This was the gossip on the streets, in the ale houses, among our patients. Anything else was too terrifying to confront. But at last this collective wilful blindness was swept away as rumours spread and were accepted as the truth. The tangible reality of the ships being built in Spain became common knowledge and forced the whole country – not just those at the centre of power and those of us who worked for them – to understand that the prospect of a Spanish invasion was not simply some nightmare. It was real, and it was going to happen. England was a tiny country, ruled by a woman, however much we revered her. The Queen’s navy was pitifully small, the ships themselves small, though our great captains were amongst the finest in the world. Spain possessed the largest empire on the face of the earth. Her ships were huge, their fire-power vaster than anything we could muster. The man-power she could draw upon, to sail her ships and form her army, was many times what we could assemble.
What do You think about The Enterprise Of England?
