(~412 pg)Read Online
(27 MB)PDF
(619 KB)Full Text
(9.09 MB)DjVu
Dear Lads,
tales of fighting and bloodshed, that there is no moral to be drawn from
such histories. Believe it not War has its lessons as well as Peace.
You will learn from tales like this that determination and enthusiasm
can accomplish marvels, that true courage is generally accompanied by
magnanimity and gentleness, and that if not in itself the very highest
of virtues, it is the parent of almost all the others, since but few of
them can be practised without it. The courage of our forefathers has created
the greatest empire in the world around a small and in itself insignificant
island; if this empire is ever lost, it will be by the cowardice of
their descendants. At no period of her history did England stand so high in
the eyes of Europe as in the time whose events are recorded in this volume.
A chivalrous king and an even more chivalrous prince had infected the whole
people with their martial spirit, and the result was that their armies were for
a time invincible, and the most astonishing successes were gained against numbers
which would appear overwhelming. The victories of Cressy and Poitiers may be to some
extent accounted for by superior generalship and discipline on the part of the
conquerors; but this will not account for the great naval victory over the Spanish
fleet off the coast of Sussex, a victory even more surprising and won against
greater odds than was that gained, in the same waters centuries later,
over the Spanish Armada. The historical facts of the story are all drawn from
Froissart and other contemporary historians, as collated and compared by Mr. James
in his carefully written history. They may therefore be relied upon as accurate
in every important particular.
G. A. HENTY.
No comments:
Post a Comment