So the King—­as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed themselves in the same garment.  Thus draped, they were all prepared to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on their heads, while it had been dashing the King’s mighty galleons on the rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition.  Soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were thoroughly known, Philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to all the bishops of Spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty for the safety of that portion of the invincible Armada which it had pleased Him to preserve.

And thus, with the sound of mourning throughout Spain—­for there was scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the great catastrophe—­and with the peals of merry bells over all England and Holland, and with a solemn ‘Te Deum’ resounding in every church, the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the Armada.

     ETEXT editor’s bookmarks: 

     Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all
     Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning
     Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated
     Nothing could equal Alexander’s fidelity, but his perfidy
     One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions
     Security is dangerous
     Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed
     Sure bind, sure find

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year’s Truce—­1609

By John Lothrop Motley

History United Netherlands, Volume 59, 1588-1589

CHAPTER XX.

Alexander besieges Bergen-op-Zoom—­Pallavicini’s Attempt to seduce Parma—­Alexander’s Fury—­He is forced to raise the Siege, of Bergen —­Gertruydenberg betrayed to Parma—­Indignation of the States—­ Exploits, of Schenk—­His Attack on Nymegen—­He is defeated and drowned—­English-Dutch Expedition to Spain—­Its meagre Results—­ Death of Guise and of the Queen—­Mother—­Combinations after the Murder of Henry iii.—­Tandem fit Surculus Arbor.

The fever of the past two years was followed by comparative languor.  The deadly crisis was past, the freedom of Europe was saved, Holland and England breathed again; but tension now gave place to exhaustion.  The events in the remainder of the year 1588, with those of 1589—­although important in themselves—­were the immediate results of that history which has been so minutely detailed in these volumes, and can be indicated in a very few pages.

The Duke of Parma, melancholy, disappointed, angry stung to the soul by calumnies as stupid as they were venomous, and already afflicted with a painful and lingering disease, which his friends attributed to poison administered by command of the master whom he had so faithfully served—­determined, if possible, to afford the consolation which that master was so plaintively demanding at his hands.