WILLIAM THE THIRD.

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tradition in tlie noble house of De Vere. One of the most.illustrious men of that house, a captain who had acquired •much experience and much fame in the Netherlands, had,in the crisis of peril, been summoned back to England byElizabeth, and rode with her through the endless ranks ofshouting pikemen. She asked him what he thought of thearmy. “It is,” he said, “a brave army.” There wassomething in his tone or manner which showed that hemeant more than his words expressed. The Queen insistedon his speaking out. “Madam,” he said, “Your Grace’sarmy is brave indeed. I have not in the world the name ofa coward; and yet I am the greatest coward here. Allthese fine fellows are praying that the enemy may land, andthat there may be a battle; and I, who know that enemywell, cannot think of such a battle without dismay.” DeVere was doubtless in the right. The Duke of Parma, in-deed, would not have subjected our country; but it is by nomeans improbable that, if he had effected a landing, theisland would have been the theatre of a war greatly resem-bling that which Hannibal waged in Italy, and that the in-vaders would not have been driven out till many cities hadbeen sacked, till many counties had been wasted, and tillmultitudes of our stout-hearted rustics and artisans hadperished in the carnage of days not less terrible than thoseof Thrasymene and Cannoa.

While the pamphlets of Trenchard and Somers were inevery hand, the Parliament met.

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