"Now now, Roger, my lad; what are you thinking of?" These words were
addressed to a tall, fair young man of about eighteen or nineteen years
of age, who was standing on Plymouth Hoe, gazing earnestly at the Sound
and the evolutions of certain vessels which had just entered it round
Penlee Point.
The speaker was a lad of about the same age, but shorter in height,
sturdier in build, and altogether more robust and healthy-looking than
his companion, who belonged rather to the class of dreamers than that of
workers.
The time was a bright summer morning in the month of June, in the year
1586; and although the great Armada--which Philip of Spain fondly
believed was to crush England--was as yet undreamed of, war was even
then being carried on in a somewhat desultory manner between England and
Spain, very much to the disadvantage of the latter country.
English gentlemen, who called themselves "gentlemen adventurers", were
fitting out merchant-vessels as warships, and sailing for the Spanish
Main and the Indies in the hope of securing some of the splendid prizes
that were at that time to be obtained through pluck and audacity, in the
shape of Spanish galleons richly and heavily laden with spices and gold
from Manila, plate from Acapulco, or costly silks and fabrics and
treasure untold from the new Spanish colony of Mexico.....
addressed to a tall, fair young man of about eighteen or nineteen years
of age, who was standing on Plymouth Hoe, gazing earnestly at the Sound
and the evolutions of certain vessels which had just entered it round
Penlee Point.
The speaker was a lad of about the same age, but shorter in height,
sturdier in build, and altogether more robust and healthy-looking than
his companion, who belonged rather to the class of dreamers than that of
workers.
The time was a bright summer morning in the month of June, in the year
1586; and although the great Armada--which Philip of Spain fondly
believed was to crush England--was as yet undreamed of, war was even
then being carried on in a somewhat desultory manner between England and
Spain, very much to the disadvantage of the latter country.
English gentlemen, who called themselves "gentlemen adventurers", were
fitting out merchant-vessels as warships, and sailing for the Spanish
Main and the Indies in the hope of securing some of the splendid prizes
that were at that time to be obtained through pluck and audacity, in the
shape of Spanish galleons richly and heavily laden with spices and gold
from Manila, plate from Acapulco, or costly silks and fabrics and
treasure untold from the new Spanish colony of Mexico.....
