trength of Spain and England by
sea, by means whereof we might have better defended these acquisitions,
and might more easily have encroached upon the rest of the Indies, than
the king of Spain could have aided or succoured them. But now we see and
find by experience, that those places which were then weak and
unfortified, are since fortified, so that it is to no purpose for us to
attempt annoying the king of Spain now in his dominions in the West
Indies. And, though this expedition proved fortunate and victorious, yet
as it was father an awakening than a weakening of the king of Spain, it
had been far better wholly let alone, than to have undertaken it on such
slender grounds, and with such inconsiderable forces[335].

[Footnote 335: It must be acknowledged that the present section can only
be considered as a species of introduction or prelude to an intended
narrative of an expedition: Yet such actually is the first article in
Sir William Monson's celebrated Naval Tracts, as published in the
Collection of Churchill; leaving the entire of the narrative an absolute
blank. Nothing could well justify the adoption of this inconclusive and
utterly imperfect article, but the celebrity of its author and actor:
For Sir William Monson, and the editor of Churchill's Collection, seem
to have dosed in giving to the public this _Vox et preterea nihil_.--E.]

SECTION III.

_Cruizing Voyage to the Azores by Captain Whiddon, in 1586, written by
John Evesham_[336].

This voyage was performed by two barks or pinnaces, the Serpent of 35
tons, and the Mary Sparke of Plymouth of 50 tons, both belonging to Sir
Walter Raleigh, knight. Leaving Plymouth on the 10th June 1586, we
directed our course in the first place for the coast of Spain, and
thence for the islands called the Azores, in which course we captured a
small bark, laden with sumach and other commodities, in which was the
Portuguese governor of St Michael's Island, with several other
Portuguese and Spaniards. Sailing thence to the island of Gracioso,
westward of Tercera, we descried a sail to which we gave chase, and
found her to be a Spaniard. But at the first, not much respecting whom
we took, so that we might enrich ourselves, which was the object of our
expedition, and not willing it should be known what we were, we
displayed a white silk ensign in our maintop, which made them believe
that we were of the Spanish navy laying in wait for English cruizers;
but when we got