them at their own expense; and people of all classes gave money to pay soldiers, to defend the country, in case the Spaniards should effect a landing.
27. But they never did land; for the English vessels, though so much smaller than Spanish ships, were lighter, and more manageable, and kept them from coming near the shore; and when they anchored off Calais, the English admiral sent fire ships among them, and burnt some of them, which created such terror, that they sailed away as fast as they could, some one way and some another, and the English ships chased them and disabled a great many; while others were wrecked by a violent storm; and thus the Armada was nearly destroyed.
28. Small handbills were printed and sent about the country, to let the people know that the danger was over.
29. Many more books were now published, and there were many clever authors in this reign, especially Shakespeare, who wrote a number of beautiful plays.
30. The queen was a great admirer of Shakespeare's plays, and used to go to see them acted; but the theatres were then not much better than the shows at a country fair, and the performance was in the day time.
