Wychegerde was quick to warn Walsingham that though fewer in numbers than had been previously reported these were first-rate fightingmen, Parma’s finest – vigilant, wary, seasoned, not to be surprised or panicked, working steadily in half-flooded trenches with the enemy on the walls looking down their throats, accepting the deadly hail of musketry with the same sullen curses they used for the grumbling of their empty bellies and the pelting rain on their backs, never missing an advantage or taking an unnecessary risk.

Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish A…, loc. 309