Shorter Notices THE story of the rise of British sea
power under the Elizabethans has been told by many writers from Froude to Julian Corbett, Professor Taylor, Dr. Williamson and others who have traced and described the many factors that brought England to the forefront in oversea affairs. Mr. Oakeshott takes up the tale anew. It is an unending tale in which some new light is always to be found in the work done and the part played by the map-maker, the merchant and the mariner in combination. The practical seaman corrected the speculations of the " cosmographer," the desire of the merchant for new markets and new routes to the new worlds, uncommanded by the existing sea Powers, stimulated discovery. The English story runs from the first voyages of Hawkins to the West Indies in 1564 to the climax of the victory over the Armada in 1588 ; a victory which, Mr. Oakeshott does well to recall, was at the beginning, not the end, of the war with Spain : a successful defence, not a shattering decisive blow compelling the enemy to desist from his designs upon the liberty of the world. Peace was not to come, and then only through exhaustion, till after another r5 years of war, largely through the absence of a single primary object persistently
pursued. The story is well told. Tempting as to draw parallels between many of -the political and Strategic-al events with those of today, that temptation has been resisted, and we are given a sober and balanced narrative in which, though there are many heroes, there is no idolatry. The heroes are not infallible nor the motives all impeccable. They are the men of a vigorous age in which original thought was encouraged and safety was sought in bold and energetic action.
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