taken the principal men of war he had in Galitia; made Don Pedro Enriques
de Gusman, Conde de Fuentes, Generall of his forces in Portugall,
shamefully run at Peniche; laid along of his best Commanders in Lisbon; and
by these few aduentures discouered how easily her maiestie may without any
great aduenture in short time pull the Tirant of the world vpon his knees,
as wel by the disquieting his vsurpation of Portugall as without
difficultie in keeping the commoditie of his Indies from him, by sending an
army so accomplished, as may not be subiect to those extremities which we
haue endured: except he draw, for those defences, his forces out of the Low
countries and disfurnish his garisons of Naples and Milan, which with
safetie of those places he may not do. And yet by this meane he shall
rather be enforced therevnto, then by any force that can be vsed there
against him: wherefore I directly conclude that this proceeding is the most
safe and necessary way to be held against him, and therefore more importing
then the war in the Low countries. Yet hath the iourney (I know) bene much
misliked by some, who either thinking too worthily of the Spaniards valure,
too indifferently of his purposes against vs, or too vnworthily of them
that vndertooke this iourney against him, did thinke it a thing dangerous
to encounter the Spaniard at his owne home, a thing needlesse to proceed by
inuasion against him, a thing of too great moment for two subjects of their
qualitie to vndertake: And therefore did not so aduance the beginnings as
though they hoped for any good successe therof.

The chances of wars be things most vncertaine: for what people soeuer
vndertake them, they are in deed as chastisements appointed by God for the
one side or the other. For which purpose it hath pleased him to giue some
victories to the Spaniards of late yeeres against some whom he had in
purpose to ruine. But if we consider what wars they be that haue made their
name so terrible, we shal find them to haue bin none other then against the
barbarous Moores, the naked Indians, and the vnarmed Netherlanders, whose