Then there were
the ships' stores, arms small and great, powder, spars, cordage, canvas,
and such other million necessities as ships on service need. The whole
of this the poor Duke took on himself to examine into, and, as he could
not understand what he saw, and knew not what to look at, nothing was
examined into at all. Everyone's mind was, in fact, so much absorbed by
the spiritual side of the thing that they could not attend to vulgar
commonplaces. Don Quixote, when he set out on his expedition, and forgot
money and a change of linen, was not in a state of wilder exaltation
than Catholic Europe at the sailing of the Armada. Every noble family
in Spain had sent one or other of its sons to fight for Christ and Our
Lady.
For three years the stream of prayer had been ascending from church,
cathedral, or oratory. The King had emptied his treasury. The hidalgo
and the tradesman had offered their contributions. The crusade against
the Crescent itself had not kindled a more intense or more sacred
enthusiasm. All pains were taken to make the expedition spiritually
worthy of its purpose. No impure thing, specially no impure woman, was
to approach the yards or ships. Swearing, quarrelling, gambling, were
prohibited under terrible penalties.
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