The most graphic picture of him, as he then appeared
to judicious observers, is from the pen of Stowe. 'He was
more skilful,' he writes, 'in all points of navigation than
any that ever was before his time, in his time or since his
death. He was also of perfect memory, great observa-
tion, eloquent by nature, skilful in artillery, expert and
apt to let blood and give physic unto his people according
to the climate. . . . His name was a terror to the French,
Spaniard, Portugal, and Indian. Many princes of Italy
and Germany desired his picture. . . . In brief, he was as
famous in Europe and America, as Tamberlane in Asia and
Africa.'

Still, great as was the part he played as the moving
spirit of the English maritime power, the significance of
his career as a corsair must not be minimised; and with
this the first volume is mainly occupied. It will be seen
how during this part of his life he was brought into in-
timate contact with all that went to make up what we
know as the Elizabethan period of maritime history, and
how the part he played in each phase of the development
went to make up the man who led and dominated our
first great bid for the command of the sea. Yet in this
work he was but one of many, emphasising and develop-
ing what others had begun before him. It is in his
career as an admiral and administrator, with which the
second volume is concerned, that he stands alone as the
creator and inspiration of a force that was new to the
world. As the perfecter of a rational system of sailing
tactics, as the father of a sound system of strategy, as the
first and unsurpassed master of that amphibious warfare
which has built up the British Empire, as an officer always
ready to accept the responsibility of ignoring unintelligent
orders, he has no rival in our history but Nelson. Never
once when in sole command of an expedition did he fail

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