days, with a degree of fortitude, which has been acknowledged in a signal and lasting manner, both by the King of the French, and the French Chambers.

† Zaragoza is a contraction and corruption of the Latin Caesarea Augusta. By another corruption, the name of Syracuse was formerly changed into Zaragoza, so that we find it spoken of as "the Sicilian Saragossa.'

wall.

These deficiencies were in some degrec remedied, by the nature of its buildings, which were well calculated for the internal warfare subsequently carried on, the houses being mostly built of brick and stone, and vaulted, so as to be almost incombustible. The city was also full of churches and convents, strongly built, and surrounded by high, thick walls. A broad street, called the Cosso, bent almost into a semicircle, concentric with the wall, and terminated, at each end, by the Ebro, divided the city into an outer and an inner part. It occupied the ground on which the Moorish walls had formerly stood, before the city attained its present size. This street was the scene of that heroic resistance, in 1808, which kept the French at bay, after the walls and one half of the place had fallen into their hands. On the third of August, rather more than a month after the commencement of the siege, the convent of St. Engracia, which formed part of the wall, was breached ; and, on the fourth, it was stormed, and the victorious troops carried all before them, as far as the Cosso, and, before night, were in possession of one half of the city. The French General now considered the city as his own, and summoned it to surrender, in a note containing only these words "Head-quarters, St. Engracia, Capitulation." The emphatic reply is well known, and will become proverbial: "Head-quarters, Zaragoza, War to the Knife."

"THE Contest, which was now carried on, is unexampled in history. One side of the Cosso, a street about as wide as Pall Mall, was possessed by the French, and in the centre of it, their general, Verdier, gave his orders from the Franciscan convent. The opposite side was maintained by the Aragonese, who threw up batteries at the openings of the cross streets, within a few paces of those which the French erected against them. The intervening space was presently heaped with dead, either slain upon the spot, or thrown out from the windows. Next day, the ammunition of the citizens began to fail : the French were expected, every moment, to renew their efforts for completing the conquest, and even this circumstance occasioned no dismay, nor did any one think of capitulation. One cry was heard from the people,