so abundant with store of pastures, so flowing with veines of mettall,
so gainfull with reuenues rising of customs and tributes, so enuironed
with hauens, so huge in circuit, the which when Cesar, the founder of
this your honourable title, being the first that entered into it, writ
that he had found an other world, supposing it to be so big, that it
was not compassed with the sea, but that rather by resemblance the
great Ocean was compassed with it. Now at that time Britaine was
nothing furnished with ships of warre; so that the Romans, soone after
the warres of Carthage and Asia, had latelie beene exercised by
sea against pirats, and afterwards by reason of the warres against
Mithridates, were practised as well to fight by sea as land; besides
this, the British nation then alone was accustomed but onelie to
[Sidenote: Picts and Irishmen.]
the Picts and Irishmen, enimies halfe naked as yet & not vsed to weare
armor, so that the Britains for lacke of skill, easilie gaue place to
the Romane puissance, insomuch that Cesar might by that voiage onelie
glorie in this, that he had sailed and passed ouer the Ocean sea.

"But in this wicked rebellious robberie, first the nauie that in times
past defended the coasts of Gallia, was led away by the pirat when he
fled his waies: and beside this, a great number of other ships were
built after the mould of ours, the legion of Romane souldiers was
woon, and brought to take part with the enimie, and diuers bands of
strangers that were also souldiers were shut vp in the ships to serue
also against vs. The merchants of the parties of Gallia were assembled
and brought togither to the musters, and no small numbers of barbarous
nations procured to come in aid of the rebels, trusting to inrich
themselues by the spoile of the prouinces: and all these were trained
in the wars by sea, through the instruction of the first attemptors of
this mischieuous practise.