The order was to leave Dover immediately, but it was not construed strictly.  He lingered in the Downs for six weeks.  At length, one morning at the end of March 1572, a Spanish convoy known to be richly loaded appeared in the Straits.  De la Mark lifted anchor, darted out on it, seized two of the largest hulks, rifled them, flung their crews overboard, and chased the rest up Channel.  A day or two after he suddenly showed himself off Brille, at the mouth of the Meuse.  A boat was sent on shore with a note to the governor, demanding the instant surrender of the town to the admiral of the Prince of Orange.  The inhabitants rose in enthusiasm; the garrison was small, and the governor was obliged to comply.  De la Mark took possession.  A few priests and monks attempted resistance, but were put down without difficulty, and the leaders killed.  The churches were cleared of their idols, and the mass replaced by the Calvinistic service.  Cannon and stores, furnished from London, were landed, and Brille was made impregnable before Alva had realised what had happened to him.  He is said to have torn his beard for anger.  Flushing followed suit.  In a week or two all the strongest places on the coast had revolted, and the pirate fleet had laid the foundation of the great Dutch Republic, which at England’s side was to strike out of Philip’s hand the sceptre of the seas, and to save the Protestant religion.

We may think as we please of these Beggars of the Ocean, these Norse corsairs come to life again with the flavour of Genevan theology in them; but for daring, for ingenuity, for obstinate determination to be spiritually free or to die for it, the like of the Protestant privateers of the sixteenth century has been rarely met with in this world.

England rang with joy when the news came that Brille was taken.  Church bells pealed, and bonfires blazed.  Money poured across in streams.  Exiled families went back to their homes—­which were to be their homes once more—­and the Zealanders and Hollanders, entrenched among their ditches, prepared for an amphibious conflict with the greatest power then upon the earth.

LECTURE IV

DRAKE’S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD

I suppose some persons present have heard the name of Lope de Vega, the Spanish poet of Philip II.’s time.  Very few of you probably know more of him than his name, and yet he ought to have some interest for us, as he was one of the many enthusiastic young Spaniards who sailed in the Great Armada.  He had been disappointed in some love affair.  He was an earnest Catholic.  He wanted distraction, and it is needless to say that he found distraction enough in the English Channel to put his love troubles out of his mind.  His adventures brought before him with some vividness the character of the nation with which his own country was then in the death-grapple, especially the character of the great English seaman