A HISTORY OF SUSSEX for France, the county was to furnish ' coates of such cullours as you can best provide, and to be lyned least they might be occasyned to serve in the winter season.'* When the coming of the Spanish Armada had become a certainty, Sussex was ordered to raise 4,000 foot and 260 horse, 2,500 of the foot being required for the main army. Sir Thomas Palmer having orders to conduct these to Croydon. Of the officers Thomas Lewknour had served as a lieutenant both in Ireland and the Low Countries, and Captains John Vaughan, the muster-master, and William Henworthe were old soldiers,^ Other men of military experience belonging to the county are noted by the Earl of Essex on the occasion of his expedition of 1596 : Sir Anthony Shirley had served in the Low Countries, where he was taken prisoner, and commanded all the English horse in Brittany,* where he fought divers times ; Sir Thomas Shirley the younger had a company of horse in the Low Country, and Sir Nicholas Pelham had been lieutenant in Sir William Pelham's company of horse, and after- wards captain, ' and hath done valiantly in all encounters.'^ When this last named officer returned from Flanders in February 1597, Sir Francis Vere wrote to the Earl of Essex that ' he deserved exceeding well in the late service, and for a man of his worth none have received so small encouragement,' ° and Count Maurice of Nassau also wrote in the same strain. The officer however who, according to his own account, did most work in 1588 was Captain Humphrey Covert. He acted as muster-master to the forces in camp at Brighton, and was awarded for his good service a pension of a hundred pounds, which however in 1606 was eighteen years in arrear.^ Besides the troops assembled along the shore a number of small batteries afforded additional protection, as for instance the blockhouse at Brighton, which had been erected by the inhabitants early in this reign to prevent the recurrence of such incidents as the burning of the town in 1 545 by the French, who at the same time ' sought to have sackt Seafoord,' but there the elder Sir Nicholas Pelham ' did repel 'em back aboord,' as his epitaph testifies. In the extreme east the blockhouse of Camber had a permanent garrison of some twelve soldiers, which could be increased on emergency by calling in the men of the two adjacent hundreds." This fort was the object of the treacherous designs of the Jesuit, Father Darbysher, in France, who early in March 1588, suggested to Roger Walton, an English spy, that he, being well known in Sussex, ' should contrive that the blockhouse between Rye and Winchelsea should be given up to the Prince of Parma, which would be a great piece of service, and good for the small ships of France > Acts of P.C. xxiv. 402. 2 Harl. MS. 703, f. 54. a Foljambe MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), Rep. xv (5), 40.
- Probably in 1592 when 1,000 men were sent from Sussex to join Sir John Norreys in Brittany
{Jets of P.C. xxiii. 225) ; and 80 volunteers were enlisted for the same service (ibid. p. 273). 5 Cecil MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), vi. 570. 6 Ibid. vii. 84. 7 Ibid. p. 85. 8 Harl. MS. 703, f. 154. 8 Jets of P.C. vi. 258. 518
