[Footnote 1:  Clarendon Papers, iii. 322, 338, 357.  Merc.  Pol. 39.  Thurloe, vi. 33, 182, 315, 425, 560, 829.  Clarendon assures us that Sexby was an illiterate person, which is a sufficient proof that he was not the real author of the tract, though he acknowledged it for his own in the Tower, probably to deceive the protector.  The writer, whoever he was, kept his secret, at least at first; for Clarendon writes to Secretary Nicholas, that he cannot imagine who could write it.—­Clar.  Papers, iii. 343.  By most historians it has been attributed to Captain Titus; nor shall we think this improbable, if we recollect that Titus was, in Holland, constantly in the company of Sexby, till the departure of the latter for England.—­Ibid. 331, 335.  Evelyn asserts it in his Diary, ii. 210, 8vo.]

captain to inform the English admiral that he was welcome to come whenever he durst.  Blake came, examined the defences, and, according to custom, proclaimed a solemn fast.  At eight the next morning[a] Stayner took the lead in a frigate; the admiral followed in the larger ships; and the whole fleet availing itself of a favourable wind, entered the harbour under a tremendous shower of balls and shells.  Each vessel immediately fell into its allotted station; and, while some engaged the shipping, the rest directed their fire against the batteries.  The Spaniards, though fewer in number of ships, were superior in that of men; their hopes were supported by the aid which they received from the land; and during four hours they fought with the most determined bravery.  Driven from the galleons, the crews retreated to the second line of merchantmen, and renewed the contest till they were finally compelled to save themselves on the shore.  At two in the afternoon every Spanish ship was in possession of the English, and in flames.  Still there remained the difficulty of working the fleet out of the harbour in the teeth of the gale.  About sunset they were out of reach of the guns from the forts; the wind, by miracle, as Blake persuaded himself, veered to the south-west, and the conquerors proceeded triumphantly out to sea.  This gallant action, though it failed of securing the treasure which the protector chiefly sought, raised the reputation of Blake in every part of Europe.  Unfortunately the hero himself lived not to receive the congratulations of his country.  He had been during a great part of three years at sea; the scurvy and dropsy wasted his constitution; and he expired[b] in his fifty-ninth year,

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1657.  April 20.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1657.  August 7.]

as his ship, the St. George, entered the harbour of Plymouth.[1]