1888.] on the Invincible Armada : a Tercentenary BetrosjpecL 325 



visions, or in the badness of some that were conclemned ; and I dare- 

 say there was much suffering and some sickness in consequence. But 

 the sickness that so terribly scourged our ships' companies seems to 

 have been of the nature of typhus, and to have been busy in some of 

 the ships, and especially in the Elizabeth Jonas, before the Spaniards 

 came into the Channel.* This pestilence w^^uld, no doubt, be materi- 

 ally aggravated by scarcity and bad provisions, but it was primarily 

 and chiefly due to infection from the shore and from ignorance or 

 neglect of what we now know as sanitary laws. I may notice what 

 seems an interesting point, that the ships commanded by the ex- 

 perienced old salts seem to have escaj)ed comparatively lightly. The 

 ships named as most heavily scourged are the Elizabeth Jonas, the 

 White Bear, and the Lion, commanded by How^ard's sons-in-law and 

 nephew, men splendid in the day of battle, but of no experience in 

 the very necessary art of keeping a ship clean and sweet. A similar 

 infection, however, continued occasionally to scourge our shij)s' 

 companies, and still more frequently and more severely French or 

 Spanish ships' companies, till near the close of last century. In our 

 service, at least, it is now hajjpily almost forgotten. 



Before I finish, there are two or three questions which I am some- 

 times asked, and on which therefore it seems not out of place that I 

 should say a few words. 



What active share had Ealegh in the rej^ulse of the Armada? 

 None at all, so far as I can ascertain.^ It is stated by Camden, whom 

 Edwards, in his Life of Ealegh, follows, that he joined the fleet off 

 Portland on 23rd July. I think this extremely doubtful, and the 

 more so as Camden is certainly wrong in respect of some others whom 

 he reports to have joined about the same time. It is, of course, possi- 

 ble that Ralegh went on board the Arlc, and served as an amateur on 

 the staff of the Lord Admiral ; but his name is never once mentioned 

 in any such connection, and I venture to say it is improbable. 



What truth is there in the story that the Armada carried a large 

 number of priests appointed as missionaries ad fidem projmgaiidam f 

 None at all. There were in the fleet 180 ecclesiastics, not an extrava- 

 gant number when we remember that there were many nobles of a 

 rank which might well entitle them to have a private chaplain, and 

 that 50 years later it was not unusual for a French ship-of-war to 

 have tw^o chaplains. 



What about the officers of the Inquisition? It seems to be a 

 confused story arising out of the presence of a regularly appointed 

 provost-marshall and staff. As to the chains and instruments of 

 torture, I presume the story was imagined by some of the men who 

 were on board the San Lorenzo off Calais, and saw there the irons 

 used for shackling the slaves to their benches. 



And now to conclude. I have described to you how 300 years 



* Howard to the Lord Treasurer, 10th August, 1588; Howard to the Council, 

 22ad August, 1588; Howard to the Queen, 22nd August, 1588.— 'State rai)eis,' 

 Domestic, ccxiv. 66; ccxv. 40, 41. 



