In 1570, when Lord Lincoln was Lord Admiral, Howard was ordered to command a squadron of ships-of-war sent by Queen Elizabeth to escort Anne of Austria, sister of the Emperor Maximilian, from Zealand into Spain, whither she was going for the purpose of being married to Philip II. Howard of course knew that Philip had no love now for the Queen of England; so, when the great Spanish galleons came into British waters he first made them salute the Queen's flag, and then gave them all honourable escort, to show his Queen's respect for the house of Austria. It was a deed which gave promise of great exploits hereafter. Richard Hakluyt thus describes it in a letter to Lord Charles Howard:-- "When the Emperor's sister, the spouse of Spain, with a fleet of one hundred and thirty sail, stoutly and proudly passed the narrow seas, your Lordship, accompanied by ten ships only of her Majesty's Royal Navy, environed their fleet in most strange and warlike sort, enforced them to stoop gallant and to vail their bonnets for the Queen of England, and made them perfectly to understand that old speech of the Prince of Poets, Virgil, 'Non illi imperium pelagi sævumque tridentem, Sed tibi sorte datum." ('It was not to him that fate had given the Empire of the deep and the fell trident, but to thee.') "Yet after they had acknowledged their duty, your Lordship, on her Majesty's behalf, conducted her safely through our English Channel, and performed all good offices of honour and humanity to that foreign Princess." No doubt this proud demand for homage to the flag of England went far to secure for Lord Charles the post of Lord High Admiral in 1585. For relations between Spain and England were growing ever more strained, and war conducted at first by private adventurers was bound to issue in a national contest. The Queen began to prepare for this by purchasing arms and powder abroad. She had many pieces of great ordnance of brass and iron cast, and luckily a rich vein of stone was found in Cumberland, near Keswick, which helped much in the works for making brass. How patriotic our forefathers were can be seen by the cheerful way in which both nobles and peasants helped in providing weapons. In every nobleman's house complete armouries were provided, private individuals built ships-of-war, and poor men flocked to the ports to offer their services. When Spain insolently warned off all the English from trading with America, when she instigated revolt in Ireland, and hired assassins to murder Elizabeth, patriotism was awakened from a long sleep. The near approach of danger had evoked the nation's dormant spirit and indomitable courage.