Alas, it was too true, that Saguntum was perishing while the higgling went on at Rome.

Had those two thousand under Sir John Norris and the rest of the four thousand but gone a few weeks earlier, how much happier might have been the result! Nevertheless, it was thought in England that Antwerp would still hold out; and, meantime, a treaty for its relief, in combination with another for permanent assistance to the Provinces, was agreed upon between the envoys and the lords of council.
On the 12th August, Menin presented himself at Nonesuch at the head of his colleagues, and, in a formal speech, announced the arrangement which had thus been entered into, subject to the approval of the States.

Again Elizabeth, whose "tongue," in the homely phrase of the Netherlanders, "was wonderfully well hung," replied with energy and ready eloquence.
"You see, gentlemen," she said, "that I have opened the door; that I am embarking once for all with you in a war against the King of Spain.

Very well, I am not anxious about the matter.

I hope that God will aid us, and that we shall strike a good blow in your cause.