Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from State Papers Relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Anno 1588, Vol. 1
English - not the French - armies should consist of trained soldiers; that the French armies - not the English - should consist of raw levies of half-armed peasants. The device thus adopted was continued by Edward's successors, and was still in use under Elizabeth, telling to those who could understand it that the might and majesty of England rested on her navy. That this was fully proved in the summer of I 588 is a familiar story, but the following pages Show that few indeed of her statesmen, or warriors, or seamen, had realised the fact. They could believe that the fleet of England was capable of withstanding that of Spain that the armada, of itself, was not a thing to be feared but they never quite succeeded in getting rid of the notion that the Duke of Parma's army was still terrible. Wynter, indeed, with nigh fifty years' experience at sea, and memories of former expeditions to guide him, was sure that the enemy must find very great difficulty in the transport of the army, and that if the squadron in the Narrow Seas was kept up at its actual strength, the Prince's forces, being no other than that which he bath in Flanders at this time (20th of June), dare not come to the seas' p. Wynter's opinion is eminently practical. It was supposed that Parma might attempt a landing at Sheppey, Harwich or Yarmouth, places where a small charge will make a sufficient strength to withstand any sudden attempt; but in these princely actions a man cannot be too provident and no wisdom were it to put things to an even balance, when more weight may be added' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
