St. George for England 1340 AD

St. George for England
A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers By G.A. Henty

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Mt Dear Lads,

You may be told perhaps that there ia no good to be obtained from tales
of fighting and bloodshed, that there is no moral to be drawn from many 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 he practiced 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 Gressy 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 facta 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 bo relied upon as accurate in every important particular.

Yours sincerely,

G. A. HENTY.