OP A WAR WITH SPAIN. 26 1 



and as many thousand foot English, commanded by 

 Sir John Norris, charged by the prince of Parma, 

 coming upon them with seven thousand horse ; 

 besides that the whole army of Spaniards was ready 

 to march on. Nevertheless Sir John Norris main 

 tained a retreat without disarray, by the space 

 of some miles, part of the way champaign, unto the 

 city of Gaunt, with less loss of men than the enemy : 

 the duke of Anjou, and the prince of Orange, 

 beholding this noble action from the walls of Gaunt, 

 as in a theatre, with great admiration. 



In the year 1585, followed the prosperous ex 

 pedition of Drake and Carlile into the West Indies, 

 in the which I set aside the taking of St. Jago and 

 St. Domingo in Hispaniola, as surprises rather than 

 encounters. But that of Carthagena, where the 

 Spaniards had warning of our coming, and had put 

 themselves in their full strength, was one of the 

 hottest services, and most dangerous assaults that 

 hath been known. For the access to the town was 

 only by a neck of land, between the sea on the one 

 part, and the harbour water or inner sea on the 

 other ; fortified clean over with a strong rampier 

 and barricade ; so as upon the ascent of our men, 

 they had both great ordnance and small shot, that 

 thundred and showered upon them from the rampier 

 in front, and from the galleys that lay at sea in 

 flank. And yet they forced the passage, and won 

 the town, being likewise very well manned. As for 

 the expedition of Sir Francis Drake, in the year 1587, 

 for the destroying of the Spanish shipping and pro- 



