_Mr._ Thomas Hyam, _Merchant_. _Mr._ Andrews Jelfe. Charles Peers, _Esq_; William Roope, _Esq_; ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AN ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH INVASION In the YEAR MDLXXXVIII. THE Defeat of the SPANISH ARMADA being the most glorious Victory that was ever obtained at Sea, and the most important to the _British_ Nation, every Method deserves some Praise, that may in a suitable Manner propagate the Memory of it. Our Ancestors, that were personally interested in it, were so careful it should not pass into Oblivion, that they procured the Engagements between the two Fleets to be represented in ten curious Pieces of Tapestry, with the Portraits of the several _English_ Captains, taken from the Life, worked in the Borders, which are now placed, some in the Royal Wardrobe, some in the House of Lords, the most august Assembly of the Kingdom, there to remain as a lasting Memorial of the Triumphs of _British_ Valour, guided by _British_ Counsels. But because Time, or Accident, or Moths may deface these valuable Shadows, we have endeavoured to preserve their Likeness in the preceding Prints, which, by being multiplied and dispersed in various Hands, may meet with that Security from the Closets of the Curious, which the Originals must scarce always hope for, even from the Sanctity of the Place they are kept in. Thus far we have been able to go within our own Province; but as a more particular Detail of the Circumstances of this glorious Expedition, which lye blended in our Histories with other Matters, may not be altogether unacceptable, we shall beg Leave to offer the following brief Account of it, collected from the most authentic Writers and Manuscripts. SECT. I. THE Author and Undertaker of this ever memorable Expedition was _Philip_ II. King of _Spain_, eldest Son of the renowned Emperor _Charles_ V. In the Year 1554, he married _Mary_ I. Queen of _England_, with a View of uniting, by this Marriage, the _English_ Dominions to those large and noble Territories of which he was Heir-Apparent. But all his Projects were defeated by a False-Conception the Queen had in 1555; and especially by her Death, which happened on _Novemb._ 17, 1558.—In 1555, _October_ 25, he became King of _Spain_, and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging, upon the voluntary Resignation of his Father _Charles_ V. As to King _Philip_’s real Views and Motives in this Expedition, they seem to have been these: