THE DUTCH INVASION 71 



further and further away from France and Spain, 

 and closer and closer to Holland and Northern 

 Germany. Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 ; 

 and the Netherlands revolted against Spain in 



1572. 



"Volunteers stole across the channel in in- 

 creasing numbers to the aid of the Dutch, till the 

 five hundred Englishmen who fought in the 

 beginning of the struggle rose to a brigade of five 

 thousand, whose bravery turned one of the most 

 critical battles of the war."^ In 1585 "Lord 

 Leicester was hurried to the Flemish Coast with 

 8000 men."^ 



Englishmen renewed their acquaintance with 

 Holland and Western Germany during the Thirty 

 Years* War, begun in 1618 ; while during the 

 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, persecuted 

 Flemings and Huguenots came flocking to 

 Britain. 



Before their revolt, the Low Countries had long 

 been in advance of the rest of Europe in agricul- 

 ture and industry and, after the emancipation of 

 Holland, this advance was far more than main- 

 tained, not only in Holland, but also in the 

 neighbouring States still under the rule of Spain. 



Dutch and other foreign agricultural books 

 were translated into English, and English writers 



» J. R. Green's " Short History of the English People," illus- 

 trated edition, p. 828. 

 2 Ibid., p. 832. 



